Chapter 27

Chapter 27 - Blank Slate

New Dungeon – Former Nephilim Village

Jason

System Notice: New Empowered Dungeon Formed

Congratulations, you have used the Relic of Darkness to form a new dungeon!

The nature of the dungeon depends on the corpses and mana absorbed – currently, light and dark mana, with dark mana dominant.  As a result, the dungeon will be designated as an “undead” dungeon.

However, the dungeon’s Core is immature and is unable to sustain itself without the maintenance of a full-time Dungeon Boss.  You have been appointed as the Dungeon Boss, the dungeon will reserve a portion of your mana to sustain itself, and this position is now locked.  You must gather additional mana to feed the Dungeon Core. If you fail to collect the requisite mana or leave the vicinity of the dungeon before its core has fully matured, the dungeon will collapse.

By completing several optional requirements, you have further empowered the dungeon, resulting in a substantial increase to the core’s mana capacity. Due to the nature of the mana absorbed (light), the dungeon’s effective radius is increased and environmental effects have been unlocked, its base monster capacity has been doubled, and zone-wide light-mana based effects have been unlocked.

Level 1 Dungeon Core

Mana: 0/10,000,000

Duration: 2 months (in-game time)

Affinity: Dark, Light

Default Monster Type: Undead

Monster Capacity: 0/20

You have been designated as the Dungeon Boss and your mana has been reduced by 30%.

Your respawn point has been rebound to the dungeon.

First floor unlocked

Radius increased to 1/2 Mile.

Lighter Than Air effect unlocked

I’m Dead, Not Dying effect unlocked

“Desire requires sacrifice.” – The Dark One

Jason read the prompt three times and still couldn’t believe it.

He’d had suspicions, of course. Okay… fine.

Dreams might have been more accurate. And Jason always dreamed big.

However, there had been a few hints. That meeting with the Gambler and the other avatars had highlighted that the relics were potentially tools used to create this world or alter its mechanics.  If that was the case, then someone had to create the game’s dungeons – killing grounds that were soaked in the blood of monsters, residents, and travelers alike.

So, why not the avatar of darkness?

Yet the reality was still incredible – even if it came at a cost.

It seemed he was going to be locked to one location… yet again.  Almost like the game – or, more likely, Alfred – had tailored this condition specifically to him. In many ways, this would be a repeat of the Twilight Throne. Well, except for a few critical differences.

First off, no one knew that he’d formed this dungeon or where it was located – at least, not yet.  No system-wide announcement had gone out this time, which worked in his favor. And, speaking of location, this village was strategically perfect, sandwiched between the kingdoms of light and dark.  Most importantly, Jason didn’t need to worry about the residents.

In short, tactical supremacy and no risk of collateral damage.

This was the best of all possible worlds. Allowing him to create a custom killing ground on his terms, but without the constraints and vulnerabilities that had held him back in the past.

“What in the unholy fuck am I looking at right now?” Alex muttered, coming to stand beside Jason and Alfred as they stared at that Mausoleum, dark clouds crashing and tumbling overhead and lightning arcing through their depths.

Jason spared a glance at the cat at his feet, his tail swishing at the air happily as he surveyed his own handiwork. It seemed the AI was proud of himself.

“A new dungeon,” Jason answered, swiping away the notification.

“Do you… do you control it?” Alex asked hesitantly.

Jason nodded.  “Yep.  You’re looking at the new boss.”

“Of course, I am,” Alex muttered, followed by a moment of silence as he processed.

Then he turned his eyes back to Jason, a glimmer of light mana flickering within their depths.  “So, this was the plan then?” he murmured, not quite a question.  “That’s why you went along with my plan to lure the Nephilim hunting party to the border of the Twilight Throne – why you made them think they’d been attacked by a Keeper. You wanted the Crystal Reach and the Twilight Throne fighting while you build this… this nightmare dungeon on their own border.”

Jason tilted his head.  Alex was giving him a bit too much credit.

He’d been operating in the dark – no doubt, the Old Man and Alfred had found that irony terribly amusing.  It was mostly a combination of guesswork and luck. But Alex didn’t need to know how close they’d come to failing horribly.

“Essentially,” Jason answered.  “I left one of the Nephilim soldiers alive.  So, she should be flying back to the Crystal Reach to inform the Empress.  I doubt that will be enough to start a full scale war between the Empress and Sebastian – the former dark avatar,” he added for Alex’s benefit.  “Not with the threat the travelers pose.  But it should buy us time.”

“Time to do what exactly?” Alex demanded, his curiosity overcoming his frustration.

“To build up our dungeon, of course,” Jason answered, waving at the mausoleum.

