The Dungeon Without a System
Chapter 137

Chapter 137

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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It took ten days to fill the newly expanded sub-space with stone, rock, dirt, and soil, even with the Life manabeings helping. Te Fiti had been filling the Yggdrasil seed with Life mana the whole time I worked. Not in an effort to grow it but to convert its manacore into a Life Core. She succeeded within the day and focused on concentrating mana within that core for the following nine days.

By the time I was done, to my manavision, the seed was glowing almost blindingly bright. To the vision of the normal animals I'd been slowly introducing as the greenery spread, it was run through with glowing green veins and looked swollen with power. Te Fiti planted it in the center of the cleared space, and when she stepped back, I triggered its growth.

It was almost... explosive... how fast everything moved after that.

Like it was caught in a time-lapse, the seed sprouted, and a trunk formed in moments. Branches spread, leaves budded, and bloomed into existence. Below, the root system spread and drilled through the rock, anchoring itself as the trunk ballooned.

One foot wide. Two. Four. Ten. Twenty feet!

The Core remained where it was at the heart of the tree, the very center of the knot of roots at the base of the trunk. The branches were carried ever higher as the trunk continued to extend. Te Fiti squealed in happiness and dove into the tree. Her core and Potentium body were left behind; the manabeing dove right into the tree's Life Core.

I didn't react at first; I was in a state of shock. I'd barely processed what the spirit had done before, like a dryad; she'd already settled there, and the tree became... more.

I'd seen a similar process many times before; spirits inhabiting golems of the appropriate element were always an order of magnitude stronger than you'd expect them to be. I'd seen life sprites inhabit trees, becoming something like Ents. With a core involved, these Ents became Dryads, capable of splitting a smaller body off while retaining a connection to their tree. On top of having such a large 'body,' so infused with life mana and a core that was still growing... Well. Te Fiti was incredibly strong. It was hard to judge, really.

Te Fiti integrated herself with the Yggdrasil tree at every level, suffusing the still-growing tree. Its growth went from almost predictable to completely wild yet entirely natural. She moved branches and widened them, even as the tree's growth slowed.

Its final dimensions were staggering. I had expected it to reach this size only after months of steady growth and careful guidance, but it dominated the skyline. Its trunk had grown beyond the thousand-yard-wide circle into the expanded space for its roots. The trunk extended enormous roots that spread through the forest, slowly dwindling in size. The trunk itself was three-fourths of a mile wide. And about a mile high until you reached the lowest branches.

The branches extended a mile on either side of a trunk and two miles high. It wasn't incomprehensively large yet, but it had far from reached its full size. I imagined the tip-top of the branches extending into the stratosphere, at least.

I reached out through my connection to Te Fiti.

If you had asked me if you could do this, I would have said yes. Why did you feel the need to hide your intentions?

"Oh! I.. hehe, didn't plan on it? Once I saw the tree towering over me, I couldn't resist the urge. Don't worry. I remember what you wanted to do with it, and I like the idea! Won't it be easier now, too? I can move every part of the tree whenever I want; you just need to ask!"

I gave her a metaphorical gimlet eye.

I suppose it will, and your future tenants will be able to ask you to grow houses and dwellings from your branches directly... though, I ask that you only follow their instructions if they come in the form of a song.

"Okay! Why, though?"

Thematic reasons. Plus, wouldn't it be nice if the people who lived on your branches always sang to you instead of demanding changes?

"Oooooh! Good point, that sounds awesome!"

Alright. Are you still able to direct your sprites to spread the other flora?

"Yup! I should be able to help a lot from here, too!" I imagined she would. With the sheer amount of Life mana she'd infused into the tree... It was already spreading and seeping through the forest, encouraging the existing trees to grow beyond their usual bounds. Her sprites spread the forest's borders as fast as they could, only helped by the tide of Life Mana that flowed from the tree.

I'll leave you be, then. Let me know if you need anything.

Leaving the newly Greater-Dryadified World Tree, I moved on. I wanted to finish up the flora and lowest-level fauna of the floor before adding monsters and Children. However, that was still far in the future, and I still had plenty of work to do, such as sculpting and terraforming the floor. I ignored the desert momentarily and focused on the island in the middle of the inland sea.

At the moment, it was a relatively flat area, only as large as Atlantis itself. Its only landmark was myself, my core. Held up by four enormous hands, the gleaming facets of my core brilliantly reflected the not-light of my accretion disk. I decided that this flat piece of rock would be the future courtyard in which I would descend in my avatar and face the theoretical group of homicidal guilders directly.

From the nearby hole in the floor that led to the 'Thirteenth' floor, I drew rock and stone to build a mighty castle. It would almost mirror the Fifth, with a similar style of towers, turrets, walls, and halls. I forewent a sewer, though the moat would do nicely as a poison-swamp adjacent area. This castle-fort would boast a great courtyard in its center, with defenses seemingly designed to protect inward and outward.

