Dungeon Myst Part 8 (Patreon)

"Fifty nine rabbits on the wall, take one down and pass it around…" Myst trailed off as he watched the rabbit he'd just conjured strike the ground with his paw twice and summon a ghostly tophat. "What the hell?" he sputtered as he pulled up the rabbit's stat sheet, noticing that the rabbit had two points of magic and the arcane affinity.

'How the fuck does a rabbit have magic?' he asked himself as he flew down and grabbed the rabbit, glad that he'd summoned the creature away from the rest of the slime beasts that were feasting on the mound of dead rabbits he'd summoned to absorb the mist. He quickly swapped the rabbit to defense mode then glanced over at the rabbit with tentacles that was in the process of grabbing a new crystal with a tentacle. 'He'd probably crush the rabbit.' He dove into the pit and landed on the back of the rabbit. "Stay on the rabbit!" he ordered the gremlin, hoping he wasn't making a mistake.

He used his possession ability to jump into the rabbit then used his magical flight ability and flew out of the pit, narrowly avoiding a blade covered rabbit monster that jumped for him thanks to the gremlin hitting it with a ball of electricity. 'Having a spell to dispel status effects would be really useful,' he complained as he landed next to the mage. "We'll give them a couple of minutes to eat the rabbits and make crystals then you can light them up."

"Do you have enough crystals to upgrade your mana?" the mage asked.

Myst dropped one of the tainted crystals that the rabbit with tentacles had collected into the box on his mana page. "More than enough, each crystal gives me fifty mana and I still have a bunch of crystal skulls. I'm just not sure doubling up on the afflictions is a good idea."

"You're already going insane, what's the worst that can happen?" the mage asked philosophically.

"I'm not insane, I'm just stressed and bored," Myst argued as he started filling the box with tainted mana crystals, knowing that everything would get easier if he could increase his mana capacity to a more reasonable level.

"You've been farming magic stones and crystal skulls for an hour and you're already singing drinking songs, that makes me question your sanity," the mage replied.

"That's fair," Myst admitted as he added his last magic boosting gem and upgraded his mana capacity, hoping for the best and expecting to get screwed over. 'Seventy six mana and twenty four mana a minute.' He glanced at the new affliction. "Mana Scales: This affliction doubles your mana regeneration and causes the growth of mana scales over the victim's body, increasing their mana pool and their vulnerability to fire with each spell until you eventually spontaneously combust? What the fuck?"

"That sounds unpleasant," the mage admitted. "We need to figure out a way to inflict that on other people."

"I'll put it on the list," Myst replied as he read through the rest of the affliction's description, trying to ignore his minion's pyromania. "Creating structures while afflicted makes the structure generate unstable mana crystals and increases the structure's vulnerability to fire by fifty percent. That could be interesting and problematic depending on the structure."

The mage glanced at the pit. "It depends on what structures you build. Of course you can always destroy the building if the crystals prove exceptionally dangerous."

"True," Myst agreed as he double checked his other affliction to make sure nothing had changed. "Assuming nothing changes the duration of the afflictions, I've got five hours to build tainted structures that generate unstable mana and an hour to build structures that create unstable mana that aren't tainted."

"Have you considered building a couple of floating platforms?" the mage asked. "I'm curious how the curse would affect them."

"I'll give it a try," Myst replied as he pulled the rabbit's spell list up. 'Conjure Magician's Hat: Five mana? Creates a ghostly top hat that allows the caster to store up to five pounds in a pocket dimension in his hat and gives him seven points of armor on his head while he's wearing it. It can only be touched by the caster or anyone with the caster's permission, allowing for some interesting magic tricks.'

"Let me know when you want me to torch the slimes," the mage said, always happy to destroy things with fire.

"Give me a minute to learn a spell," Myst replied as he flew twenty feet in the air and over the pit. "Here goes nothing," he muttered and cast the spell to conjure the rabbit's hat, causing a slime beast to appear and a magical crystal scale to grow on the rabbit's shoulder. He glanced at his HUD where the Mana Scales icon was. 'Mana Scales, each scale increases your mana capacity by one, when you get enough scales to double your mana, you spontaneously combust. Is that my mana or the rabbit's mana?'

'Hopefully I can learn the spell before the rabbit explodes,' Myst mused as he started chain casting the spell, keeping an eye on the progress bar for learning the spell and the counter on the Mana Scales' icon.