Alex sighed.  “Yeah, I get that, but to what end?”  He hesitated, cocking his head.  “Do you plan to use this place like the ant dungeons outside of Sandscrit? As a way to create bone gardens [TB1] and build up an army of feral undead that you can use to attack the Crystal Reach?”

Jason was stunned.  First off, that was a brilliant plan, if he said so himself.

But, more importantly, it was what Alex’s question implied.

“Wait, you do watch my streams, don’t you?” Jason replied, his smile stretching wide, the swarm skittering and reforming across his face.  “I knew it!  You’re a fan!”

Wow.  Alex appeared to be having difficulty processing that one.

“No, I watch them for… research. It’s important to know your enemy.”

Plausible, but some of those details weren’t on video.  He must have had to dig into the forums – reading through the other travelers’ conspiracy theories. Although, Jason decided it wasn’t wise to bring that up.  Alex already looked defensive. Also, a little murdery.

“Suuuure. Anyway, to answer my #1 fan’s question,” Jason continued, ignoring Alex’s frown and feeble protest, “that isn’t the plan – at least, not exactly.  I mean, I’m not ruling it out, but that won’t work here.  First, it would be difficult to build up a large enough army with a single dungeon. Second, there’s still the debuff surrounding the Crystal Reach. You add those two things together, and that plan is completely impractical. I’d need a HUGE army to pull it off.”

He shook his head.  “No, I have something else in mind. I want to form a real dungeon – one strong enough that it can withstand the armies of the two neighboring cities.”

“How would that help—” Alex began, but then cut himself off.

“Wait, you plan to use the travelers,” he murmured moments later, his eyes snapping up to meet Jason’s.  Say what you want about Alex – he could be a real asshole – but he was clever.  “You could use the dungeon to weaponize them against the Originals.”

Jason’s smile widened a bit further, growing impossibly wide.  “Exactly.  The travelers trapped in the Crystal Reach and Twilight Throne can’t travel far with the native monsters.  Reaching Pax is a stretch for most of them.  But the monster populations are thinner near the elemental cities since the local soldiers weed them out.  The travelers are also bored and desperate.  That’s why they’ve been accepting the quests the Originals offer – working against their own kind.  They have few options to level or acquire loot. But if we built a convenient dungeon on their doorstep…”

Did he really need to finish?  The outcome would look a lot like Pax.  There were far too many travelers.  And the Original didn’t have waypoints, or layers, or instanced death games to help them blow off steam.  The only reason that the Originals had kept them under control was that the travelers were weak, uncoordinated, and demoralized.  But if Jason gave them something to fight for?  A way to level up?  To gear up?  Hell, they’d come from miles around.

Which would place an immortal army right on the Originals’ doorstep.

One that just kept growing stronger.

A brief silence followed as Alex considered Jason’s glorious master plan, a glimmer of something that looked uncomfortably like respect shining in his eyes now.

Then, of course, he had to go and ruin it.

“And the cost?” the avatar of light asked finally. “Because these relics come with a price.”

Ahh, right.  That.  He could always count on Alex to piss on his game-breaking parade.  A ‘golden’ shower of negativity, if you will.

Jason grimaced. “I, uh, can’t leave the dungeon until its core has fully formed.  In short, I’m stuck here for a while.”

“How long is a while?”

Jason hesitated. The question was innocent enough, but the Gambler’s words were still fresh in his mind. Knowledge was power. Alex could easily screw him over if he knew the deadline… and the terms that the notification had outlined. Which meant he needed to tread a fine line between giving Alex enough information to gain his support – help he was going to need – while still protecting himself.

“Not too long,” Jason hedged, earning a raised brow from Alex.  He wasn’t buying it.  “More importantly, those sacrifices helped empower the dungeon.”

Curiosity warred with suspicion in Alex’s eyes, and eventually won out.

“What does that mean?” he asked with a sigh.

Jason’s frown curved back into an excited smile.  “I thought you’d never ask…”

With a wave of a skeletal hand, a new glowing blue menu appeared in the air in front of him along with a three-dimensional map of the dungeon’s layout.  Right now, it was rather simple – only two levels.  Apparently, the dungeon’s domain included a portion of the surface, plus one subterranean level.  The above-ground area only spanned a few dozen meters around the mausoleum, at least, for now. The first underground level was also perfectly square.

It looked like a default, placeholder layout straight out of a strategy game.

Although, Jason was optimistic that he could expand from here.

After all, the menu had a tab specifically for “Dungeon Design” and “Monster Management.”  There was also an option to give the dungeon a name, but that seemed premature at this point.  He hadn’t even decided on an “aesthetic.”

Jason couldn’t wait to dive in, but… first things first. 

