DungeonFall – [A Dungeon Creation / Cultivation Story]

Nate spent around half an hour practicing everything he had been taught before deciding he was ready. It wasn’t long enough to wear him out, but instead, warm him up and remind his body of what it needed to do.

With that done, he adjusted the grip he had on the two kukris and pulled up the screens to begin hunting. It was interesting to note that while the avatar was inside the dungeon, changes could still be made to its interior. Which meant, to him at least, that the dungeon saw the avatar as part of itself. It made sense, considering the traps never attacked.

However, it was nice to know that he wasn’t slowing down the Dungeon Core’s development by being inside each night.

At the moment, all of the changes that had slowly been going on when he first arrived had stopped. That could only mean one thing, there was now a beast somewhere inside the dungeon.

Now he just needed to reach it before the traps took care of it. He had modified the traps before, making them more efficient, and now the Dungeon Core was building on top of that. Each trap was, in his opinion, approaching perfection. The pressure plates had become more sensitive, and each slit or cutout that hid the weapons had become almost invisible.

They were nearly impossible to detect, and the activation time had decreased significantly. Of course, the Core had only managed to fully fix two traps, but they were the ones directly outside the portal room.

Any monster that appeared and was unaware would potentially be directly eliminated before he could get to them.

It was great in the general scheme and purpose of the dungeon, but not so much if he wanted to use them for his own purposes. Each beast the traps took down without him around was one less item or ball of energy he could use. Of course, that also meant he wasn’t going to be getting any practice in with his weapons.

The only hope he had was getting as close to the trap rooms near the portal and hoping he could get some benefits. Whether or not that would work remained to be seen. Nearly all the monsters he had defeated had fallen to the efforts of the traps instead of his own blades. However, he had always been involved in some way, now he wouldn’t even have that.

The dungeon might not give him anything for just standing nearby. If it did, then great, if not… Then he would have to charge in when each beast first appeared.

It was with those thoughts in mind that he ran towards the portal room. During the entire time he was running, the screens that he had up and were watching the newest monster showed him everything that was going on.

The beast was one that he hadn’t seen before, and at first glance, appeared to be a large wolf. It was easily three or four feet tall, with its head well above the door handle. That was only at first glance though.

Long menacing claws scraped against the stone floor, leaving effortless grooves with every move it made. Then there was its tail. Every time it shook, long quills dripping with a bubbling liquid would make a brief appearance.

It was impossible to tell how strong it was through the screens, but he definitely did not want to meet this one in a dark back alley.

It prowled around the room for a minute, sniffing each of the doors before slashing it with its claws. The door, which, while not exactly the most sturdy of objects in the dungeon, was still a part of it. Normally, the monsters had to at least put in some effort when destroying them. This wolf defied that logic by just shredding the door into ribbons like it was nothing.

Still, even with the door lying in pieces at its feet, it didn’t simply rush forward. Each step it took was filled with an abnormal sense of caution. It clearly valued its own life, and yet all its efforts were for naught.

The second it stepped into the trapped room, its life was forfeit. Or at least that’s what Nate assumed was going to happen.

The truth was a little different from his expectations.

He wouldn’t say it was an exceedingly fast beast, but its reaction times were definitely up there. It was to the point where he could clearly see its ears reacting to the almost inaudible noise of the trap activating. Then, a heartbeat later, its body finally moved.

Maybe calling it reaction times wasn’t correct then either, but simply senses? He wasn’t sure.

Either way, the end result was the same. The quilled wolf had managed to escape the first trap inside the room. There were plenty more where that came from, and he doubted it would get lucky for all of them. A second time, possibly, maybe even a third time.

The wolf would need to escape at a minimum of five traps and that was only if it took the absolute most direct route. Every section it entered outside of those would trigger another trap, and of course, there were no markings telling them where those were.

The only person who knew that was Nate because they were highlighted on the viewing screens.

He picked up his speed, trying to reach the general area before it died. He was still holding out some hope that just being close by would give him some benefits.

Nate was still three rooms and several corridors away when it died. The wolf had slipped through the second trap and then gotten injured by the third. Unfortunately, that injury slowed it enough that the fourth one easily killed it.

He was too far away to get anything from it. The body was absorbed into the dungeon and vanished along with all traces that it had ever been there.

As soon as the beast was dead, the door out of the portal room began to be repaired. The Dungeon Core had resumed modifying and fixing everything once more.

