Dungeon Myst Part 2 (Patreon)

Myst dodged behind the training dummy, planning on using the training dummy for a shield if he could. 'How the hell did the fucking rune summon Voldemort and Harry?'

Harry quickly dove behind the table. "What the hell is going on?!"

"He's a dark wizard! Don't let him grab the bracelet!" Myst shouted, hoping his plan worked and Voldemort got cursed with something that would kill him or at least slow him down.

Voldemort's lips twisted into a smirk as he gestured and levitated the bracelet over so he could examine it.

Myst stared in disbelief as Harry took him at his word and jumped up onto the table then jumped at Voldemort like a lunatic hero. "Don't…" he trailed off as Harry grabbed Voldemort by the neck and the dark wizard started melting and burning. "Huh," he sputtered when Voldemort and the remains of his clothes turned into a pile of ash, a pale wooden wand and a thumb sized dark crystal.

"Congratulations Harry, your Mother's Love ability has been upgraded to Heart's Domain," the ethereal voice announced, causing Harry to jump and look around.

Harry glanced up at the ceiling to make sure nothing was hiding in the shadows then focused on the strange creature. "Did you hear that?"

Myst pulled his attention off the loot and focused on Harry. "No, what did it say?"

"Something about a Mother's Love ability being upgraded to Heart's Domain," Harry replied, wishing he knew what the hell he was since everything seemed too detailed to be a dream.

"That was probably the voice of the system. I'm guessing you got a reward for killing one of Voldemort's soul fragments," Myst explained as he walked out from behind the training dummy.

"System? Soul fragments? What the hell is going on?" Harry demanded.

"This world is basically like a video game, you get rewarded for killing monsters." Myst gestured towards the cursed bracelet that had fallen to the floor when Voldemort was reduced to ash. "The cursed bracelet creates half finished spells in the form of runes. I used the rune to grab a magical skill and it summoned Voldemort to fight."

"Who or what is a Voldemort?" Harry asked, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Complicated," Myst admitted as he checked his new skill. 'Magical Flight? And the skill increases with my magic stat, nice.'

"Just give me the basics?" Harry suggested.

Myst closed the window for his new skill. "The version you saw was basically a fragment of his soul given form by a curse or by the world but the original Voldemort was a dangerous dark wizard."

"Wizard? Like magic?" Harry asked, thinking about how his aunt and uncle had repeatedly told him that magic didn't exist.

"Yeah, like magic. Congratulations, you're a wizard Harry," Myst replied with amusement, thinking about the scene with Hagrid from the first book.

"You're saying I have magic?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Myst replied as he focused on the wand, wanting to make sure it wasn't cursed before he told Harry to test it. 'Skill Token: Soulbound(Harry): Using the token gives the caster the knowledge to create magical foci.' He gestured towards the wand. "Go ahead and give the wand a wave, you should get a magic skill or some sparks."

"Sure," Harry replied as he picked up the wand and waved it at the training dummy. He blinked as the wand turned into glitter and he realized he knew how to create magical foci that would let magic users channel their magic. "I know how to make wands…" he trailed off as he realized he knew how to make a lot more than just wands if he could find the right material.

"That should come in useful," Myst replied as he focused on the crystal. 'Skill Token: Soulbound(Harry): Grants the ability to convert people into minions in his domain and upgrade them with an expenditure of mana. Yeah, I should have figured out a way to kill the bastard.' He walked over and picked up the cursed bracelet. "You should grab the gem, it should give you another skill."

"Cool," Harry replied as he picked up the gem, being careful not to touch the ash. He nearly yanked his hand back when the black crystal turned to dust as soon as he touched it and he realized that he knew how to push magic into people to turn them into minions and how to improve his minions by spending vast quantities of magic. "Is there a reason you didn't want to grab the crystal?"

"It wasn't a question of desire, it was a question of ability," Myst admitted. "They were soulbound, which is basically a fancy way of saying that I couldn't use them because they were meant for you."

"Sorry," Harry offered, not sure what else to say.

"Don't worry about it, I got a decent skill out of it," Myst replied as he held the bracelet up. "Can I talk you into sticking the bracelet on the training dummy? It's a bit annoying to climb up there."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "I thought you said it was cursed."

"That's why I'm using a training dummy to test the runes," Myst said smugly.

Harry glanced between the bracelet that the tiny person was holding and the pile of ash. "What happens if it summons another dark wizard?"

Myst gestured towards the door. "You run through the door and I'll do my best to distract him."