He tapped at another tab labeled “Dungeon Effects” and two prompts appeared:

Dungeon Effect: I’m Dead, Not Dying

Due to the considerable light mana absorbed in the creation of this dungeon, its undead denizens are more resistant to light mana effects and immune to decay.  This includes the portion of the surface included in the dungeon’s domain, which will be covered by an unnatural darkness as long as this effect is maintained.

Mana Cost: 5% of Dungeon Boss’ mana.

Currently Enabled

Jason’s dark gaze drifted to the billowing clouds overhead – the effect very similar to the cloud cover that hung overtop the Twilight Throne.

“The first effect are those clouds,” Jason offered slowly.  “It reduces the effect of light mana and sunlight on the dungeon’s monsters and stops the decay.”

“Interesting,” Alex murmured.  With a flap of his wings, he sped up into the night sky, getting a better view.  He landed only moments later.  “The effect is localized directly overtop the Mausoleum,” he reported, a frown creasing his lips.  “It’s hard to see right now, but I suspect that might draw some attention during the day.”

Jason glanced at his companion in surprise.  “That’s a fair point.”

“No need to sound so shocked,” Alex offered dryly.

He’d have to use the darkness effect sparingly.  He could keep his undead and the dungeon’s monsters stored in the Mausoleum during the day to reduce the decay – at least, for now. Until they had built up the dungeon’s power. With a tap of his fingers, he disabled the effect and the clouds overhead slowly broke apart, the lightning dissipating with a final sharp crackle.

“And the other effect?” Alex urged, impatient.  It seemed Jason wasn’t the only one excited to explore the dungeon’s features.

Dungeon Effect: Lighter Than Air

The Nephilim are known for their floating cities, islands of metal, dirt, and crystal suspended above the ground where they can better absorb the sun’s rays.  Due to the absorption of a large amount of light mana, a similar effect can be applied to the Dungeon.

Mana Cost: 10% of Dungeon Master’s mana.

Currently Disabled

Jason’s brow furrowed.  “I’m not quite sure what this one does.”

Maybe it would be better to see for himself.  With a tap, Jason enabled the effect.  Shadows formed along his arms, mana pouring out of his skeletal vessel in a torrent and speeding down into the depths of the Mausoleum.  It was almost like the dungeon was feeding on him…

However, he was distracted from that as something new happened.

A low hum resonated through the air, sending subtle vibrations through the ground. The larger remains of the village seemed to shiver in anticipation before slowly lifting off the earth. Wooden boards from the shattered cottages, stones from crumbled walls, and even fragments of the crystal that once adorned the village square began to rise. They hovered there, suspended in an almost ethereal dance, the moonlight casting elongated shadows beneath them.

The once chaotic and scattered debris floated with a strange grace above the dungeon entrance, forming an imposing and otherworldly sight. It was as if the earth itself was holding its breath, waiting to see what would come next. The floating remnants shimmered slightly in the moonlight, their gentle oscillations creating a mesmerizing pattern. Jason could feel the mana around him thickening, the weight of the energy palpable.

Yet this wasn’t a true Gravity Well like the satyrs could create. It didn’t lift Jason… or Alex. It only seemed to affect the inanimate material around them. Almost like it was modifying the molecular structure of the rock, wood, and crystal – making it less dense. A test proved his point. Gently nudging a boulder sent it slowly drifting away.

“Fascinating,” Jason murmured, his mind already buzzing with possibilities. Visions of an unholy amalgamation of the Nephilim’s floaty architecture and the undead.

Alex was less enthused. “I’m not sure I see the benefit.  They’re just floating rocks.”

Jason just grinned at him. “Remember what I said about imagination?”

His reluctant teammate just grunted, crossing his arms. “Maybe you could imagine yourself explaining our next steps? You know, out loud? With your words Because I seemed to recall you saying that you’re now bound to this dungeon for—” he hesitated, his eyes narrowing.  “How long did you say you need to stay here again?”

That earned him a chuckle.  “Fair enough.  To answer your question, I’ll be stuck here for however long it takes us to gather enough mana to upgrade the dungeon’s Core,” Jason hedged again.  It wasn’t technically untrue – not exactly.

“Which we accomplish how exactly?” Alex asked with a sigh.

A fair question. Which required exploring another tab.  Specifically, monster creation.  The effect was interesting.  As Jason tapped at the new menu, a crafting panel opened – one that looked eerily familiar.  Almost an exact clone of his Custom Skeleton.  However, this one had many features locked, didn’t require him to expend the mana to summon the undead or use his own control limit, and had a much more limited list of pre-built undead. Only a handful really.

So, Jason raised what he could.

