Luna BigCat

Story Description For The Sequel

A sapient Dungeon Core wakes up in an already established Dungeon in a world overseen by a divine System and its slumbering god. Ignoring the divine Mission to rid the world of evil while empowering good people by aiding them in fast leveling, the Dungeon Core instead focuses on fixing the poorly made Dungeon he has been given, before setting his sight on reaching the Surface World outside his Dungeon.

But discipline, teamwork, and guns can’t answer all his questions and solve all his problems. Especially not when his own sexism and toxic masculinity stands in the way.

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I plan to have written much more of the story before I begin publishing, than I did for the first story. As such, I plan to release chapters in October or November. I want to be able to release daily chapters in the beginning!

Also the sequel takes place in the same world, but it'll be written, so you don't have to have read the first one.

Epilogue - A God's Brilliant Plan

Once upon a time a god created a universe, as gods are wont to do. Gods are powerful beings but when faced with a problem they will never ask for help. They will either try to solve it on their own or visit the universe of another god to observe their world for inspiration. Likewise a god will never directly offer help to another god as that would be an insult. Instead, should they discover that the visitor had a dilemma, they might show the struggling god how they themselves would or maybe even had solved a similar problem.

But even this indirect help is inaccessible to gods who don’t leave their own universe to seek it. Which this particular god had refused to do. The god had visited the universes of other gods to gather inspiration before making their own, but hadn’t left their universe since its creation.

Something the god had learned about when they explored other universes was reincarnation. Not all gods had added reincarnation to their universe and it didn’t always function the same way. Sometimes the soul had its memories removed before being reincarnated but not always. Some gods had restricted reincarnation to their own universe, while others decided to swap souls between them. In some universes reincarnation was only for sapients, in others not. And sometimes one could only reincarnate into the same species, while in others what species you were reincarnated into was dictated by your actions in life.

This particular god hadn’t intended on having reincarnation in their world. But the barrier between the different universes were made to be penetrated. By gods, mainly, so they could visit each other, but also by powerful spells and incredible technology. Additionally the barrier between worlds would be thinner in certain mythical places and on certain time, dictated either by calendar or celestial movements.

And while the barrier was thin or had a hole in it opened by powerful individuals a soul meant for reincarnation could wander through, completely without meaning to or even realizing they had.

This rarely ever happened, but when it did one of three things would happen. Either the wandering soul would be found by the local god, in which case the god might return the soul to its original world for their own god to deal with. Or the god would use the soul for their own purpose, risking the wrath of the soul's original god, should the soul in question have been intended for a specific purpose already.

But should the local god not notice the wandering soul - or simply decide not to do anything -, the wandering soul would enter the first empty and suitable body it could find. This could be a stillborn baby who now wouldn't be stillborn. Or a grown adult who rose again after a fatal blow from an enemy.

Sometimes, as it had happened this particular time, the wandering soul would enter a body which had been made with an intent to host a soul, but where a soul hadn't yet been inserted. Such as certain types of golems and androids.

In this particular case, the world's Dungeon Cores had originally been created to match and challenge the greedy and power-hungry sapients of the world.

And to do that, god wanted to make them sapients as well.

Only… None of the souls the god created and placed in a Dungeon Core could handle being a Dungeon Core. They all eventually went insane.

Some went insane with power and made impossible-to-survive Dungeons, which prompted the creation of certain laws of fairness all Dungeon Cores now had to follow.

Others went crazy due to loneliness as it had taken too long for them to be found or as their location was wiped from the mind of sapients, as the ones who had found the Dungeon were killed in battle between species. So god changed their relation to time and removed their ability to feel loneliness.

Certain Dungeon Cores would refuse to kill, which had them removing most of their creatures from their Dungeons to make them safer for visitors. Usually this happened as a result of having gotten attached to certain sapients who would still always die before the immortal Dungeon Core. Which in turn would lead to a massive depression, where the Dungeon Core simply stopped caring about anything, now having realized they would always outlive their loved ones.

But the point of a Dungeon Core was to kill and train. God couldn't have them be crushed by the reality of their Mission and so changed their innate understanding of death and stopped them from experiencing any emotion which could impede the success of their Mission.

Even this wasn't enough as the now uncaring Dungeon Core decided to forsake their Mission and focus only on the satisfaction of power, even limited by the laws of fairness.

Dejected, the god removed the souls from all the Dungeon Cores and made their decision making run on algorithms and randomness instead of conscious thought.

It wasn't perfect, but it was better than before.

Then one day, a wandering soul entered a newly created Dungeon Core, becoming the first Dungeon Core with a reincarnated soul. The god saw that it was good and gave the new Core what blessings the weakened, resting god could.

Not even half a year had gone by before the god saw exactly how good this wandering soul actually was for their world. The soul, now Dungeon Core, had led the god’s most recent annoyance to ruin with both direct and indirect actions, making them worthy of an Achievement never before achieved.

And through the whole ordeal the Dungeon Core had never once strayed from their Mission.

This was the solution to the problem!

Newly created souls couldn't handle being a Dungeon Core, but apparently a reincarnated one could!

If that was indeed what had made this soul different from the others the god had tried.

It was worth a try at least. One last try to make Dungeon Cores actually efficient in following their divine Mission.

So, the resting god put a hold to their slumber and reached out to the original god of the soul now settled in a Dungeon Core. The two gods agreed to swap 36 souls to be reincarnated in the other's world as a test to see if reincarnation was something fitting for them and their worlds.

The god knew they wanted to place the 36 souls in Dungeon Cores, but that was more than ten times the number of Dungeon Cores created yearly. It would have unfortunate side-effects to change the number that drastically. And while they could take a decade to release the reincarnated Dungeon Cores in a more natural manner, the god was already longing for sleep and didn't want the hassle of having to keep the remaining souls from wandering and accidentally finding a suitable body on their own.

Instead the god made three new Dungeon Cores for the year all at once and placed a soul in each.

The remaining 33 souls were placed in the Cores of the world's 33 less efficient Dungeons. Dungeons where the algorithm or randomness of a non sapient Core had resulted in an undesirable outcome.

To gain as much information during the test, the souls would have varying amounts of memory from their previous life. Though, never enough for them to truly miss that life.

Additionally, 18 of the souls would receive the first tier of one of the Achievement the first reincarnated soul had achieved. Each Achievement would be given to two different souls. The god hoped that receiving certain Achievements early would push the newly sapient Dungeon Cores in the right direction.

With the final soul placed in an octahedron and crystalline body, the god could once again rest. This time confident their world would be okay.

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AN: Current story description for the sequel:

A sapient Dungeon Core wakes up in an already established Dungeon in a world overseen by a divine System and its slumbering god. Ignoring the divine Mission to rid the world of evil while empowering good people by aiding them in fast leveling, the Dungeon Core instead focuses on fixing the poorly made Dungeon he has been given, before setting his sight on reaching the Surface World outside his Dungeon.

But discipline, teamwork, and guns can’t answer all his questions and solve all his problems. Especially not when his own sexism and toxic masculinity stands in the way.

Story description

Which is better? The old or the new?

Old:

A sapient Dungeon Core appears in a world where a System god created Dungeon Cores in order to try to rid the world of evil.

The Core decides to do this using the power of dragons and karma!

And to help nice people whenever possible while at it.

New:

A sapient Dungeon Core appears in a world overseen by a divine System and its slumbering god. The god had originally created Dungeon Cores with the intent of having them rid the world of evil while empowering good people by aiding them in fast leveling. But Dungeon Cores aren’t as effective when controlled by algorithms and randomness as they could be if controlled by a conscious mind.

Determined to follow the divine Mission to rid the world of evil while helping good people, the only sapient Dungeon Core in the world will use the power of dragons and karma to better the world! Even if it means having to go up against slavery, speciesism, and mind control.

Chapter 106 - Winning Sometimes Comes with Losses

“Our enemies have once again been defeated!”

Sarzina Acacia cheered alongside the rest of Karmaria as Chief Nerok began the victory speech. The three leaders - Brassheart, Nerok, and herself - had agreed it was best if the speech came from him. Both Chief Brassheart and herself had only just been freed from mind control and wasn't currently in the best mindset for a public speech.

That being said, Zina had realized by now that Nerok really enjoyed giving encouraging speeches and had no intentions of robbing him of that joy.

“With our combined efforts we have freed the minds of innocents and saved The Dungeon of Karma from destruction!”

People cheered once again.

“And we did this across the border between species. For while we are different, this difference turns to strength when we work together! Beastkin, elf, human, gnome, giant, siren, or centaur. It doesn't matter what you are, only what you do. And what we can do when we work together is incredible!”

The excited cheering was higher than Zina had expected after a message like that. And looking around, yes, all the elves she could see from her position behind Nerok were cheering just as loudly as everyone else.

We… have really come far. Cheering for beastkin and elves working together.

“With this, the last cardinal of this horrible mind controlling cult is no more! And with no leaders left for them to follow the rest of the cult can never. Rise. Again!” Nerok loudly declared with his fists aimed at the sky in triumph.

The resulting roar of the crowd was nearly deafening.

He really is good at this.

Nerok's head and shoulder then dropped as he lowered his arms. The sadness radiating from him could be felt, even though Zina couldn't see his face from this angle.

“But with innocent people turned against us this could never be a battle without losses.”

The crowd quickly quieted, respecting the innocent souls lost and Nerok's sudden somber tone.

“The names of many of the fallen are unknown to us and thus their families might never know what happened to them.”

Maybe Karma knows? I should ask her, so we can tell their families.

“But we know the names of our own. Deputy Tiarsus Liquidambar, Tozibo Steelhide,-” Nerok began listing the names we did know. All together, it wasn't a long list, certainly not compared to the number of unknowns. But because it was people we knew - the locals, that was -, it hit much harder.

“A noble Hero once told me that his people honored the newly departed with 90 seconds of silence. 6 seconds for each of the 8 sapient species that once was. As well as 6 seconds for each of the 7 beastkin races that once was. For when you honor a death, even when it’s a necessary death, we should remember the unnecessary ones in the past. I would like for us to implement this to the culture of Karmaria. And while I had hoped we wouldn't need it yet, I had this 90-seconds hourglass built for this purpose.” Nerok bent down to collect said item from his feet to place on the podium in front of him.

“For the love of life and Karma, let's honor the dead with our silent respect.” Nerok declared as he turned the hourglass the size of his own head. The sentence gave an expression of tradition. Like this was what they had always said and always would say before the 90 seconds of silence.

He must have made the hourglass that big to ensure everyone in the crowd could see it. How thoughtful…

Zina didn't know all of the dead. Not even all of the named ones. She had met deputy Liquidambar, of course. Many times in fact, as her boyfriend's subordinates were his closest friends.

Yet the death of Tozibo Steelhide, who she hadn't truly met, was who she grieved over the most.

‘Cause she knew… She had been the one to kill him.

Logically, Zina knew she didn't have a choice. It hadn't been an accident, but she still hadn't meant to kill him.

It wasn't her fault, and yet it was.

It was hard to come to terms with. And maybe she never would.

Hopefully Oona will someday forgive me, even if I never do myself. Zina hadn't seen the dawon since she had left the Dungeon after the death of Steelhide. The elven noblewoman knew this ment her beloved pet, steed, and battle partner was avoiding her.

When the 90 seconds were up, Nerok continued his speech. Mentioning how Karmaria had allies which would help those forced to come here, back to their homes and families. How anyone who wished was allowed to stay. What needed to be done in either scenario and what needed to be done to clean up after the battle.

And the whole time he talked, he would be hopeful and encouraging and inclusive. A ‘we can do it together!’-attitude which somehow didn't end up sounding like he was talking to children.

He's so much better at this than I am…

Why exactly am I the leader of Karmaria? Nerok is already doing a much better job at uniting people across species than I've ever done.

Sure, I've banned the slavery of beastkin, but it was Nerok, Ginkgo, and Dakath who worked on stopping the actual speciesism behind it.

And Nerok's people were here first! We simply chased them off and claimed it for ourselves! They have a better claim to this place than we do!

Then again… We are the ones who built the foundation and most of the structures around here.

But the Dungeon itself? We don't have a right to. This is no-man's land, and they were here first. They didn’t even actually leave the place. They simply moved into the Dungeon.

It sounded like Nerok was nearing the end of his speech.

Karmaria shouldn't be in my hands.

Zina was certain she was making the right choice.

I got what I wanted. I'm the first dungeon mistress of a Dungeon, which puts me in the history books. And I'll keep being the dungeon mistress.

… I just need to have someone make me a false Cage for the Dungeon Core, so it looks like they're ‘tamed’. Not that they ever actually were, but we would eventually end up in a lot of unnecessary political conflict if Karma looks like a wild Dungeon. It's better for us all that I stay the official dungeon mistress.

“Be kind to everyone, and Karma will protect you!” Nerok ended his speech the same he had done it for the last couple of speeches Zina had heard him make.

My turn then. Better get the speech over with now. It'll have to happen eventually anyway.

As Nerok made to leave, but before the crowd could follow suit, Zina went to stand beside Nerok, holding a hand out to stop him from leaving.

How does one do speeches again? I wish I had taken those lessons more seriously!

“This was the second time my mind was under the command of another,” Zina began, only to immediately regret her decision. There's no need to put myself down!

But with a practiced mask of calm she continued: “This might be a coincidence or perhaps targeted due to my status as Karma's dungeon mistress and the leader of Karmaria. The cult might be no more, but in all likelihood any future enemies we may have will go for me as well. Whether that be by mind control or violence, this would leave Karmaria without a leader in a time you would need it the most.”

Zina gave her audience a couple of seconds to take this in. “I propose I stay Karmaria's dungeon mistress when it comes to aspects directly related to the Dungeon, such as the Dungeon Guild and Portal Control. And that I remain your dungeon mistress when outsiders come asking. So that I remain the target should opposition to our lifestyle arrive.”

Here the elven noblewoman turned to the ursakin and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But that Chief Nerok takes my role as Karmaria's actual leader. Not only are Nerok better at diplomacy than I, but as his Tribe was the one to actually find the Dungeon, I believe it is their right to rule over the resulting Dungeon Town.”

The crowd - and Nerok and probably Brassheart behind her too - was shocked silent for a moment, before people began showing their support. Zina couldn't help but notice that Nerok's Tribe was the first to cheer, followed closely by her supportive boyfriend.

Then Nerok raised his hand, silencing the crowd. “I am flattered you think so highly of me, Mistress Acacia. But you forget how important you are to this place. You are an instrument of change, the glue which keeps us together! I have simply supported the changes you've made and helped people see the value in them. But solving problems and making the necessary changes? That is not something I can do.”

Nerok gave a thoughtful humm as Zina lowered her hand from his shoulder. “But I can see the merit of your suggestion. And having leaders of two different species will do wonders for the future collaboration of the people of Karmaria. So, to play to our respective strengths, I could be Karmaria's spiritual leader, dealing with the social and diplomatic parts of running a Dungeon Town. While you take on the important details of laws and punishments as Karmaria's administrative leader. And should either one of us be incapacitated by an enemy, the other would still be there to lead.”

With a thoughtful blink, Zina accepted the suggestion. “Then that's what we'll do.”

It gives him all the speeches I rarely do well, but that he loves to do. Win-win really.

I don't really understand why he said no to making laws though. He made it seem like it's hard to do. Or maybe he simply thinks it's more responsibility than he's comfortable with.

The excited cheering from the audience was louder than ever before. And the unknown faces of humans sprinkled amongst the crowd reminded her that she had announced her plan to deceive outsiders with outsiders present.

Typical me. This is why I don't like doing speeches!

With the crowd dispersed Zina decided to ask Nerok why he didn't want to make laws.

His explanation was simple: “There's too much paperwork involved!”

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AN: The epilogue will be out next wednesday!

Chapter 105 - Answers to Impossible Questions

AN: Someone stole my story, but I got it back!

I reported "Dragon-Empowered : A Litrpg Dungeon Core" to Amazon and it's been taken down!

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Hephetrius Hydrus was exhausted. Inside and out.

He didn't know exactly how long he had been in this cursed and yet blessed Dungeon, but it felt like it had been more than a day at least. The difficulty of the puzzles of the Dungeon were a mixture of super easy - due to the hints provided by the goddess’ sparse influence on her prison -, only doable by following the lead of the locals who had tried it before, and confusingly hard.

The centaur still didn't know why so many followers of the broken goddess had failed the mental puzzle in the room under the trapdoor. Or what happened to them after they disappeared…

“Ahh!” Hephetrius screamed in surprise as the leading elf woman had forced plants to appear from solid rock right in front of him, revealing yet another one of those blasted ‘fiery flying serpents’ this Floor was so full of.

Which Floor is this even?

Shouting broke out from behind. And not just the surprised sound of a winged serpent being revealed, nor the frustrated shout resulted from the kobolds repeated arrivals from behind. No, both of these the cardinal would have ignored due to their commonplace nature.

Turning around as quickly as his centaur body allowed, Hephetrius saw the mass of heathens filling into the room. It was a somewhat big room for a Dungeon, probably about 40×50 meters. And as they had just been through two other rooms of roughly the same size, this was likely the last room of the Floor.

Depending on exactly what number it was of course. From what little Hephetrius understood about Dungeons, every five Floors every Floor would be bigger than before.

The heathens were joined in battle with the kobold pests - as well as countless other Dungeon creatures -, which only confirmed their heathen natures.

But the sheer number of enemies meant that Hephetrius couldn't spare a single fighter to instead solve the door puzzle he had just discovered.

Of course, as Hephetrius wasn't a fighter himself, he would have to be the one to solve it. He knew the heathens were simply trying to distract them, after all.

“Defend me from the savage heathens while I get us closer to our goddess! She must be freed!”

With the sounds of battle once again ringing in his ears, the centaur turned to read the riddle on the door:

I can make bread turn brown and make water boil. If you squeeze me, I'll die. If you look at me, you'll die.

The riddle began. Hephetrius didn't waste time reading through it all before he began solving it.

‘Bread turn brown’ and ‘water boil’. Sounds like fire or heat or their elemental counterparts.

An arrow hit the ground closer than what was comfortable. He ignored it the best he could.

‘If you squeeze me, I'll die’ means it can't be the elemental versions.

… Unless the ‘you’ refers to something made of elemental mana themselves.

The loud bang of a weapon hitting a solid shield rang through the space, distracting Hephetrius for a moment before he continued.

‘If you look at me, you'll die’. Never heard of a mana type that could do that.

Maybe it's actually a creature made of the Heat element or it's stronger Fire variety. Yes, they can heat things up and can die if squeezed while you're-

A wall of plants appeared directly behind the cardinal, protecting him from an attack from behind, but also distracting him from his thoughts. What kind of attack, Hephetrius didn't know, but he could hear the thud of something hitting the plant barrier.

What's next?

I turn wolfdrakes white, and I will make you laugh. I make boys eat, and girls run in forests.

… What? Wolfdrakes don't turn white! Right? Or maybe I just assumed they were born that color…

Or hatched…?

Either way, wolfdrakes live in the cold, so what does their white fur have to do with bread turning brown and water boiling?!

And you'll make me laugh? Again- where is the connection?!

‘I make boys eat, and girls run in forests’? That doesn't?! What?!

The plant wall started vibrating violently all of a sudden, like someone had grabbed it and started shaking it for full force.

Just read the rest, maybe it'll make sense then.

I make scholars look like idiots and children look like geniuses.

Can you guess the riddle?

Make scholars look stupid and children look like geniuses’? So, maybe something so obvious that scholars will think it's a trick…?

The top of the plant wall fell, only to seemingly dive straight towards the centaur's human half, only to straighten back up into a wall again.

“Can you guess the riddle?” Hephetrius read mockingly out loud as his body stiffened in reaction to the wall's odd behavior. “No! I can not! Not with all this distraction around me!”

The door opened.

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Emerald

Young karmic mimicking elemental dragon - Forest

Level 39

Sprout

Young karmic mimicking elemental dragon - Forest

Level 39

Where Sprout and Emerald had had the size of a particularly large cat when they were fledglings, these days they were the size of a big pony. And their control over foliage had gotten much better.

But unfortunately not good enough to completely counter the mind controlled Zina.

Apparently it was much more difficult to take control of someone else's Forest mana than to work with your own.

And of course there was the level difference.

I don't want anyone to die if we can avoid it. But I can't help but think we would have won by now if we had gone for the kill…

For while Zina, the Sheriff, the deputies, and the ram riders were among the highest leveled people in Karmaria, they were vastly outnumbered. Like one to eight kind of outnumbered.

But in their mind controlled state, they were aiming to kill and maim, while we only sought to restrain, knock out, and capture. Or to distract and delay if capture wasn't possible.

And of course, for none of our own to die in the process.

We would still win the battle, that much became obvious after the first minute of combat. But it would take significantly more time than if our goal had simply been to kill them.

Lionheart, Nerok's kirin steed, you would think was quite the powerhouse due to all the karmic creatures - all the Heroes - dying. The temporary boost to his Ability Scores was like he had leveled 24 times at this point.

… Which, due to how rarely Nerok and Lionheart went deep into my Dungeon - where they would have gotten better EXP - only equaled to level 55. Which was still powerful! But without any actual Skills to back it up, most 5th tier sapients would have no real trouble defeating him.

No! How?! No!

The cardinal had somehow solved The No-Geniuses-Allowed Puzzle Door. The riddle on the door had no actual answer and almost half the ‘facts’ simply described how I imagined people would react to it. Specifically the solution.

For the answer to the riddle was ‘no’. ‘No’ as in ‘I can't solve this riddle’. As the question the riddle asks was essentially ‘can you solve the unsolvable?’.

It's barely been three minutes! How did he get it this quickly?!

It had taken Emerald's Party 41 minutes before Begdar had frustratingly shouted that she gave up because it was impossible to solve.

Which naturally solved it.

The other members of her Party had already come to the conclusion that they couldn't solve the riddle. But as they assumed Begdar could, they hadn't said this out loud.

And now there was nothing left in between the cardinal and my Fake Core.

Well. I hope you like surprises. Ready?

Affirmative! Came the reply.

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There she is! Hephetrius thought to himself in glee, having spotted the crystalline shard of his broken goddess on a pedestal of black marble.

She was beautiful! A white diamond of the finest quality in a perfect octahedron shape. The clear nature of the shard revealed the complete absence of flaws and fractures.

Perfect, like only the divine could be!

If only Melanie had been here to witness this.

Sadness swallowed Hephetrius for a moment, causing him to stumble as he walked towards his goal.

Melanie had been the only friend he had left.

And with no friends, he only had the cause.

The crusade.

The goddess.

At least she died for her faith.

She died fighting for her cause.

The cause of the goddess!

I can't let her have died in vain!

With that thought, the centaur laid his hand on the diamond's crystalline surface.

The Dungeon Core offers your Party personalized rewards greater than elsewhere in its Dungeon in return for mercy. If you accept you and your Party will receive said reward before being teleported back to the Surface World.

Do you accept this offer?

Yes/No

No. Hephetrius replied as his touch turned into a grab.

Are you sure?

Yes/No

(AN: The "Yes" is meant to be crossed out here.)

… What? The confusion caused him to pause his movements. You're not supposed to ask twice…

The System message simply flashed in response.