The mage waited for the rabbit with tentacles to grab the cursed mana gem one of the slimes produced then tossed a fireball to clean out some of the new slimes. "We should probably leave a couple of slimes alive when the curse breaks, so you can use them to farm gems."

"I'd need somewhere to stick them." Myst relaxed and stopped casting when he managed to learn the new spell. "Torch the slimes then follow me through the portal, I have a couple of things I want to try out that will result in slimes."

"Burn!" the mage exclaimed enthusiastically as he gestured and tossed a fireball at the pile of dead rabbits and the slimes that were trying to consume them.

Myst checked his mana pool as he turned and flew towards the portal. "Fifty seven mana, that should be enough." He looked at the rabbit's stats, noticing that the rabbit's fire resistance was at negative ninety six percent. 'I should probably swap bodies if I don't want to lose the rabbit.'

He flew through the portal then landed in front of the workshop. He set the rabbit's behavior so that it wouldn't cast any spells then jumped out of the rabbit. He walked over to the edge of the platform and waited for the mage, hoping he didn't run out of time before he had to use mana or risk spreading corruption.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long before the mage ran out the portal. "Torch the slime when it drops." He flew up ten feet then cast his spell to create float stone, creating five units of Float Stone (Chaos Tainted) and creating a slime that dropped.

The mage burned a hole through the slime before it even hit the platform, causing the slime to disintegrate. "Is there a reason you didn't cast the spell in the Blight?"

"Pretty sure the stone has to be harvested or at least out of the ground and I have a decent amount of stone in my storage," Myst replied as he pulled up the building interface and placed one of the five foot platforms ten feet away from the edge of the platform. He glanced at the error message reminding him that you needed to be able to reach the dungeon heart from every part of the dungeon. He added a wooden log to connect the platforms then added another two platforms on each side of the initial platform, creating a platform five by twenty five feet.

"Incoming slime, as soon as my mana regenerates," he smiled as his mana regenerated, boosting his mana up to fifty one points. He pushed the button and spent the fifty mana he needed to build the platform, creating the platform, a log and a slime beast.

The mage blasted the slime then stared at the floating platform that was floating up and down like a raft on an ocean, making the 'bridge' connecting them look like a death trap as it swayed back and forth like a piece of driftwood. "You need an actual bridge."

"It's not like you're actually going to fall," Myst replied as he mentally directed one of the trolloc skeletons to head over to the platform that he'd just created to prove that it was safe. He glanced at the notification informing him that he'd discovered moving platforms. "Nice…" he trailed off as the minion got about four feet down the log and lost its balance when the log lurched, sending the skeleton tumbling towards the ocean. "Huh, okay, I'll work on an actual bridge when I have a chance," he agreed as he watched the skeleton fall towards the water.

"Or you could leave it as a trap but I'm not crossing over there without an actual bridge," the mage stated firmly.

"That's fair," Myst agreed as he selected the Tainted Well pattern and added Divine Stone (Tainted) along with Divine Wood (Tainted) and a couple of Mana Stones (Chaos Tainted), curious if he could get anything useful. He placed the tainted well on the leftmost section of the platform and hit the button, creating a tainted and cursed well. "Let's see if I can get everything to link together," he mused as he repeated the process for the rightmost platform. He smiled when a warning message popped up informing him that the dungeons would merge and the difficulty would increase if he placed the well that close. He gleefully hit the button, creating another well and expanding the dungeon.

"Do you have an actual plan for clearing the dungeon?" the mage asked.

"That depends on what my minion finds when I go exploring," Myst admitted. "If it's useful, I'll probably send an army of skeletons. If it looks annoying, I'll probably cast a couple of spells and flood the place with slimes."

"You'd have a hell of a time digging them out," the mage warned him, thinking about the mist the gems generated.

"I don't have a problem using it for a sewer or garbage disposal until we can send a team of magic users or adventurers in there with the proper gear," Myst replied, knowing there wasn't a time limit on your ability to clear the dungeon. "I'm planning on expanding the platform a couple of thousand feet and placing wells every fifth square, that should give us a large area to farm for mana crystals and food, especially if we can get some actual dirt and turn the entire field into a farm."

The mage glanced towards the smelter. "You're going to need an impressive amount of stone."

"I'm aware," Myst replied as he opened his gathering tab to double check that his various harvesters were assigned productively. 'Mining, mining, training and training,' he mused as he checked their orders. He closed the page after making sure that the trainers were going to return to mining once they were done training the last of the crafters as the trollocs weren't worth training. "I have everything set up, now I just have to wait for my mana to regenerate."