At the center of the circular courtyard lay the hole leading outside the expanded space, the exit into the thirteenth floor. In the future, this would be covered by a massive vault door, likely mechanically powered with enchantments and runic lines of power.

Having managed to kill another four days assembling the framework of the castle, I noted the progress the manabeings had made in filling the sea and spreading the forest and other Life... and it was with a sigh I turned back to the desert. I was just procrastinating, really. Making the desert sand was a tedious, mind-numbing task. Still, I needed a lot of sand if I wanted sandworms of any appreciable size.

I dove into the task. The sooner it got done, the better.

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Layla's Office, The Guild Hall, Atlantis

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Layla raised a hand to rub her temples, a painful headache stubbornly pounding in her skull. Felin was there almost instantly, a potion brimming with mana in a thin, tall bottle. Ah. She recognized this particular mix. She took it with a tired smile, "Thank you, Felin." She took a measured sip, sighing in relief at the cooling sensation as it spread through her body.

It wouldn't do to get addicted to pain-relief potions like this one. Still, Layla didn't get headaches that often, and she trusted Felin to be sensible in doling them out.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She glanced over the items again.

Five enchanted items, often granted by the dungeon as rewards alongside Talons for beating bosses, exploring the nooks and crannies of each floor, and sometimes found on killed monsters. Layla felt the Talons were rewarded in appropriate amounts. It helped that much of the currency was spent in the dungeon's shop or taken to the bank immediately; however, enough was spent on the surface that they became a common sight in the markets.

These items were beyond the normal enchanted items the dungeon handed out. The adventurers who found them had sold them to the guild because they did not understand what they were or felt they wouldn't fit their 'builds.'

The first and most eye-catching was a simple set of glasses found by those teenage Golds after beating the Second Floor's Guardian. Akio had said they changed colors when seen through them, but Layla had an idea of what they actually did.

"Felin, could you try on the glasses and tell me what you see?" Layla asked. The man nodded and picked up the delicate-looking things. Layla watched with interest as the enchantment activated. Tiny runes on the arms of the glasses glowed in a rainbow of colors while the lenses gained a sheen, a film made up of all the kinds of mana Layla could see.

"It's certainly odd," Felin started, looking around the room with interest. "I can see through the walls and floor! Two groups of guilders have just started a bar fight, and the guild's guards are intervening." Layla glanced down at the floor, looking towards the part of the ground floor that acted as a restaurant and bar. Indeed, two groups had started brawling, and guards were moving to break it up. She nodded, downing the rest of her potion. She felt like she would need it.

"I think those glasses grant manavision to whoever wears them," Layla shared, and Felin turned sharply to look at her. "Manavision is a scarce ability. That there are two of us who possess it on the same island... If the dungeon knows how to make these glasses, it knows how manavision works. It can grant it to any of its Children or monsters."

Felin took the glasses off and put them back. "This is how you see the world?" He picked up the notes he'd been writing, flicking the glasses up and down as he looked at them. "Hmm. I think we need to increase the concentration of manawater in this ink. It's not nearly bright enough to read properly."

Layla sighed silently, her tense shoulders relaxing as Felin walked over and placed the glasses back on her desk.

"These other four items are just as interesting, if not as potentially world-changing," Felin continued, picking up the next, a round sphere. "The group that found these had no idea what they were, which, of course, meant one of them tried to activate it immediately. There were no obvious buttons or levers, but it exploded about six seconds after pushing a bit of mana into it. The guilder died, blown to bits. The pieces of his torso his party brought back were riddled with tiny pieces of metal."

"It killed a man merely holding it in his hand?" Layla asked, an eyebrow raised as she accepted the sphere. Within the thin metal shell were two halves, a mix of fire and air mana. Layla recalled that fire mana was often enhanced by air mana, and the rare mage who could use both was often incredibly powerful. If this tiny ball could kill one of her guilders... "Gold or Platinum?"

"One of the recent Golds, the first group who beat the new training area," Fein explained, grabbing the report and handing it over. "They weren't careful, though I expect the rest of the party will likely be more cautious in the future. We've got another five of these in a box in the storage room. We might be able to sell them, but the clerks are cautious about potentially blowing themselves up."

"Keep them for now," Layla ordered, gently placing the sphere and report down on the table. "A quick review of the other three, please?"

"Right. The cube projects the current time in a twenty-hour form," Felin began, activating the device. Above it, carved into the air in lines of mana, sat the numbers and letters: 15:00pm. "As far as we can tell after three days of observation, it's perfectly accurate. The letters pm seem to mean any time after noon until midnight. It changes to 'am' after midnight until noon." Layla nodded, watching the letters fade from view.

"This glass dome seals itself after being placed over your face and chin. It provides unlimited air, grants crystal-clear vision through water, and is exceptionally resistant to blunt force. It doesn't cover the back of the head but could be mounted to an existing helmet. Finally, the boot seems to allow one to briefly walk on water, but only for a few seconds at most before the enchantment cuts out, and the wearer is plunged into the water."