Yes, I'm sure. It's for my goddess! Your soulmate!

Then suffer the consequences!

An unknown person shouted in his head in the scariest, deepest voice he had ever heard. Simultaneously the shard of the goddess opened four tiny eyes and an impossibly big mouth, much bigger than its body. It chumped down on the hand, which had previously been placed on its head, and swallowed it in the same instance.

Then a single leg, consisting mostly of a foot, rose the octahedron body up, before it launched itself 10 or 20 times its own body height into the air. While flying the creature and its impossibly huge, open mouth filled with several rows of sharp teeths grew in size till its mouth could swallow a horse whole.

… Or a centaur.

Less than two seconds had passed from when the mimic had opened its mouth till it closed it the second time.

Alone in the room again, the Dungeon Core mimic resumed its previous position and camouflage.

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System Alert

All members of the cult known as 'The Order of The Broken Goddess’ with the rank of ‘cardinal’ have either renounced their membership or been killed. With Luvenia Mein's original 22 Brainwashings no longer in effect, the cult known as 'The Order of The Broken Goddess’ will slowly cease to exist.

Oh. Awesome!

Due the sizable work done on your part for this to happen, you will be given the Achievement “Divine Hero”.

New Achievement:

Divine Hero: You have done the world an incomprehensible service. Condition: Do the world an incomprehensible service. Reward: A reward of your choice.

Select your Reward:

A 25% longer lifespan.

I'm already immortal.

A 50% bonus to all Ability Scores.

Cool, but I don't have Ability Scores myself. Just my creatures, and it doesn't sound like they're covered in this.

200% EXP gain.

Useful in the long run, but I have quite enough EXP at the moment.

10 levels.

Cool, but I much prefer rewards, which keep being useful. Not just one time things like this.

The Ability “Hero's privilege”: People you meet want to please and honor you.

While that certainly sounds nice, I think I can do that on my own.

Sorry, I mean: I'm already doing that on my own. No need for an Ability. I'm already being worshiped!

The Ability to bend luck in your favor once a week.

I already do that too!

The list went on. But it had become clear to me that this Achievement was meant for sapients, and that as a Dungeon Core its rewards simply weren't compatible.

I'm sure the System will adapt whichever one I pick to fit me and my Dungeon Core nature like it has done before. But I would have much preferred something more specific to Dungeon Cores.

The closest thing I can find in this list is the extra mana regeneration and the larger mana bank, but I don't see much of a need for either. I'm immortal, after all. And with the cult out of the picture, I doubt I'll ever be in a hurry again.

…

Knock on wood for me, please. The kobold in question did.

But what exactly do I want or need the most? Now or in the long run.

… Do I even need anything right now? I don't think so. In the long run I would like to be able to tier up easier. Preferably without having to rely on bad people entering and dying in my Dungeon.

Reward selected.

Huh?!

Achievement:

Divine Hero: You have done the world an incomprehensible service. Condition: Do the world an incomprehensible service. Reward: Sapients with more than 25% in karma level who live in Karmaria counts towards your next tier up. Once a sapient is counted towards your tier up they can't be subtracted again. Each sapient can only be counted towards your next tier up once.

That's…

That's perfect! That not only gives me a third way of reaching my next tier up, but it's another unkilling one! I just have to grow my Town now!

Wait. No. I don't even have to do that. Just keeping it this size means that new people will be born here and count as a new person!

As long as the place doesn't end up completely overrun with bad people! Which it won't! I'm sure of that!

I could feel an immense sense of relief coursing through my Core.

I'm no longer reliant on bad people while trying to make everyone around me good.

… Or at least better than they were before.

Chapter 104 - Hidden Fury

Edit: New chapter name, same chapter.

Also I've added a little section about Oona's reactions to what is happening after this line:

New plan koblins. If the individual doesn't flee, drag them out!


AN: So… I was in doubt about a sentence in this chapter due to its use of curse words. I haven't intentionally refrained from using curse words, but I think I've only used one this whole time, so I thought it might seem weird or out of character.

So, I asked my parents about their opinions on it…

Disclaimer: This chapter contains a single sentence of parentally approved (for this specific circumstance) curse words.

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New Dungeon Rule:

None of Your Business: No form of mind control can take hold.

I had regenerated enough mana to make the new Rule cover the 26th, 27th, and 28th Floors, just in time. Even after both Boss and assistants had been defeated, the death of the human cardinal had delayed them entering the 26th Floor just long enough.

With a wording of ‘make a Rule that no mind control can work’ and an insane cost of 43,650 mana, I had really thought it would suppress the current mind control or something. And not just stop any new mind control from happening.

Why was it that expensive, System?

Forbidding the use of certain Skills, spells, Abilities, and so on can lead to certain Dungeon creatures, puzzles, and traps becoming much harder or even near impossible to complete. For example, would it be much harder to defeat elemental creatures of the Ice elemental if all Fire related Skills, spells, Abilities, and so on were impossible.

…

So, you're saying I should have done this to begin with…

My annoyance at the price had turned to frustration over this much simpler way of keeping myself safe that I had clearly missed.

I doubt it'll take them so long to reach my final Floor that I'll have enough mana to ban something else on the last Floor. I only had enough for these three Floors because of how long the 19th Floor took them. So, I'll have to shelve that idea.

As the group was in the middle of the 26th Floor, in plenty of time to validate me having spent mana on including said Floor in the Rule, a human man was released from his mind control. The 4th tier Detective - which was his Class and not necessarily his job - likely had a high Awareness Score, which helped lower the time between each reapplication of mind control.

It also meant Enthrall simply didn't work on the guy, which in turn meant the - now lone - cardinal had to waste mana on using Hypnosis on him instead everytime my Rule made it wear off.

… Which in turn meant it took a bit longer to wear off than if Enthrall had been able to stick. After all, Enthrall was a battle of the strongest between each person's Awareness and Charisma, while Hypnosis meant the mind controller could add the two Scores together while the victim could still only use their strongest. And as the time needed to free someone from mind control depended on how big the difference was between these numbers…

Regardless, the Detective's high Awareness still meant he had a smaller timer than half of them. And he wasn't even the only one Enthrall hadn't worked on.

And as fate would have it, he got to be the first of their group - and perhaps even the entire world - to have the cardinal attempt to mind control, only for him to fail no matter what he tried.

Hypnosis didn't work anymore, and neither did Brainwash.

And before the centaur cardinal could try a third thing or even order the Detective to be tied up and held captive till they figured out what to do, the Detective turned tail and ran out of my Dungeon.

Immediately getting caught by several members of Karmaria who weren't the best at combat, but felt confident enough in themselves to take down surprised enemies, so that their mental faculties could be checked. Aka: Dragging the unconscious body of whoever just left my Dungeon back into my Dungeon and check if they had a countdown timer to see whether or not the person in question was still under mind control.

Yes! It worked! One less person I had to kill to defend myself!

But that joy - only it wasn't joy, it was satisfaction and pride in myself - was short lived as the cardinal quickly declared that anyone that ‘lost faith and couldn't be reinitiated’ had to be killed on the spot.

Not good. More than two thirds of those people are my family! And I certainly don't want innocents to die if they don't need to!

What to do, what to do…?

Koblins?!

“Yes Great Mother?” My kobolds answered nearly as one despite their wildly different positions across my Floors.

A change of plans. Instead of attacking near constantly to kill and distract, I want you to wait till just before one of the cultists has their mind freed. And then attack with the goal of helping that individual escape.

The kobolds replied at the same time yet again, but this time their affirmations were varied in actual words with ‘Yes, Great Mother!’ and ‘We obey!’ being amongst the most popular ones.

Thank you, my koblings. Be ready to move on my signal.

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My plan worked.

… For a bit, at least…

The next three cultists to stop being cultists successfully ran away during the resulting commotion created by my kobolds.

But where the first four to benefit from ‘None of Your Business’ were people previously unknown to me, the fifth was a ram rider.

And where the first four didn't actually know anyone else there, the ram rider did.

Which meant the ram rider didn't run away like he should have.

Instead he used the kobolds’ attack to attempt his own attack on the cardinal.

An attack a Brainwashed Zina not only deflected but returned.

Unlike the cardinal, the ram rider hadn't ordered a mind controlled minion to defend him above all others.

And so, unlike the cardinal, the ram rider died.

He was killed by someone he normally considers his ally…

I knew I would have felt immense betrayal had it been me, regardless of Zina's mind controlled status. But just like I couldn't mourn his death, I couldn't muster up any actual sympathy. A small sense of pity was the closest I could get.

I suppose I can be excused for not having a good grip on my own feelings. I turn six months in three weeks. I'm not even half a year yet!

At least, that was the excuse I told myself. Deep down I didn't really think Dungeon Core had a point where they reached emotional maturity.

More likely they either had a fully mature emotion or they couldn't feel that emotion at all.

New plan koblins. If the individual doesn't flee, drag them out!

Oona, the only ‘member’ of the group not mind controlled on account of being a semi-sapient dawon instead of a sapient and mind control thus not working on her, visibly recoiled in shock as her owner electrocuted the ram rider. Then proceeded to look confused between the dead body and the elf in question.

A questioning meow.

Zina simply answered coldly that he had stopped believing, attacked the cardinal, and deserved to die.

Whether she truly understood the reply was unclear, but after nozzling the body of the comrade Zina had just killed - unwillingly, but Oona probably didn't know that - the dawon turned back the way they came and left my Dungeon behind.

Ignoring Zina's voice commanding her return.

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Only once during the 28th Floor did a timer reach zero, causing the kobolds to storm the group to distract and drag out the newly freed ram rider, who luckily didn't resist as much as he clearly wanted to due to his gnomish respect for Dungeons in general and me specifically.

The 28th and last Floor were mostly filled with a plethora of 'fiery flying serpents’. I hadn't expected the 28th Floor to be my last stand and had - at the time - found pleasure in how the Floor appeared mostly empty to anyone with a karma level of 25% or over, who didn't have an insanely high Awareness like Zina or a Skill specifically meant for noticing hidden things like Thenac.

Which had meant everyone but those two before this had happened and had thus been mightily confusing to my visitors.

Especially as I had refused to explain my ‘mostly empty’ rooms.

The brown and white spotted ‘fiery flying serpents’ with their six matching wings were perfectly capable of blending in with their mountainous habitat with the white spots looking like patches of frost. Which naturally led them to a lifestyle of ambush from the ground.

And to people's inability to detect them before they attacked.

The wings were normally only meant to allow them to better ‘climb’ the sometimes vertical mountainsides, with the three sets instead of just one allowing them to control their flight even in the constantly windy weather found high up.

The ‘fiery’ part of their name was twofold. While they couldn't breathe Fire they had a body temperature - meant to help them deal with their cold environment - high enough to burn anyone naive or stupid enough to touch them.

… Not ‘instant third degree burn’ hot. More a ‘reflexively retract my hand because I accidentally touched a hot pan’ hot. Which could still be dangerous if it got its body around you.

Not that it would. The 75 cm long serpents were venomous thus didn't have the muscles of a constrictor snake. Instead they had speed and the option of flight, letting them bite their opponents and retreat before all but the fastest could retaliate. Which was their preferred strategy and the reason they survived longer than most of my other creatures.

… That and their high levels of over 50, with the large majority being of level 55 or 56, which allowed them to pierce even the toughest leather.

Not quite stones or metals, but it was better than normal snakes! And they hadn't even focused on Strength all that much!

Dexterity, Toughness, and Awareness were where most of their points went, in that order. Dexterity gave them the speed and reflexes they relied on when attacking and retrieving. Toughness protected them from return hits and allowed them to remain still even when unaware people stepped on them. While a high Awareness was needed to detect the location of their prey even with their eyes closed as open eyes were easier to detect than camouflaged eyelids.

While - as a part of my family - Zina wasn't directly attacked, she was still under the command to protect the remaining cardinal. And unlike some, Zina could attack both at range and with area of effect, letting her hit the fiery flying serpents despite their speed.

But luckily for me and the fiery flying serpents, they had a natural, if slight, resistance to lightning - and thus its magical equivalent - due to their habitat being a naturally occurring lightning rod allowing them to survive double the hits from her than they otherwise would have.

… Their mountain environment had certainly done a lot of nice things for them…

But back to the other half of their ‘fiery’ name: Anger.

These motherfuckers were angry as hell all the time! And they wanted nothing more than to spread that anger to their enemies and victims!

And yes, it was a constant rage. It wasn't obvious while they were laying in wait, but even in their ‘calm’ moments they were filled with barely contained fury.

Which naturally also meant they were my most aggressive creatures.

But they used their anger well. Fully capable of using this wrath in battle to give them speed and power.

But even with all those advantages, their current adversaries likewise had things playing in their own favor. With the exception of most of my remaining family the group had similar levels to the creatures on the 28th Floor. The lower leveled family members had really only survived this long due to ‘Family True Sight’ ensuring they weren't attacked as much.

The Rule in question wouldn't stop creatures from retaliating and attacks on them, but it stopped them from starting any fights with my mind controlled family. Which seemed to be enough to keep the rest of them alive.

But the Rule didn't only mean the creatures were unable to attack just anyone and thus always choosing the best victim, it also stopped them from realizing my mind controlled family would attack them if the opportunity arose. Which in turn meant they left themselves open to attacks and didn't even realize they had to hide from them for an ambush to work.

Still, by the time the group reached the final room of the 28th Floor, there were only 18 people left. 17 of whom I considered my family.

Unfortunately, the 18th was the centaur cardinal - due mainly to how he had ordered them all to care about his safety - who still had them in his thrall.

And unfortunately there was only that one room separating them from my Core Room.

It's time. I hate to ask you all to fight your friends, but I know… This is what you want.

You want to protect your god and your Dungeon.

Chapter 103 - Steamrolling

I felt extremely disappointed in myself as the cult neared the Boss on the 25th Floor.

No more members of my family had died since deputy Tiarsus Liquidambar had, which was a relief - one of the feelings I actually possessed as a Dungeon Core -, but only four cultists had died the last 10 Floors!

Which, with only three and a half Floors left, was a scary small number.

And I couldn't even really rely on the mind control breaking to save me!

My 19th Floor had been built with the only purpose of delaying people. It took people with karma levels of 75% or higher who knew the Floor about 20 minutes to complete it, whereas it took them 10 minutes to finish the previous Floor.

All the puzzles on the 19th Floor were Challenge Rooms with timers. The length of those timers got longer the lower the lowest karma level of the participants were, starting from 74%.

With 0% karma, a 5 minute timer would become an 80 minute timer.

And of course the first of these puzzle timers would reset if the button on the pedestal in the middle of the otherwise empty room was pushed. The fact that the exit got blocked the moment they entered combined with the ominous countdown timer on the wall, made it very tempting to press everytime the countdown was almost done.

The first press would create a copy of a random creature from my 1st Floor. The second, a creature from my 1st and second Floors. And so on till they let the timer run out.

At which point the room would open up and the puzzle would be completed.

But with Zina there - even if only acting as an example due to ‘Earning One's Own Paycheck’ - puzzles like that weren't as effective as they could have been.

No one pushed the button. With Zina there I hadn't expected them to. And even if she hadn't been there, the ram riders, the Sheriff, and most of the deputies had been through the puzzle before and knew better than to press the button as well.

It was still a bit disappointing.

But the 19th Floor still did exactly as I had wanted it to: Delaying the cult long enough that all the mind control would disappear.

Unfortunately I hadn't thought to separate them and the two cardinals simply reapplied the mind control one by one as people came out of it. They even Brainwashed each other!

It did seem like Brainwashing took more mana than Hypnosis or Enthrall did, as they didn't simply cast the more powerful skill on everyone.

No one was Charmed though. So, either their collective mana pool was big enough to not have to rely on the weakest of the mind control skills, or their mana regeneration were high due to each pause before someone new was freed from mind control.

Huh… I got EXP from redeeming each freed person and it wasn't then taken away when they near immediately were re-mind controlled. It even counted towards my tier up!

Because I don't have anything to do with them being mind controlled again? Or because I can't do anything to stop it? Maybe both?

The System didn't feel the need to specify.

The EXP wasn't really needed at the moment and while helpful in getting me closer to my tier up, the group would have to be freed and re-mind controlled about 20 times before I could tier up again.

With all of that in mind, my goal was to gain enough mana to give my deepest Floors a Dungeon Rule banning the casting of mind control.

And seeing as I most likely had to kill the two cardinals before I could have my peace, I had informed the Tribe+ to move whatever Floor was before the one the cult currently was on, to be ready to attack at the end when they were the most exhausted.

Some of the Tribe+ had felt the Dungeon temporarily to escort the now ex-cultists - none of whom volunteered to help fight - outside the Dungeon and settle them in with some civilian volunteers.

The 20th Floor was tundra themed and contained my 4th Boss, a dragon cyclops.

Besides the Boss the 20th Floor contained plenty of ‘elemental drakes - Ice’, which had an ice breath attack and would explode into ice shards upon death, reminiscent of my Heat slimes. Owldragons with the head, feathers and silent flying of a snowy owl. A pack of wolfdrakes with both draconic and canine features covered in white fur. Lastly the ‘young elemental wyrm - Ice’ could become one with the frozen Environment to both hide and deflect damage, before appearing under someone to swallow them whole.

Unfortunately, only one of them actually managed to do that last part before Zina covered the snow covered ground in a net of plants, trapping the Ice wyrms underneath.

Despite the name, the dragon cyclops was actually a centaur, but with the bottom half of a wingless drake - and not an typical dragon - and the upper half of a one eyed cyclops. The 5 meter tall creature therefore had hands which meant it could use tools.

It wasn't smart enough to make them, though, which meant the System hadn't immediately supplied it with one, like it had my kobolds.

But I had kobolds, who could and had made it a weapon. A big machete style one.

The Boss was assisted by one of these Ice wyrms - which Zina was quick to neutralize -, a unicorn, and an amaru.

The Ice wyrm's job was meant to be to distract and be on the offensive, while diving for cover by temporarily becoming a part of the snow to take as few hits itself as possible.

The unicorn was partly meant as a distraction too, but also had the task of creating force fields to stop attacks from hitting the Boss. People were meant to think it was the dedicated healer and thus go after it first.

But unicorns didn't actually do all that well in a snowy environment, even without actual snowfall in the Boss Room. The snow on the ground was enough to cause it trouble.

No, the actual healing was meant to come from the amaru. A creature which couldn't use Healing magic.

The llama-headed, fish-tailed, bird-winged amphiptere would instead fly into the air and summon a small localized thunderstorm right above the dragon cyclops. The lightning from the storm would threaten to hit my opponents, making it dangerous to get close to the Boss. But some of the time the lightning would hit my Boss who did nothing to avoid getting hit.

Because to dragon cyclops, electricity would both heal and empower.

It took them a deliciously long time before they realized what the lightning was doing to the Boss. It was only made more amusing due to the fact that Zina's preferred form of attack was Lightning magic.

She was a Lightning Mage, after all!

But in the end it mostly just served to delay them and have them expend their resources.

A skill-powered arrow took down the amaru hiding in the storm clouds once they realized how big a problem it was.

Here we go!

The cult had just reached the Boss Room on the 25th Floor, and I was hoping it would do better than its predecessors. If for no other reason than its higher level of 50.

The ‘mature elemental amphiptere - Light’ was specialized in hunting in the blistering desert daylight. Its long serpentine body made it fast on the desert sand while its strong featherless wings allowed it to take flight. And while hunting in the air it would turn its body into pure Light, imitating the blinding light of the sun and preventing its prey from looking directly at it.

However, this ability to blind its opponents couldn't be directed, which decreased the number of possible useful assistants I could give it. And while I considered both my Heat slimes, which see purely with heat vision, and those of my creatures, which were karmic even outside of my Dungeon and could thus target their opponents because of their Karma Aura.

But in the end I picked not one but three death wyrms. Despite the name, a death wyrm didn't hatch as a deadly creature. But at level 50, like these ones were, the poisonous and acidic liquid their body naturally exude to help them burrow in the desert sand was strong enough to kill any who touched it in seconds if their Toughness was 10 or lower. Which was the standard for a level 1 sapient.

Anyone with a Toughness of 20 would be able to survive touching a death wyrm without medical treatment, but would sweat and vomit uncontrollably for a couple of hours. Anyone with a Toughness between 10 and 20 would have between half a minute to about an hour to receive medical assistance before their death would be inevitable.

It's a bit weird that death wyrms can be that deadly and yet they aren't even predators. They feed on the minerals and nutrients in the desert sand and need the acidity of their poison… sweat - for a lack of a better word - to reach the moisture of much deeper sand, which is where they get their much needed water.

The deadliness is more an afterthought to the search for water in the desert.

But more importantly for their corroboration with my blinding fourth Boss: They were already blind and navigated entirely through tremors in the sand.

As such, their combined force was something I was excited to see the result of!

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Chaos.

That was the only way to describe what had just happened.

Anyone capable of a ranged attack had done their best to hit a flying, moving target they couldn't look at, while the melee fighters were ordered to look for the assistants.

They were not prepared for three simultaneous attacks from below.

And while the poison aspect of the death wyrms only came into effect with skin contact, its acidic nature allowed it to somewhat quickly - in a minute or so depending on thickness - destroy any leather it came into contact with. Metals weren't safe either, though that took considerably more time.

Nonetheless to say, the three death wyrms took more lives than the Boss did. And the Light amphiptere had an impressive four to its death count. Which was a much higher number than it had been for any individual creature since all the lowest leveled people had been killed off on the earliest Floors.

The three assistants, however, had a collective nine for their death count. Just over double that of the Boss, but less if divided between the three.

But the death count itself wasn't what I was the most excited about:

One of the death wyrms had touched and subsequently killed the human cardinal!

Yes! That's one of the biggest threats!

Only one cardinal left to go!

Chapter 102 - Bad Guys Have to Die - Right?

Hephetrius Hydrus and many of his fellow followers were watching from the safety of the room above as a disciple woke up from his frozen state, clearly confused about something.

Then another disappeared, then one woke up. Again with no clear pattern to it.

The one who had woken up this time was the one who knew this specific Dungeon and had solved its puzzles, leading and opening up the way to their goddess. And unlike the first one to wake up from the frozen state they had been forced into, the elf didn't seem at all confused.

She knew this would happen, but because this Dungeon is better guarded - containing the main piece of the goddess - any warning she could have given us would have been twisted into misunderstandings.

“Hurry!” Came the only word from the elf. Ever since Hephetrius had understood the unusual control the Dungeon had over people's warnings of what was to come in its depths, the elf hadn't spoken much. The only words out of her mouth were warnings disguised as orders like this one.

Something bad would happen if they didn't keep moving. Something worse than the possibility of disappearing.

That terrifying thought had the cardinal quickly shouting in command “Forward!”, before he led the charge down himself.

His centaur body couldn't use ladders, but his hooves were strong and the hole big enough to simply jump though.

Then everything went dark before Hephetrius was even sure he had landed.

Am I even standing on the ground right now? Or am I floating?

The only visible thing in the absolute darkness around him was a single System message:

• You have died.

Oh… So, I wasn't fast enough…

…

Melanie will have to do it without me.

…

Can she? It's dangerous, this crusade.