"This is a horrible idea," Harry muttered as he walked over and picked up the bracelet, ready to drop it if the bracelet zapped or burned him.

"You have to actually push mana through the rune, just sticking it on the training dummy should be fine," Myst assured him.

Harry stuck the bracelet on one of the training dummy's wrists, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. He frowned when he saw a strange glowing rune appear on the dummy's wrist. "Now what?"

"Now I figure out what it does," Myst replied as he focused on the rune. "Yeah, that's nasty. The rune basically burns your eyes out and gives you the ability to see magic."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked as he took a step back from the training dummy and the cursed rune, not sure why anyone would want to use something that would burn your eyes out.

"One of my skills lets me pull up a popup window with a description." He pushed magic through the rune and activated it, hoping that he'd be able to fix the damage.

Harry stared as the imp's eyes ignited with purple fire and it fell over screaming. "Are you insane?!"

"You have unlocked the Mana Sense skill," the ethereal voice announced.

It took a couple of seconds before the pain dropped to the point where Myst could focus on something other than the pain. "What?"

Harry pulled his attention away from the imp's burned out eye sockets. "I asked if you'd lost your marbles."

"Probably," Myst admitted as he took a 'look' around the room, not particularly surprised that he could 'see' Harry and the bracelet floating in a field of black along with the top of the table. "You look like you're made of colored fog, same with the bracelet. It's neat."

Harry shook his head. "You're insane."

"Sanity is overrated," Myst replied with a slightly unhinged smile as he got to his feet, glad that he could still 'see' the HUD. He sighed when he realized that Harry had taken a step closer to the door and looked like he was about ready to bolt. "Relax, I'm not actually as insane as it looks, I'm possessing a construct."

Harry stared at Myst for a couple of seconds then shook his head when he realized the creature was being serious. "You could have mentioned that before."

"Where's the fun in that?" Myst asked with amusement. "Sorry, I have a warped sense of humor."

"I noticed," Harry replied dryly, relaxing slightly.

Myst cast his Life Drain spell on the testing dummy or at the general location as he couldn't actually see it. 'At least I don't have to actually see my target,' he mused as his health started regenerating, decreasing the amount of pain he was in.

"Is that a spell?" Harry asked, wondering why the imp was attacking the training dummy.

"Yeah, it basically heals the caster by dealing damage to creatures or things that act like creatures," Myst explained.

"Sounds useful," Harry mused, thinking of the various times his cousin and uncle had hit him over the years.

Myst sighed when his health bar finished filling and he still couldn't see anything other than his HUD. "So much for getting rid of the status effect by healing the damage."

"Can you fix it?" Harry asked, wondering about the limits of the creature's magic.

"Not yet," Harry admitted. "I probably need something like regeneration or a spell to cure blindness or maybe a potion."

"You don't know?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Nope, every world is a bit different," Myst replied, not entirely sure what resources he'd be able to scrounge up. "Worst case, I'll jump into another construct. You should probably stick the cursed bracelet back on the dummy, we might get lucky."

"Or we'll get killed," Harry complained.

"It doesn't hurt to check, like I said before you have to actually activate the runes," Myst pointed out, curious about the next rune.

Harry picked up the bracelet and put it on the dummy's wrist. "Anything useful?"

Myst focused on the glowing rune and read the description. "Overcharge: It increases your health and mana regeneration to the point that you explode after five minutes."

Harry glanced at the solid wooden door then looked at the desk that looked solid enough to block a decent amount of damage. "How large of an explosion are we talking about?"

Myst glanced over at the enchanting table then focused on Harry. "No clue but I have a plan."

"Right," Harry muttered. "What's the plan?"

"That depends. If you're willing to help, I want to make a couple of cursed magic items so I can work on increasing my Enchanting skill before my construct explodes," Myst explained, hoping he could use the weird spell to get an actual enchanting skill since he'd learned a bit more about enchanting each time he used it.

Harry considered the creature's insane idea for a minute. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to toss or set me on the desk after I use the rune and to keep handing me items out of the box because I won't have time to grab them and climb up. The effect should have a counter which means we'll leave through the door four and a half minutes after I use the rune," Myst assured him.

"Just do it before I change my mind," Harry told the creature, wondering if he'd lost his marbles.

Myst pushed magic through the rune and instantly felt his mana refilling like a glass being filled by a garden hose. "We're good!"

Harry picked the imp up then dashed over to the enchanting table and dropped him. He grabbed a handful of the toy sized weapons and accessories out of the chest and set them on the empty spot on the desk. "Do you have a counter?"

