Dungeon Myst Part 4 (Patreon)

Harry waved his hand in front of Petunia's face, wondering if he'd broken something when he turned her into a magic user because she wasn't focusing on his face or responding to the situation in a way that made sense, if only because she wasn't screaming at him.

"You should be outside, it's a nice day," Petunia said, not actually bothering to meet his eyes or even look at his face.

"I just wanted to grab something to eat," Harry lied as he headed towards the kitchen, half expecting her to snap despite her recent behavior.

"There's food in the fridge," Petunia stated in a bored tone that didn't match the tone she'd used to tell him that he should be outside.

"Okay," Harry replied, not sure if the change in behavior was because of the simulation or because of the magic he'd used on his aunt. He checked the fridge and grabbed the container of roast chicken and the mayonnaise so he could make a sandwich. He spent a couple of minutes making a sandwich using the nice bread, something he'd never gotten to try while living with the Dursleys.

"So much for bread tasting bland," Harry muttered between bites of the delicious sandwich.

"What are you doing boy?!" Vernon demanded as he stormed into the kitchen and backhanded Harry in the face.

Harry stared at his uncle, wondering when the pain was going to start. "That didn't hurt…" he trailed off as he realized that his uncle couldn't hurt him while he was in his domain and that the version in front of him was nothing more than a simulation.

"Are you deaf boy? What do you think you're doing?!" Vernon demanded.

"Eating a sandwich," Harry replied as he put the sandwich down on a counter and grabbed the cast iron frying pan off the stove. He smiled when his uncle's eyes didn't shift to look at the frying pan as he got a better grip on it, using both hands. 'That proves it, it's not the magic causing problems, he's just a simulation.'

"Don't take that tone with me boy!" Vernon snapped.

"I'm trying to figure out where to hit you with a frying pan," Harry offered in a more 'respectful' tone.

"Don't take that tone with me boy!" Vernon snapped.

"Have you been inhaling helium?" Harry asked in a high pitched tone.

"Go to your room boy!" Vernon ordered.

'Yeah, he's just a simulation.' Harry slammed the frying pan into Vernon's crotch, doing what he'd wanted to do for as long as he could remember and causing his uncle to crumple to the ground with a shriek of pain. He kicked Vernon in the face as hard as he could, his mind spinning through the last couple of dozen times the bastard had hit him. He spent a couple of minutes kicking Vernon in a rage then brought the frying pan down on his head, caving in Vernon's skull with a sickening crack.

Harry stared at his uncle's blood covered face as his rage drained away, feeling strangely spent, relieved and numb or at least unconcerned about the fact that he'd just bashed his uncle's head in with a frying pan. "Am I a freak because I don't feel anything or because I didn't poison him in his sleep years ago?"

"Congratulations, you have dealt with a significant source of physical trauma, you will be rewarded with one Elixir of Restoration when you complete the tutorial," the ethereal voice stated.

"Huh, I wonder if Petunia counts as another source," Harry mused as he walked over to the counter and opened the large cookbook, curious if the book contained actual words since a lot of games didn't bother.

"Congratulations, you've unlocked Basic Cooking by reading a skill book," the ethereal voice stated.

'Nice!' Harry thought when a translucent cooking window appeared in front of him listing dozens of recipes. 'That should make things easier.' He glanced up at the cabinet over the counter then rushed over and grabbed the footstool that was placed against the wall that he used when he was making breakfast. He placed the footstool against the dishwasher then climbed up on the counter, taking a perverse amount of pleasure in standing on the counter, something that would have made the Dursleys go ballistic if they caught him.

He opened the cabinet and pulled out the large cookbook that his aunt used whenever she was entertaining guests. He opened the book and smiled as his collection of recipes tripled. "I could get used to this," he muttered as he placed the book back on the shelf and grabbed the next book.

0o0o0

The skeletal mage mentally selected six of the beastmen skeletons that he'd animated. "Walk through the portal and attack any beastmen you see," he ordered, wishing the basic skeletons had a bit more intelligence so they could actually communicate. "How long do you think it will take to get to another gate?"

Myst pulled his attention off the creepy looking trolloc skeletons that were waiting for orders and focused on the mage. "A couple of minutes or a couple hours? It depends on where the portal connects."

"I'll step through then look around and come back," the skeletal mage said then stepped through the portal and froze when he found himself in a strange and twisted forest rather than a strange inky black pocket world. 'So much for the portal connecting to The Ways.' He glanced at the half a dozen skeletons that were 'guarding' the area then looked back at the gate. "Looks the same as the other gate," he mused as he looked up at the night sky, hoping he could get a rough idea where he was by the stars.

He stared at the unfamiliar night sky for a minute, trying and failing to find any recognizable constellations. "Myst might have a point about being in a different world," he mused as he turned around and walked back through the portal.

