DungeonFall – [A Dungeon Creation / Cultivation Story]

Nate felt at his chest with a slight groan as he rolled out of bed the next morning. The bruise the attack had left behind on his physical body was already fading thanks to the healing ability of the bracelet on his wrist.

The bracelet only provided basic healing over a period of time, but every bit helped. He could already tell that he was doing better than the last time he had been attacked. The hour or two that had passed since it happened had been a near godsend.

A few minutes later, he was sitting at the table with damp hair and his bag at his side, eating and talking to his parents, when there was a knock at the door. The three blinked and stared suspiciously at the door.

“Were we expecting visitors this morning?” Nate asked, swallowing the last of his toast.

“No,” His father replied, getting up to answer the door.

“Are you going to go file the paperwork for the business after I leave for school?” Nate asked his mother.

Nina nodded and patted the sheaf of papers tucked mostly inside a manilla envelope on the corner of the table. “Yup, George helped us get everything in order last night after he finished with you. That man has been an absolute blessing to our family.”

“Yeah, he really has, and the most incredible thing is, he didn’t even need to do any of it. Not even the initial reason that brought him over here was his responsibility.” He agreed.

“Hey Nate,” Niall called from the front door. “There’s a young lady here for you at the door.”

Lindsay was waiting for him with a stormy expression on her face. Her fingers tapped a constant impatient staccato against the inside of her arm.

“Hi Lindsay?” Nate greeted her hesitantly. “Did we have plans this morning?”

“No,” She answered shortly. “I’m here with Angie.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “She decided she wanted to give you a ride to school this morning.”

“Uh, right, let me grab my bag and I’ll be out in just a moment.” He returned a moment later with his bag in hand and waved to his parents. “So, why do you look like you’re in such a bad mood this morning?”

She growled under her breath and stomped towards the car faster.

Shrugging, he sped up and nodded to the driver, who was holding the door open for them.

“Thanks for the ride. It saved my parents some time this morning.” He said as he saw Angie sitting primly by the window.

“Yes, I heard what they are planning to do this morning from my father, who spoke with George last night.”

A stilted silence fell over the back of the car as the three sat there awkwardly.

“Did you pick me up just to offer me a ride to school, or was there another reason? I’m grateful either way. It’s just not something I would have expected you to do, I guess.” He finished lamely, running his hand through his hair.

“No, you’re right. There was another reason. It concerns your visit to my house yesterday…”

He waited for her to continue and verbally prodded her when she didn’t. “Alright, and the issue there is?”

“The issue is the McFaddens!” Lindsay snarled at him.

“Um,” He recoiled from the angry girl and turned back to Angie. “I’m confused. That’s the name of your would-have-been fiancé’s family, right? What do they have to do with me?”

“Jace, the son, mother so brilliantly engaged me to somehow heard about you visiting the house yesterday.”

“Right, I’m still confused. He hasn’t been upholding his end of the agreement. I heard you point that out before I was kicked out of the house. It sounds like he shouldn’t care or have any room to say anything about what you do, even if he did.”

“Yeah, well, he does,” Angie muttered bitterly, crossing her arms with a scowl.

“Alright, so we have some rich scion with too much money and connections for his own good. He obviously wants Angela, but you still haven’t mentioned what that has to do with me.”

“Yes, she did. He found out about you visiting their house yesterday.” Lindsay said with a roll of her eyes.

“That doesn’t mean anything!” He half-shouted in exasperation. “I could have been there to visit anyone, including her parents, which need, I remind you, was the actual reason behind the visit.”

“The point is the visit put you on his radar, and then he began to look into you more. That’s when he found out that we had also hung out at school a couple of times.” Angie explained apologetically.

Nate covered his face with a groan. “And you thought the smartest move was to pick me up, ensuring we would spend more time together?”

Lindsay shrugged. “Why should Angie let Jace decide how she lives her life?”

“It’s not about her! She has bodyguards. Last time I checked, I do not!” He collapsed onto the comfortable seat and began rubbing his neck. “This kind of guy would never go after the girl he’s supposed to marry, not unless he was truly deranged or desperate. No, he’d go after the people who caused him to feel insecure, and the ones she spends time with. In other words, me, and Lindsay.”

Lindsay turned to stare out the window. She had already known this, but her own family could afford guards if the need arose. They weren’t spread across multiple cities like Angela’s was, but they were doing well for how localized they were.

Really, the only one without any sort of protective detail was Nate. He was the weak link.

“I guess I should be thankful that you cared enough to pick me up this morning and warn me,” Nate said after a moment’s silence. “You probably also just made things worse for me though.”