"Have you considered making some gremlins while everything is tainted, you might get something useful," the mage suggested.

"Incoming slime," Myst replied as he opened the menu for the workshop and hit the button to create another gremlin, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. He ignored the mage enthusiastically blasting the slime beast with a fireball and watched the progress bar, wondering what he'd get. He was expecting a lot of twisted things when the progress bar finished filling, what he wasn't expecting was getting a blonde haired anthropomorphic mouse with a wrench, a pair of overalls and a set of goggles on her head.

0o0o0

"Not worth it," Harry said as he pushed Sabrina Morningstar's contract across the desk to Vanessa.

"What's wrong with the contract?" Vanessa asked with a pleased smile.

"Nothing, or at least nothing that I can find," Harry admitted. "The problem comes from both her last name and the fact that her father's signature isn't on the contract. He's the king of Hell, if he snaps his finger the contract catches fire and I'm left worse off than before."

"Correct, never sign a contract that can't be enforced," Vanessa warned him as she gestured towards the next contract. "Take a look at the last contract then we'll get going."

"Not so fast," Maggie said as she sauntered into the room with a smile.

Harry turned and looked at the twenty something woman with spiky blonde hair that was wearing a short blue skirt and a partially unbuttoned button up shirt that did almost nothing to conceal the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. "Hello?"

"Maggie," Vanessa muttered irritably. "How nice of you to make it."

"I just happened to show up three hours early," Maggie replied with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Weird, I was sure my message said one o'clock," Vanessa lied shamelessly to her face.

"No matter, I'm here for an important contract," Maggie replied cheerfully, her smile even wider as the corners of her eyes crinkled, genuinely amused by something as she walked over and leaned on the table. "I'm Maggie Simpson, you're Harry Potter, one little signature and we can have some… fun."

"I shouldn't have to remind you that my client is fifteen and that none of the contract's provisions come into play until he turns sixteen," Vanessa cut in.

"Don't be a spoiled sport, nothing says I can't show my appreciation early," Maggie teased, before licking her lips.

"Decency?"

Harry reluctantly pulled his attention away from Maggie's breasts and focused on the contract, knowing that she was just trying to distract him. "Give me a chance to read everything."

"Of course, take your time luv," Maggie replied as she stood up.

Harry did his best to read the contract and ignore the fact that Maggie was unbuttoning another button, showing off even more of her already generous cleavage.

"Have some compassion or at least some decency," Vanessa complained.

"If I had a trace of compassion or sense of fair play, I wouldn't be a lawyer," Maggie said as she unbuttoned another button on her shirt.

Vanessa shook her head. "That's not going to work."

Maggie stuck her tongue out at Vanessa when Harry wasn't looking. "It's hot, I'm just trying to cool down, stop being so stuffy."

"Fine," Vanessa replied as she unbuttoned a button on her shirt as well.

Harry forced himself to focus on the contract, managing to read a couple of paragraphs until he found something that was a bit suspicious. "Company healthcare? Why would you need to include that in a contract? Agent? This sounds like you're trying to lock me into a job."

"That's what the company I work for calls the spouses of their employees and the healthcare is just a perk," Maggie assured him as she leaned against the table, giving him an excellent view of her barely covered breasts.

"Okay." Harry reluctantly pulled his attention away from her breasts and went back to reading the contract. "Is there a reason that Agent is capitalized?"

"It's just a title," Maggie replied ‘innocently’ as she shifted her weight, causing her breasts to sway and 'accidentally' escape the confines of her shirt.

'Nice view but you're trying too hard,' Harry lied to himself as he went back to reading the contract, finding the words blurring a little as he attempted to look out of the corner of his eye while still focusing on the print, making his head ache a little. 'Yeah, this is sketchy as hell.' He shook his head then focused on Vanessa who also seemed to be losing buttons on her shirt, making him have to clear his throat before saying directly to her chest, "I'm not signing this, it's not worth the risk."

"Not worth the risk? You get five million, free healthcare, and you get to bang me anytime you want. What's not to like?" Maggie asked, surprised that he wasn't taking the deal.

"I don't know you and I don't trust the company you work for," Harry explained, not seeing a reason to sugar coat things since it was just a tutorial.

"I don't suppose I can talk you into changing your mind?" Maggie asked as she unbuttoned the last couple of buttons and shrugged off her top.

"Sorry," Harry replied, doing his best to burn the memory into his mind as she had a really nice set of breasts and apparently no one was going to yell at him for looking.

"Better luck next time," Vanessa lied.