"Yes," Myst replied as he grabbed one of the weapons. He took a breath then let it out, trying to calm himself down enough so that he didn't screw up before he even got started. 'Just do it,' he told himself then cast the Curse Object spell, doing his best to relax and go with the motions.

'Five, six, seven,' Harry continued counting in his head, not sure what else to do as the strange creature seemed a bit unstable and he wanted plenty of time to run.

Myst tossed the first cursed sword into his inventory when he finished and started on a pair of boots, doing his best to ignore the shivers of fear that ran down his spine every time he looked at the counter for the Overcharge effect. 'Don't worry, it takes thirty seconds to cast, you've got at least eight before you need to run.'

Harry swapped to just counting the items when he realized that each of them took thirty seconds to finish. 'Can't be worse than staying with the Dursleys,' he thought as he headed for the door, wanting to be ready to leave.

Myst finished his ninth cursed object and smiled when everything just seemed to fall into place and he was fairly sure he could cast the spell without the system helping. "Twenty seconds!"

"Enchanting has been unlocked," the ethereal voice said.

"Door!" Myst shouted as he jumped off the desk and ran towards the door, glad that Harry was already opening it.

Myst followed Harry through the door with ten seconds left on the timer and found himself floating in a black void looking at a collection of floating pictures with descriptions under them.

"Pick your starting location," the ethereal voice announced.

He glanced around then focused on the pictures and the descriptions when he didn't see any sign of Harry or the imp. 'Tropical island with a volcano and dinosaurs? Some type of weird theme park? Fuck that. Space stations, aliens, nanobots and rogue AIs? No way in hell,' he mused as he looked at the next option. 'Magic, systems, adventure and farming? That gets a maybe.' He blinked when he saw a picture of a floating platform floating over an island with a mountain. "Floating platform…" he trailed off as the rest of the pictures vanished and the floating images were replaced by images of creatures.

"Please select your specialization," the ethereal voice announced.

"Back?" Myst asked hopefully as he studied the pictures, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. 'Worth a shot,' he mused as he studied the first picture of an undead army overrunning a town. He glanced at the description under the picture. 'Undead Horde: Cheap undead minions. Living units forbidden? Yeah, no thanks, I'd end up going insane without anyone to talk to.'

He focused on the next picture that had a glorious city with a group of elves standing on the walls massacring an army of undead. 'Might of the Elven Nation: Powerful and expensive units with an elven theme? Certain units and structures are forbidden. Orcs? Undead? Would it kill you to spell things out a bit better?'

Myst glanced at the picture of an orcish horde carving through a forest. 'Mighty warriors and shamans, certain units and structures are forbidden. I'd rather grab the undead,' he complained as he looked at the next picture of a cave filled with monsters. 'Monsters: Monsters are discounted, everything else is forbidden. Yeah, no thanks.' He looked at the next picture and shivered as some of the strange and twisted creatures seemed to be looking at him.

'Eldritch abominations? Nope,' he thought, not interested in focusing on cultists and eldritch abominations. He glanced at the picture of a collection of farmers of different races weeding a garden. 'Bountiful harvests and weather manipulation. Nothing forbidden but I doubt they have a discount on anything besides farming.' He glanced at the picture filled with blimps and people and creatures dressed like something out of a steampunk novel. 'Steampunk? I'm supposed to be running a dungeon, shouldn't I get more monsters?'

'Could be worse,' Myst mused as he looked at the next picture filled with images of suffering and death. 'Evil? Discounts on evil units? Forbidden structures.' He glanced at the next picture. 'Holy Empire? Fuck that,' he thought as he looked at the next picture. 'Kingdom? Discounts on noble units, knights and certain structures? Not the worst option but I'd rather grab the Steampunk specialty.'

He looked at the last picture of a bunch of magic users blasting the shit out of an army from range. 'Discounts on magic units. Increased cost for normal units and certain units are forbidden.' He glanced at the picture that had the Holy Empire. 'It probably limits my options for priests or magic hating units. Screw it, I'll figure something out.'

"Magic," Myst stated clearly, not wanting to get stuck with something else because the voice misunderstood.

"Please select two specializations," the ethereal voice announced.

Myst blinked as all of the pictures that he wasn't focusing on shifted and changed in a way that caused him to look which caused the rest of the pictures to change. He glanced over the collection of floating pictures, a bit annoyed that none of them gave him any descriptions beyond the titles of the paintings engraved into the frames. 'Elemental Balance? The Grand Library?' He skimmed over the pictures of each element, not particularly interested in limiting himself to any one element. 'Dark Summoner? Demons? This would be easier with descriptions.' He smiled when he noticed the portrait that looked like something Escher might have designed. 'Twisted? Yeah, I'd probably end up going a bit nuts.'