…

I hope she makes it out alright.

Not only is she the only one left of the inner circle, the only one left to guide The Order of The Broken Goddess on the right path!

But she's my friend too.

… The only one I have left.

• Your friend's health and future without you to help them weighs heavier on your mind than your own losses.
• This makes you worthy.

Huh? What do you mean, o’ holy System?

The darkness disappeared all at once, revealing the room underneath the trapdoor.

This is an individual puzzle.

You have solved a puzzle!

… I thought of Melanie over myself ‘cause all I have left is her and the cause…

As Hephetrius looked around he quickly realized the room they were in was slowly filling up with lava from the two corners closest to the exit.

Melanie was among those still frozen.

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My plan was going splendidly!

The Tribe+ had gotten some injuries as too many cultists had been teleported in at once. But luck had - quite literally - been on their side and against the cultists, stopping the hits of the cultists from being lethal.

Roughly half of the cultists arriving in The Great Tree Room had to be killed, as the Tribe+ wasn't the most efficient in capturing and subduing people fighting for their lives.

Rather them than us.

I know they're all mind controlled and doing this against their wills but still:

Rather them than us.

While the puzzle part of the room only activated when the frontline tried to leave the room, the moment the first cultist had stepped down from the ladder and into Hell's Judgement Hall, the pair of magma traps in the room had been activated, creating a time limit.

Normally the time limit was more to force people to go into the Boss Room with little to no preparation, but this time it had an additional job: Separating the main group of cultists into two groups.

With every person freezing up the moment they entered the room since the moment the puzzle activated, the entrance area of the room was quickly crowded, pausing their advancement.

Which gave the magma plenty of time to crawl forward, eventually blocking the way forward.

Shoot! I really hoped the two cardinals would have been separated!

But alas! The human cardinal had not only passed Hell's Judgement but done so in time to jump over the still small line of magma in front of the exit doorway.

Two thirds of the cultists - just shy of a hundred people - were left behind when the doorway was finally fully blocked.

What are they gonna do now?

Only a small handful of them were above level 30 and only one of those had magic.

Ice clearly wasn't his specialty, and the magma level kept rising til the whole room was filled with magma.

… It didn't spill out to the other rooms as I hadn't made a Rule to allow traps to cross into other rooms like I had for puzzles.

After that it didn't take them long to decide to leave my Dungeon and immediately reenter, as that would reset the trap and allow them to press forward.

They would also have to redo the first nine and a half Floors, but they had no better idea.

Naturally I warned the Tribe+ about their arrival, which allowed them to knock out most of them the moment they entered my Dungeon from my Portal. With the teleporting the cultists could appear anywhere in The Great Tree Room, which made it hard to ambush them. But when the cultists came from my Dungeon Portal, there was only one place they could appear from.

The Tribe+ dedicated some of their people to knocking people out as they arrived, others to pulling the unconscious bodies away to make room for the next one, and some to tying them up so they couldn't attack upon waking up.

It was a fairly efficient system.

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New Dungeon Rule:

Family True Sight: All creatures with the ability to see Karma Auras will detect the personal Karma Aura of the Dungeon's chosen family over the Karma Aura of any potential mind controller.

The still free roaming part of the cult had entered the 15th floor - a Floor with river and lake Environment theme -, and I had gotten enough mana to make the ‘Family True Sight’ Rule from the 16th Floor and have it include all the remaining Floors as well.

Newly created Rules couldn't affect the people who were already on an affected Floor before the Rule came into effect. So, it didn't make sense to wait till they were halfway through the Floor to make the Rule, in order for me to have enough mana to include the 15th Floor as well.

No need to waste the mana on that right now, when said mana could instead help me with the current situation.

As the Rule covered the 16th to 28th Floor it had ended up costing me 18,915 mana. Which was a lot for a Rule which barely did anything.

But worth it!

… I hope. I can't actually see the effect just yet.

The second half of the available area for the 15th Floor was reserved for the Boss room and its titanboa Boss, which meant the first half was more packed with creatures than normal. Which in return resulted in lives lost on the cultists side.

The Boss Room was filled with as much water as the System would allow while keeping the Environment theme river and lake and not ocean - which I didn't have access to. This was due to the semi-aquatic nature of the titanboa Boss and its tendency to ambush their prey from the water like crocodiles and alligators.

The titanboa itself was just as much a dragon as its sea serpent cousins and only slightly smaller than them with its length of 28 meters.

Despite its size it had insane speed. And with a mouth that big it could swallow a guy whole!

… Unfortunately, humans - which the majority of this wave of cultists consisted of - were still big enough that it took it several dozen seconds to swallow each one.

Being semi-aquatic it hid in the waters while swallowing.

Having already revealed itself, the cult wasn't fooled by the murky water, but at least they had a much harder time hitting it down there.

As a constrictor serpent the titanboa had a lot of strength hidden behind its scales and didn't have to solely rely on its big mouth and ability to swallow. Unfortunately, most of its prey had high enough levels to either tank the hits, dodge them, or use magic to defend themselves.

Five people hadn't been able to, giving the Boss a final score of seven - it had also managed to eat two - by the time it fell.

…

I knew it didn't have a lot of Toughness but that wasn't even five minutes!

…

I suppose I had been expecting ‘Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves’ to have given my creatures insane Toughness at this point. But with Zina Brainwashed they haven't broken a single puzzle!

They couldn't solve them all, but they also didn't break or skip any.

… Oh well. Only 33 cultists left - not counting those the Tribe+ has captured - and 13 Floors left to go!

Well… I suppose you could say there's 51 cultists left, but of course some of those ‘cultists’ are my family, so I certainly don't want to kill them all!

Ten members of the local law enforcement. Seven ram riders, who left their rams outside my Dungeon Portal. And Zina herself!

Wait… I took a closer look at the remaining cultists. Aren't we missing a deputy?

We were, but under the effects of the mind control his friends couldn't mourn him.

It took a while before I realized I couldn't either.

I know I wasn't close to the guy at all or anything. But he was still a part of the town. Of my town. My people.

I should feel something about his death, shouldn't I?

But I didn't. No sorrow, grief, or sadness. Not even the tiniest bit of pity.

Only a sense of disappointment that I hadn't been able to save them all

Now that I think back: I haven't felt any form of real sadness since I was a human. Fear, yes. But not sadness.

Not that I've had a lot to be sad about in this life yet. But I would have expected to be at least a little bit less happy at times.

… Wait!

I haven't felt happiness either?!

I searched my mind for moments of happiness in my time as a Dungeon Core, but I couldn't recall a single one.

Relief, pride, satisfaction, yes. But no actual happiness.

… I guess…

… Maybe Dungeon Cores just don't need those emotions…

Or…

Maybe they don't have them ‘cause they would interfere with their System given Mission…

…

At least the Rule is up now. It should stop any more of my family dying.

… and maybe then I can forget about my inability to grieve or feel guilty…

The human part of my mind felt that my lack of emotions meant something was wrong with me.

The Dungeon Core part insisted that all mortals die eventually and there was no reason to waste time thinking about it.

Dungeon Cores were made to kill bad guys.

And to the System, deputy Tiarsus Liquidambar died as a bad guy.

Chapter 101 - Alive, Dead, or Mind Controlled

AN: Due to Christmas in December and exams in January I'll unfortunately only upload chapters every second week for a while.

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When reinforcement appeared at the west side of Karmaria, the enemy had already left.

At first, all Begdar could see was the bodies of the dead left behind.

But after a comforting side hug from her beloved mate, she realized the vast majority of the dead were humans, and thus people unknown to her.

That being said, a couple of the elf and gnome bodies were eerily familiar, even if Begdar didn't exactly know who they were.

In total, when only looking at the number of bodies from each side - and Begdar did what she could to not look at the actual injuries that killed them - Karmaria had undoubtedly won.

But Begdar doubted she was the only one to realize that wasn't the whole story.

But - as always - she was likely the first to realize exactly what had happened here.

“Both the Security Guild and the jousters are missing.” Begdar pointed out. The Security Guild had been informed of the incoming enemies first and would have had ample time to arrive here before them.

The jousters referred to Chief Brassheart's group of ram riders as they had all been jousters back in their old place. They had jumped on their rams and ridden ahead.

They too should have been here, yet not even their bodies could be found.

“As we're up against a mind controlling cult,” Begdar continued. “-my guess is that they were mind controlled into joining them.”

“But where are they now?” Questioned one of the gnomes with them. With Chief Brassheart wanting to speed ahead, Chief Nerok had agreed to stay behind with the gnomes who didn't have a mount but still wanted to join the fighting.

The family of giants had decided to stay behind with the rest of the civilians, but the human twins and Mlartlar had joined Chief Nerok and were ready to fight alongside them.

Begdar scanned the battlefield cautiously once more - doing her best not to puke at the sight - before replying. “They want the Dungeon Core. That's where they're going.”

“Then that's where we're going as well.” Chief Nerok declared from his seat on top of Lionheart, his trusty kirin.

And so they turned around to head towards the Dungeon Portal.

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The arrival of the combative half of the Tribe, 347 gnomes - which I assumed was the part of the Exodus who wanted to join the fight -, two humans, and a half elf half vulpinkin hybrid relieved a fear I didn't realize I had.

They're not dead.

And considering the personality of the arriving people, it now seemed more likely that the rest of Karmaria - or at least a good majority - were simply sitting the fight out rather than dead.

Good. Good. That's one less thing to worry about.

The massive number of people - with several hundred people, there wasn't actually enough space for them to stay on the same Floor - seemed ready to simply storm in and attack the cult from behind. And while I appreciated the thought, there really wasn't a reason for that, when it cost me nothing to at least wear them down first.

Which would lower the amount of casualties from our side, so I heavily preferred that option.

Luckily for me, the Tribe was in the front of the group - supposedly because they were more experienced with my Dungeon - which meant the gnomes didn't notice when I had a mimic request that they wait and attack on my signal instead.

And as their god, they naturally obeyed.

The gnomes appear to have agreed to the plan because they find the reasoning sound, so at least I know I'm not being completely stupid.

My creatures can respawn, you guys can't.

Due to Zina's mind controlled aid, the cult had no problems solving my puzzles. Due to ‘Earning One's Own Paycheck’ she couldn't tell them how to solve them and have the cult actually understand it, but there was nothing stopping her from simply solving the puzzles herself.

“While the common creature might not possess the comprehension needed to remember and heed your words when not in mental contact with you, Great Mother, we kobolds will remember and obey!” Declared the kobolds of the 3rd Floor when I took a moment to explain what The Song of Liberation was doing.

Naturally I saw no reason not to simply test this. And true to their words, the respawned kobolds could charge the cult from behind even in the last room of a Floor, while the rest of my creatures lost interest the moment the cult was out of sight.

And with my kobolds still obeying my commands even while in the effects of The Song of Liberation - though I couldn't give them new orders while they were on the same Floor -, their mounts, the galespikes, were indirectly still in my control as well.

And while that was all fine and dandy, the good news couldn't keep coming without a bad one sneaking its way in.

As I had done for the first room of the first four Floors, I stormed the cult with all my respawned creatures the moment the last member had entered the first room of the 5. Floor. But this time the number of respawned creatures were large enough that not all of my creatures immediately noticed a cult member to go after.

Instead several of them noticed a creature of another species standing a bit too close to them - as they had all just entered from the same direction - and latched out on them. Thus creating infighting.

Okay… So, I have to limit the amount of respawned creatures I order into the affected Floor. I can do that.

It's not the best outcome, but I can work with it.

At the 5th Floor, they had no problems with my kirin Boss, and I hadn't expected them to. Zina had defeated my Boss many times mostly by herself - even if it was weaker after leaving its Boss Room - back when the initial group of elves had stormed me, so naturally she didn't have any problems taking it down once more.

When the last cultist had left the 5th Floor behind I naturally had the respawned kirin Boss follow them down to the 6th.

I remember the kirin Boss being pretty good at splitting Zina's attention between protecting the rear and helping the front with the puzzles. Hopefully I can do something similar this time as well. To slow them down if nothing else.

Too bad I can't direct it while-

What?!

As expected, Zina had killed the Boss on vacation. But unexpectedly, the moment the kirin respawned in its Boss Room, it had nearly immediately left to head towards the cultists on the 6th Floor.

I didn't tell you to do that…

Is it…? Because it's in your nature to avenge the death of Heroes and karmic creatures? It lets you track down the killer?

The kirin was once again killed and respawned. And true enough: It minded its own business till the moment a cultist killed a karmic creature. Then its mane, tail, and hooves burst on fire, signaling the activation of its Ability, as the Boss galloped towards its new target.

While I still couldn't contact it while on the same Floor as The Song of Liberation, I also didn't need to direct it towards my enemies.

Nice! That will surely keep Zina on her toes!

Though, she probably ends up simply restraining it in a moment, like she ended up doing last time. But at some point the kirin will get strong enough to break out due to all the killing of karmic creatures happening and then she'll have to kill it. After which the circle will start again!

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Nearly exactly 2 hours have passed since the cult entered my Dungeon, and the front line is just about to step into Hell's Judgement Hall. The puzzle room just before the second Boss on the 10th Floor. Which I hoped a good deal of them would fail.

While originally the puzzle of Hell's Judgement Hall was meant to send those that fail it to the beginning of the earliest Floor, which still had room for more sapients, with the ‘allow all’-tool they would all end up in The Great Tree Room.

Which I had naturally informed the Tribe+ about.

They were ready to either kill or apprehend the cultist on arrival as they saw needed.

And as the puzzle was solved and failed on people's own pace, there was little chance of the Tribe+ getting overwhelmed.

Outmatched, however? Definitely a possibility. Not a particularly big one. But if one of the big hitters were to lose Hell's Judgement?

Well… The Tribe+ could still overwhelm just about all of the strongest members of the cult. And as the mind controlled Zina had already passed Hell's Judgement several times before, it was unlikely - based on what had happened to the mind controlled Crown Princess - that she would fail and appear.

The trouble came if two or more of the cultist's heavy hitters arrived at roughly the same time. Then there was suddenly a good chance of several members of the Tribe+ dying.

I really hope that doesn't happen.

But between the small size of Hell's Judgement Hall and the reduced numbers of the cult, it was at least impossible for the Tribe+ to become outnumbered.

As my mind controlled ‘mistress’ saw no reason to protect anyone she didn't know herself or had been specifically ordered to protect - which was only the centaur and human who the others addressed by the title of cardinal - many of the lower leveled members of the cult had fallen prey to my traps and creatures.

She had, however, been ordered by the centaur cardinal to keep the kirin at bay, so my Boss hadn't been able to get more than a couple of kills.

With how much killing the cult needed to do, and with how both my kirin and kobolds could target them beyond their original room, I really thought they would have had a problem passing The Waiting Room on the 8th Floor. After all, they had to wait for 5 minutes without any arguing or killing happening. With a pair of bìxiés - which are naturally karmic in nature - in the room, which, due to being a part of the puzzle on top of - normally - being a Dungeon creature, would respawn every minute whether or not there was someone in the room.

But no.

It took them a couple of tries, sure. But in the end Zina simply barricaded the entrance - to keep kirin and kobolds out - while restraining, but not killing, the two bìxiés for the required 5 minutes.

At least with Zina normally unable to trigger my traps, my Rolling Boulder traps took them by surprise, with the first one taking the lives of 6 who either couldn't get out of the way fast enough or was pushed into the magma by a panicked ally. The second Rolling Boulder killed another pair of surprised cultists.

Chapter 99 - Defending Home and People

Your linked Dungeon Core requests knowledge on the incoming members of The Order of The Broken Goddess.

Will you accept this request?

Yes/No

"Again? I didn't hear anything about more prisoners coming," Sarzina Acacia questioned out loud.

"What do you mean?" Came the response from underneath her, reminding her that tended to speak her thoughts out loud.

Well… Usually it came out as a mumble unless she actively controlled herself, but this time the message had taken her by surprise, making the thought louder than normal.

Zina and her boyfriend, Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus, were officially still doing paperwork.

In actuality today's paperwork had been completed over 10 minutes ago. At the moment Zina was sitting on Dakath's lap, and until a couple of seconds ago the two of them had been in the middle of a heavy make out session.

"Apparently a group of cultists have arrived. But I haven't heard anything about Windin sending more prisoners our way. Have you?" Zina replied as she got off her boyfriend's lap.

"No." Where Dakath had been loving and kind underneath her mouth and hands a moment ago, the Sheriff part of him was now clear to see. Serious and worried about his people.

He didn't ask any questions about how she knew cultists had arrived. Not only because the potential threat was too big and too immediate to have time for questions, but also because he already knew it was something she couldn't tell him.

He had accepted her anyway. He had accepted her as she was, with all her passions and flaws.

She loved him all the more for it.

Before this, before the Dungeon and Karmaria, the only ones who had accepted her as she really was, was her brother and his wife.

And Oona, of course! But with her being a dawon it was a different kind of acceptance.

Her sister hadn't accepted her as she was, and certainly not her parents. Zina had been a member of many different Dungeon mining groups over her century of adulthood, but at some point they would always end up annoyed at her about something, which would lead to their separation.

It was usually, but not always, because of her tendency to mumble her thoughts.

But Dakath really liked that he didn't have to guess her thoughts.

And Dakath wasn't the only one, who had told her it was okay that she couldn't always control her mouth. Nerok, the Chief of the Tribe of Karma, and several other beastkin had said the same.

The gnomes simply shrugged it off, before asking if she wanted them to reply to her thoughts.

No one had ever asked her that. And she realized that, for the most part, she didn't actually want a response. She would rather they pretend she was normal.

The deputies had stated they didn't want her to change who she was, as that was who made their Sheriff happy. Which wasn't exactly acceptance, but still somewhat close.

It no longer mattered what the rest of Alfamér thought of her. Or even if and what history would write about her.

Zina had found her people.

"I'll alert the deputies and start searching for the cult's current location." Dakath stated as he got up from the chair and walked to the door.

"And I'll find Kat and ask if she's heard anything from Windin about this." Zina joined him as he walked out the door and down the stairs to the lobby of the Security Guild. Here he stopped to inform those of his subordinates who was present there about the situation, while Zina kept going to exit the building.

Once outside the Security Guild she stopped in her tracks.

Actually… Where is Kat?

Kat could seemingly always be found at her brother's side and more often than not, they were doing what he wanted.

Reid hadn't been able to exercise his free will for years, so Kat's actions were perfectly understandable.

And as far as Zina knew, the two most likely places for Reid to be were in her Dungeon or with the Tribe as he wanted to learn all he could about the Dungeon of Karma to better be able to help and, if need be, protect them.

But with a potentially dire situation, Zina likely didn't have time to check both places.

Lucky, she didn't have to.

Holy System! I request to know if Kat is in my Dungeon!

The reply was quick.

Kathrin Alvarado is not currently located in the Dungeon of Karma.

And with that, Zina sprinted towards the grounds of the Tribe.

Upon arrival she loudly asked the first beastkin she saw where Kat was and was promptly pointed in the direction of Nerok's wooden hut.

Whatever the three of them had been talking about was immediately dropped the moment Zina slammed the door open to Nerok's dining room, which he also used as an office.

"Is Windin sending another group of prisoners here?! Have I simply not been informed?!" Came the loud, panicked, and subtly pleading questions from the normally calm, but easily excitable dungeon mistress.

"No…?" Kat replied confused, with fear beginning to form in her eyes as she realized the implications of the questions.

"Then the cult is back," Zina stated, both to confirm Kat's suspicions and to ensure the remaining two understood the situation.

"Why?" Nerok questioned. "Why do they keep coming here? There are easier Dungeons for them to get to! According to Lagurith they simply want the Cores, so to them, shouldn't one Dungeon be just as good as any other?"

Now is not the time! "Revenge over their fallen? Perhaps simply because they hate that they've already lost twice to this particular Dungeon. Or maybe it is as her Highness said and the cult considers this Dungeon's Core the most important one of them all. Why doesn't matter! It matters that they're here!" Zina had barely had time to breathe, she was speaking so fast.

"Right. Of course!" Nerok said, somewhat sheepishly as he got up from his chair with the Alvarado twins repeating his actions. "Do we know which direction they're coming from?"

"Dakath and his deputies are looking for their exact location." Zina replied as she pulled out her emco to call her boyfriend for updates.

The orb began blinking red to signal that it had connected as requested and was waiting for the other person to pick up.

After more than a minute of this, it became clear to the four that the Sheriff wouldn't be picking up.

No…

"Tell everyone to get ready for battle." Reid commanded. "Not only must we protect the Dungeon, we know they won't hesitate to deal with those in their way. While mind control is their first choice, killing isn't far behind for those with no free will left. From what I've gathered, the cult came from the west the two times they've been here on their own accord. That's likely where they'll come from again. So, let's meet on the west side of Karmaria and look for them there."

Agreeing with his words, the four split to warn people of the impending battle with the cult and to get ready for it. Either by putting on armor and grabbing a weapon, or by hiding in a closet or something, so the cult couldn't take their free will away.

After warning several dozens of people, Zina was satisfied that the message would spread quickly and headed for her own place. Armor, one-handed crossbow, an emergency dagger, and, of course, Oona.

Oona was meant for riding into battle with. It would be stupid to leave the dawon behind after the many Dungeons they had fought through together.

But when Zina and Oona arrived at the west side of Karmaria, not only was the place already a battlefield, she was immediately reminded of the main difference between fighting in Dungeons and fighting other people.

Dungeon creatures didn't have Classes. And they didn't always have a Skill, rarely every two.

People did have Classes, and they had plenty of Skills.

Additionally, in a Dungeon you knew, roughly, what level your opponent would be. You didn't in a fight like this. You didn't know if your opponent was several tiers higher than you and you had no chance of winning, or if you needed to pull your punches to stop yourself from killing a mind controlled innocent in one hit.

Zina had never fought against people before. It was pure chaos.

"What? Why did you do that?" Her opponent, the fastest human she had ever seen, had slapped a metal bracelet around her arm rather than attack with the shortsword in her other hand.

The female human didn't answer and instead kicked her leg out in an attempt to trip the dungeon mistress.

She had jumped off Oona shortly after arrival to allow her feline to pounce on her opponents without having to worry about a rider falling off in the process. Zina wasn't worried Oona would attack any of their allies on accident, as dawons had excellent noses and memory of all they had smelled before. Oona knew who belonged to Karmaria better than Zina did. And likely better than anyone else too.

Despite not usually fighting against people, she had enough experience fighting in general to predict the trip attack and counter it by using her favored Forest element to grab the human's leg with several roots.

Only… the roots didn't grow anywhere near high enough to actually be able to grab the leg, much less before the leg could hit her.

Down on the ground, Zina was quickly subdued. "My mana! What did you do to my mana!" It was like she couldn't access the majority of it. It was still there, but only a tenth of what she had could be used at a time.

The human ignored her and called out to another cult member instead. "Cardinal! I have one!"

If I can only use a tenth at a time, then I'll simply use that tenth constantly!

The sudden Lightning coursing through the female human had at first caused her to freeze up and tense her muscles, making her grip on Zina even more secure.

Then the scent of burnt meat became detectable, and the human jumped away from the elf, freeing her in the process.