"If you change your mind, you can always call." Maggie glanced at Vanessa and licked the end of her nose with a surprisingly long tongue then headed for the door.

"God I hate that woman, but I also want to bend her over and spank her with a ruler," Vanessa complained once Maggie left.

"Can I watch?!" Harry blurted out.

Vanessa laughed as she conjured a business card and handed it to Harry. "Speaking of fun, I could use an assistant for my next class at St. Trinian's, you should come."

"Sure," Harry agreed as he looked at the card that had directions on it. "What's next?"

"Goblins and banking," Vanessa replied cheerfully then snapped her fingers and teleported Harry to Gringotts.

0o0o0

Myst checked the mouse girl's character sheet, a touch surprised that she wasn't named considering she had a Genius quality under her abilities and three amazing skills. 'Worry about it later.' He quickly assigned her to teaching the gremlins her Advanced Engineering, Advanced Mechanics and Pilot Vehicles skills, wanting to make sure he didn't lose the skills if something happened to her.

Myst closed the workshop menu then flew over towards where one of the trolloc skeletons was standing next to the portal and possessed it. "Incoming slime."

"Ready," the skeletal mage called out as he raised his hands.

Myst activated his magical flight ability and flew up in the air then over to the edge of the platform so the mage would have a clear shot. He cast his float stone spell, converting some of his stored stone into five units of float stone and creating a slime beast. He ignored the mage blasting the slime beast with a firebolt as he opened his build menu. "At least there doesn't seem to be a weight limit for the float stone," he mused as he extended the platform another five squares past the leftmost well.

"It certainly makes it easier," the mage agreed.

Myst glanced at his mana pool, wishing it regenerated per second rather than per minute. He dropped the float stone into the material box for the platform then double checked the toggles and settings to make sure the stone would move with the rest of the platform while he waited for his mana to regenerate. "Incoming," he said as he hit the button and spent the mana, extending the platform another twenty five feet and creating another slime beast.

The skeleton mage blasted the slime beast with a firebolt, killing it. "I need to recharge my mana pool."

"No worries, I'm going to scout out the new dungeon," Myst replied as he used some tainted wood and the last of his tainted stone along with some crystal skulls to create another cursed well on the fifth square. He smiled when another warning popped up, informing him that the dungeon would merge and increase in difficulty if he placed the well at that location. 'Go big or go home and going home isn't an option,' he thought as he pushed the button, creating another well and enlarging the dungeon under the floating platform.

"At this rate, we're going to need more skeletons," the mage complained.

"Have fun," Myst replied as he flew over to the nearest well. He froze when he looked into the well and saw the glowing pink slush that was sluggishly flowing in a stone channel. 'I need an alchemist or a chemist,' he thought as he flew down into the well and looked around, trying to figure out what he was dealing with. 'Cut stone walls and tiles on the channel, it's probably supposed to be some type of aqueduct or sewer. He glanced in both directions, not surprised that the darkness swallowed everything other than the line of pink sludge.

"No point in wasting time," he reminded himself as he gestured and created a battle rabbit over the pink sludge, causing a mana scale to grow on the skeleton he was possessing and creating a slime beast in front of him. He flew backwards as the slime beast spun and lunged for the rabbit that was quickly mutating into some type of bone covered dog sized terror with seven legs. He watched as the slime beast quickly devoured the rabbit, not seeming to care about the sludge. He gave the skeleton orders to return to the portal as soon as he wasn't controlling it then gestured and conjured food, creating another slime beast and ten plates of food next to the channel of sludge.

'This is a really stupid idea,' he admitted as he watched the new slime beast start devouring the closest plate of food. He used his possession ability on the slime beast, not really expecting much. 'Huh, that was easier than I was expecting,' he mused as he tried to get used to the way the slime's body moved, finding it easier than he'd been expecting thanks to the magic. He glanced at the partially filled food gauge then read the descriptions on the slime's abilities, curious if they'd give him any useful details. 'Mist stones: Creating a stone requires ten points of food. The stones continuously create a mist that mutates any living plant or creature in the area, twisting it until it turns into a monster or melts.'

'About what I was expecting,' he thought as he cast his conjure rabbit spell, creating a combat rabbit in front of him, a mana scale on his back and a slime beast that quickly lunged for the rabbit. He glanced at the mana scale icon that appeared on his HUD then started chain casting his rabbit conjuration spell as he headed down the tunnel, fairly sure the mana scales were worth more mana than the mist stones or at least easier to store.