He stared at the picture that looked like something right out of Santa's workshop, complete with a bunch of elves. 'Not the worst idea.' He glanced at the picture that looked like some type of mad scientist's lab. 'Alchemy! Does it need the exclamation point?' he mused as he looked at the next painting that looked like some type of school. 'Magic Academy? How is that different from the Grand Library?'

Myst glanced over the rest of the portraits, not particularly interested in limiting himself to what looked suspiciously like specific areas of magic, especially since it looked like some students were being turned away at the gate in each picture. He studied the portrait of an old fashioned shop that seemed to be filled with strange and wondrous magical items. 'Magic shop?'

He frowned slightly when he double checked the portrait and realized the shop didn't have any tools in the picture which meant it was probably a mercantile specialty. 'I'm supposed to be a dungeon, do I really need an extra ten to twenty percent from everything I sell? Would it even give me that much or is it just a discount on buying merchants?'

He focused on the Grand Library portrait. 'Some type of research bonus? Or would it just give me a free library? It looks like they're using magical lights but everything else looks normal enough, including the books.' He glanced at the portrait for the magical academy and was pleased to see a bunch of happy looking students using all sorts of magic. 'Screw it, I can always buy a library or make one.'

"Magical Workshop and Magical Academy," Myst stated, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. He watched as the portraits vanished and were replaced by a deck of cards.

"Each boon you take comes with negatives, please state a number between one and five," the ethereal voice said.

"Five," Myst said, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake. He watched as the top card floated off the stack of cards and twisted in the air so he could see the picture of what looked like a skeleton sitting on a throne wearing an ornate purple robe and wearing a gold crown filled with rubies.

"You have drawn the King of Death, this gives you the ability to summon lesser undead five times a day. A powerful undead abomination will be placed near your starting location," the ethereal voice stated.

'Yeah, that's probably going to get me killed,' Myst admitted as he watched the second card float off the deck, revealing a ruin of a city.

"You have drawn the Fallen Empire, one portal device will be placed in your city that leads to a fallen empire, random monsters can come through the portal device," the ethereal voice stated as the next card floated up and flipped over. "You have drawn the Five of Magic, five random spells will be added to your starting collection. Five random monsters will be placed near your dungeon."

"Joy," Myst muttered sarcastically, hoping the various monsters killed each other. He stared at the fourth card as it flipped over and revealed a half dressed woman lounging on a couch. He frowned when he noticed the woman had slit pupils like a snake, dragon or demon.

"You have drawn the Queen of Desire. This card comes with a free brothel, one random resource node and unlocks certain classes, professions, structures and laws. Unfortunately, this card significantly decreases your reputation with the Holy Empire," the ethereal voice said.

'So much for ignoring the empire,' Myst mused, hoping they didn't start off knowing his location. He scowled when the last card showed an image of three skeletons.

"You have drawn the Three of Death. Three random undead monsters will be added to your starting collection. Three random monsters will be placed near your dungeon," the ethereal voice said.

"Great, more monsters," he muttered as the deck vanished.

"You will be given a random collection of starting items and resources, best of luck," the ethereal voice said cheerfully.

"Thanks…" Myst trailed off as he found himself standing on a floating platform of stone looking down at a tropical island. He stared in surprise as a humanoid in black platemail appeared twenty feet in front of him along with three humanoid skeletons with swords and a powerful looking flesh golem that appeared to be stitched together from at least a dozen people. He watched in disbelief as the collection of undead promptly plummeted towards the ocean below them.

He glanced down at the dark, almost black stone under his feet then turned and looked at the rest of the platform, wanting to make sure that he wasn't about to be attacked from behind. He glanced at the strange floating purple crystal sphere that was probably his dungeon heart then took a second to look at the stone wall on the other side of the small platform.

He turned his attention back to the monsters that were falling towards the ocean. "Eight? Maybe nine seconds?" he muttered when the creatures vanished into the ocean. He took a step back from the edge of the platform then looked around, wanting to make sure there wasn't anything coming to kill him. 'Looks okay, for the moment.'

He turned his attention to the fist sized amethyst sphere that was floating four feet above the stone when it pulsed with a dull glow that was barely noticeable in the sunlight. 'Dungeon Heart: If your dungeon heart is destroyed, you're dead,' he read the description floating over the sphere. 'I'm going to need to bury that or build some type of vault.'