"Again! And keep holding her this time!" A new voice commanded before Zina could do more than simply stand back up.

"Yes, cardinal!" The human replied before using her immense speed to pull Zina's hands behind her back before she could react.

To which Zina simply began flooding the human with Lightning again. But this time the human didn't let go at the smell of her own burnt flesh.

The centaur, who had been the one to order the human around, walked closer as Zina fought against her captor.

With the Lightning no longer effective and only having access to a tenth of a mana, she couldn't free herself. She simply wiggled in the other's hold.

Then everything made sense again.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I really should have known better. I did! But then I forgot… But I remember now!" Zina stopped the Lightning and, with a nod from the cardinal, the human holding her let her go.

Chapter 98 - Reports of All Sorts

"I have yet to discover any signs of the cult's influence, my Queen." Shadow reported through her emco. "Either Karmaria is better at hiding their affiliation than those at home-" Shadow had been locating and capturing the mind controlled cultists located in and around the Palace before getting her new assignment. She couldn't be sure she hadn't missed some, but she was good enough at her job to have caught a dozen in two weeks. "-or everything actually is as they say it is. Windin even sent a representative here to discuss the unicorn offer with the locals."

"How can we know for sure?" Queen Enania asked.

"My suggestion is to observe what happens when confirmed cultists enter the area, my Queen. But that would require me staying here for a longer period, leaving Them without my ready aid."

The Queen didn't say anything for a moment, taking Their time to consider Their options. "Observe. I'll 'allow' Windin to send their prisoners to Karmaria, but ask them to keep their unicorns for now. With how disparate Windin sounds, they have likely already started moving them towards your location, so We doubt you'll have to wait for long."

"As you wish, my Queen!"

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The Queen's servant had clearly approved the deal at some point outside of my range, as not even a whole week had passed before the prisoners from Windin arrived.

342 prisoners, that is. Which was a lot for them to guard, even if they had been forced to sleep through the journey through potions. The Paladin and his sister took it upon themselves to help the guards with their prisoners as they were brought into my Dungeon in batches.

The sister likely did it due to it being a part of her job, but her brother did it as a part of his self-imposed debt.

Shortly after his reappearance he had approached my 'mistress' to ask how he could repay me for freeing him from the cult.

Not Zina. Me. I was the one he owed the debt to, even if he considered me closer to an animal than a person.

So, I had Zina tell him two things: That killing bad guys and freeing people from mind control helped me grow and as such his debt was paid in the instance it appeared. And if he still wanted to help me out he should first join my Tribe to learn more.

With my massive growth spurt and with entire nations now depending on me for my services, I no longer feared someone deciding to kill me or stunt my growth by not allowing bad guys access to me.

That. And I had finally realized that I really would outlive them all.

I had survived my Dungeon Core childhood and I no longer feared for my own safety.

But still… I didn't think it was smart to tell just anyone about my sapiency.

The new knowledge was enough for the Paladin to lay his quest to repay me to rest, only for a new one to appear in its stead: He had made it his mission to have everyone mind controlled enter my depths, both for their own sakes, but also as a way to thank me for my services.

He had also approached my Tribe about possible membership as he fully intended to settle down here.

For the most part, he had passed with flying colors!

The only thing keeping him from being able to join, was his seemingly inability to keep secrets from his sister. Most things he wouldn't even try to keep from her, but the moment he did, she would simply raise her eyebrow and he would immediately surrender.

And she always seemed to know when he was keeping secrets from her too!

At this point it was decided he could only join if she joined too. But she was clearly a spy.

… Well it was clear to me. She would only enter my Dungeon alone or with her brother, so it wasn't super obvious to everyone else. Identify Identity had simply made it undeniable to me, and unlike 'Shadow' she didn't seem to be able to fake her identity.

She hadn't even tried. I would have let her if she had. I had only made the Dungeon Rule in the first place, so I could know more about my guests back when I didn't have the ability to ask.

Back to the prisoners, most had already been freed by the time they arrived due to Charm or Enthrall wearing off over time without having been reapplied. So, most were simply woken up and sent back out.

The remaining 19 I freed myself.

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"Officer Baxter here, with five other officers present. How is everything going, Agent Alvarado? Have the prisoners arrived yet?"

Katrin had made sure she was outside the hearing range of others before answering the call purely out of habit. She wasn't on a secret mission right now, so it was unlikely she would be informed of any secrets or have to share any with a superior. And if a secret had to come through, she would be requested to move somewhere private.

But there was no harm in indulging in a habit like this. And it was a good one to enforce!

Kat had never met officer Baxter herself, but she knew he was her current supervisor. Additionally she had heard good things about him and his work for public safety.

"Officer Baxter. The prisoners arrived about four hours ago. While still unconscious they were carried into the Dungeon. Here the dungeon's mistress explained how the mind freeing happens. It is mostly a passive process where a mind is slowly freed from its binds simply by staying in the Dungeon. How long it takes depends on the mind controller's mental power versus that of the victim's, any relevant Abilities if either have any, as well as what tier of mind control was used."

"So, that wasn't simply a last ditch attempt at getting out of prison after having been captured?"

"No, sir." Kat replied as she began walking on the edge of what was still a forest. Far enough away from people that they wouldn't overhear, but close enough that a shout would come through. "Not entirely at least. It is still possible that some of the prisoners who used that excuse were under the effects of one of the higher tiers, but at least some of them were the truth. I would advise testing any who claim to suddenly be free of their mind control with unicorn exposure."

"Very well. What have you learned about the different tiers, Agent Alvarado?"

"The 1st tier is Charm. It needs to be reapplied daily, will disappear if the controller dies beforehand, and only gives a minor mind control effect. More akin to hearing someone make what they themselves think is a good suggestion."

"So, a simple one day isolation would suffer here."

"Indeed, sir." Kat agreed, absent-mindedly brushing a branch away from her face as she continued walking. "The 2nd tier is Enthrall and a week-long isolation would work for this one as it needs to be reapplied weekly. Like Charm its effects will likewise disappear if the controller dies before the end of the timeframe. It is stronger than Charm and similar in effect to a group of your best friends telling you to do something stupid. You know you shouldn't do it, you don't really want to do it, but you'll do it anyway, just to please them. But if they ask you to do something completely against your morals, like killing your own family, then you can resist the order."

"Aha," Officer Baxter mumbled thoughtfully in reply.

"3rd tier is Hypnosis. Both the 3rd and 4th tier are permanent unless someone competent manually undoes it, which can potentially be the controller themselves. Otherwise The Dungeon of Karma needs to be involved. Unlike the two lower tiers, the death of the controller doesn't cancel the effects."

"Troubling."

"Indeed, sir. Hypnosis can convince you that the sky is on fire. No one here seems to know if it's powerful enough to make you kill your own family, but from what I garther, it's not quite that powerful."

"That's a relief at least."

"It is, sir. What isn't, is the 4th tier: Brainwash."

"Let me guess," Officer Baxter intercepted. "This one can make you kill your own family?"

"Unfortunately yes, sir. Reportedly there is no way to resist any of its commands. The only way to retain parts of your personality and wants is for the commands to not involve those aspects. Everything else is overwritten in favor of the controller."

"Terrifying. Good thing we're now prepared for them!"

"Yes, sir. And I have some good news to add to this."

"Wonderful, Agent! We could use a bit of good news."

"You have to be at least a 5th tier to use even the weakest of them and an 8th tier to use Brainwash! With insane requirements like this, they can't have all that many cultists actually able to mind control. And most of those will be unable to use the two higher tiers, which are harder to undo."

"Brilliant news! And I take it, most of the prisoners were already freed, mentally that is, upon arrival?"

"Indeed, sir! All but 19 of the 342 prisoners have already been cleared as mentally themselves. Several individuals were angry or displeased that they hadn't been believed, when they informed their guards, back in normal prisons back home, that they had regained their senses after either a day or a week of imprisonment, and instead 'dragged to the middle of nowhere' while unconscious. But at least most people seem to understand the necessity of making sure."

Officer Baxter simply made a grunt to inform her they were still listening.

"What else…? Right. The Dungeon forces words to appear above anyone entering its depths, which correctly depicts each individual's name, species, Class, and level. It does the same for its own monsters, unless they're ambushers. And for the cultists it adds both what type of mind control they're affected by as well as a countdown to when it'll be undone. If that person stays in the Dungeon for the duration, that is."

"So, we know exactly when the last prisoner has they're mind back?" Officer Baxter asked, inviting Kat to tell him the actual number.

"Yes, sir, though I'm not currently in the Dungeon. In about 11 hours, sir. So, sometime in the early morning hours before the sun rises."

"Hmm… You should stay in Karmaria for a couple of days to rest up and such, before escorting the civilians back home. We'll relay the order to the rest, that's not your job. You did a good job, Agent."

"Actually, sir." Kat had now found a clearing, still close enough to potentially hear shouts from Karmaria, and she immediately began pacing it. She knew she had to ask, she knew they couldn't actually stop her, but she didn't want anyone to think she was deserting.

And she also really liked her job and hoped against hope she could somehow keep it. Even if slightly modified.

"Yes, Agent Alvarado?"

"I would prefer it if I could stay here. Surely a place this important needs to be kept an eye on, and I'm already here." Please let that be enough.

"Agent… What is your real motivation for staying?" Officer Baxter questioned. "I don't doubt your dedication to Windin or your belief that Karmaria should be watched. But something tells me there is more to it than that."

At least he sounds open to my suggestion. I might as well be honest then. "My brother was one of them, sir. He was Hypnotized and disappeared all of a sudden. He's my twin! We hadn't truly been apart before. I finally have him back and I refuse to leave him so soon. He intends to stay here to protect the Dungeon against attacks from the cult. So, I would like to stay here with him."

"... Good reason. Request approved. At least for now. I'll have to hear what several others think of this before it's truly approved, but I doubt there'll be any objections."

With that, Kat stopped pacing and let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Officer Baxter. Thank you."

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"My Queen. Shadow here, ready to finish my report on Karmaria." Shadow had used her connection to the Queen to borrow the office of the local dungeon mistress for the report.

Officially at least. And she did indeed do as she had stated she would. No need for the young mistress - she's only 204 and already a dungeon mistress, impressive! - to know Shadow had gone through all her notebooks and paperwork, before making the call to the Queen.

While the notebooks had given great insight into the mind of Mistress Acacia and truly emphasized how unusual The Dungeon of Karma was, for the most part there was nothing new. The young elf had been quite thorough in her report on the Dungeon.

The paperwork had only shown one odd thing, which Shadow intended to point out to her Queen during her report.

"One moment," Queen Enania replied. Shadow knew this meant the Queen was in the middle of something - likely a meeting of some kind - and wanted to politely excuse the other people, so they didn't distract Them during Shadow's report. It couldn't be for secrecy's sake, after all, as only those a part of Shadow's conversations could hear them.

They want to give my report Their full attention.

It is nice to be appreciated!

"Your report, Shadow."

"They speak the truth, Your Majesty. The Dungeon can undo mind control just as they claim." The sound coming from the Queen was that of silent, almost disbelieving relief.

Then the Queen spoke up again, desperately clinging to the good news. "Truly…?"

I've never heard the Queen this emotional…

But after what happened to her Highness…

"Truly, my Queen," Shadow confirmed, using the most comforting voice she could muster.

"Then-" The mother was suddenly gone with the Queen back in her place. "-We'll accept Windin's offer of a unicorn. Just one for now, see how both the unicorn and Our people react to each other. If it goes well, we can see if we'll borrow any more of them, to flush out this despicable cult!" The last sentence ended in an angry shout as the Queen was reminded of the cult and its actions against the crown, forcing Them to take several calming breaths.

"If I may, Your Majesty."

"Always, Shadow."

"Mistress Acacia mentioned that unicorns aren't the only option for a cult-detecting animal and the Windin representative here reluctantly agreed. Unicorns are simply the prefered one in Windin. The young mistress even demonstrated it by leading a… friend's bonded kirin to the prisoners before they were freed. It reacted with sudden aggression where before there was none, just as the unicorns reportedly do."

"Oh? Unfortunately, kirins aren't the easiest creature to find."

"Mistress Acacia gave me a list of animals with the same ability. None are particularly common, but combined there'll be enough to force the cult out of hiding."

"Wonderful! And how did Mistress Acacia hear of these beasts, when the Palace hadn't?"

Shadow had to hold in a snort at that.

She had asked the same thing!

"When I asked the very same question, Mistress Acacia replied, and I quote, 'this is my Dungeon's specialty', end quote. So,  presumably she learned about them through monster descriptions given to her by the holy System as a dungeon mistress."

"Very well." The Queen paused a bit in thought and Shadow waited respectfully. "We still desire to learn more about this newly discovered ability of the unicorns, even if it's not entirely unique to them. And well… We may have realized… In Our anger over Our mother's death, We have never actually met a unicorn. And perhaps it's time to rectify that."

"Yes, my Queen."

"And this friend of hers? The one with the kirin? You didn't seem too pleased with them," Queen Enania asked, the topic and mood changed at once.

Of course she would notice.

Not that I really tried to hide it.

Well… It's as good a segue as any.

"According to paperwork signed by Mistress Acacia, the local Sheriff, Dakath Fraxinus, and the local High Priest, Travaran Ginkgo: Karmaria created a ban on what they refer to as 'beastkin slavery' a couple of months ago. The High Priest was involved as reportedly the 'System blessed Dungeon of Karma' was the one to point the 'heresy' out to them." Disbelief, confusion, and hints of disgust was clear in Shadow's voice as she spoke, at times reading the wording straight from the paper in front of her.

"They did? How odd…" Queen Enania began humming thoughtfully, clearly not as disgusted and disbelieving as Shadow. "Have Mistress Acacia give Us a full report, and We mean full, sparing no details, on everything which happened to have this ban come to pass. Specifically why and how they reached this conclusion."

Shadow blinked confusedly at her Queen's sudden passion. "Yes, my Queen! At once! But… May I ask-"

Queen Enania interrupted before she could finish, having guessed what she was about to say. "They have been right about everything else, so far! As a System sworn Queen it is Our duty to investigate a reliable claim like this!"

Oh… Understanding hit her. "Yes, my Queen!"

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Did they split up the prisoners and sent them in groups?

Or maybe more cultists were discovered afterward?

Either way, I should probably report this to my 'mistress'.

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AN: I just realized I hadn't made the pronouns for the elven Queen clear. She considers herself a she/her, but whenever she is acting as a Queen she is also acting for the entire Queendom, which makes her use We/Us pronouns when speaking instead of the normal I/me. In the same vein, with the exception of her family, all her citizens refer to her as a They/Them with the capitalization indicating the difference between the normal they/them and the Royal They/Them.

Chapter 97 - Paranoia

How do I know?! I can't! I can't know!

One and a half months was more than enough to turn the normally calm Queen completely paranoid. The only people she still trusted were her Spymaster, her husband, and her own Party members turned personal Guards.

Shadow had successfully captured the false Ambassador Lagurith and spoiled the cult's plans, so she couldn't be a member. And after the cult had been revealed, the Spymaster had taken some extreme precautions to stop any possible attempts of mind control on her, so her alignment wouldn't suddenly change.

Enania herself wasn't mind controlled due to the simple fact that she was never alone. Either she had her Guards with her or she was with her husband. And if either of those had been members she would have been either mind controlled or kidnapped by now.

And while Advisor Acacia certainly hadn't been mind controlled when she notified them of the problem, there was no telling whether that had changed since then. Enania hadn't been as careful with those she trusted in the beginning due to how chaotic it had been, and she had let the Advisor out of her sight and protection.

And while the story of the mysterious Dungeon which could free people from mind control had arrived with the knowledge of the cult and thus should have been trustworthy, it simply seemed too good to be true. And when her precious heir had begun reciting the report about the Dungeon through the emco, it had seemed too different from normal Dungeons for even a System blessing to explain it.

Then her daughter was finally home, only for her behavior to prove her suspicions. Talindra had always been a wild child who cared more for immediate pleasures over her responsibilities. But this version of her daughter hadn't run away at first opportunity. She hadn't complained - even once! - about how unfair anything was. Or simply argued that she had a high enough level that she didn't need guards anymore.

Either the Dungeon really is too good to be true, like I fear. Or Talindra was mind controlled again at some point during her travels. For that!

That wasn't my daughter.

"My Queen. The Ambassadors are ready for you." The voice of Ralnor Liriodendron broke through her internal despair.

Right. I was about to have a meeting. I wonder how long they've been waiting for.

"Send them in."

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The Windin Ambassador had seemingly confirmed what the report had said, making the idea of an anti-mind control Dungeon simultaneously more trustworthy while making the cult potentially way more terrifying in the mind of Queen Enania.

If the Dungeon actually could do as described: Good. The agreement for Windin to send all the cultists they had discovered to the Dungeon of Karma would be a devastating blow to the Order of the Broken Goddess.

However, if it didn't?: That meant the cult had widespread forces in high places, making them exceedingly difficult to deal with. That was why Enania had rejected the return offer of a lended herd of unicorns, meant to help Alfamér detect the cult, 'for now'. She had told the Windin Ambassador she needed to prepare her Queendom and judge her people's reaction before there could be any talk about unicorns entering the nation.

'Otherwise some elf might harm the unicorns in their fear of the creature,' the Queen had explained, which made the human immediately agree to Enania's words.

In actuality, Enania simply didn't know whether or not the unicorns were a trap laid by the cult.

If all of it was just some elaborate ruse to make her put her guard down.

I have to be careful. One wrong step and the cult could win.

But we can't keep staying on the defensive like this. Hiding is their element, so we have to flush them out.

But how can I trust any of them? The only one I trust not to have their mind taken over should they be taken is Shadow.

Enania signed in the meeting room, empty except for her trusty Guards.

Then Shadow will have to discover the truth for me.

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Uh? Back so soon? And you didn't just convince the giant to join you in your task to repay me for freeing you, it seems.

Just over a month - 33 days to be exact - had passed since the three former cultists had left to reunite with their families. The Gravity Mage - I was informed - had no desire to return. The Paladin and Axe Master, however, had brought family back with them.

In the case of the Axe Master, his family had come in the hopes of better business, while the Paladin's sister was on a mission on behalf of their nation.

And while that at first had sounded really important and cool, and soon as she and the Lightning Mage started talking politics it turned boring.

I didn't care much for the details around the deal, but as it involved me getting cultists hand delivered to me for me to free - which would bring me closer to my next tier up -, I made sure I understood the broad strokes.

At first it hadn't seemed like my 'mistress' was even allowed to accept the deal. While she, for the most part, was essentially a queen when it came to the laws of still-developing-town surrounding my Portal - now named Karmaria -, she couldn't contradict the core laws of her nation. If she did, she - and thus Karmaria - would be considered rebels, which would bring the military here to 'establish order'.

One of these core laws was 'no unicorns'.

… Well technically it was a long list of things like 'you aren't allowed to own a unicorn', 'no unicorns are allowed to cross the border', 'if a unicorn is spotted, you must either kill it yourself or notify the local authority' and so on.

So the proposed deal of having their cultists freed by me in return for the use of unicorns to detect any remaining cultists couldn't be accepted as it was.

And when the Lightning Mage revealed that several members of Karmaria, including herself, had an Ability which allowed them to detect people with 0% karma like the cultists, the entire idea of unicorns helping out was scrapped.

Of course the Lightning Mage would love to accept the deal on behalf of her nation, as the rest of the elves certainly needed help identifying the cultists. So she called her mom to have the deal presented to the Queen.

Who simply told them to wait for one of her trusted servants to arrive and evaluate the deal.

Supposedly, the servant would be here in only a couple of days.

Doesn't it usually take longer than that?

Maybe they just didn't start in the capital or something…

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"What's our next step, cardinal Hydrus?"

Things hadn't been going well for The Order of The Broken Goddess recently. Hephetrius Hydrus was one of only two cardinals, who hadn't been killed, captured, or compromised like Lagurith.

They hadn't known at first that Lagurith had forsaken their goddess and joined the heathens. The old siren had led them right to their inner sanctum! The heathens had captured most, killed those they couldn't, and only few had escaped the unexpected massacre.

If we hadn't been ambushed we could have taken them! Even in those numbers!

Initiation took too much time and only worked on one at a time for it to be used mid combat. And with The Order's more physically inclined members being without their weapons due to not expecting they needed them-!

The heathens got at least a quarter of their numbers with that attack alone. And they had already dismantled the cell meant to deal with The Royal Dungeon of Alfamér beforehand! Which was where the majority of their members in that nation were located. Alfamér only hosted about a dozen or so members around the entire Queendom these days.

And the attacks hadn't stopped there. In fact, the few members they had left looking for new Dungeons in Alfamér were the safest of them. Many of the other nations on the continent had started using various different creatures to identify their members for capture.

Windin and Pasan used unicorns, Mammalia had their kirins and marakas while Geniss preferred the aid of the long but stubby bā zú lung dragons. Only the unicorns were actually domesticated, the rest were mainly tamed. Though for some individual creatures it could be debated if one could even consider them that much. It hadn't led to casualties on the side of the heathens, but several of the creatures had run off rather than give them aid.

The Siren Seas and The Siren Mountains had yet to receive the honor of hosting a member of The Order and might now never receive it, terrifying as that thought was. The only siren members The Order had ever had had been outsiders, for whom it would have been hard to explain their return to their motherland. As such, Hephetrius neither knew nor cared how the sirens were reacting or if they even knew.

As a whole, Tharesaly didn't know. Due to centaurs' normally nomadic lifestyle, the heathens had only been able to spread the news of The Order's existence to the biggest and the most well-established herds, the super-herds. These were the ones their own leaders had personally met during peace talks, which had enabled them to call using an emco.

But despite Tharesaly's slow response, Hephetrius knew exactly what his old stomping grounds would do when the news hit. Majority of the super-herds had their own flock of Púcas helping them out on a daily basis, and the smaller herds would simply seek out their parent super-herd for reinsurance of their heathen ways.

With the presence of Púcas amongst the super-herds, The Order only had members placed in the common herds. But at least they had plenty of members there, due to centaurs' wandering nature being helpful for gathering information on vulnerable Dungeons.

Hephetrius had always been proud his people were so useful to The Order that he had been able to convince the other cardinals to focus their initiations on Tharesaly.

And drive them away from initiating any more useless sirens. They wouldn't be of any help, as Lagurith had so clearly proved.

Knowing all this, his fellow remaining cardinal, Melanie Pierce, a human woman much like the prophet, had suggested they retreat to Tharesaly to regroup and gather their forces for a counterattack.

But Hephetrius Hydrus had had a much better plan. One Melanie had agreed to the moment she heard it.

"We are going to The Empty Forest to rescue the main piece of our goddess. Once freed she'll tell us how to deal with the heathens. And with a combination of the 'allow all'-tool and The Song of Liberation the Dungeon itself stands no chance! We simply need to ensure we arrive with a strong enough flock that the heathens around its Portal can easily be dealt with. So, spread the word! The Order of The Broken Goddess will congregate at the edge of The Empty Forest near the Pasan border!"

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A couple of days passed and the Queen's servant had arrived on hippogriff. She was an elven woman simply known as Shadow.

Well, that's ominous. Clearly a codename of some sort, 'cause that doesn't sound at all like a typical elven name.