Only moments later, he heard footsteps scratching their way up the stairs of the Mausoleum. The moonlight revealed, unholy demonic angels.  Their flesh and muscle had been stripped away until only bleached white bone remained.  Skeletal wings sprang from their back, panels of dark mana draped between the bone and more fragments floating around their brow in a sort of makeshift halo. Even more strangely, a glimmer of purple energy rippled down their arms, their fingers tapering into wicked claws.

A quick inspection revealed they were all above level 400.

The dungeon’s denizens – those former villagers –stepped up to the glimmering green barrier and Jason felt his breath catch.  An idea was blooming in his mind, a malignant flower grown from corrupted soil.  Could those undead… leave the dungeon?

Just a twitch of his fingers was enough – enough for one of the Nephilim to reach a single, hesitant hand across the threshold. Their mana flared bright purple and smoke began to stream away from their fingers. A new prompt opened in Jason’s peripheral vision, one that looked much like a raid menu. The skeleton’s health dropped slowly.

“Well, this is horrifying. You killed all the townsfolk and raised their bodies as mindless monsters. At least there are no children,” Alex observed sourly as Jason instructed the Nephilim to jerk its hand back across the threshold.  “Did you imagine this part, or was this just a happy accident?

Jason shot him a glare, his hands skipping across a dozen menus.  “That’s a lot of judgment coming from the guy who led them all to the slaughter,” he replied evenly. “But I think I’ve found the answer to your question. Looking through the menus, there’s one listing dungeon stats.”

With a flick of his wrist, Jason tapped the menu item and rotated it toward Alex.

Dungeon Status - Unconquered

Level 1 Dungeon (Unnamed)

Dungeon Timer: 1 Month Remaining

Current Mana: 0/10,000,000

Monster Capacity 20/20

Dungeon Respawn: 1 in-game hour

Invader Kills: 0

“This implies we collect mana by defeating residents or travelers that venture into the dungeon,” [TB2] Jason murmured. Or maybe that applied to any monster?  He’d have to run tests.

The respawn rate was also extremely short.  Maybe it was relative to the dungeon’s size?

And didn’t the fact that the duration was listed on the status imply it could be changed?  Somehow?  Jason hoped so, because there were still other questions.  For example, what happened if travelers defeated the dungeon?  Did he lose mana?  Or was it cumulative?  And even with that short respawn, a dedicated group camping his dungeon could ruin his plans—

Although, that all begged a much more pressing and important question.

“So, do we just wait until travelers or residents show up or did you have a marketing plan in mind?” Alex demanded, skeptically. “I suppose you could re-enable I’m Dead, Not Dying to help advertise your new dungeon, but I don’t think just twenty undead Nephilim are going to be enough to deal with the residents and travelers that show up – even at level 400.”

Ahh, right… about that—Jason actually had a different idea.

His smile widened, his lips splitting far too wide as he turned his dark gaze toward his companion. One that most definitely wasn’t bound to the dungeon. One that apparently had the newfound ability to Command others – or, at least, the Nephilim.  Plus, the wings and the wardrove and the haughty arrogance that would allow him to pass easily among those angelic jerks.

“What?  Why are you looking at me like—” Alex pulled up short as the realization struck him – as he imagined a future where the two of them were something more than enemies.

They were something even better: business partners.

“Yep, if I’m stuck managing the dungeon, that leaves you to handle the leg work.  In short, I’m proposing that we team up – for real this time.  That we start a new business,” he added with a wave at the dungeon behind him.  “I mind the store while you focus on marketing.”

Before he could object, Jason continued. “You’d be the face of our operation.  If this works, it would allow you to consolidate your power and possibly allow you to retake the Crystal Reach, which would offer some leverage with George, wouldn’t it?”

The angel hesitated, just scowling… but he wasn’t saying no.

Jason was close, but his Perception told him Alex still hadn’t been sold yet.

“Also, this is the streaming opportunity of a lifetime – at least, assuming we don’t die horribly.  I know you don’t trust me, which is fair since I’ve killed you so many times now.”

Alex growled under his breath.  Some people just couldn’t handle the truth.

“But as my #1 fan, you have to admit, I know how to create a little chaos.”

He stuck out a bony hand – death himself offering the deal of a lifetime. His eyes bottomless pools of darkness that promised glorious mayhem.  “So, what do you say… partner?”

Alex hesitated as he stared at that hand. Then he swallowed, squared his shoulders, and accepted Jason’s grip, coils of smoke coiling from their grasped hands.

“Fine.  What’s our next step?”

Jason gave him a grim smile. “That’s easy.  What’s the first step of any new business?”  He turned and waved at his dungeon – at their dungeon. “We need to refine our product.”