Slowing his pace, Nate fell back into practicing his forms as he traversed the last few rooms. If everything went according to schedule, then the next beast or monster wouldn’t be making an appearance for a few more minutes.

Oddly enough, he soon found that without the need to constantly monitor and change the dungeon, he was bored. Spending time inside the avatar was a precious resource, but it was also filled with a lot of downtime where all he could do was practice. There was only so much of that a person could handle.

He was used to things moving at a faster pace, and this forced him to slow down.

Luckily, the next beast made its appearance before he could even finish practicing his forms. It was the renewed wait after that one, for the next monster, and then the one after that. The short bursts of action followed by long periods of waiting just made the time feel as though it was passing slower.

It was made worse by him not being able to do anything against them. The traps were too effective and the range of his kukri too short. On the plus side, he did discover that just by being close, he would receive something from their deaths. However, it seemed that his lack of direct participation had a direct effect on the rewards, as even the energy orbs were smaller than normal.

That is all he was getting at the moment, the energy orbs, not that he was going to complain about that. They were exactly what he needed at the moment, though he would have preferred to receive larger ones. In this specific circumstance, quantity was just as good.

Since he was in no danger of dying and leaving the dungeon early, he was actually able to collect more energy that night than ever before. It was boring and filled with long stretches of him doing nothing but practicing. However, it was exactly because of that constant effort that he quickly grew more comfortable and proficient with the blades.

It would be a stretch to say that he was ready to stand up to a beast with his skills and win. At the same time, if the need arose, he at least wouldn’t be in danger of chopping off his own limbs. Really, at this point, what he needed most was actual experience fighting something.

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be something he was going to get this go around.

He was still thinking about what to do when morning rolled around, and it was time for him to wake up for school. Exiting the dungeon, he rolled out of bed and felt at the changes the increased energy had made to his body.

It was impressive. The night of gathering energy had tipped him over the lowest marker he needed to create his core once more. It would be of the absolute lowest trash grade, and nearly no one ever made one there, but he had reached the requirement already.

It felt good.

Standing up, he cracked his back and headed for the shower with a smile on his face. It was going to be a good day; he just knew it.

That thought lasted all the way through breakfast and most of the ride to school before being shattered like cheap glass.

The normally placid, and good-naturedly argument-filled drive ended with an abrupt screech of tires mixed with the sound of crunching metal, and all three being thrown against their seatbelts.

Angie looked up with a stormy expression, ready to curse out the driver. The words dying on her lips without ever being spoken. Instead, a different one came to the fore. “Jace.”

With a pained groan and a short cough, Lindsay pulled the belt away from her chest enough so she could breathe. Following that, she followed her friend’s line of sight out the dividing window and then out the front of the car. There standing in front of them was Jace, along with four cultivators who had hammered the front of the car into the pavement.

“Is he insane?” She muttered hoarsely, reaching across to help Nate out of the belt that was currently choking him. It had stayed locked in place and wasn’t allowing him to breathe.

He started coughing right away, his face turning red as he struggled to get enough air. “What’s he doing?” Nate asked when he finally stopped coughing. “I thought your parents and his worked everything out?”

“They did…” Angie muttered. “I don’t understand what he’s trying to do here. This isn’t like him at all. He has a grudge of sorts against Nate, but he wants Lindsay and me for his harem or whatever. Injuring us doesn’t help get him towards that goal.”

Lindsay grunted. “As much as I hate to admit it, he isn’t an idiot. He would know this is not a smart move, no matter what.”

Nate rubbed his chest and forced the door open. “Let’s just ask him.”

He fell out the door and flopped onto the pavement, laying there for a second with his eyes closed. It took more willpower than he thought it would to open his eyes and pick himself up off the ground.

“What are you doing here, Jace? We thought all of this had been worked out.”

“Oh, the bug is here as well. That is perfect.” The boy smiled cruelly and motioned to the cultivators at his side. “It’s true her parents worked things out with my parents, and I was even going to wait before making my next move on her. Then imagine my surprise when last night a little birdy whispered something surprising to me. I was told that my dearest Angelica and Lindsay were both preparing to create their cores next week.”

Nate sucked in a shock of air, as he remembered the conversation the two had in the cafeteria days earlier. Once someone had their core, cultivators could challenge each other to duels with certain items on the line. It was generally viewed as scummy behavior for a cultivator of a higher level or realm to challenge anyone lower than them.

Something told him that Jace was less than bothered by that particular stigma.