I had met more than enough elves by now to be able to draw that conclusion, where I likely wouldn't have batted an non-existing eye back when I first opened my Portal to The Surface World.

But she's not a part of the cult at least. So, it's likely due to privacy reasons. Maybe she simply doesn't want her work for the Queen to follow her home.

But when she finally entered my Dungeon - supposedly only out of curiosity - her identity only became a bigger question.

Shadow

Elf

Scout

Level 29

That doesn't feel right. Shadow might be her preferred nickname, but it can't possibly be her real one. So, why is it showing me it is? Is it broken?

What was the description of Identify Identity again?

Identify Identity: Everyone can see the name, species, class, and level of everyone in their sight while inside your Dungeon. Only while using a Skill or Ability to hide is anyone exempt from being identified or able to fake their identity. Said Skill or Ability have to be of the same tier or higher than the Dungeon Core or happen with the Dungeon Core's approval.

Oh! So, she's faking her identity!

But wait! I'm level 59+ which means I'm 6th almost 7th tier. I don't believe a mere level 29 Scout can have a Skill or Ability of a high enough tier to overcome my rule.

She must be faking her Class and level too!

Boy are you a mystery! The only thing I trust here is your species!

And now I've bought that in doubt! Ahh!!!

Chapter 96 - Ensuring Freedom and Whether or Not You Should Believe In It

A week had passed and Agtius had come up with many arguments against moving - most of which he was fully aware originated from his trauma of having been forced to abandon his family. The rest of the family - especially his mamá, who had always been the head of the family even when his bampás had still been alive - had decided otherwise.

Apparently business was going badly enough that the family of immigrants decided to immigrate again. The three oldest of his younger siblings, Fridvag, Trivog, and Miztius had already moved out and made a good life for themselves, so they wouldn't be joining the rest of the family.

Why can't we just all stay together?! Why do I have to leave anyone behind?!

Meas had another half a year before she would be an actual adult with access to the System, so she would naturally join her mamá. Safius and Ethor may have had jobs, but they had gotten them for the money and not because of actual interest. So, they had decided to join their mamá as well.

I should never have told them about The Dungeon of Karma. The tale of his freedom had included mentioning the still developing settlement surrounding the Dungeon.

And his family knew well enough that developing places took a lot of wood. Even with houses built of stone and cement, a lot of the skeleton and infrastructure was made of wood.

Or at least I should have lied about their need for wood. Made the place sound less desirable.

In the end, Agtius' arguments hadn't worked, and the family had sold their land and home to buy a pair of arthropleura and everything else they needed for the three to four week long journey.

And here they were, bright and early. Standing right where Agtius had separated from Reid, waiting for the Paladin so he could join their unexpected caravan.

"Agtius! I see you changed your mind!" Reid greeted as he arrived. "Oh! You had to convince your family, I see! Wonderful to meet you all! I'm Reid Alvarado, as I'm sure you know, and this is my twin sister Kathrin."

He certainly cheered up since getting back to his family. His decision to leave them behind might be questionable, but at least he knows to appreciate them.

Then again. He apparently isn't leaving them all behind.

"They were actually the ones to… convince… me, this was the right thing to do." Then with a nod towards Kathrin, Agtius continued. "A pleasure to meet you Kathrin. I'm Agtius, and this is my mother Valith. My brothers Safius and Ethor. And my sister Meas. Business hasn't been going as well as it could be." He ended with a shrug.

No need to go into details, and I'm sure they can guess the important bits.

"Oh! Well, I couldn't let my twin leave again, so soon after having been apart for so long!" Kathrin said with a pep in her step as she began leading her horse and the caravan away from the City, so they could begin their journey. "We're twins, after all! We were rarely ever apart, and it's been so lonely without him."

"I know, Kat. Stop rubbing it in." Reid said with a roll of his eyes.

His smile betrayed his true feelings, however.

"I don't think I've told what I did when I realized you had disappeared and that the Hypnosis, which had failed on me, had actually succeeded on you? Well, I quickly realized it must have happened while I was talking to the worthless baron. If I hadn't been in another room, this never would have happened! So I called my mentor before sneaking back in for interrogation. He didn't say anything of note despite all my tricks and anger. He didn't even break when my mentor took over! That's when we realized, of course as he was Hypnotized too, he wouldn't break no matter what! So, we had him discredited and thrown in jail. Again, we had no way of getting rid of his Hypnosis."

Kathrin ended the tale with a nonchalant shrug, like she hadn't just admitted to ruining a man's life, simply for distracting her when she should have been with her brother.

A woman after my own head.

Despite the dark implications of Kathrin's story, pleasant banter soon erupted amongst the group as they all began sharing stories. The atmosphere was only broken when they stopped for lunch.

With his missing arm Agtius hadn't been able to help as much as he had wanted to. At times he had even been the one who needed the help!

Katrin, or Kat as she had asked they call her, had checked their surroundings as lunch was concluding to ensure their isolation, before revealing the other reason she had joined their group.

"I'm gonna ask that you keep what I'm about to say a secret while we travel," she began. "It's not so much a matter of national security as it is to stop a national panic, otherwise I likely wouldn't have been allowed to tell you. As you already know, members of the cult of The Broken Goddess are currently being identified via unicorns and taken into custody. This is happening all over Windin. What we haven't let the public know, is that we don't know how to reverse the mind control."

A bright, tooth-filled grin appeared on Kat's face. "That's where I come into play! As I - through both my job and brother - am already aware of all the details, I've gotten the honor of acting as an ambassador, to broker a deal between Windin and dungeon mistress Acacia to have our prisoners sent to her Dungeon for rehabilitation."

She gave a self-satisfied nod topped with a cocky grin, before leaning in to stage whisper. "Of course they also picked me because I possess the necessary Ability Scores to act as a makeshift ambassador! Not just anyone can be trusted with a task like this!"

Well. The trip's certainly not gonna be boring with her around, Agtius thought with a shake of his head and a smile.

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Dungeon Rule Updated: ‘Mimicking Fake Core’ becomes a Dungeon Core mimic.

Hello little one! Welcome to the world!

While my newly created Dungeon Core mimic didn't respond physically to my greeting - it still very much looked like a perfect replica of my actual Dungeon Core - but I could feel its emotions quite expressively.

I couldn't feel the emotions of any other of my creatures, but with its job meaning it had to pretend to be my Core, it made sense it could talk to me without having to speak like my other creatures. At most the rest could let me see through their eyes and hear through their ears and such, but nothing involving their thoughts or feelings.

In addition to sharing feelings, my Dungeon Core mimic responded to my greeting by sending me its thoughts: Love Creator. Protect Creator.

Oh, my perfect little baby! I thought in reply to my only level 60 creature. While I hope you'll never need to, I know you'll do just perfect should you need to protect me!

Pride, happiness, and self confidence were sent back in response.

Oh? You prefer communicating with emotions rather than words?

Feelings of happiness and acceptance were my only response. Luckily the System had prepared me for unusual ways of saying 'yes'.

Very well, my little one.

What's my mana like right now? Status, please!

Personal Status

Level: 59+

Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 2,820/5,000

EXP: 66,053,742

Next mana payment for level up: 0/212,000

Mana: 17,562/26,500

Mana regeneration: 9,275 per hour

Floors: 19/30

Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6

Floor Details

Achievements

Mission

Dungeon Rules

I had gotten a lot done in the 16 days it had been since the elven Crown Princess had left with her escorts. So much in fact, that it would take forever to list it all. 8 additional Floors had been made with varying Environmental themes and everything that entailed.

I've got a decent chunk of mana saved up. Let's see what I can do with it!

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Talindra Phoenix Flower had been traveling for three long weeks. Her escorts had been ordered by her mother to never let her out of their sights. A habit which had begun as soon as they had arrived at the still unnamed and unfinished Dungeon town.

As such, the Crown Princess was way past simply being annoyed with them by now.

But at the same time, she understood.

Her past self would have ditched the guards almost immediately to go explore and have fun.

But that puzzle in the Dungeon. That one puzzle, which had made her believe herself to be dead.

It had changed her perspective on things.

No longer were fun and material things what was most important.

No. The most important thing was Alfamér.

It was time to grow up and finally be the heir she was raised to be.

And being a good heir started with not running away like she wanted to and staying in sight of the guards at all times. Which meant she couldn't go out hunting, her all time favorite activity, and had to let someone else provide food for the group.

Instead Talindra used her free time reading over the report of the Dungeon of Karma. It was a fascinating read. So fascinating in fact, that had she not witnessed many of the points herself she wouldn't have believed it.

Her mother had called her weekly - which would normally have been considered quite excessive but was understandable under the circumstances. As little of interest happened while traveling their emco talks mainly consisted of all the oddities the report described and any experience Talindra could add.

Normally her mother wouldn't have hidden as much of the ongoings of the Queendom as she did during their talks. There had been a lot of 'it's being taken care of' and a lot less details on how it was being taken care of than usual.

But Talindra didn't blame her mother or get angry like her past self would have. It was hard being in charge and there was no reason for Talindra to make it harder for her mother.

One of the first things Talindra had learned from her mother was the act of masking. Her mother had three masks: The Foreign Queen, where she would act coldly but fairly towards other nations. The Loving Queen, for interactions with her own subjects. And her true self, which was only ever shown to her closest friends and family.

Talindra was used to her mother acting distantly whenever they were in public or if a surprise guest showed up. But to see the face of The Foreign Queen when it was only them and her personal Guards? The Guards she treated as an extension of her family due to the close bond of their Party?

That hurt.

But again, the much more mature Talindra could understand her paranoia. She had no proof her daughter had actually been freed from mind control. Or that she hadn't simply been mind controlled again on the way back to the Palace.

So when her mother, the Queen, ordered her to hand her the report on the Dungeon, Talindra simply did so, hiding her pain behind her own mask. She waited while her mother skimmed through the report she had already summarized for her through their emcos. And she accepted her mother's disbelief in the report's authenticity.

Talindra had thought it herself, after all: It was an unbelievable report for those who hadn't actually been there.

So, that’s the advice she gave her mother, before she was promptly escorted to her quarters.

With guards still constantly guarding her.

And while her younger self would simply have broken out to hunt in the woods, this version of her wanted to be better. Wanted to be the best heir and at some point the best Queen Alfamér could possibly have.

And… Well… Talindra knew she hadn't paid as much attention to the more political and social parts of her studies as she should have.

So, in order to get the most out of her polite imprisonment, Talindra picked out several dozen unused books in her private library and began reading.

Chapter 93 - An Ounce of Prevention

Sarzina Acacia was headed towards the Sheriff's office to help him make a report on the day's events for the Crown Princess and her escorts to take back to the Queen, who wanted to be kept up to date on everything regarding the cult. The Sheriff's office was located on the second floor of the Security Guild and as she stepped into the building her attention was immediately drawn towards a loud discussion happening in the lobby.

The human man her Dungeon had requested she keep a closer eye on to ensure he didn't get sucked back into the cult was talking disparately - and thus loudly - with the siren who had been the first of the prisoners to be freed of mind control. Zina didn't know what was so special about this particular human, which had led her Dungeon to want to keep him in particular safe. She hadn't asked as she highly doubted she would have gotten an answer.

The Dungeon liked their - the beastkin had ensured her the Dungeon prefered they/them pronouns - secrets enough to have the System force her to keep them for them, after all.

At least the request was one she was happy to accommodate. She didn't want anyone to fall into the clutches of the cult in the first place.

What is going on here?

It didn't take much listening before the piece fell into place: The siren had joined the unit going after the cult and the human wanted to stay with him. But the siren was worried about the human's safety due to the man's much lower level.

Yeah… How can you only be a 2nd tier despite being in your prime? Zina, who had spent all her free time training and leveling up in Dungeons, had no way of understanding how someone could be that low leveled and not just have come of age.

"You are welcome to stay here till mister Lagurith returns, mister Great Rat." Zina interrupted to suggest. If he stays here I can keep an eye on him like my Dungeon wants. I can't really leave this place for unknown periods of time.

"Mister Great Rat?!" The human exclaimed confusedly, before stubbornness set back in. "No. You're not a boss if you're not close enough to order anyone around! I have to stay with him!"

That's not true, Zina thought confused. The Queendom works just fine even though the Queen can't be everywhere.

"I-. No, but-." Mr. Great Rat stuttered. "Maybe that works for you, but that's not how it works here!" He ended stubbornly.

"I don't mind the company of Mr. Great Rat." Intercepted Lagurith with a fond smile aimed at the human. "I simply worry for his safety during my missions."

"I-. But-. I won't-. I'll stay hidden!" The human replied with his arms now crossed and his head turned sideways, looking down.

"Hmmm…" It was silent for a couple of seconds as Zina thought. "What do you intend to do while mister Lagurith is working?"

The reply was instant. "Whatever he tells me to!"

Zina raised an eyebrow as Lagurith questioned the answer. "Whatever I tell you to? Don't you have anything you want to do?" The look the human sent was in itself an answer. "Huh… If you could have any job in the world, what kind of job would you have?"

"I-. Uhh…" Clearly he had never considered that before now, as he froze up entirely from being asked.

After several long seconds Lagurith seemed to give up on getting an answer as he suddenly sighed. "I'm sure we can find something you'll like doing."

The human unfroze as a satisfied grin appeared on his lips.

"Something which will keep him out of danger and away from the cult?" Zina questioned. If I can't do it myself then…

A questioning chirp sounded from the siren before he answered. "Certainly. As I said, his safety is my main concern. I'll do my utmost to keep him out of harm's way. Whether that be physical or mental."

"Good! Now if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to do with the Sheriff."

The silently listening deputies in the lobby sniggered.

Paperwork might not be all the two of them did in the Sheriff's office these days, but the rumors were certainly ahead of reality.

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"Is that your personal name or family name?" Kastle Brassheart questioned the siren. The human next to him had been presented by the siren with both a personal name and a family name. While it wasn't his business he highly suspected the human had been adopted by gnomes for him to have a family name like Greatrat.

"We sirens don't have family names as we consider our whole community our family." Replied Lagurith.

"Oh," exclaimed Kastle, confused. "Then how do you know whether you've been invited to stay in someone's home?"

The siren chirped confusedly back at Kastle. "Well… While sirens are very hospitable, our customs means each Village and Town has several guest homes available for guests rather than guest bedrooms. While you would always be allowed to visit, even uninvited and without warning, you would not be allowed to stay at someone's home. Night time is meant to be spent with your ji-dit, your closest family."

"Oh!" Kastle exclaimed again but this time in understanding. He had never considered that someone might have other traditions when it came to social interactions. "Well, we gnomes will introduce ourselves or each other by both personal and family name. But expect to be called by our family name and any relevant title. If we give our permission for you to address us by our personal name only, then you would have earned our trust and loyalty. And with that trust and loyalty comes the standing offer to find shelter and safety in our home."

Lagurith took a moment to look around at the members of the Exodus around them, before drawing his gaze back to Kastle. "While I'm sure that's true for your people, I'm afraid to say it's not a universal gnome custom. I have met many gnomes doing my travels, many of whom asked to be called by their personal name the moment we met. Long before any trust and loyalty could be established between us. Some people simply prefer being called by their personal name rather than their family name. Generally because they want to be seen and judged for their own merits instead of their parents'."

Kastle simply stared blankly as his brain tried to comprehend the meaning of the words he had been told.

Could this-? be why we were always rejected?

Just how many times have I, and so many others, entered the home of a person who gave us permission to call them by their personal name? Thinking it meant we had been invited inside? Thinking it meant we had been invited to stay?

Too many. We have mostly been traveling through human lands and they seem to prefer to be called by their personal names.

Regaining his composure, Kastle decided to ask the siren if this could be the truth.

"Hmm…" The siren hummed thoughtfully for a moment after hearing their tale. "That would certainly be enough for some places, but I do find it odd that not a single person would tell you what you had done wrong. Perhaps there is more to the story than simply this. Maybe you and some of your fellows could go through what a normal day looks like for you. I find cultures very fascinating, you see, and I know the customs of Pasan well. When you speak of humans, you are referring to the citizens of Pasan, correct?"

"Yes, I did! And we'll be glad to go through our routines with you!" The excitement in Kastle's voice was clear to all.

Finally we'll figure out what we've been doing wrong all this time!

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"While 'finders keepers' are a thing, for - quite frankly - everyone else, it only comes into effect if it's impossible to tell who owned - or rather owns - the object. If your pet raccoon, crow, or raven brings you an item which you know belongs to someone else, it is instead your duty to do all you can to bring the object back to its proper owner. You don't just get to keep it. And plenty of places might demand you train your pets not to steal rather than encourage it. It might not technically not be you who steals the item, but as you've decided to keep known stolen goods which your pets have brought you, you would still be considered the thief to most places. You are supposed to be the sapient here, their actions are your responsibility."

Lagurith took a couple of deep breaths before finishing his scolding of a fully adult gnome woman. Having racoons, crows, and ravens as pets was apparently completely normal for these gnomes, and it was completely expected that they would bring any well liked owner gifts in the form of items they had found on their walks or flights. It didn't matter if those 'gifts' had clearly been stolen from another. The gnomes themselves simply made sure to lock anything away that might be taken by another's pet as a 'gift'.

"Now bring all of your stolen goods to the Security Guild so it can be given back to their proper owner. Then train your pets not to steal from people."

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With 8,925 mana per hour and no intention of making something super expensive, like a unicorn blessing, it didn't take me long to finish my 11th Floor.

After having done 5 mainly forest themed Floors followed by 5 mainly volcano themed ones, and as I had already been outed as being an unusual Dungeon, I had decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of doing 5 mainly river and lake themed Floors next, I would only make one. The 12th Floor would then be mountain themed, the 13th a desert, and the 14th a tundra.

A greater variety would not only keep me from stagnating, but leave me better able to defend myself against specialized enemies.

When I eventually ran out of Floors I could make and had to wait for either a level up or a tier up, I planned to redo my first 10 Floors, to make them fit this rotation.

And to stop boredom of course!

Now that I think about it… I've never actually been bored. Not even back at level 0 when I waited hours simply to get enough mana to make a single dragonet.

… Probably an inherent immortality thing. Otherwise no one would ever be able to handle eternity!

With only 1 Floor to work with per theme at a time, I wanted to include a much bigger variety of suitable dragons. Where each of my first 5 Floors had of the dragons I had gotten through leveling up - all forest themed -, this time I would include 4 of them on one Floor.

The tatzelwurm was a lindwyrm with the face and front paws of a lynx. Both the fured front part of the creature and the scaled back part was colored in a lynx's pattern with the fur part extending down the creature's back a bit like the mane of a horse. Besides their sharp claws and teeth, tatzelwurms could produce a ear-claspingly high-pitched hissing sound meant to distract their prey from the poisonous breath now surrounding them.

A pair of crocodiles with an elephant trunk makara could be found at every entrance throughout the Floor as they had an Achievement called 'Guardian of Gateways' which gave them bonuses in both Strength and Toughness while guarding anything one could consider a gateway. As they were already able to Buff their own Toughness and as 'Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves' would surely already be in effect by the time any intruders arrived at the 11th Floor, they could potentially end up with quite insane Toughness Scores.

Where the tatzelwurms would strike from their hiding spots in trees and shrubs, the peludas would ambush from underwater. This long-necked drake had an almost spherical body completely covered in green, stiff, waterproof fur from which poison-tipped, hedgehog-like spikes emerged. The poison was a weak and slow acting one, clearly meant to deter and punish predators from trying to eat it.

And with their size being just short that of a large dog, they were small enough to warrant that size of protection in this world.

Not that that was their only defense. No, their first instinct was to burn their enemies with their breaths of Fire!

And if that didn't work, the peluda would use its mace-shaped tail to crush them.

To round out the dragons of the 11th Floor came the amaru. The amaru was an amphiptere with two sets of fins on its long, fish-like tail as well as red and green, waterproof feathers on its wings. With the exception of its more colorful wings, it had a body covered completely in turquoise scales.

Even on its llama-like head. Which was a bit weird to look at.

As the only flier of the group, I found it quite fitting that they preferred to spend their time in the sky, where they could summon small localized thunderstorms, cause hail to appear, or simply make it rain on command.

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AN: 'Ji-dit' is the sound a Ruby-crowned Kinglet makes.

The Content of Future Chapters

The ex-cult members are about to return to their homes and reunite with their families, which asks the question: Should I describe these reunions or skip over them as they aren’t plot related?

Chapter 50 - Trap Triggers and Troublesome Travels

During the next several days we settled into a new routine.

I worked on finishing my 9th Floor, while spying on the elves.

The Tribe harvested fruit and vegetables, as well as trees from the 8th Floor at night, which they made use of during the day. They had even made a rudimentary forge for minor smithing, though they used just as much wood for making furniture.

The military elves patrolled the area around where the remaining elves were digging. From what I had overheard, they were currently making sewers. The well had been dug out first, and the sewers were being constructed far enough away from it that the two wouldn't clash.

With 50+ elves - it was hard to count with only a single stationary viewpoint, and no one had spoken of an actual number in my hearing - working on the construction the sewers were very nearly done already.

The Lightning Mage had used her time on attempting to discover what made my traps trigger, figuring out why one could make The Door of Speciesism open yet everyone - as far as she knew - still failed the puzzle, and going over her notes while planning her future business as a dungeon mistress. Fees, taxes, prices of loot and information being sold at the Dungeon Guild and so on. A bit of her time did go to speaking with the leader of the construction force and the lieutenant, but less so over time as they each settled into their roles.

I was finished with my 9th Floor just before the dawn of the fourth day of this routine, but I refrained from declaring it as such right away. I needed to do so shortly after dusk, so I could be sure we had enough time for me to dig out the 10th Floor and for the Tribe to then move all their stuff a Floor down.

Naturally I warned them of the upcoming move, so they could get ready to get it done quickly.

Several took it as a command to take a nap… As they would be up late it wasn't that bad of an idea, if one could actually fall asleep while the Tribe was busy packing up.

While waiting for the sun to set, the Lightning Mage had three soldiers join her for a Dungeon run. Two out of the three had karma levels under 25%, while the third was the soldier who had been redeemed by petting my yaks. The yak-petter's karma level had already risen to 29%, faster than any I had seen before! And I suspected he was the reason I had gotten EXP from 'Making the World a Better Place' at odd moments, despite the fact that he wasn't even in my Dungeon during those times! But as a Dungeon Core I see everything happening in my Dungeon all at once, and I know none of the Tribesmen had their karma raised during those times.

I must assume something about petting a Dungeon creature taught him a lesson in kindness.

… Or something…

My traps triggered and, as with every time this had happened before, it led to the Lightning Mage getting excited and writing down every detail she could think of in her quest of discovering what my 'Dungeon-wide secondary trigger' was.

Which was honestly a good way of putting it! But of course she wasn't in any way close to figuring it out. As I highly doubted she had any way of reliably discover anyone's karma level, it would likely stay that way quite a while.

As my 'mistress' was currently focused on figuring out my traps, she had decided to ignore my Floors past my Boss. Instead she would use her time to go over her notes and Dungeon textbooks, hoping to learn my secrets. And as no one entered my Dungeon without her, my deeper Floors had been left to themselves.