"Did you find something?" Myst asked, wondering if he'd run into trouble.

"The portal doesn't lead to a dark pocket dimension, it leads to a warped and twisted forest. I wanted to make sure you knew that your guess about the portal was incorrect before I started exploring," the mage explained.

"Huh," Myst muttered, surprised that the gate didn't connect to The Ways. "Does the other side of the portal frame match?"

"It matches," the mage replied as he turned his head and looked at the crafters. "There are plenty of trees and rocks if you want to send the harvesters."

Myst spent a few seconds weighing the sanity of using potentially cursed material to build part of his dungeon before deciding that the system would probably warn him if there was actually something wrong and he needed the resources. "Take care of it." He mentally told the harvesters to follow the mage. "Feel free to convert any monsters into skeletons."

"Understood," the mage replied and walked back through the portal, hoping he could find more monsters to burn.

Myst watched the harvesters walk through the portal then used his possession on the undead rabbit, wanting to test to see if his possession ability would let him step through the portal but not wanting to waste something that was actually useful in case something went wrong. He glanced around then bounced towards the portal, finding controlling the rabbit surprisingly easy considering the unfamiliar body. 'I'm glad zombies don't have a decent sense of smell.'

He bounced over and jumped through the portal, half expecting to bounce off since he couldn't push his fingers through the portal in spirit form. He looked around the dark and twisted forest, trying to figure out if the place looked creepy as hell because he was in an unfamiliar forest at night or if it was creepy as hell because everything was warped and twisted. "Pretty sure that tree is bleeding, you should probably have the expendable skeletons check the trees to make sure we don't lose anyone important in case they can move."

The mage turned and looked at the undead rabbit. "I'll take care of it. Nice to know that you can talk through the portal if you're possessing someone," he said as he mentally directed the trolloc skeletons to walk towards the trees.

"I figured it was worth a try," Myst replied as he turned his attention towards some of the twisted plants that he could see. "It's probably just as well that we're using skeletons, they don't have to worry about toxins."

"Just holy water," the mage complained.

"That's fair," Myst admitted as he watched one of the skeletons get smashed to bits when a tree twisted and started bashing the skeleton to death.

The mage gestured and tossed a fireball at the animated tree, causing the creature to wail in agony as it burned. "That's better."

"Have you tried your mana collection spell?" Myst asked once the tree stopped wailing after half a minute of screaming.

"Give me a minute," the mage replied as he cast his Gather Mana spell. "Interesting, there's a divine taint to the magic."

Myst studied the aura of magic he could see around his minion. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, wrong type of god," the mage replied smugly as he continued converting the mana into something he could use. "I'd have trouble if he was a god of purification or life but his essence is tainted with death."

"That's a point in favor of actually being in the Wheel of Time universe despite the portal not actually connecting to The Ways," he mused. "Or we could be in a pocket dimension where someone tossed a bunch of monsters."

"As long as I have things to burn, I don't care," the mage replied as he worked on refilling his mana pool.

Myst turned his attention to the harvesters and sent them to work gathering supplies. 'Worst case, the resources end up tainted and we have to toss everything back through the gate.'

0o0o0

"Hey!" Harry sputtered when his neighbor hit him in the face with a blast of water from a garden hose. "What was that for?!"

"Get off my lawn!" the old man snapped.

Harry wiped the water off his face then looked down at the sidewalk he was standing on. "I'm not on your lawn!" he argued, forgetting for a second that he was still in the tutorial.

"You're all hooligans," the man complained, looking unreasonably happy about hitting Harry with the hose.

Harry glared at the old man then turned around and headed back towards the Dursleys, tired of dealing with the lunatics that insisted they were upright citizens. "If you really thought I was a criminal, you'd leave me the hell alone," he complained as he walked over to the weapon's rack sitting on the edge of his aunt's property. He grabbed the hockey stick that was on the weapon's rack and headed back towards his neighbor. 'It's not real and I need to test things.'

"Trial by combat!" Harry shouted as he pushed with his magic and charged the old man. He dodged the spray of water and slammed his hockey stick into the man's hand, making him drop the hose and scream.

"Fucking little shit!" the man complained as he reached for his knife on his belt with his good hand.

Harry hit him in the head with the stick and dropped him unconscious, wanting nothing to do with the man's knife.

"Congratulations, you've successfully expanded your domain. Unfortunately, trial by conquest often results in unruly followers. You should turn the resident into a minion so that he can't revolt," the ethereal voice warned him.

"I'm going to have to figure out a better way to claim territory, maybe I can talk Petunia into drugging them after inviting them over for tea," he mused as he pushed his magic into the old man, causing some of his winkles to vanish and his hair to lose some of the gray. He reached down and took the man's pocket knife off his belt then headed for the man's prize roses that he was always bringing about.