Angie had a small, thin smile on her face as the car pulled into the school. “Sorry about that, but I thought you needed to know. In your current state, you aren’t exactly equipped to put up a fight against anyone right now. Besides, with you out of the way, it allows your parents to get to the city offices that much sooner this morning. My father mentioned he would make some calls to make everything as easy as possible for them.”

“Why would you do that for us? This goes beyond just helping people out because George took an interest in me. Besides, you already made the call to pay that particular debt, if you even want to call it that. And it’s not because we’re friends either, we barely know each other.”

“You’re a very suspicious person, aren’t you?” Angie asked.

“And that’s not an answer.”

“No, it’s not, and I’m not sure. For now, let’s just say that several people with power have taken an interest in you and your family and are using mine to remain anonymous.”

“That is even more worrying. I’m under no illusion as to the importance of my family in this city. No one knew who we were until George and that structure around the portal in the dimensional zone appeared. If they’ve taken an interest in us, it’s solely because of some imagined connection to that thing’s creator and George.” He finished, only somewhat having to feign the bitterness he felt.

Granted, he was the dungeon’s creator, kind of, but no one knew that. As far as everyone else was concerned, he just had dubious luck of being beaten, which put him on the same side as the person who created it. A side that he estimated was about to come under attack sometime that day by stronger cultivators than his dungeon had yet faced.

In videogame terms, his traps had been dealing with level one to five monsters up to now. That shadow being that kept killing him was the obvious exception to this. The cultivators that were coming would be more along the lines of level ten, or maybe even higher. He wasn’t sure. The analogy didn’t work all that well when he still wasn’t sure how powerful each level and realm for a cultivator was.

The car came to a smooth stop just outside the doors of the school.

“You’re not wrong, but it’s better to make use of the resources you have available when you can instead of letting them wallow unused,” Lindsay told him as she scooted closer to the door. “Now, smile. We’re at school.”

Angie shrugged at him. “She’s right, you know. They may be watching you because of something beyond your control, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to your advantage. Rather, I would say you absolutely should. Opportunities like this don’t come along often. Don’t let it slip through your fingers.” With that, she took the driver’s hand and stepped lightly from the car.

The chauffeur coughed when it became apparent that Nate was stuck inside his own world, thinking.

Blushing, Nate scrambled out and nodded to the man, hurrying to catch up to the two women he had ridden with.

“Have you made your decision?” Lindsay asked when he joined them by the doors to the school.

“I think I would like to make the most of the chance that has been presented to me. I just don’t know how at this time.”

Angie smiled, a predatory gleam lighting up her eyes. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. Father was just waiting for me to let him know that you had made your choice. As soon as I tell him, he’ll take things from there.”

“Um, okay… Thanks, I guess? That helps, but still doesn’t tell me what I should have done if you hadn’t been around to help.” Nate might be working with the memories of two lives, but neither of them was a business savant. He didn’t expect to become one in this life, either. However, he needed to know at least a bare minimum to ensure he never got taken for too bad of a ride when making deals.

Both girls stared at him with looks approaching respect as he made the simple observation.

“Would you both quit looking so surprised every time I say something with any amount of common sense behind it?” He griped, pushing the doors open for them.

“We can try, but frankly, it is rather surprising that anyone our age would take the time to think things through.” Angie pointed out as she brushed past him.

“What does that make the two of you, then?”

“Products of our environment and how we were raised,” Lindsay replied flatly. “There are maybe a handful of other kids at this school that were raised the same way we were.”

“Right, and I’m assuming I’m not among that number.”

“No, you are not.” She assured him with a grin. “But there is something to be said for having competent parents, I suppose.”

He chuckled. “I do have that, or at least I think they are.”

Nate waved to them as he broke off for his first class of the day. Once he was sitting down, he discreetly pulled up the menu for the dungeon. He hadn’t looked last night, but the deficit he was suffering had indeed gone down again. Unfortunately, it was still a long way from being completely gone.

He stared at those ephemeral numbers for a long moment, taking them in, before flicking past and going into the ‘Dungeon Interface’. Nate was still interested in potentially adding some treasure chests or other items to the dungeon. Anything really that might pique the cultivator’s interest enough that they wouldn’t destroy the place.

If they were capable enough to even do that, of course. He wasn’t taking any chances on this one.

Doing all of this in the middle of class slowed him down. He was trying to keep his movements discreet, while also paying at least some attention to the lesson. Judging by the teacher’s occasional irritated glance his way, he was only partially successful.

However, due to his efforts, he discovered that he was indeed able to place treasure chests inside the dungeon. He could even decide when they would appear in the perfected rooms. There was one piece of bad news though, the items inside the chest couldn’t be used by his avatar. If he wanted some easy equipment or money, then he would have to go there in person to get it.