Layla raised an eyebrow. "A single boot?" She focused, examining the way the mana flowed around the boots. It was almost like...

"Yes, just the one," Felin answered. "I expect the boots are designed to be used as a pair, and their enchantment will only work to full capacity when both are used. I expect it'll be offered in a chest soon."

Layla nodded; her thoughts lined up nicely with Felin's. She reached forward once again and toyed with the manavision glasses. She wondered...

If the dungeon had figured out a way to grant its monsters manavision as she theorized... did it have a way to reverse or heal the symptoms of its use?

Could the dungeon give her normal vision again?

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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I ground stone into sand and spread it generously over the dune. I did this constantly, unceasingly, as the dune grew and spread, the growing winds in the area shifting and moving the sand on their own.

I managed another week of this unceasing work before something pinged in my mind. Once again, the CHI group reached the Ninth; this time, they managed to pick the correct direction. If I were honest, I'd worried when Isid led them unceasingly toward the Pyramid of the Dead. It was a good thing I'd hidden it, or they'd have surely entered and discovered the results of my and Huea's experiments.

As it was, the group was descending into the canyon when I focused on them. I quickly organized a response and called for one of the few Drake-kin who resided in the Scorpan's village. The rose-gold-scaled lizardman mounted his bonded Solar Sunlion, and they moved to the other end of the canyon at pace. It was only ten minutes or so later that Isid placed her first step on the canyon floor, and all the Life in the canyon fell silent at my command. The insects stopped chirping, the animal's calls abruptly cut off, and all that remained was the babbling of the stream over rock.

The guilders likewise froze in place, eyes fixed on the trees past the small clearing at the base of the path. At my prompting, a pride of Sunlions emerged. A mix of males and females, their heads held low and growling as they stared down the guilders.

The monsters didn't approach, remaining just at the edges of the trees. There were ten seconds of stillness, both sides squaring up and scanning the other. A crash of leaves and the Solar Sunlion jumped from the brush, his Drake-kin partner swinging from his back to land beside him.

"Peace, Guilders of the Surface, peace!" He called, one hand raised and the other on his lowly growling partner's shoulder. "Before you continue, I have a message to deliver on behalf of The Creator." There was another moment of silence as the Guilders gathered, weapons still raised but not ready to swing yet.

"Speak your piece, Drake-kin," Isid called. I asked, and the drake-kin, Pluck Pinkscale, accepted.

"Congratulations, Isid, Jerrard, Duncan, Harald. Haythem and Bertram. Paetor, Lilliette, and... I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your names," as I named each guilder, their surprise grew. They slowly realized that it was me speaking, not the Drake-kin. "The last to reach this floor was a man named Hallmark. Crazed and mortally wounded, though he may have been, he was indefatigable. The only reason he reached this floor was that I couldn't stop him at the time."

"And what about us?" Isid challenged, "Were we 'allowed' to reach the Ninth?"

"In a way, yes. I have allowed you to reach these depths," I revealed, deciding these people had earned an answer. "The fights you've won were real and dangerous. The traps you've escaped or beaten could very well have killed you. As I hope I proved long ago, on your first delve into my dungeon, I could have drowned you in bodies. In monsters specifically designed to take advantage of your weaknesses, of which I have had ample opportunity to study." They shifted uneasily at my admittance, but I barreled on.

"I like to think of myself as an artist, a sculptor, a Creator of wonders," I admitted. "A crafter of ridge and stone, of tree and beast. Mountain and canyon. But of what use is Art if it is not observed? Is it not sweeter, for the struggle you've gone through, to view it? Each floor you've traversed has been carefully and intricately crafted to test your skills and resolve, as well as to inspire awe and wonder. As the forerunners, you are the first who delve me to reach each new vista and fight each new beast."

"Apart from Hallmark," Isid reminded, and I frowned with Pluck's brow.

"I hardly count him. I wasn't awake for his fateful delve, and he was a vicious beast who left his companions behind without a second thought. You, however, I've long come to respect. You test and sharpen me and mine, just as I test and sharpen you." I paraphrased words Kata had spoken in their presence a little over a month before, and they definitely noticed.

"The Ninth isn't the first floor in which my Children have made their homes, but it is the first where you can access those homes," I said plainly. "I will repeat myself here, even if you need no reminder. Within Villages and towns, any being you see is a non-combatant. Even outside these areas, you might encounter Children going about their lives. Only those who bear weapons are valid combatants. If you were to begin killing indiscriminately, you might find yourselves... fond of those days you first delved." The guilders paled slightly, but they did well to control themselves.

"Well, I'll leave you to your welcoming party," I said, prompting Pluck to mount his partner, the Solar Sunlion shifting as he did. The other sunlions growled, reminding the guilders of their presence. "You probably won't hear from me for a floor or two, but I'll keep a close eye on you. Until then!" Pluck and his bonded partner ran off into the jungle.

And the sunlions roared.

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