DungeonFall – [A Dungeon Creation / Cultivation Story]

Nate felt the distinct tap as the flat side of the kukri blade hit his abdomen for the third time in as many minutes. He was learning a lot from his current teacher, at the same time, the woman had a sadistic streak and seemed to enjoy hitting all the same spots each time.

Her name was Anna, and despite the pleasure she seemed to derive from hurting him, she was an excellent teacher. He had learned more from her in the last couple of hours than in his own last few self-taught sessions in avatar form.

Her directed and pointed instructions were always quick and followed by a painful slap of her blade. She was quick, and it was all he could do to keep up with her brutal pace. Yet despite that, she never went faster than he was able to absorb. She simply pushed him to his limits.

Finally, the red-haired woman spun both kukri’s in her hands and slipped them into the crossed sheathes behind her back. “I think that’s enough for now. Any more than this and you might start to forget what I taught you. You have a good foundation, and it’s clear you’ve practiced with other blade styles before.”

He shrugged tiredly from his place on the ground. He might not have been able to remember all the expensive trainers his parents had paid for over the years, but apparently, his muscles hadn’t forgotten. She already knew as much; he had told her the usual story before they began training. About how the attack had affected parts of his memory.

It was a convenient excuse at times like this.

She nudged him with the toe of her foot and wrinkled her nose. “Now get up and hit the showers. You stink and quit rolling on the floor like that. I went easy on you today. Now that I know what you’re made of, I’ll push you even harder next time.”

His eyes widened in horror as he sprang up and sprinted awkwardly toward the changing room. Each step he took was accompanied by a soft grunt and a groan as his already stiffening muscles protested.

Nate let the hot steaming water soothe his body while he stared at the screens of the dungeon. Just as he had been thinking might happen, the cultivator group from before had returned. However, they were having much more difficulty navigating the trap rooms this time around.

The traps weren’t powerful enough to do more than give them a gash or two at most, unless they were truly unlucky with the placement. Yet, with each room and trap they triggered, the damage they suffered slowly accumulated, growing worse over time.

What had been nothing worse than ant bites, in the beginning, grew into an irritation and then into something more.

Unlike the first time when they had stormed through the dungeon like they owned the place, now they had slowed considerably. They could no longer approach each room with impunity, and in that same vein, they weren’t destroying each room this time either.

It was a marked difference from how they had acted before.

He still was entirely unhappy that they thought they had the right to simply enter his dungeon whenever they wanted. However, as long as they weren’t destroying everything in sight, then it wasn’t as big of a deal as it might have otherwise been.

Nate massaged his neck and closed the screens with a sigh. He had been in the shower for long enough already. If he took any longer then there would be questions. There wasn’t anything he could do for the dungeon at this point anyway. He would simply need to hope that his preparations from before had been enough.

He flicked the healing bracelet that had been working to soothe his muscles and bruises and finished toweling off.

Outside the changing room, he found the girls still going through their own practices. Unlike him with his freshly restored body, they had been able to practice normally. While he was struggling to keep up with Anna, Lindsay, and Angelica had only just begun to sweat.

Nate settled down with his back against the wall and watched them work for a bit before closing his eyes and beginning to cultivate. He had a lot of catching up to do, especially if he wanted to make his core as good as possible. He had no idea what grade it would have been before, but he wasn’t going to settle for anything low this time. Not with the dungeon at his disposal and the ability to collect energy orbs from the monsters inside.

It made no sense to rush if he didn’t need to.

A light touch on his shoulder brought him back to find Lindsay holding a marker an inch away from his face.

“What are you doing with that?” He asked in exasperation.

“Shh, just close your eyes and let this happen.” She replied, putting more force into the hand holding his shoulder.

“That just sounds so wrong for some reason,” He muttered while obediently closing his eyes and letting her doodle on his face. “Wait, that isn’t a permanent marker, is it?” He inquired, cracking open a single eye to see what the writing on the tube said. “Lindsay, that crap is never going to come off!”

She ignored his complaints and continued to draw on his face until she was satisfied.

“And what brought this on?” Nate asked her as he caught his reflection in front of the closest window. “Lindsay, what did you write on my face? I thought you didn’t swear?”

“I try not to out loud, but that doesn’t mean I can’t write it.” She replied, twirling the marker with glee.

He made to snatch it from her, intent on getting some revenge when a freshly showered Angie finally joined them.

She took in his appearance and chuckled. “I guess this means you’re officially a member of our little group now. Linds wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing that otherwise.”

He rolled his eyes. “Great, and in the meantime, I can never show my face again. Come here and hold her down so I can have my revenge. I promise to not draw anything too disgusting on her face.” The evil look in his eyes directly contradicted those words.