But when the Lightning Mage again went over her notes that evening on when my traps triggered and when they didn't, only to find contradictions in any solution to the mystery she could find, she declared to herself - and thus me - that she was out of ideas.

Only for her to quickly backtrack and propose the idea that it might be random whether the traps triggered for any particular run or not. Which, of course, wasn't so easy to prove and could only be disproven if the actual secondary trigger condition was discovered.

Nonetheless, in the morning she would begin letting people enter without her in return for a small fee and an 'exit tax' of one quarter of one's loot or its value. Apparently, exit taxes were normally only one fifth of the gathered loot but as it was much easier getting loot from my Dungeon than other Dungeons, the tax had been raised.

On the other hand, the entrance fee was smaller than average. A dungeon entrance fee was calculated based on how many wanted to visit the Dungeon on an average day. Popular Dungeons had high entrance fees as a way to stop too long lines - which could either be a physical line or one on a waiting list - from forming.

What my 'mistress' didn't mention, was how entrance fees were very much simply a reflection of 'supply and demand'.

As there were just over 100 elves stationed around my Portal, with roughly half still too afraid to consider entering, and with all of them having work to do as well, I simply wasn't considered a popular Dungeon at the moment.

The sun set, the 10th Floor was quickly dug, and the Tribe was moved successfully. As my 'family' they could open puzzle doors without solving their puzzles simply by wanting them to open, and with even my non-karmic creatures seeing them as one of them, the Tribe had no problems passing through my now activated 9th Floor.

However, with it being a new Floor - and having been stuck in the same small place for days - many took the time to actually complete the Floor as it was intended. And as they knew of my theme and typical style of puzzle making, they naturally breezed through them.

Even more so as one of my puzzles contained a critical mistake, making it much easier to solve.

I knew it had been suspiciously cheap! Nice to finally know why.

Naturally, I made sure to fix it. It was an easy fix.

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Sarzina Acacia began her day by asking Chalia Ulmus how the construction was going.

"The town foundation will be finished later today, deary." Chalia replied. "And then we'll begin building your Dungeon Guild as you have requested."

"Thank you, Chalia." Zina said with a smile and a nod, before leaving Chalia to her work as the noblewoman went to find lieutenant Alnus.

It didn't take long before the dungeon mistress and the lieutenant had decided on a schedule and salary for the temporary guard/fee-/tax collector rotation. Then their new duties were explained to the privates in question, who liked the idea of getting the boredom of guard duty broken up a bit while getting more money.

A part of their duties were informing those who paid for it about the first 5 Floors of the Dungeon. To aid with this Zina had prepared 5 hand drawn maps, as well as a couple of pages of short descriptions of the monsters, traps and puzzles found there. These were not for sale just yet, as Zina wasn't yet able to have them mass produced.

With that in place, Zina felt ready to start exploring the 6th Floor and beyond.

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Uh… Right! I'll have to fix that…

My Earning One's Own Paycheck Rule had made the group of 4 construction workers believe only some of my creatures were non-aggressive, while thinking the rest would act like normal Dungeon creatures. The group had gotten ready to attack before they… relearned? that my dragonets were harmless if left alone.

While I didn't want people to simply be told where my traps were and how to solve my puzzles, before they had even been in my Dungeon. I did, however, want people to be able to come in knowing my creatures would leave them alone if people left them alone.

And I knew, having people assume my creatures would automatically try to kill them would quickly leave me frustrated.

How much would it cost to update Earning One's Own Paycheck to allow sapients to remember being told that my creatures only attack in self defense?

Making exceptions to an existing Rule costs no mana.

Making exceptions to an existing Rule creates a Subrule for the Rule.

Alright then. I would like that exception then.

New Dungeon subrule:

Subrule for "Earning One's Own Paycheck":

Subrule 1: The knowledge of Dungeon creatures being generally non-aggressive will not be distorted by this Rule.

Good.

The 4 construction workers had immediately relaxed their guard as the exception took effect. They were still a bit wary but had stopped looking like they expected everything to jump at them.

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Brother Malik and his unicorn Familiar Sunbolt were about a week away from returning home to Craftery Cartwright. Their adventure had had just the right amount of excitement and relaxation.

Truthfully Malik would love to keep exploring like this, but he couldn't let his people down. Not that they wouldn't be able to make do without him. No, no! The craftery and its people could take care of themselves just fine. But they would both be disappointed in him and miss him greatly should he leave for longer than this.

Malik hadn't even known how long the journey would take when he had first ventured out. Had it been any other time of the year, Malik would have stayed at home even at the face of the mystery of his Familiar being at two places at once for a short moment in time. But as it had been the end of the harvest, Malik had been encouraged to go the moment he expressed desire to do so.

Having been reassured that everything would be alright, the Hero and his Familiar went for a long walk in the direction the man had felt his second Familiar.

Now late fall had given in to early winter with snow falling and melting in a near constant circle.

The Monk had stuck up on supplies everytime he got across civilization, but he was fully capable of surviving off of nature. Winter made it more challenging, but with it still being early winter, Malik didn't find it too difficult.

Though, he had no problem admitting he had eaten less than usual, and Sunbolt had had to eat bark several times. Not that it had dampened their mood any!

The two companions had resupplied at a Large Village the day before. They were getting a little short on money these days. He hadn't expected it would take this long, after all. But the people of his Kingdom praised unicorns and saw them as the best judge of character. As such, ever since he had returned to Pasan, he and Sunbolt had gotten a free meal everywhere he stopped by, as well as discounts on rooms and supplies. Not massive discounts, Malik wouldn't have allowed that. But letting people help made them feel important, helpful, and needed, so Malik generally accepted such things with a bright smile and a heartfilled thanks.

While walking through yet another forest, Sunbolt gently poked her Hero with her head before making a pointed motion with her head. The unicorn had the higher Awareness of the two and this was her way of informing the human of other people being nearby. Malik loved meeting new people and whenever he had met someone outside of a town they had been in need of some form of help. Some had gotten lost, others wounded, one group had misjudged their need for food and hadn't known how to live off of the land.

So, when Sunbolt informed him of the presence of people in the forest, Malik was immediately ready to go help and adjusted their course slightly to the right, as Sunbolt had depicted.

It didn't take long before Malik began hearing the sounds of hundreds of people talking and moving around. Way more people than the two friends had stumbled upon outside a town before.

After several more moments of walking it was revealed to them that a large group of gnomes had set a temporary camp in a clearing clearly too small to fit them all at once, much less all their stuff and animals. They appeared to be roasting a large variety of animals on 6 Orb driven stoves.

At first glance there didn't appear to be anything they needed help with, much to Malik's relief. That didn't stop him from wanting to meet them and hear their story.

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It wasn't a nice story. Far from it.

The gnomes had been living in a Large Town named Rivervale at the outskirts of Pasan in a region which had previously been a part of the gnome dominated Small Kingdom of Geniss. This region still had a plenty of gnomes living there, though the area had belonged to the human dominated Kingdom of Pasan for over 100 years. None of these gnomes had been alive when the area had been a part of Geniss, making them all citizens of Pasan and used to the laws of said Kingdom.

But their social customs? Not so much.

Having lived in a place almost purely filled with gnomes with everyone's closest ancestors - either parents, grandparents or at least great-grandparents - having been citizens of Geniss, their social customs had mimicked the Small Kingdom instead of the one they were actually a part of.

This hadn't caused any problems while Rivervale was still populated.

The Large Town had had a Dungeon, which had been one of the reasons Pasan had wanted the region. Not just for The Dungeon of Rivervale but for the other Dungeons in the region as well.

For the people of Rivervale this mostly meant they had a new tax collector, so life hadn't really changed from before the war.

But then one day their Dungeon Portal crumpled, becoming a pile of rocks and dust.

Many suspected one of the Parties inside the Dungeon - all of which had been ejected from the Dungeon seconds before its Portal fell - had done something to the Dungeon Core. But when they had been interviewed it came to light that one of the Parties - the guilty one most likely - had escaped capture.

The culture and economy of Rivervale had been entirely dependent on its Dungeon and without it, the Large Town quickly stopped being able to function properly.

Visitors including merchants stopped coming once the news of the Dungeon's fall had spread. People began to move away, while others took to crime in desperation.

This particular group had started out as a collection of people from Rivervale, who didn't know anyone from outside the once active Dungeon town who could take them in or otherwise help them establish a new life elsewhere. They had banded together and set out to find a new place elsewhere, not really having any specific goal in mind.

That was when their Genish variant of social norms began causing them problems. The group could never figure out what they did wrong. They knew no actual law had been broken, yet every town wanted them to settle down somewhere else. Sometimes they were told this directly, sometimes actions spoke louder than words.

Two dozen of them hadn't been able to adapt to their now nomadic lifestyle fast enough. In the beginning, they had had a bit of a problem reliably getting enough food and water for roughly 1,000 gnomes, and wild animals had been a problem several times.

Malik had been able to simply jump on Sunbolt's back and escape any aggressive wild creature getting too close for comfort. But with that many people slowed down by heavy possessions, while not actually having enough pack animals or carts for everyone to get a ride at once, this hadn't been an option for the gnome group.

Having listened to their troubles, Malik knew exactly how he could help.

AN: Maybe this is the time to mention that Malik is definitely, 100% a muscular hot man. People don't just want to help him 'cause he has a unicorn for a companion…

That being said, this is the last time we'll follow the tale of the Hero Munk Malik and his unicorn Familiar Sunbolt.

… Unless someone wants to write a fanfic about them, that is.

Chapter 49 - Noted Oddities

After having closely examined her notes, consulted her books on Dungeons and even contacted her old dungeon professor through her emco, Sarzina Acacia had come to a conclusion:

Her Dungeon was anything but normal.

Some of the oddities were simply rare, but seen before in other Dungeons. But for one Dungeon to have more than two of these rare variations had never been seen before.

On top of that, several oddities were completely unique and never seen before.

Zina and her old professor had ended up concluding that no good action could be taken before they had more information, so simply learning more about the Dungeon would be the best thing to do for the moment.

After looking over her notes the night before, Zina had realized that the levels of the monsters of each Floor didn't follow either of the two only known standards. Normally the levels of the monsters of a Floor would either be completely random, or every monster would have the highest level possible for the Floor with the exception of one weaker monster. A rare variation of the first standard was completely random levels except for Boss's which would have the highest level instead.

But Zina's Dungeon didn't follow either of the two standards, nor the rare variation. Roughly 40% of the Dungeon's monsters of the first three Floors - which were all Zina had information on at the moment - had the highest level possible for the Floor and were placed at the latter half of a Floor, about another 40% were one level under the Floor limit and placed at the first half of a Floor, while the remaining 10% were level 1 monsters, which didn't fit into the other two categories.

With numbers like that, it didn't appear random at all, yet many monsters weren't at the Floor limit!

And adding that to all the other oddities Zina had taken note of…

…Well… Neither Zina or her old professor had known what to make of it… Other than documenting all the differences, that is.

After all, one of the oddities of the Dungeon was how its monsters didn't always attack, while another gave extra EXP and loot for not attacking.

Zina loved the mystery and challenge of figuring out why the Dungeon acted as it did - its traps acted weird too, after all -, but she wasn't really sure what to think about the lack of actual fighting in there. The holy System rewarded people for hard work and normally nothing was harder than Dungeon mining.

But, while Zina's Dungeon gave good rewards, it wasn't a hard one to mine. Which went against what most people believed was the will of the System.

Dungeons are a crucial part of the holy System, right? So, a priest might have an idea of what's going on and what to do about it.

Isn't one supposed to arrive with the sheriff? When will that be again? Three weeks or so I believe…

Guess I'll just have to keep documenting everything till then!

Which was something Zina was all too happy to do.

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This was clearly a good news, bad news situation. Bad news: I had been declared as unusually abnormal. Good news: They didn't intend to do anything about it till they knew more.

Neutral news: Their next course of action seemed to hang on the advice of an unknown priest with just as unknown morals and motives. The only things I knew about their religion was that they worshiped the System and had the number 6 as a holy number. Which won't help me learn anything about the priest.

There is no point in trying to fix the oddities they have already noted. It will likely just make me seem even weirder.

At least three weeks will give me enough time to finish the 9th Floor and likely the 10th as well. More defenses are always good!

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New Dungeon Rule:

More Than Allowed: When the allowed number of sapients in each Floor has been disabled, Dungeon creatures and the Core’s “family” get a 5% increase in Dexterity for each additional sapient to enter the Dungeon after the first 4. The increase in Dexterity through this Rule can not be higher than a 100% increase.

I love it, but I doubt I’ll end up using it much. The loss of loot is undesirable after all, and I am supposedly already tamed. It might not end up used at all.

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The next drive, the first of the new day, the Lightning Mage did only accompanied with her dawon. And clearly having interacted with my kobolds had made her change her strategy, 'cause now she was politely asking for every key before relieving my key-carrying creatures of them. This new habit meant she solved the only puzzle she had had trouble with. Which was… both a bad and a good thing.

It was bad in the event she decided I wasn't worth keeping around or if - or rather when - she realized I wasn't actually Caged. But her attitude also indicated that she wasn't a bad person.

She just seemed to have tunnel vision aimed at becoming famous as a dungeon master. Which… could both end up being to my advantage or my disadvantage, depending on whether her priority was to dominate me or if gaining fame by being associated with me was more important.

'Cause if it was the latter, then I might be able to strike up some form of deal with her!

Though I wasn't completely sure what kind of deal that would be. I would want to include a truce of some sort for the Tribe, and even if the Lightning Mage wanted to agree to that, I was sure her Queendom wouldn't.

I'll consider it more at a later date. I don't want to take any risks before I've finished my 10th Floor, so it really isn't relevant at the moment.

The Lightning Mage and her dawon quickly passed the first three Floors before slowing down so the elf could take a massive amount of notes for the 4th.

The hate shown from The Door of Speciesism confused and annoyed her for quite a while before she realized what was happening. After which she was quick to convince The Door that not all elves were bad people, and it let them through.

She still failed the puzzle of course, which naturally confused her.

And made her write more notes…

Then The Kobold Training Camp and its many traps were explored and noted, after which it was The Geyser Path's turn. The Creature Picture puzzle was quickly solved and seeing how little time had passed since she entered my Dungeon, the Lightning Mage decided to explore the 5th Floor right away.

Plenty of notes were written for the three Memory Lanes, and like Begdar the Lightning Mage also realized that the three rooms contained invisible creatures through the extra loot and EXP given after each room.

The Humble Door only took her a couple of tries before she understood the hint it was giving her.

Before answering the puzzle found in the next room, she began exploring the place. Quickly realizing the disaster about to happen I ordered the ring handle shaped mini mimic to jump into the nearby olive tree, while the two visitors were looking at the weapon stands, and take the form of a small olive branch.

I really didn't want her to write down that it normally looked like the door's ring handle and spoil the surprise.

While the Lightning Mage made sure to look up in every tree, she didn't use any spells when doing so nor did she climb them, so the mimic's epic shapeshifting kept it from being found.

Then she shook the statue's hand and entered The Field of Fallen Heroes.

Only for Experiencing Peace to reveal that she had missed a creature in the previous room… Luckily, she simply assumed it was another invisible longma.

Then she realized that even during normal Dungeon runs I have multiple creatures in my Boss Room. And unlike dragonets, unicorn bunnies wouldn't attack when people got too close to their burrows but instead flee, so its presence in the Boss Room was noted as well.

I'm getting more and more annoyed at her finding so many of my tricks! Especially since I know she intends to sell the information to people for profit! She has earned that knowledge! But newcomers aren't meant to have it from the start!

The Lightning Mage left my Dungeon, and if I had a mouth it would be making an evil grin, while letting a few evil-sounding chuckles escape.

So, I'll have to force them to earn it for themselves!

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New Dungeon Rule:

Earning One's Own Paycheck: All knowledge of this Dungeon must be earned individually by exploring the Dungeon or having one of the Dungeon Core's creatures share the knowledge. Unearned knowledge will be distorted until it has been confirmed by Dungeon exploration or by a Dungeon creature. (AN: Please tell me, dear reader: Would you consider this a form of 'mind manipulation'? Or is it instead simply 'knowledge manipulation'? Or both?)

All EXP gained to sapients or semi-sapients from killing Dungeon creatures must be earned individually by participating in the fight. No unearned EXP is gained in this Dungeon.

The Dungeon Core gains nothing from one sapient killing another, if nothing Dungeon-aligned did anything to make this happen. Dungeon-aligned includes Dungeon walls, doors, puzzles, traps, creatures, "family" and so on.

The Rule ended up being broader than I had originally intended, but I was still pleased with it. The last bit was definitely unintended and seemed to be the System's way of saying 'if you ask for things to be earned, then it must include your own rewards'.

As I doubted the situation would happen all that often, I decided to gracefully accept what I was given.

Or rather: What I had earned.

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Zina may have finished exploring the first tier of her Dungeon but there were still several questions she wanted answered before she opened it up for the public. Biggest of which was why the traps didn't always activate.

Based on all her gathered information, it seemed like the traps of this Dungeon each had two or more conditions which all had to be fulfilled before the trap activated. While rare, there still existed two varieties of this phenomenon:

1) Where most of a Dungeon's traps function like normal traps with only one trigger, while a select few have a secondary trigger. This secondary trigger could be a timer causing a delayed reaction, or having a certain weight or number of people stand on the pressor plate and so on.

2) Every trap of a Dungeon has the same secondary trigger.

A couple of Dungeons were even known for having both varieties at the same time, giving some traps three conditions to fulfill before triggering. This would lead to some nasty surprises to people who believe the Dungeon in question has been fully explored, but make the trap completely useless once all its trigger conditions have been made known.

Zina wouldn't be surprised if she were to discover that her Dungeon was one of the few with traps with three trigger conditions. Clearly every trap had a secondary condition and with how unusual her Dungeon already was, she would actually be more surprised if she didn't find a trap with three trigger conditions.

To find these trigger conditions the elven noblewoman would need some help. Clearly the Dungeon-wide trigger condition wasn't a time delay, and they had somehow triggered some of the traps of the first two Floors while mister Betula and private Ilex were with her.

More tests were definitely required before any conclusion could be drawn.

Luckily, mister Betula had convinced a couple of his coworkers to 'risk' exploring the seemingly harmless Dungeon. While a secondary trigger condition never depended on who fulfilled the primary condition, the presences of certain materials sometimes were. Different people had different things with them into Dungeons, so this was an easy way of narrowing it down.

Though it could still take a long time, which Zina was okay with. As soon as the most common materials and other triggers had been tested, she would start allowing people in without her for a fee.

Hmm… What should the fee be? Standard or maybe higher due to double loot and EXP? Yeah, it probably needs to be higher than normal. Or maybe it would be better to have a high exit tax on gathered loot?

Chapter 48 - Apologies and Unicorn Thoughts

"That's a mimic. Leave it be." Sarzina Acacia told her Party. The actual spinnable wheel soon gave them a key as it landed on a green triangle.

The latest Dungeon run had revealed many secrets to Zina.

After several tests it was discovered that the kobolds refused to follow commands, but would do requests if asked politely and it wasn't too outrageous. Asking them to hand over their weapons or jump on the spot were meant with glares, indicating they understood the request but refused to follow it. Use of 'please' and polite wording was enough for them to follow commands like 'stop', 'stay' and 'follow me', but didn't make a difference for most orders.

Politely requesting for the gate to be lowered, so Zina and her companions could enter the fortress without getting wet, was among the commands the kobolds listened to. She even learned that 'could you please bring me the keys' to be a valid command, and two more keys were brought to her.

The inside of the fortress was even more impressive than she remembered from back when the company was simply passing through. It had everything a group of people would need to survive!

Well… The kitchen had no actual food in it, but still! There was a kitchen! Dungeons nor their monsters had any need for a kitchen! Nor a dormitory, nor outhouses, nor a dining hall, nor a knitting/spinning/weaving room! So why were they there!

Maybe it wants to lead us into a false sense of security? That would explain why the traps have stopped triggering again…

… No, no. Dungeons aren't smart enough for that sort of strategy!

Zina was well aware that she often mumbled to herself without meaning to. Her noble status meant that most people choose to either ignore her muttering or distract her with conversation. In the rare moments Zina was near her peers or higher ranked elves, she had enough practice that she could forcefully stop herself.

But doing so was way too mentally exhausting to do in everyday life, and as it rarely ever caused her any problems why should she force that upon herself?

Well… This time it had caused a problem. One she probably should have seen coming. After all, Zina had already concluded that the kobold of this place could understand every word she said.

… And she had just muttered to herself that their Dungeon was too stupid to think up complecated schemes.

They didn't like hearing that.

The Party was in the dining hall at the time along with 8 kobolds. As one all 8 kobolds led out a growl of rage and raised their weapons at her Party.

No. At Zina herself.

The Party tensed up and froze, as Zina had told them to do in such a situation. The noblewoman had a lot of Awareness and would be able to stop any and all of these low leveled monsters before they had even taken a single step in hostility.

So there was no need for the two 3rd tiers or even Oona to do a single thing.

It quickly became clear to Zina that the kobolds had only released a warning, much like both the Lightning sea serpents and dragonets did. But apparently, instead of the warning meaning 'don't go near my home', it here meant 'you insulted my maker, apologize now!'.

"My sincerest apologies. I didn't mean to imply that this Dungeon, your Dungeon, wasn't smart enough to come up with good strategies. Only that most Dungeons aren't. But clearly this is no ordinary Dungeon!" While Zina said this to pacify the kobolds, she could help but wonder if perhaps all the oddities of the Dungeon was actually due to it being much smarter than other Dungeons.

The kobolds accepted her apology and relaxed their stances.

Still, the mason had had enough scares for one day and asked if it wasn't time for the Party to leave. While they hadn't finished exploring the Floor, they were mostly done, and Zina had written down more than enough data for her to be busy analyzing for the rest of the day.

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In the middle of the following night I had reached level 29+, and gotten access to my 3rd tier Boss. Not that I could make it before the 15th Floor without making a new Rule about it. And I hadn't even made my 2nd Boss yet meant for the 10th Floor.

While I might be able to make it a Rule that Bosses can be placed at earlier Floors, it would also mean the Boss would be at a lower level. I would simply have exchanged power for the element of surprise.

Something my mimics already take care of.

Status, please!

Personal Status

Level: 29+

Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 54/100

EXP: 1,215,832

Next mana payment for level up: 0/18,000

Mana: 1/4,000

Mana regeneration: 1,400 per hour

Floors: 8/15

Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 4

Floor Details

Achievements

Mission

Dungeon Rules

100? That'll probably take me another couple of months…

Well. It's not like I'm in any real hurry to tier up again.

I… still have more than a million EXP… How?

Dungeon Cores have enhanced growth while young.

Right! Thanks for reminding me!

I suppose between my maxed out Careful Preparation Achievement and all my mana discounts I probably make Floors and get enough mana to level up faster than other Dungeon Cores my age. And with First of Your Kind along with my Experiencing Peace Rule giving me more than double the amount of EXP your typical Dungeon Core would get, it makes sense I have a lot of it.

Oh! And the extra EXP from Creature Designer!

