Amazon Apocalypse 4: Chapter 42

Personalized Training Quest Part 3 of 10: A Test of Power

Three natural dungeons have appeared in your territory. Their strength is building by the moment. Clear the dungeons before they overflow, and they will become permanent dungeons to serve your factions. Fail to clear them, and their monsters will spill forth to exterminate your people.

Natural Dungeons cleared: 0/3

Time until dungeon break: 48 hours.

I wasn’t sure whether to grimace or smile at the prompt. On one hand, three dungeons would be a massive boon. The one we had was in constant use already, so controlling three more would dramatically bolster the training we could do.

On the other hand, I’d practically worked my people to death getting them up a grade over the last few days. They were exhausted, and I was certain they were looking forward to a few days of rest.

But the System thought otherwise, apparently. Perhaps it was intended I use my new leadership bonuses to inspire them to fight through their exhaustion.

“Congratulations everyone on reaching D-Grade and C-Grade. Normally, I’d like to give everybody a day off, but not today. I just received a notification saying three dungeons have appeared. We need to find them, clear them, and then claim them. Otherwise, they’re going to attack. I want every free hand and able body scouting. E-Grades, you stick to the areas surrounding Crownhill. Everybody else, roam the outlying shards and wild areas.”

It took nearly ten hours to find the first of the dungeons. When we had it, I radioed in to Myrina, Sakura, Bridget, and even Reluna. This was an unknown threat, so I needed the best team we had to face it. Our group would represent most of the active C-Grades we had, at least until the others healed up.

“Being the first to clear a dungeon? This is a rare opportunity. Though I wonder what it contains...” Reluna examined the archway of interwoven vines.

Myrina stepped up to join her. “Definitely a natural dungeon. Probably made by some beast. The ones made by humanoid hands usually reenact a scenario of personal significance to their culture, but ones made by beasts or ones that naturally form could be anything.”

Reluna adjusted her wide-brimmed hat. “I concur. I would expect wood spirits or forest beasts within. Perhaps dryads or barkborn, but most likely wild and unthinking beasts. From the impression I get, this is a dungeon suitable for D-Grades, so we should be more than its match.”

“Even so, keep your guard up. Who knows what unknown dangers lurk within.”

And so we challenged the first dungeon and found ourselves immediately beset by a giant bear.

Myrina was the first to react, and with a ferocious yell, she punched the bear in the nose. The bear was only D-Grade, so the punch caved in its nose. It lasted just a second longer before being completely pulverized.

“No quest board?” I asked.

“Not for a natural dungeon. You have to figure out what you’re supposed to do yourself. I suspect there is a powerful beast to slay somewhere.” Reluna pointed ahead.

From there, we wound our way through the dungeon. A few surprise giant snakes were laying in wait. I took care of them without teasing Myrina, since I knew snakes were something she wasn’t fond of. I’d never pried, but I’d gathered there were some very deadly snakes on Themyscira.

Eventually, we came across the dungeon’s final boss. To me, it looked like a caveman wielding a wooden club, though with green skin, he was likely more closely related to goblins and orcs than to humans. He had thick brows, a hunched back, and brawny arms that made him look every bit the stereotypical barbarian savage.

Orc Savage (Level 143)

“I’ll take this guy, if you ladies don’t mind.” I stepped forward and drew my sword. From there, I dueled the orc, enchanted sword to wooden club. It was already an unfair contest based on our respective levels, so I restricted myself just to swordplay.

The duel lasted nearly a minute, and I got a few sword proficiency points out of it before I finally dealt a lethal blow and finished him off.

From there, the dungeon soon ended. Our reward was a collection of exotic stat-enhancing fruit, reminiscent of some of the things I’d purchased on Glacia and in the Mucaria pocket realm for quite a pretty penny.

Congratulations on clearing the Savage Woodlands Dungeon!

For being the first to clear this dungeon, you’ve been awarded a title.

Savage Conqueror (Uncommon)

+50 Strength, +50 Vitality.

You are now more resistant to venom and more likely to detect surprise attacks.

The title was alright, all things considered. There was nothing to write home about for me, but every bit counted. My companions were more pleased since strength and vitality meant more to their builds than for mine. The orc gave me experience points, so the System didn’t consider it a monster. It wasn’t enough for a level, but the kill at least had been good for me.