Angie plucked the marker from Lindsay’s fingers seconds before he could reach it and taunted him with it. “Ah, ah, ah, us girls have to stick together, even against other members of our group.”

“That’s right!” Lindsay stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

“On the other hand, we can’t simply let her get away with it either, can we?”

Lindsay paled and jumped away from them. “No, no, what about all that girls needing to stick together nonsense?”

“It’s on hold for the moment. Nate, you get her feet, I’ll get her arms and do the actual drawing. I still owe her from the last time she did this when we were kids.” Angie dove toward her friend with a laugh and wrestled her into position.

She was gently sitting on her stomach when all was said and done. The first thing to go on Lindsay’s face was a pair of small devil horns above her temples, just below her hairline. After that came whatever Angie could think of, words, flowers, a car, the world’s ugliest cat, it was all there.

A while later, the three were leaning against the wall after having had a good laugh about it all when Anna came in and saw their faces. “You obviously didn’t work hard enough if you still have the energy to play around afterward.” She seemed to hesitate before continuing. “At least your art has improved since you were kids. Well, yours has anyway Lindsay, Angelica’s on the other hand… What is wrong with that dog, cat, bear, thing? I’m not even entirely sure what it is. It looks wrong though.”

Angie threw the marker at her while scowling. “What did you come in here for anyway?”

The woman who had been training Nate earlier tapped her watch. “School’s out for the day. I was just letting you all know, in case you needed to come up with excuses for playing hooky.” She tapped the marker against the door and quickly departed with a wave of her hand.

Nate sighed and stood, brushing the errant dust from the seat of his pants. “All good things must come to an end, I guess.” He muttered, extending his hands to the girls and helping them up. “It’s been fun and probably far more productive than going to school would have been for me.”

Which was true. He had gotten some cultivation in, and some much-needed practice with the kukris. He wouldn’t say he was anywhere near proficient with them. However, he at least now knew what he needed to practice to get there, and that was something he could get in the dungeon.

Angie nodded and shoved him toward the changing room. “Use some soap to clean the marker off your face before anyone else sees you and thinks we’re bullying you.”

“But,” He hiccupped and faked a cry. “You are bullying me.” Nate snorted and hurried to wash his face. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

A few minutes of harsh scrubbing later and he returned with a red face and a slightly wet shirt. Lindsay was in no better condition, though he did his best to look away from her slightly see-through shirt.

“Pervert,” He heard her mutter under her breath before he could turn away.

“I could say the same to you for admiring my chest,” He shot back with a good-natured smile.

The two were just about to get into it when they were interrupted by Angelica’s driver bursting through the door. “I’m sorry, milady, but we have a problem.”

The three turned to face him and waited for him to continue.

“Jace McFadden and his parents have just arrived at the estate a few moments ago. Your parents are waiting for you at the house.” He continued when he saw he had their attention.

Angie paled and took a step backward. “Why is that insolent brat and his parents here? The engagement has already been broken!”

“Um, do you want us to stay or leave?” Nate wondered, unsure as to the procedure for this type of situation.

Angie turned to look at him, a slow slightly off smile spreading across her face. “Oh, I think you should stay. Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Linds?”

The other girl blinked and widened her eyes as comprehension settled in, a little laugh escaping her wet lips. “I do believe I am. Come on, we don’t have that much time and the drive to your house isn’t a long one.”

“Drive slow!” Angie ordered the driver as they pushed Nate down into a seat across from them. “Now, Nate, did you ever play house or other similar games with girls growing up?”

“Huh?” His mind got stuck on the words and was unable to correctly parse their meaning for several seconds. “Oh, come on. You want me to play your boyfriend? There is no way that is going to end well.”

“Wow, you picked up on where we were going with that quickly. But yes, boyfriend, possibly fiancé, depending on how annoying they are being.” Angie agreed readily.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out and didn’t you hear what I said? There is no way this ends well.”

“Oh, do you need an excuse if they ask for proof or anything?” Lindsay asked, getting entirely too into the idea.

“What, why?” Nate’s mind went back to various dramas and movies he had seen in his past life that had used this particular trope. “Fine, if they want proof or something, we’ll just tell them that I’m uncomfortable with the idea of doing anything more than holding hands for the moment. Let’s just leave it at that and let them imagine what they want. Maybe I have some past trauma or am seriously emotionally and sexually repressed. That should work, right?”

Both girls raised their brows in surprise at his response. Neither had been expecting that. “Yeah, that should be fine,” Angie replied as the car pulled up to her house. “Now, put your game faces on everyone. Let’s have some fun with this.”