… and Weeding the World…

… and all the small amounts of EXP I get for raising people's karma or the rare but larger ones for helping people selflessly…

… or the double amount for redeeming instead of killing…

…

Basically I earn a lot more EXP than I deal with bad guys! I even grow Floors faster, which both makes me earn more EXP, but also helped me kill more elves which in turn earned me EXP.

… Hey System? Enhanced growth while young means it's gonna become much harder to level at some point right? When would that be?

With the average tier reached by the end of a sapient's lifespan being the 5th tier, and the median of the same being 4th tier, a Dungeon Core's enhanced growth stops at the beginning of the 4th tier. Once a Dungeon Core reaches the 5th tier it instead has an increasingly stunted growth to reflect its immortal lifespan.

Oh… and next level I've entered the 4th tier…

At least I have plenty of mana and Floors to play with!

I took another look at my Mana Bank. That is a lot of mana I can use at once now!

…

I can have a unicorn! Or finally make my true mimic!

Or both!

… Definitely both!

No! Stop and think! Would that be a good idea?

While I like the idea of making a whole unicorn blessing it would take me so long to do, even if I made them all level 1.

… But I'm immortal! I can waste some time on a powerful blessing of unicorns!

Or can I? My creatures aren't useful for defending me until the Floor they've been made on is finished, after all. So, a blessing of unicorns will definitely be very helpful once the Floor is finished, but they will slow the process down drastically!

I considered the threat level of the elves for a bit. I'm not in a big danger here, but there is a chance the Lightning Mage could discover I'm not actually under her control. I believe the risk is minimal for now, but once I've finished my 10th Floor she'll realize I can make creatures, traps and puzzles without getting her permission. There was no way I wouldn't take advantage of that fact when making my 10th Floor, which in turn would reveal that I hadn't actually been tamed.

What about the Tribe?

No, they're not really in any danger. I just have to finish my 9th Floor early one night, so I can dig out the 10th Floor before morning. And the same thing for when the 10th Floor is finished.

Food won't be a problem either. I'll just temporarily change the environment of the 8th Floor to include a bunch of fruits and vegetables and such each night. The Tribe might be teleported outside my Dungeon should they try to go back to the 7th Floor, but the 8th Floor is still accessible and changing the environment costs me nothing but a bit a concentration.

… What was I wondering about again? Right! Unicorn blessing!

Hmm… In conclusion: I'm not in any hurry, but I don't want the elves to suspect I'm still free before I've finished my 10th Floor and gotten a powerful Boss to defend myself.

So… I mentally sighed in disappointment. I guess I'll have to wait on making anything super powerful - such as unicorns or my true mimic - till I begin on the 10th Floor.

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4 days had passed since the massacre of 43 elves had happened in the Dungeon. As the highest remaining officer Tanithil Alnus had gotten the task of reporting how their mission had gone.

Which included listing everyone who had lost limbs in the battle.

It included listing everyone who had died.

It meant learning the name of everyone who had died.

At least Tanithil wasn't the one who had to tell their families. That would be another officer. Likely several officers.

But Tanithil, like several other surviving soldiers, had a hard time getting rid of his survivor's guilt. For the lieutenant it was less wondering why he survived instead of those who died and more looking back and blaming himself for things he might have been able to do better.

He blamed himself for not keeping more people safe.

For not keeping them all safe.

Of course he had been relieved when it had first been over and had celebrated their hard won victory with the rest of the company.

The first nightmare came that night and it kept haunting him even while he was awake.

He kept feeling the need to apologize to the dead. Logically Tanithil knew he hadn't forced them to come, nor had he even realized it would be that dangerous.

But maybe I should have realized…

His duties were the only thing keeping him going at the moment and he knew it was the same for many of the other soldiers.

His biggest duty at the moment was taking care of everyone's safety.

Not that there really was anything to worry about. Any of the civilians could at the very least scare away if not straight up kill most of the local animals. It was mostly only the so-called 'semi-sapient' animals which could pose a threat to an adult elf.

Every elven child was given at least some basic training in self defense after all, and while the extra power given to them at adulthood by the holy System, mere animals stood no chance against even a civilian of the Queendom of Alfamér.

Other sapients were the main thing Tanithil prepared against. While the first several groups to find this place would either be from Alfamér or random civilians from other lands, who would be unable to do any harm, at some point someone would try to challenge their claim to the Dungeon.

Tanithil wanted the town's defenses to be ready for that day.

The goal kept him going.

Of course he knew he wouldn't still be there when that day came. In three or so weeks the 2nd group of civilians would arrive. This group would include the town's new sheriff and his subordinates, who would take over from the military. At their arrival Tanithil would inform the sheriff of what had been done in regards to safety, before leading the remains of the company back home.

At their arrival at the capital everyone would get a bonus due to the unexpected danger of the Dungeon. Those with limb loss would additionally get compensation for having lost a limb while on active duty.

The compensation was designed to be just enough to get a runic limb replacement of the cheapest kind for whichever limb they had lost. Which was still an expensive thing to be sure!

If the person themselves used some of their own money as well, they could get extra features for their new runic limb, like a hidden weapon or the ability to use a single type of spell with it.

If said person decided to use even more of their own money, they could go to a Mage who has mastered the Healing element by reliably being able to turn it into the Restoration element and have the limb entirely regrown. For smaller and less complicated limbs, like a severed finger, it costs about the same to have it regrown as getting a cheap runic limb replacement made for it. But the price of getting a whole arm regrown was much more expensive than a runic arm was.

At least regrown limbs didn't come with phantom pains.

It was generally expected that one would return to active duty afterwards, but there would always be some who decided to do a career change.

While he hadn't lost a limb himself, Tanithil had begun considering making a career change himself.

Chapter 47 - A Dawon, Mage, Soldier and Mason Walks Into A Dungeon

While I could send the Lightning Mage another fake request for a Hidden Magma Pit, I wanted to learn more and decided to fakely request a creature this time. I had already filled the 9th Floor with all the fledgling elemental Earthquake drakes I planned on making for the Floor. But with my unfinished Floors being hidden from view, the Lightning Mage didn't know I had already made them, so fakely requesting Earthquake drakes seemed like a good idea to me.

After all, it would kinda defeat the main purpose of sending fake requests to make the elves think I was actually Caged, if the 9th Floor only contained traps, puzzles, and creatures I hadn't requested. Instead I planned on letting them think my more complicated creatures, traps, and puzzles had been made before they had Caged me.

Of course this trick wouldn't work for later Floors but it gave me a bit more leeway for now, and by then I might have found a better solution.

Earthquake drakes could, as their name suggested, make earthquakes on command. They looked like giant lizards made of volcanic rock and they could completely disappear underground in seconds.

They really only fit my volcanic theme due to their prefered habitat being the ground - as in 'in the ground' not 'in a cave' - near volcanoes, which had affected their appearance and gave them their natural heat resistance.

And lastly, they were naturally the karmic variety.

All of these facts, one could quickly learn about them - except the heat resistance perhaps - if it came to a fight, so I saw no issue in sharing it with my 'captor'.

This time I remembered to keep in mind that normal Dungeon Cores weren't sapient. With that in mind, I had decided I would first 'request' a level 1 Earthquake drake, then wait a bit before 'wanting permission' to level it up 1 level, wait a bit, then repeat until it had reached its proper level.

I would essentially be spamming her.

She asked for this!

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After having eaten breakfast, checked up on her fellow leaders, answered any question they had for her, and written down all knowledge given about the requested 'fledgling karmic elemental drake - Earthquake', Sarzina Acacia began asking if anyone wanted to explore the first three or so Floors of the Dungeon with her. She needed someone to break open the door at the end of the 2nd Floor in case she couldn't solve said puzzle today. The elven noblewoman could simply have brought Oona along, as the dawon wouldn't earn any EXP at such early Floors anyway. But before Zina had done so, an elf dressed for labour intensive work including metal tipped boots and thick gloves asked her a question as she walked by.

"Dungeon mistress Acacia? I can perfectly understand wanting to respect the dead by keeping people from entering the Dungeon. But I believe having it closed off for too long might simply make people even more wary of the Dungeon than they already are." His brave start had turned to nervousness the more he talked. He nervously shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand before he continued. "I'm not an expert, of course! I guess it just made me wonder… Oh… When are you gonna start letting people in the Dungeon? And! And… Will there be an entrance fee right away, or only once the town has been established?" The last bit came out in a hurry.

Thinking quickly, Zina replied with confidence. "For now there is no entrance fee on entering the Dungeon, nor is there any tax on loot. But as the Dungeon is still largely undocumented, any potentional Party will have to include me and follow my instructions. This is so I get the opportunity to document any detail I deem necessary. Once the first tier has been documented to my satisfaction, I'll start allowing Parties to enter without me in exchange for a fee."

Honestly, however, Zina had completely forgotten it was illegal to enter a tamed Dungeon without getting permission from its dungeon master. Normally this permission was given through one of the dungeon master’s employees specifically hired with that purpose in mind, though that was rarely their entire job. Normally they would also sell information about the Dungeon and/or collect tax from returning Parties.

However, this early on people would have to go straight to Zina for permission to enter her Dungeon. Lieutenant Alnus had placed a pair of his soldiers as guards next to the Portal, but with it generally being the more wounded ones, Zina was a bit surprised that no one had simply entered the Dungeon regardless. That is surely what would have happened had the Portal in Galhatalos - the capital of Alfamér and Zina’s childhood home - had that few and even wounded guards.

But this wasn’t the capital, and with not even 200 people here everyone would quickly know who broke the law. In a bigger place, simply disguising oneself would mean one’s identity would be hard to discover, but here it would be fairly simple to check who was missing. There were Skills and Abilities, which would allow one to identify at least part of one’s identity, but guards rarely had them. Getting past the guards without getting caught and revealed was instead the hard part.

Which would explain why Galhatalos need much better security around their Dungeon Portal before it would scare away criminals, while Zina’s Dungeon only needed to have a wounded pair watching the Portal.

Still, Zina hadn't considered if anyone, beside herself, might have wanted to enter the Dungeon. She had been too excited over and focused on learning everything she could about her Dungeon to notice much of anything else.

But now that it had been pointed out to her, Zina simply had to find other enthusiasts to share her excitement with! "Did you ask because you wanted to enter the Dungeon yourself, mister…?"

"Right! Sorry, mistress! That was rude of me! My name is Merellien Betula. A pleasure to meet you!" Mister Betula took a deep breath to calm himself down after his embarrassment before he continued. "I must admit to being one of the wary ones, dungeon mistress. It killed more than half the company! I'm just a simple mason! I would be crazy if I wasn't a bit afraid! But I believe it's better to face one's fears than to run away from it. As such, I want to enter the Dungeon."

Mister Betula then gave Zina a small, nervous smile. "But at the same time, I don't want to try my luck too much, so I don't want to go too deep!"

Not wanting to take risks was something Zina could only partly understand. To her eyes, high risk simply came with high rewards.

"Well, mister Betula. I'll only be going to the third Floor today, if you or anyone else wishes to join me."

He tilted his head in response. "When would that be? I have work till three you see."

That was several hours later than she had planned on starting, but the interaction had Zina consider how many others might want to join her in the Dungeon, so she quickly decided to take some time to ask around. Clearly she also had to let people know they could ask permission to enter the Dungeon. She hadn't realized it hadn't been obvious but thinking back to the previous day, Zina finally took notice of the complete lack of any such requests.

People had, however, been very curious on what the level requirement for entering her Dungeon would be. Having completed her test, Zina now knew there would be no such requirement. The monsters, at least those on the first two and the last Floor, only attacked in self defense or if one entered their 'home', so all levels would be able to handle it.

"Three works for me. We can meet by the Portal with anyone else that wants to come. Only four can enter at a time, but I wouldn't mind going multiple times today."

"Brilliant! See you then, mistress!" With that he went back to work.

Zina spent the next couple of hours informing people that they could enter the Dungeon for free at the moment, if they followed her orders while they were in there. She had quickly gotten the feeling that people didn't wish to enter her Dungeon. Apparently, her Dungeon was seen as 'too dangerous to be worth it'.

Which was nonsense of course!

One soldier had seen his comrades decline the offer to enter the Dungeon for a second time and jumped up from his chair to proclaim how he, unlike the others, wasn't a chicken.

But he was the only one aside from mister Betula, who wanted to enter the Dungeon.

I don't understand? A harder challenge means it has more to teach you. Why don't more people want to learn?

Shaking her confusion off, she went to go get Oona before meeting the other two at the Dungeon Portal. The soldier had seemed like the rowdy, disobedient sort. Zina wanted her dawon to keep an eye on him, so she could focus on documenting her Dungeon.

Might as well have her be the 4th member of our Party since no one else wanted to join.

Well. Maybe… what was his name again? The mason? Well, maybe he invited one of his coworkers to come with us, but with the reaction everyone else had, I do doubt anyone accepted such an offer.

Zina rolled her eyes, though only Oona saw her do so. Morons!

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My 'request' for a level 1 Earthquake drake was accepted once the Lightning Mage had written down its description. Any time I 'requested permission' to level it up she made a quick note in her notebook before simply accepting the request.

That's… uh… promising? I think? I didn't really know what to think about it, but at least no one would suspect anything once my 9th Floor was revealed.

Not where that was concerned at least…

At what must have been around 3 o'clock, the three elves and dawon met up near my Portal. While I could perfectly tell how much time had passed, and my entrance timer told me when the sun rose and fell, I had had no idea what time that happened before now. A quick bit of math informed me that sunrise happened around 8:10 this time of year, while it fell at around 16:05. This was plus/minus however many minutes the makeshift Party had been late or early to their meeting point.

Before the Party entered, the Lightning Mage explained how my creatures didn't attack unless in self defense or if their territory was invaded, before ordering the other two elves to not attack any of my 'monsters' unless she specifically told them to.

The soldier, who had some type of stone hammer clearly meant for battling with him, had already seen this as he had been there when I was 'tamed', and so had no problem with it.

The mason was likewise carrying a stone hammer, though this one seemed to be meant for hammering nails, as well as a barrel lid, which was probably meant to function as a makeshift shield. Maybe they don't intend to complete my Dungeon? The Lightning Mage will have no problem protecting them if they're not going all that far down, regardless of their own levels and combat capabilities. That would certainly explain why the mason guy has no armor either.

Said badly prepared mason stated he had heard the rumor of my 'monsters' not attacking anyone near the end of the trip. But then he informed the other two that he, like most of his coworkers, hadn't actually believed the rumors. Apparently, the civilians generally thought the 'only in self defense'-thing had been some weird form of coping mechanism meant to somehow deal with the soldiers' survivor's guilt.

After that small talk, the Party entered my Dungeon.

Sarzina Acacia

Elf

Noble Elemental Mage - Lightning

Level 59

Oona

Dawon

Level 59

Ruehnar Ilex

Elf

Tank

Level 25

Merellien Betula

Elf

Labourer

Level 22

As they entered my Dungeon I took a quick glance at their Auras, not bothering to get their exact numbers. The two almost 7th tiers had very neutral gray Auras, suggesting karma levels at around 50%. The soldier's was dark enough that my traps would trigger for him, but only just so, meaning close to but either under 25% or at it exactly. The mason's had a lighter Aura than the first two, not by a whole lot but enough to put him closer to 75% than 50%.

I only wasted 4 seconds on this - one for each Aura I glanced at.

The mason was a bit wary at first, but quickly realized that the unbelievable rumor had actually been true.

The Party - and more specifically the soldier - walked, partly by design on my part, partly by accident brought on by the Lightning Mage thinking traps didn't work on my first two Floors, right passed the Hidden Spike trap in The Burrow Trap Room.

But the traps in The Trap Corridor weren't as easily avoided.

Mind you, they were pretty easy to avoid. But with these one would have to actively try to avoid them in order to do so.

The Lightning Mage and her dawon walked first and no traps were sprong. Then came the soldier, and suddenly darts were flung out of the wall after the trap's pressure plate had been carelessly stepped on.

It didn't harm him much. His Class told me his primary Score had to be Toughness, so him only getting bruised by the darts didn't surprise me.

The trap triggering coursed a lovely amount of confusion, but had the Party put up their guard against traps. The soldier carefully triggered the remaining traps in The Trap Corridor, which the Lightning Mage pointed out to him, and thus wasn't further harmed.

The Lightning Mage incorrectly concluded that my traps must have been altered to trigger the third time the pressure plates were pushed down instead of the first time like the traps in most Dungeons. Apparently, this phenomenon was rare but not unheard of.

The Lightning Mage then noted down how everyone but the soldier could see the bìxié in The Orchard. Naturally, she had no idea why that was. She simply claimed she needed more data to draw a conclusion.

The next while went much like it had done for the Lightning Mage the day before, but once the Party entered The Forest of Territories, she ordered them to check the top of every tree and behind every rock for the missing key, just like she had planned the day before to do alone.

Naturally, no extra key was found, even though they searched in all three rooms on the Floor.

Then they tried her second 'credible' idea and began killing my creatures. The grass and leaves turned red, and the Party quickly realized my creatures gave them no EXP nor loot.

Experiencing Peace couldn't so easily be cheated after all!

Not finding the last key simply made the Lightning Mage even more excited for the 'challenge' my puzzle provided her, before she ordered her dawon to ram the locked door open.

With the puzzle door broken the three found keys disappeared so they couldn't be used for the next locked door.

At The Watchtower Crossroad 6 kobolds stood in their watchtowers with their crossbows ready to fire at the approaching elves and dawon. The 6 galespikes of the room took to the air and began flying around in the airspace above the 4. Not in circles like a vulture would, but in a chaotic cloud of beating lime-green wings.

My visitors tensed up, the mason even froze in place completely for several moments, but they didn't attack my creatures.

And so my creatures didn't attack them.

Having entered a room not placed on her map, the Lightning Mage ignored my creatures as she drew the room and its details onto her map. Then the Party started walking again, with the soldier and mason only taking their eyes away from the galespikes overhead when the Lightning Mage warned them of my traps.

After passing the stream and noting down the two level 5 Lightning sea serpents, the Lightning Mage picked a watchtower to climb, wanting to see how the kobold would react.

It was the watchtower with the key-carrying kobold in it. Which I doubted was an accident.

The elf and kobold stared curiously at each other for a while, before the kobold slowly lowered its crossbow. I had ordered it not to speak, otherwise it likely would have said something.

Actually it's quite a wonder the mimic of the previous Floor haven't disobeyed that order already. Seeing as it has the intelligence and attention span of a child.

… Must be its instinct to stay hidden kicking in. Speaking does make hiding much harder.

"Fascinating!" The Lightning Mage exclaimed before writing the kobolds reaction down.

Then she tried to take the thread necklace with the key off the neck of it.

The kobold slapped her hand away.

The Lightning Mage raised an eyebrow as the two began staring at each other again.

Then - finally - the Lightning Mage decided to try asking politely.

In response the kobold took off its necklace and handed it over.

The Lightning Mage got so thrilled by this she dropped the key in her haste to write it down…

At The Yak Pasture the mason had finally picked up his courage as he was the first one to pet the yaks. Neither of the other two elves had thought to try and touch any of my creatures before. While not all my creatures would allow themselves to be touched - the Mist pixie for instance -, this was domesticated yaks. They really didn't mind.

The simple act of petting one of my yaks raised the soldier's karma level, and as I could sense that he would no longer trigger any of my traps, I knew he was now at 26%.

That, and I got EXP for redeeming him.

1 level 25 sapient has been redeemed in your Dungeon.

You have gained 5,000 EXP.

First of Your Kind rewards you 1,000 EXP.

Weeding the World rewards you 400 EXP.

Nice! I redeemed him with the power of pets!

But I would likely never know exactly what thought had run through his mind in that moment.

Chapter 46 - A Dungeon's First 'Request'

The Lightning Mage didn't come back that day. Through her own ears I knew this was mostly due to her… architect?... needed her opinion on various details. She also spent a good amount of time simply mumbling to herself, wondering how to get the 'missing' key.

Her only 'credible' ideas were 'checking the top of every tree and behind every rock' and 'kill monsters till one drops the last key'.

You know. 'Cause I definitely didn't have a theme.

At that point the sun had been down a while, and she had to wait till it rose again.

It also snowed a bit in the middle of the night, though it quickly melted once the sun rose.

Huh?

Uh, right! I believe the Tribe mentioned something about winter preparation a couple of times.

Not that they'll have to worry about winter while in my Dungeon…

During the night I leveled up some more, and I reached the level I intended to 'stop' at 2 hours and 32 minutes before dawn.

Personal Status

Level: 25

EXP needed for level up: 48,100/48,100

Additional EXP: 1,453,852

Mana payment for level up: 0/9,000

Mana: 0.5/3,000

Mana regeneration: 1,050 per hour

Floors: 8/13

Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: Disabled

Floor Details

Achievements

Mission

Dungeon Rules

Double mana regen! Yes! I've been stuck at 525 for so long now! I could see the mana tickle in on the Status screen. Every 3.4 seconds 0.25 mana would be added.

It was amazing!

I didn't intend to stop leveling up till I reached the next bottleneck, but it was time for me to pretend to be done leveling.

As I didn't know exactly what message the Lightning Mage would get, when I sent her a 'request', I had decided to 'request' something simple, which there wasn't much to learn about anyway.

I would 'request' permission to make a Hidden Magma Pit trap.

Aaaand… go! I mentally commanding the Fake Core to send my 'request'.

Nothing happened. The Lightning Mage hadn't gotten a message to wake her from her slumber.

…

So… How do I actually do this? I truly doubted that her willing unconsciousness had anything to do with my failure.

Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world.

You know, System: That is your most used answer.

So, what does it mean in this context?

I guess I need to make a Rule to do it. But didn't I already have a Rule about the Fake Core acting like my Real Core? Can you show me the description of that one again?

Rewarding Fake Core: The Fake Core is able to give personal rewards and teleport sapients out of the Dungeon on behalf of the Real Dungeon Core.

Ah… That was more restrictive than I remember it being. But back then I thought it was all it needed to do.

Do I even need to make a completely new Rule? Can I not just update this one?

Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world.

That would be a yes. Thanks, System!

Please update the Rule 'Rewarding Fake Core' so my Fake Core can completely mimic all possible actions of my Real Core.

Calculating…

Updating the Rule 'Rewarding Fake Core' to 'Mimicking Fake Core' costs 2,910 mana.

Well… That is more expensive than I expected.

Dungeon Cores themselves must do much more than I realized…

It took me till 14 minutes after sunrise before I had enough mana to update my Rule.

Dungeon Rule Updated: Rewarding Fake Core becomes Mimicking Fake Core

Mimicking Fake Core: The Fake Core is able to mimic the behavior of the Real Dungeon Core on its behalf. It has a bond to the Real Core similar to the one Dungeon creatures have with the Core but unlike them, the Fake Core uses the bond not to stay 'alive' but to one day become a Dungeon creature, specifically a 'Dungeon Core mimic'.

…

So awesome! And so pleasantly unexpected! I just thought it would have some previously unknown funktion, I didn't expect to get a new type of mimic out of it!

… Was it 'cause I used the word 'mimic' in my update request?

…

Never mind then! Tell me about the new Dungeon Core mimic!