I was more interested in the boost to detecting surprise attacks. Hopefully, the effects were multiplicative with my bloodline. A dozen more titles like that one, and I might become impossible to ambush.

Our people had already discovered the second dungeon by the time we emerged, so we went straight there. This natural dungeon was located on the dragon’s shard, but I was disappointed to discover the final boss wasn’t a version of the Torchdragon. I really wanted that core.

The boss was a big mountain lion, which Bridget asked to take on alone. Perhaps the wolf spirit in here considered it a rival predator. It took her a few minutes, but eventually, she dug her daggers into the mountain lion’s neck and put it out of its misery.

Congratulations on clearing the Wild Plains Dungeon!

You’ve been awarded a title for being the first to clear this dungeon.

Wildlands Explorer (uncommon)

+50 Agility, +50 Perception.

Attacks from ambush are now less likely to deal lethal wounds to you.

The agility and perception were much more useful to me, so I was pleased with the title. Sakura claimed the lion’s hide as one of our rewards, since it would make a good project for her leatherworking job. There were also a few exotic beast bones that the lion had been gnawing on, including one that belonged to a Torchdragon. Reluna claimed that piece for her projects, and we were off there.

The search for the third dungeon took a long time, and I was growing increasingly nervous that we wouldn’t find it before the monsters came out of it. We searched far and wide, but when it finally turned up it was right under the noses of everyone back in San Antonio. If the monsters in it had broken out, things could have gotten quite rough for the survivors, who were only barely beginning to put their lives back together.

“Undead dungeon. I can sense the mana,” Reluna said.

“Nice. I have a fancy new undead-slaying blade!” Myrina shamelessly pulled out the rapier she’d swiped from me, which did indeed have a few enchantments on it specialized for killing undead. I’d made it to help get rid of the Lich King, after all.

Sure enough, the dungeon was in a graveyard. Shambling low-level zombies wandered around, and we killed them as we scouted for dangers. They were weak enough that my companions roamed ahead while I wrote up a quick report on this and all the previous dungeons. If these things were staying, I wanted the next few groups going in prepared.

Eventually, we came across the intended final boss of this dungeon, a silent necromancer who reminded me a lot of the Lich King, though weaker and unintelligent.

Perhaps we had some leftover frustrations to work out because we couldn’t agree on who would get to fight him, and all of us ended up attacking as one. The necromancer was stronger than the other bosses, but with all of us charging him, he didn’t last more than a few seconds.

Congratulations on clearing the Necrotic Sewers Dungeon!

You’ve been awarded a title for being the first to clear this dungeon!

Purger of the Unclean (Uncommon)

+25 Charisma, +25 Luck.

You now have higher resistance to undead energies and necrotic attacks and will be exceedingly difficult to turn into an undead after death.

This time, the effect of the title was not really that useful, but the stats certainly were. Charisma and Luck were by far the two hardest stats to improve, so even small boosts to them were immensely valuable, considering I had several abilities that scaled off them.

Quest Completed: A Test of Power

Congratulations! Your Death Defier title now provides large bonuses to leadership, and the effects of your Death Curse have been significantly mitigated.

You may accept your current rewards, or continue the training quest for greater prizes. Be warned, the challenges will only grow more difficult from here.

Proceed? Y/N

Naturally, I accepted the challenge.

Challenge accepted! Now beginning Personalized Training Quest Part 4 of 10.

A Test of Talent

A anomaly has appeared during a nearby integration. Solve the associated glitch and receive appropriate rewards.

You will now be teleported to the source of the anomaly.

***

I barely had time to warn my companions I was about to be swept away by the time it happened. Apparently, this next test was less for my faction and more for me personally. I prepared myself for combat, but when I did so, I realized there was nothing to fight. This would test my Aethersmith abilities rather than my combat abilities.

I was standing in front of a building right next to a sign up front warning me to stay away. I read the sign aloud.

“Restricted Area. No trespassing beyond this point. Photography is prohibited. Use of deadly force authorized."

The sign looked like it was straight off the front gates of Area 51. For all I knew, that was exactly where I was.

Four System-made walls surrounded every side of the building, making it the smallest shard I’d ever seen. The System had decided this place needed isolating, no doubt because of the glitch it had detected.