'Cutting everything down should help my gardening skill,' he mused, not noticing the smile on his face as he thought about cutting everything down and ransacking the asshole's house for skill books and cash on the off chance that he got to keep everything. "I should probably ask him about any safes or vaults when he wakes up."

0o0o0

Myst pulled his attention away from the view of the peaceful looking tropical island when he heard wood scraping on stone behind him. He turned to look at the gnarled tree that six trolloc skeletons were hauling out of the portal. 'I can just see the woodworkers screaming about unions,' he mused, knowing that gnarled wood was a pain in the ass to work with. 'I'll worry about it when I have people with actual woodworking skills.'

He smiled when the skeletons dropped the twisted tree and it turned into motes of light and gave him twenty units of Divine Imbued Lumber:(Tainted). He looked at the description for the new building material. 'Divine Wood is a result of divine influence, either the result of a blessing or curse or long term exposure to a source of divine magic. Using Divine Wood can have unpredictable results on structures and components created from it.'

"Worth a shot," Myst muttered as he opened his build menu and looked at his options while the skeletons walked back through the portal. 'I'm going to need a blacksmith before I can make a lumber mill and I'm going to need a smelter before I can do much of anything with a forge.'

He watched as a line of skeletons walked in carrying large rocks that he probably couldn't have lifted and dropped them on the ground, giving him ten units of stone and one unit of Divine Imbued Stone:(Tainted) when they vanished. 'Weird, shouldn't everything be tainted?' He glanced at the description for the stone, finding it much the same as the lumber. 'It's probably easier for the trees to absorb the energy, they're pulling in nutrients or at least trying.'

Myst selected the smelter then added all of the tainted stone and lumber and hit the button, curious if it would fill the rest in with normal material. He smiled when a floating 3D model of his dungeon appeared in front of him along with a 3D model of a stone building in his hand. He spent a couple of minutes playing with the appearance options for the smelter then placed the smelter on the part of the platform that he'd made out of float stone. 'I'm going to have to fix everything once I get things rolling.'

He opened the tab for construction workers. 'I can assign people, leave it open to anyone with free time or I can burn a thousand mana to create it instantly.' He looked through his collection of undead to see if any of them gave him a bonus on the project. "Huh, the mage gives the building ten percent more durability and decreases build time by twenty percent, is that because he has a fire spell?"

"Most likely," the knight agreed. "Mages are in high demand for construction projects."

"Nice," Myst replied absently as he assigned the mage and the knight to the construction project since the knight also gave a small bonus to construction time and there was a note about being able to reassign people. He added the skeleton blacksmith as he gave a boost that decreased the cost of running the smelter and decreased the time it would take to complete. 'That's probably because of his Advanced Blacksmithing skill.'

He filled the other two slots with normal trolloc skeletons when none of the rest of the skeletons gave the project a boost. 'That should do it.' He pushed the Construct button and smiled as a foundation appeared in the spot where he'd placed the smelter.

The knight glanced at the portal then headed over to start working on the smelter.

"Huh, I didn't think that would actually work," Myst muttered when he saw two messages appear on his HUD informing him that he'd created two new patterns. 'Wood Fired Death Tainted Smelter and Wood Fired Elemental smelter?' He pulled up the death tainted pattern and read the description, 'By burning death aligned divine wood while smelting metal you can taint the resulting metal to make injuries caused by the metal fester and resist natural healing. That's probably a war crime,' he mused as he looked at the more expensive smelter. 'By burning magical wood aligned with particular elements, you can infuse metal with some of the elemental power. That should come in useful if we can find a decent source of magic wood.'

He closed the build menu when the skeleton mage walked back through the portal. "Nice to know you can get messages through the portal."

"It's useful," the mage replied as he headed for the foundation of the smelter, wanting to finish quickly so he could get back in case there was a problem.

Myst used his possession skill on the rabbit and headed towards the portal, wanting to make sure someone was there to give the undead orders in case more trollocs showed up.

0o0o0

Harry froze in the middle of the asshole's living room when he heard something metallic scraping on stone coming from under the floor. He looked down at the floorboards. "Since when do the houses on the block have basements?"

He glanced at the stairs where the cupboard should be and frowned when he realized the house didn't have a cupboard. "Everything should be the same, why would they cover the cupboard?" he mused as he sat his pillowcase filled with cash and other valuables on the coffee table. "Is there part of the tutorial or is he hiding something?"

"One way to find out," Harry muttered as he walked over to examine the wooden panels that were probably hiding a cupboard and knocked. "That's hollow." He pushed and pulled at the various wood panels until he heard a latch shift and a door sized section of panels opened, revealing a set of metal stairs that went down into a dark basement.