The Dungeon Core mimic is a unique Dungeon creature. It is created from the standard bond between a Dungeon Core and its creatures being directed to a Dungeon Core shaped trap, which is programmed into mimicking its Core. The Dungeon Core mimic is simultaneously the only Dungeon creature able to enter the Core Room and completely unable to leave it. This allows it to exist outside of the maximum allowed levels worth of creatures per Floor. Despite being a mimic, the Dungeon Core mimic can only mimic its own Dungeon Core. It will always have the highest level possible for the Dungeon. It will only attack or reveal itself if ordered to by its Dungeon Core.

That is so cool!

Unique Dungeon creature? Well, the description did indirectly tell me I can't create this mimic the way I make my other creatures.

But wow, is this one cool!

…

IT'S THE ULTIMATE HIDDEN BOSS!

…

Uhhh! I can't wait till you're here!

…

… I'm basically pregnant now… I certainly feel the excitement and anticipation of it!

…

That means I gave to share the news with my loved one, right? Or is that not applicable to this?

Don't I already have hundreds of children? What is one more?

But every other one was brought to life instantly. This one is special.

… Damn it! You're not supposed to have favorites among your children!

In the end I told the kobolds about it, framing it as a powerful mimic, which would one day help them protect me.

I didn't want them to notice my favoritism.

They were naturally very happy about my news.

…

They began praising my brilliance…

…

Which was not what I had intended, just like I hadn't intended for my Fake Core to one day come alive. And honestly, getting worshiped for something I had done by accident felt a bit hollow.

After that sidetrack, I got back to my current mission.

Send a request for making a Hidden Magma Pit on the 9th Floor through the Dungeon Core Cage and inform me of the response.

I felt a psychic response from the Fake Core, which could easily be translated to a confident 'affirmative'. A bit robotic, but eager to obey. Then I heard the Lightning Mage wake up with a gasp, after which she began speaking to herself, louder than normally in her excitement.

I might not have been able to see what she saw, but all her muttering really helped fill in the blanks.

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Getting a System message while sleeping is like an ordinary person getting poked in the middle of the night. You would wake up enough to realize what had happened, but not so much you would be unable to simply ignore it and fall back asleep again.

But if you in that moment of partial awareness realized you had been poked because something interesting had happened? Then you would suddenly have a very hard time trying to fall asleep again.

It was recommended that requests from tamed Dungeons were answered within 12 hours or it would make its Cage degrade faster. But waiting even 11 hours before replying to the request would make so small a difference it wasn't worth bothering with.

But even though Sarzina Acacia could simply go back to sleep without there being any consequences, her excitement kept her from doing so.

It finally happened!

Before she called the actual System message to the forefront of her mind, she got up, grabbed her notebook and pencil, before going back into her sleeping bag.

A Dungeon Core is trying to make a Hidden Magma Pit trap on its 9th Floor, but is blocked by an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage linked to you.

Will you allow the trap to be made?

Yes/No

She wrote down the name of the trap and its placement, before asking the System to clarify like she had been taught to do when a new type of request appeared. While some types of traps and puzzles had the same name across various Dungeons, they often had some subtle differences, typically in size.

Holy System! Please inform me, so I might better myself and others: What is a Hidden Magma Pit trap?

Hidden Magma Pit traps are 6 meters deep, 2 meters wide circular holes filled with magma to the 4 meter point. The top is covered with a thin layer of stone camouflaged to look like the surroundings.

Zina wrote it down, word for word, though no part of the description surprised her. It was very rare that anyone could ask and receive answers from the System. Even this form was incredibly restricted as she could only ask questions related to the current request. As such, even though Dungeon monsters of the same name never had any differences across Dungeons, dungeon masters tended to ask for a description of each of the Dungeon’s monsters when the opportunity would first arise.

Normally the request for a description of the requested item or monster was the only question the dungeon master asked, though sometimes the dungeon master wanted to know exactly where a trap or puzzle was to be placed in a room. The System would then inform them of the placement of the trap or puzzle's center by first stating how far away from the entrance of the room it was, if one walked straight ahead. Then they would state a second distance to either the left or right.

Zina didn't want to know the exact placement of traps, as it would remove the challenge of finding them. On the other hand she wanted to know where puzzles were placed, but not how to solve them, as that would again remove the challenge. So, she planned to word her requests carefully when it came to puzzles.

Monsters would always be a challenge, so she didn't mind learning all she could about them.

A Hidden Magma Pit seemed like it would be challenging in the normal Dungeon way, and not dangerous to higher tiers - should they be unprepared - like the heating trap of the 7th Floor was. As such, Zina intended to grant the request.

But before she did so, she wanted to make sure she didn't have any other related question she wanted to ask the System.

Wait. Don't you normally get to know not just what Floor, but also what room the trap will be in? While Zina didn't want to know exactly where in the room the trap would be placed, her duty as dungeon mistress meant she needed to know at least that much.

Before she got to ask the System what room there was talking about - partly thinking the Floor might only have a single room in it - the System message changed.

A Dungeon Core is trying to make a Hidden Magma Pit trap in The Gargoyle Garden on its 9th Floor, but is blocked by an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage linked to you.

Will you allow it to do so?

Yes/No

Zina quickly wrote the change down.

Oh holy System! Please inform me, so I might better myself and others: What is 'The Gargoyle Garden'?

The 1st room of the 9th Floor of the Dungeon of Karma is named 'The Gargoyle Garden'.

Both room and Dungeon have names?! The new knowledge was excitedly written down.

After having considered this fact for a bit, Zina gathered her courage and asked a question she wasn't sure the System would answer. She even changed her prayer, as she couldn't see any way for the answer to actually make anyone a better version of themselves. Normally knowing more about a Dungeon would help one survive in it, and people entered Dungeons because they wanted to leave as a better, stronger - and richer - version of themselves.

Holy System! Please inform me, so I may be granted a small part of Your wisdom, which I will then grant to others: Is the first room of the 9th Floor of the Karma Dungeon the only room with a name?

Every room in the Dungeon of Karma is named.

High on having such a unique conversation with her god, she forgot to write the answer down right away, and instead asked another risky question:

Holy System! Please inform me, so I may be granted a small part of Your wisdom, which I will then grant to others: Is the Dungeon of Karma the only named Dungeon or do all Dungeons have names?

The question was actually simply 'have the System actually named all Dungeons, but no dungeon master ever thought to ask for the name of their Dungeon during one of these requests before?', but she knew the System would only answer questions related to her own Dungeon's request. Including the newly discovered name of her Dungeon was hopefully enough to make the question count as related to the request.

Dungeons are named by the first sapient to refer to it by a unique moniker.

So, the System doesn't name Dungeons themselves, but accepts what we call our Dungeons as their true names! The exciting news was quickly written down, and the discovery would definitely help her gain eternal fame.

Zina considered asking if the rooms of every Dungeon had names, but she didn't want to chance her luck and possibly getting ignored by her god for going off topic.

She was also pretty sure her studies stated that rooms were referred to by numbers, starting from the entrance of the Floor.

With no more questions for the System, Zina permitted the request.

The dungeon mistress had no intention of going back to sleep. She could hear people moving around outside her tent, so it couldn't be all that early anyway.

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While my fake request hadn't gone perfectly, I had at least learned a lot in the attempt.

So, she can ask the System questions related to my 'requests', which means she has access to the description of anything I request. Good thing I chose to start with a simple trap.

Interestingly, it doesn't sound like sapients have unlimited access to general information windows like I have. Which is good for me as it'll keep my creatures efficient for longer.

The fact that she expected to know what room it was meant to be placed in came as a surprise, and I had quickly informed the Fake Core that the fakely requested trap would be fakely placed at The Gargoyle Garden.

Remembering too late that normal Dungeon Cores weren't sapient and as such their rooms wouldn't have names.

At least the System revealing that all Dungeons had names, had made me seem more like a normal Dungeon.

Not that I wanted to be seen as a normal Dungeon. I actually quite liked being worshiped!

But I knew I was too young to be able to deal with the consequences of being seen as too abnormal by people like these elves.

I now know what to do and be aware of for my next 'request'. I have learnt from my mistakes and I will strive to do better!

Chapter 45 - A Dungeon Mistress' First Day

With my 'allowed number of sapients' still out of order I instead relied on the view from my Dungeon Portal to tell me when dawn had arrived. I had spent the night leveling up, wondering what the Lightning Mage planned to test in my Dungeon today and considering my 'Cage problem'.

For the latter problem I had decided to wait till I had roughly used the EXP I gained from the elver army to level up. Then I would have the Cage send fake requests to the Lightning Mage. That should be what she would expect me to do after all! And then I would use her reactions to learn more about her - which could only be a good thing!

The snow around my Portal began to reflect the rising sun and made me want to check what my progress had been during the night. Status, please!

Personal Status

Level: 22

EXP needed for level up: 35,800/35,800

Additional EXP: 1,584,576

Mana payment for level up: 3,000/6,750

Mana: 347/2,250

Mana regeneration: 787.5 per hour

Floors: 8/11

Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: Disabled

Floor Details

Achievements

Mission

Dungeon Rules

Well… I think it's unlikely they'll wait for me to get another level before entering my Dungeon again… But I don't think there is anything better I can do right now and I still intend to do another three level ups before I start sending out fake requests.

I'll just have to wait and see what they do…

…

Is there any chance they might disable my max allowed again once the 24 hours are up?

No… I don’t think so. They’ll want me to give them loot after all. The disabling was likely only meant to make it easier to get to my Core to Cage it, so they can control my growth.

How exactly did they do it? Was it a spell or something?

Sapients can make enchanted runic tools to disable the allowed number of sapients in each Floor. Said tools are commonly made by an Apprentice Enchanting Runesmith.

To activate the tool it needs to be placed on the back of a Dungeon Portal and have mana pushed into it.

Oh… Then, since I could make a Rule affecting my Portal, can I make a Rule… I don’t know… maybe one stopping tools like this one from being placed in the first place? Like a nonstick pan or something?

A Rule making the Dungeon Portal haphephobic for lasting touches costs 485 mana.

That’s cheap. But do I want it? The tool did allow me to throw extreme amounts of creatures at my enemies, while they couldn’t so easily escape my wrath. If I had had this Rule back then and only 4 elves had entered, the Lightning Mage would have had to have been one of them as she was clearly the one meant to Cage me. And even if she had been alone, I highly doubt I would have been able to kill her with just my normal amount of creatures.

Of course her Strength is not the best, so she wouldn’t have been able to ram through all my puzzles without being stopped at some point as their Toughness keeps rising in response.

But as a Mage with high Intelligence she likely would have tried to solve my puzzles rather than break them…

…

While this tool is likely very bad news for other Dungeons, I think it might actually be more to my own advantage than disadvantage.

And should I change my mind I can easily make the Rule then, with it being as cheap as it is!

…

Actually… It would be nice to, instead of stopping the tool from being used, to punish them further for using it. Like when they break my puzzles. Maybe something like… should my max allowed be disabled my creatures’s… Hmm… What Ability Score do I want to raise?

Toughness already had a Rule raising it, Strength was useful for most of my creatures, but I had several who attacked using mana based attacks and would benefit more from having their Intelligence raised.

Dexterity perhaps? It would let my physical-attackers move faster and help my long-ranged creatures hit their target.

Yeah. Dexterity it is!

Of course, such a Rule was much more expensive, so I decided to wait till I couldn’t level up any more - and thus had faster mana regeneration - before I actually made the Rule.

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Captain Gleditsia had used his influence to ensure the 5th tier Apprentice Healer, Miss Pinckneya, had joined their mission, and he had done so for selfish reasons. It hadn't even helped him in the end, as his death had been too sudden for her to save him.

Sarzina Acacia had used her influence to hire the 5th tier General Contractor, Chalia Ulmus - who wished to be called by her first name despite her age and experience -, partly for selfish reasons, partly not. Supervising and guiding the construction of a new town was certainly something the old elf wanted to do, and having the experienced Chalia help with construction would surely be a big help to the town, both now and for the future inhabitants.

But hiring her was also done for selfish reasons. The town would be Zina's after all, as it would be a Dungeon town till it had grown big enough to be considered a Small City. At that point, only the district with the Dungeon Portal in it would be considered her domain.

Of course she would still have to follow and enforce the laws of her Queendom, but she would be in charge of local laws and regulations.

And naturally she wanted the best for her future town!

Not that she had enough money or influence for the absolute best the Queendom could offer, but Chalia was certainly up there.

Chalia's presence did create an unexpected friction at first before an hierarchy was established. Lieutenant Alnus was in charge of what remained of the company, as well as all decisions regarding safety. Chalia was in charge of the construction of the place and those who worked on it, but had to listen to and try to accommodate requests from dungeon mistress Zina, lieutenant Alnus, and, with lower priority, the future citizens of the place. Meanwhile Miss Pinckneya would take charge when someone's health was in question. Though, that hadn't yet been needed.

Zina wasn't really in charge of a lot just yet as the town had yet to be built. She could tell Chalia - both as the dungeon mistress of the place and as Chalia's employer - what to prioritize and what to build where. Requests of the latter kind could be denied if the place wasn't a suitable place to build on, but that had yet to happen.

At the moment, the last thing Zina was in charge of was who got to enter the Dungeon and when. She had used the morning to figure out the new hierarchy with the other leaders and discuss urban planning for the new place. It was hours past midday when she finally found time to enter the Dungeon. This meant the 'allow all'-tool had run out of mana and disabled itself, meaning Zina wouldn't have to waste time and mana doing so herself.

Being so high level compared to the monsters of Dungeon meant Zina had no need to have a Party with her. And though it was unlikely that Oona might gain a level anytime soon, she really didn't want to risk her best friend's life on that thought. It would be safer to simply let the dawon take a catnap for a couple of hours.

Too bad that's a Queendom-wide law. Otherwise I could just have disregarded it and made my own law count instead.

So, Zina decided to enter the Dungeon alone.

Properly prepared and armored of course!

But otherwise alone.

As her self imposed mission wasn't urgent she fully intended to leave after exploring two or three Floors. Her goal was to learn all she could about the Dungeon, and while she could have hired someone else to do it, she wanted to do it herself.

The first step was the Portal itself. In her excitement she hadn't thought to check what the allowed number had been or the minimum time needed between each Party.

The Dungeon Portal is currently open.

The standard timer has been set to 2 hours from the arrival of each Party if the sun is up and until dawn if the sun is down.

4 can enter the Dungeon at a time.

'From the arrival of each Party'? Uh… Didn't know it could change the start of the timer. And additionally having the timer depend on the position of the sun?! Now that is groundbreaking!

Zina was quick to write her observations down in her new notebook.

Then it was time to test her theory out.

She entered the Dungeon and… nothing happened.

So it is true for the whole Dungeon! Or at least the first and last Floor.

With no one attacking first, Zina began drawing a simple map of the room, noting down the Portal entrance, the exit, the one big tree, the stream in front of it, the marble boulder in front of the stream, and the three somewhat big bushes.

And, of course, how the grass and leaves were still green, when they had been red the last time she had been in the room.

She counted the monsters and wrote down '6 level 1 karmic dragonets' next to the map. On another page she described the monster type, which was needed for her Dungeon's personal bestiary, which she would one day sell at her Dungeon Guild.

With that done, she took a closer look at her surroundings. The bushes had berries on them, so she checked her gloves for holes before plucking a berry from each.

The boulder was just a normal black marble boulder. No hidden secrets there.

Looking down into the stream revealed another monster, which was then noted down as well.

Good thing I remembered to wear waterproof boots for this.

Zina wanted to take a close look at the tree to see if there was something behind or in the crown of it. And to do that she would have to walk through the stream. Her physical Scores had never been good, so an attempt to jump over it would simply lead to a splash.

But as soon as her foot touched the water, the level 1 'fledgling karmic elemental sea serpent - Lightning' rose its head over the water and hissed at her. Or rather, at her foot.

Curious more so than afraid, Zina froze in place to see what it would do. It kept hissing, ran out of air which forced it to duck under the water to get more before going back to hissing at her foot.

It would likely keep going like that forever if she let it, so Zina pulled her foot back. The monster stopped hissing and went back to swimming back and forth in the stream.

Zina wrote the behavior down.

Then, still determined to get closer to the tree and wanting to see what it would do, she placed one foot in the water. The monster went back to hissing at her foot. She placed the second one in the water in front of the first.

The monster attacked her with Lightning.

Zina stopped walking to observe its attack pattern before she kept going again. Once out of the water, the monster stopped attacking her, and she paused to write down what had happened.

Then she climbed the tree.

The dragonets in the tree mostly ignored her. Only looking at her when she got too close to them.

Having found nothing interesting in the tree she jumped back down.

Looking at the area behind the tree, Zina could now see 6 rabbit-looking burrows, which were partly hidden behind grass and wildflowers. Her want for a closer look was answered with a choir of 6 hissing monsters. The tree now contained 6 angry dragonets with their wings stretched in warning.

It was quickly noted before the warning was ignored. The following attack was also ignored, though any firebreath was successfully dodged.

The burrows, much like the tree, didn't have any secret hidden in them. Zina walked back to the stream again and, all at once, the dragonets stopped attacking her.

Interesting. Their attack pattern appears to be activated by close proximity to their designated 'home'.

The fledgling sea serpent once again attacked Zina, as she crossed the steam, and ignored her once she was out.

Then the dungeon mistress went to check out the next room.

Due to the Dungeon Rule 'Experiencing Peace' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left.

Loot appeared as Zina left the first room, making her smile brightly to herself as she wrote down what she had gotten. Being 5 tiers higher than the Floor tier, she naturally didn't get any EXP, but she wouldn't have gotten any anyway. And if this happened after all rooms, then she would quickly get to one where she would.

Just as I had suspected!

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Without knowing if this development was good or bad, I had decided to hold back on using my Override Button. It wasn't like it would make much of a difference to the 6th tier, so I might as well hide it.

The Lightning Mage slowly and thoroughly went through my 1st Floor. Exploring every nook and cranny and writing everything she found down.

Which was everything.

Traps were found before she got near them, but wouldn't trigger when she tried to make them. This was naturally written down and the placement of every trap noted on her map.

In The Great Pond Room she decided to kill a dragonet, even though it hadn't done anything to her. As expected, it died immediately, everything turned red, and its flock attacked her. After killing the other dragonets, she wrote down what had happened.

Then she mumbled to herself as she often did. This time it was because she wanted to test if one could get EXP and loot for not killing my creatures, and then go back and get EXP and loot for killing them, meaning triple the reward per creature. She decided not to, as she had a too high a tier to get any EXP anyway, meaning she would only get half of the desired test results. She would have to have someone else test it with her.

Good thing, I had made the Rule with that same exploit in mind. That trick won't work on me!

Keys-bearing dragonets had their key taken from them by force, but without killing them.

The Kindness puzzle confused her and she wrote down everything she could think of before she decided to free the fake dragonet crying out in fake pain.

Seeing the 'solved puzzle' screen, she once again began muttering to herself as she considered if I had a theme going on about not harming my 'monsters'. Only for her to discard her thought as 'Dungeons don't have themes, except for in monster type'.

Finally, in the very last room of the Floor, did she miss something: my mimicking dragonet!

Much the same thing happened on the 2nd Floor. Except she had been informed that the treasure chest was one of my mimics. It didn't talk to her, as it knew I didn't really like her. The two griffins attacked her when she tried to get a closer look, but she simply used magic to have them trapped by plants.

The mimic let her touch its body and feel how realistic it felt. When she opened the 'chest' its tongue and teeth were revealed, which had it stop pretending to be an object and run away from her.

As she refused to admit to herself that my Dungeon did indeed have a theme, and as the mimic in the room wouldn't talk to her - not that she tried to make it, she didn't  know it could -, the Lightning Mage couldn't solve the Politeness puzzle.

She wandered around the room several times before she began going through each room on the 2nd Floor again. This time taking extra care to check each and every creature's neck for the missing 4th key.

Which she naturally didn't find, as it didn't actually exist before someone asked for it nicely.

At some point she began trapping my creatures with her plant magic - which sometimes had funny, but harmless, results - in order to better keep track on which creatures she had already checked.

Once she had confirmed to herself that every creature had been checked for possession of a key, she froze and her eyebrow furrowed in confusion. After 17 seconds of this, her face suddenly went from confusion to a crazy-looking grin.

What?!

"Finally! A mystery worth my time!" The elf mumbled to herself. "And here! In my own Dungeon!"

Sorry to tell you honey. But I'm my own Dungeon!

The Lightning Mage mumbled several more things to herself but came to no immediate conclusion. She ended up giving up for now and left my Dungeon to eat her dinner.

Elements

Each element has two different states, a base and a (strong). It is still the same element, it is just a stronger version. Elemental true dragons become one with their element.

Natural elements:

The common elements:

Heat (Fire)

Water (Ocean)

Pressure (Force)

Earth (Stone)

The uncommon elements:

Heat + Water: Mist (Steam)

Heat + Pressure: Light (Lightning)

Heat + Earth: Shadow (Darkness)

Water + Pressure: Current (Tsunami)

Water + Earth: Healing (Restoration)

Pressure + Earth: Gravity (Earthquake)

The rare elements:

Heat + Water + Pressure: Snow (Ice)

Heat + Water + Earth: Forest (Overgrowth)

Heat + Pressure + Earth: Mineral (Metal)

Water + Pressure + Earth: Buff (Power up)

The noble element:

All 4: Crystal (Diamond)

Unnatural elements:

Additionally there is the unnatural/reflected/corrupted/man-made elements, where an element have been artificially reflected or changed. These elements don't happen in nature.

Here are some examples of unnatural elements:

Heat = Slow (Freeze)

Water = Dry (Dehydrate)

Pressure = Aurodinamic (Speed)

Earth = Air (Wind)

Healing = Sickness (Plauge)

Gravity = Void (Vacuum)

Forest = Decomposition (Decay)

Buff = Debuff (Power Down)

Of course things like "air" and "being dry" still exist naturally. "Air" is just not a natural element. As such, "elemental wyvern - Air" doesn't exist.

The Sapient Species

All the sapient species need a different amount of EXP in order to level up. For simplicity's sake, I have done this by giving each species an EXP amount modifier. The modifier is based on the species’s base life expectancy compared to a human’s.

I have included Emerald in the tabel as she earns EXP the same way as sapients.

Each sapient species is naturally a bit better in one of the 6 Ability Scores. For beastkin each race is naturally a bit better in one of the 6 Ability Scores.

Edit: Wisdom is now Awareness and Constitution is now Toughness.



In my world sirens have 2 forms: a half dolphin form for when they are under water and a half bird form for when they are above water. The bird form have a human face and torso along with big brown feathered wings on their backs and talon-like arms and legs. Their naturally higher Charisma means they are known as great singers and performers.


Classes of sapient species:

1st tier: Commoner

2nd tier: Strength, Dexterity, Toughness, Intelligence, Awareness, Charisma.

The sapients species get 3rd tier Classes based on their previous Class and whether their personality and actions depicts them as best suited for a peaceful or adventure filled lifestyle. The adventure filled lifestyle Classes will be mentioned first.

3rd tier:

Strength: Fighter, Labourer

Dexterity: Monk, Crafter

Toughness: Tank, Messenger

Intelligence: Mage, Memoir

Awareness: Scout, Shaman

Charisma: Leader, Bard