Dungeon Novel 2: Chapter Two

The Adventurers were few and had started mapping the Dungeon, the fact that they were raiding full time forced Unbound to finally link up loot drops to the defenders. It was one of the oldest methods available to Dungeon’s to entice Adventurers to venture further into the Dungeon where danger was more common.

The Purge Undead sigil that the various nations wanted in massive amounts was only dropped extremely rarely by each boss. For the first clear of the First floor Unbound forced it to drop so that the Adventurers knew it existed and would keep delving for it.

Every other vaguely dangerous creature within the First floor only dropped copper coinage and pieces of their own bodies like chitin and furs. If the Deadlands did not exist there would likely be a thriving hub of adventuring activity around Unbound’s Dungeon and he likely would be far stronger, owning less patterns, but far stronger with a possible sixth or seventh floor.

There sixteen different Adventurer parties of different races to represent their nation and gather materials and they ran Unbound’s Dungeon like clockwork, one clear after another of the first floor whilst they mapped the second floor. They were far more cautious in the large tunnels and giant ants, every member being highly professional within that floor.

Elvinia was extremely pleased with the new situation, she constantly sat watching as the Adventurers fight the Dungeon defenders. Her time amongst her own kind was to prepare her for linking with a Dungeon core and to challenge Adventurers.

Even as Unbound finished the fifth floor and shifted some of his experiments around he moved his focus towards the residence on the third floor. He had upgraded the security of it and added to its size. When he had perused available listings in the Shop for the extra bits within the third floor, he had seen something in the skills section.

Dungeon Skill: Weak Projection

When that skill had come to light Elvinia had demanded he buy it immediately. Despite being only Weak it unlocked the purchase of stronger skills. It allowed Unbound to ‘project’ his voice within his domain, it had a steep mana cost but could build relationships between him and any possible contractors without Elvinia as a messenger.

With his focus upon the residence, he mentally rang the bell to signify his presence before he projected his voice to speak with the inhabitants.

“Hello. Are you all well?” He asked politely, he had grown unused to speaking with more than one person and came off slightly colder and direct. It was one of the first few times Unbound had spoken directly to Beda, Shielen, Elva and Ayren but there was no flinching or shock as there had been the first time.

“We are well, Unbound.” Shielen said for the group, having moved collectively into the central space of the residence. “What do you wish to speak with us about?”

“I want you to review my fifth floor like an Adventurer party. I need its flaws, problems and weaknesses noted and a typical reaction to how it would be perceived.” There were small signs of shock at that statement. Elva’s fingers twitched, Ayren twisted her head and Beda tapped a finger to her lips in contemplation.

“You want to see how most people would react and combat the obstacles you have put in place.” She stated shrewdly. “Would we be in any true danger throughout this exercise or would you be able to prevent serious harm to us.”

It was a fair question Unbound thought to himself and not one he had truly considered. He had not seen the actual battle prowess of Shielen and her guards, but Beda was a substantially powerful Necromancer with the ability to create dangerous Undead.

“A mixture of both might suffice” Unbound responded. “True danger with my defenders and traps lethal until you request otherwise. I don’t believe that you would gain a true measure of the floors defensive strength without coming under threat, but I swore to protect you and I will keep that promise.”

His words reassured them, Elva and Ayren relaxing slightly as he said that and Beda muttering to herself about what Undead she should bring with her. Shielen spoke as Unbound finished speaking.

“It will hopefully allow us to prove worth helping, I know Beda has assisted in creating various new Undead subtypes you can use but Ayren, Elva and myself have lacked a good way to assist you for housing and defending us. I can offer the suggestion that we could provide similar responses to the other floors.” She offered.

“Depending on your report and its worth I may ask you to examine the others.” Unbound responded, happiness suffusing his tone. He tried to craft the floors well and someone to critically look at it and appreciate it would be pleasant experience. He was slightly vain about it and the amount of effort it took to constantly balance the environment within a floor that was under outside assault.

Agreeing that within the next several hours that they would be prepared to tackle the fifth floor Unbound moved on. The Weak Projection skill had drained a large quantity of mana for several sentences, if he wished to interact with people besides Elvinia more frequently he would have to get far stronger or find the stronger projection skill.

Unbound then proceeded to watch the Adventurers whilst slowly expanding the territory outside of his Dungeon, it was extremely slow going and almost impossible when an Adventurer party was there. Their life auras were part of the reason most Dungeons couldn’t expand outside when a Dungeon town was built around their entrance, it blocked the Dungeon’s mana.

Unbound wanted to have a closer look at the small enclave the Adventurer’s resided in. They were hidden behind strong illusions and were sending off supplies from the Dungeon with the help of a space mage. Something Unbound wanted to know more about after the noble escaped him with the help of one.

Even when he did this there was a commotion outside, another group of Undead were marching towards his entrance with the sentient races outside withdrawing behind the illusions. The only issue was that there was already an adventuring group inside. The two groups would meet and conflict would likely arise.

Say if there are any issues with this chapter. I can not get the editing software to work sadly.