"Congratulations, you've unlocked Basic Trap Finding, this skill also works on secret passages," the ethereal voice announced.

"Nice." He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket, flipped it on and snuck down the stairs, figuring he might as well work on his stealth skills. He scowled when he noticed a glowing domain barrier hovering just in front of the door with an old fashioned metal padlock on it. 'So much for being perfectly safe.'

He pulled a pair of wires out of his pocket and got to work trying to pick the lock, bringing up an annoying looking minigame like something out of a computer game.

"Carefully twist the wires and the straight bar to open the lock, if you fail you'll break your picks," the ethereal voice said.

"Sure…" Harry trailed off as one of the tumblers moved and it ate his wire. "This could take a while," he grumbled as he headed back up the stairs to grab the spool of wire out of the garage and some wire cutters so he'd have a decent collection of lockpicks.

Harry wasn't actually sure how long it took to max out his basic lockpicking skill and to open the padlock but he was sure it was at least twenty minutes and half the spool of wire. He wasn't particularly impressed when the door swung open revealing a creepy as hell, child sized stuffed bear with glowing red eyes and long metallic claws stalking around the room nor the fact that there was a dark haired teenage girl in a white t-shirt chained to a cot in the room.

"Boss fight! Defeat the Doom Bear for a special reward," the ethereal voice said.

Harry scowled at the bear when it showed no desire to charge through the barrier at him. 'Yeah, I'm not walking in there.' He pulled one of the rocks he'd picked up and put into his pocket out and tossed it at the bear, curious if he could lure it to the stairs where he was invulnerable.

The bear growled at Harry but didn't actually move any closer to the door.

Harry frowned when he watched the health bar over the bear's head regenerate after a couple of seconds of him not attacking. 'So much for the easy way.' He turned and headed back up the stairs and headed for the owner's closet, hoping the man's rifle would do a better job on the bear. He would have felt worse about using a gun on a stuffed animal but it looked like something out of a horror movie. He collected the rifle then headed back downstairs, lined up his shot and put a hole in the bear's head.

"Congratulations on defeating the Doom Bear, your starting location will be upgraded," the ethereal voice stated.

Harry sighed in relief when the stuffed bear without a head turned into motes of light and vanished, leaving behind a metal key and causing the domain field to expand to cover the basement. 'Huh, I was sort of expecting him to dodge.'

"Can you get me out of here?" the girl asked hopefully.

Harry walked over and picked up the key after glancing at the ceiling to make sure nothing was going to land on him. "Give me a second," he said as he walked over and unlocked the shackle on her ankle.

"Thank you!" the girl replied as she stood up and pulled Harry into a hug, crushing his face against her breasts. "I've been stuck down here for months!"

"And I thought the Dursleys were bad," Harry muttered when the girl let go of him.

"That bear was horrible," she complained as she gave Harry a once over. "You're a bit young for my typical reward. How would you like to learn a couple magic spells?"

"Yes," Harry replied without hesitation. "What spells can I learn?"

"I'm not an expert but I have a couple of spells I can teach you," she assured him as she reached up and touched his forehead with her finger. She spent the mana to teach Harry how to conjure silk panties and custom T-shirts, use telekinesis and transmogrify things so that he could change his equipment's appearance.

"You've learned a spell. While spells can't level up during the tutorial, you can increase your skill with various types of magic by practicing or finding skill books," the ethereal voice said.

Harry stared at the description of his new conjuration spell. "Panties and T-shirts?"

"They're basic conjuration spells. I'm still working on the spell for skirts and boots," the girl admitted. "Speaking of clothes, do you know where I can get a shower?"

"The previous owner should still be unconscious," Harry admitted, thinking about the old man that he'd left passed out on the lawn.

"Nice, can I get you to conjure me some underwear and a shirt?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure," Harry replied as he tapped the icon for the spell, conjuring a pair of crimson silk panties that looked like they might fit the girl. 'I'm going to have to practice that but that's easier than giving people magic.' He tapped the icon for the conjuration spell and conjured a T-shirt that said, "Cute Girl!" on the front.

The girl snickered when she saw the message on the front. "You have to keep in mind the message or picture you want on the front. Hold those for a second."

"Sure…" Harry trailed off as the girl reached down and pulled her T-shirt off, revealing the fact that she wasn't wearing anything under her shirt and that she was in point of fact, extremely cute.

The girl tossed the old shirt on the cot and grabbed the clothes from Harry. "Thanks," she said as she turned and headed up the stairs with the clothes in her arms.

Harry's willpower wasn't enough to pull his eyes away and wondered what spell she'd used to cause that.

0o0o0