“So what’s the nature of the glitch?” I asked aloud, not really expecting a response. To my surprise, a prompt appeared.

Anomalous objects present in the area prevent normal System functions. Disable or remove the offending objects.

I shrugged in acceptance, then made my way into the building.

The place was clearly a laboratory of some sort, complete with white walls and rows of benches containing equipment. A few labcoats were on the ground nearby, along with scattered clothes and empty pairs of shoes. I hadn’t seen such sights since early on in the integration.

The System wouldn’t have cared about slicing a building in half with its barriers during containment, so I figured the thing I was looking for would likely be in the exact center of the barriers. I eyeballed the location I was looking for and found nothing but an empty stretch of floor. There wasn’t anything here.

So I tried Shadowrealm Stride. Immediately, I was overwhelmed by a brilliant light blue light emanating from a higher dimension. I blinked and let my eyes adjust until I could tell the difference between blindingly bright and light as bright as the sun. The source of the energy was coming from below my feet. Of course, the thing I was looking for was underground.

The source of that energy had to be what I was looking for. I searched the facility for a way down before realizing the stairwell was blocked by a System-generated barrier. Left with no other option, I used Shadowrealm Stride again to open up a hole in the floor with my will and pass through it.

Traveling this way took me through several stories’ worth of structure and into the Earth below. The true heart of this facility was deep underground. Along the way, my System interfaces stopped working properly, though my powers remained.

Checking with my Aethersmith sight, I looked at the connections embedded in my soul by the System and saw that they seemed stretched thin. The cables embedded in me led nowhere like their chords had been cut. The System would no doubt repair them as soon as I was in range, but for now I looked like I was on my own.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I reached the bottom. Some sort of secret government experiment? A particle accelerator? A miniature black hole? Maybe a portal to another reality?

Instead, I found a book. The symbols on the open pages matched many of those in the Book of Sacred Knowledge.

I reached out for the book, but it seemed the closer I came to it, the further away my hand seemed to be. I could hover over the book just fine, but no matter how much closer I tried to get, I remained just out of arm’s reach. There was some sort of strange spatial effect going on here. No wonder the System needed me to solve this issue for them.

I circled the book a few times, examining it closer. I scanned the open page and examined my memory for any recollection of the exact set of symbols on display before me. None came to mind, meaning this book was written in the same language but contained different content.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. This culture no doubt made many books, and finding two of the same edition would be strange. Still, I was intrigued by the fact that this book seemed even more magical than the one I’d already picked up. Just what secrets lay within its pages? And more importantly, could swiping this thing give me more data to translate the one I’d already picked up?

Finishing the quest involved taking the book, but the book currently emitted a spatial disturbance I didn’t know how to solve. I’d need to figure out how to deactivate this thing and turn it into a regular book somehow. I got the distinct impression that it could be done if only I knew how to do it.

Thankfully, I was armed with just the tools to do it. My arms would never reach the book, but my mind already could. With a flick of my attention, I used telekinesis to flip the book closed. The spatial effect immediately receded dramatically.

I took a step closer and noticed there was a spatial pocket, like a sleeve I could slide the book into on a higher plane of existence. I reached up and did so, and the book suddenly seemed mundane and ordinary, like I was looking at a mere copy of the magical thing I beheld moments ago.

Quest Completed: A Test of Talent.

Congratulations! Your Death Defier title now provides slight bonuses to resisting the effects of non-categorized energies, and your reputation with the System has increased. You may be contacted to solve similar problems in the future, with increasing rewards based on the job’s difficulty.

“No stats?” I muttered as I read the quest reward. It seemed like the System thought its favor was reward enough.

I glanced at the book in my hands. Perhaps I could claim my own reward. I quickly tucked it into Morgathor’s Satchel before the System teleported me away.


<Note>
I'm trying to be more active with leaving author comments at the end of chapters, since if I don't I get slightly lower engagement from you guys (I think that's because people think that I'm not reading the comments when I don't leave a note.)

Rest assured, Marvin is always watching! I do read every comment, even those left on chapters posted weeks ago, though I respond less frequently to those.

Anyway, that's the only thing I could think to say. Sorry, it's 3AM for me while uploading this.