Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 301 (Patreon)

Chapter 301 – Friendly Chat

“Well, this is more normal than I expected. And yet, it is entirely what I expected your lair would look like.”

I smiled at the kitsune standing in my lounge. “Yes, I’ve gotten that before, from Miguel, the leader of the American Adventurers’ Guild. This is the space I use for friendly conversations or dealmaking, when someone comes to me for such things.”

Silver Mercy’s avatar nodded. “Someplace within your domain, but away from your core and registered as a safe zone, meaning that everyone is more or less protected, unless someone does something stupid, right?”

“Exactly. And it doesn’t have the same power dynamic as forcing them to fight through the dungeon to reach one of the rooms where I typically hold audiences with adventurers, or my manifesting to someone in a dire situation to offer them a deal. I find that a more relaxed setting, like this, helps put people at ease, and makes them more willing to actually deal with me, without causing any undo resentment.”

“Sensible. You’re looking for repeat customers, not an individual to squeeze every last drop out of immediately, right? What is it you say, the best deals are the ones where everyone wins?”

“Indeed. Those deals are far more profitable, in the long term. Just look at the current situation. If I had been more bloodthirsty and less measured, then I probably would have been blockaded at best, or overwhelmed by sheer numbers and destroyed at worst, once the military realized what I could do.”

Silver Mercy nodded. “And if you hadn’t been there, already, when I joined the Global DEN, I would have had a lot harder time convincing some of the others to not make waves. Morte and Iahab, in particular, would have caused problems if they weren’t restrained. Fortunately, Morte was quick enough to realize the benefits of playing a long game. Shame about Iahab, though.”

“Oh,” I grinned. “I didn’t know you cared for him like that.”

“No, I didn’t. But there are too few of us truly awake to just go throwing away dungeons for no reason. I just wish that he could have been redeemed, somehow. Made to see how his ways were never going to end well.”

“He was a zealot, Mercy. You and I both know, from our brushes with religion, that there is no reasoning with zealots. You can deprogram some, in time, but they have to have their ideals crushed before they’re willing to listen to anything else. Same thing with Freedom, honestly. Until someone smacks him down hard enough that it knocks some sense into his core, the only thing keeping him in line is the fact that I threatened him directly, and have the ability to back it up.”

The Kitsune sighed, and nodded. “Yes, I just wish we had had more time, to try and break through and bring him to a better path. But once he tried to move against you, in a bid to take over the portal network you’ve created, his fate was sealed.”

“Yes, well, that happens to all zealots, sooner or later. But enough about him. Some of the local adventurers just got back from a trip to Japan, and they were raving about your dungeon on the forums. Especially about your trials.”

Silver Mercy smiled at that. “Oh, good! I saw that some more international groups had come through. So, the trial format was as popular with others as it is with my domestic audience?”

“Yes, perhaps because it is the most game-like of the dungeons I’ve looked at. The ability to return after dying lowers the stakes considerably. Even if dying is unpleasant, it at least isn’t permanent. Makes it a good way to hone their skills under live conditions, but without the normal consequences. How did you set that up, anyways? That has to be a System skill, right? Or is it a secret?”

“Well, it isn’t really a secret, though it won’t do you any good to know it, either way. [Temple Trials] is a Class Skill for Temple Dungeons. I’ve heard that Aligned and City dungeons have similar skills, but the other ‘Dungeon Classes’ don’t have anything like that.”

I sighed. “Well, that is unfortunate. Not unsurprising, but unfortunate. Each dungeon type has to have something that makes it unique from the other classes. And those three are characterized by having people who are neither dungeon bound or monsters, but are still not considered adventurers or invaders.”

“Do you ever look back, and wonder what might have been if you picked a different choice, back when the System came online? If, instead of a Mystic dungeon, you’d picked some other sort? Most of your early success was due to being a Mystic, and the types of monsters you picked, right?”

I chuckled, thinking back on those early days, when I had just barely opened my dungeon, and it was really only a couple trap rooms, a swamp, and then more trap rooms, all in a line. Hard to believe it had been less than three years ago, but life moved fast when you didn’t sit still and just expect people to hand you things. Still, would I have changed anything?

“Hmm, that’s an interesting question. On the one hand, everything I’ve done has led up to my current success. But, if I had picked another class, or another profession, how would that have changed things for me? I think it would have made things far more difficult, to be sure. My class allowed me to put in restrictions to incentivize people going further and further into the dungeon, rather than just stopping and farming, before retreating. If I’d been a Slayer, or one of the ‘livable’ types, that would have been problematic, to say the least. Maybe I could have done something similar with the Puzzler or Crafter types, but that requires a level of talent I did not possess at the time.

“Keeping people from leaving easily really was the key to my success. Oh, sure, Earl and Captain Hentai played their part, and my role as Demon of the Dungeon worked better than I could have ever imagined. But all of that depended on it being more difficult to backtrack through the dungeon, than to move forward, despite the risks. That made people fall into desperate situations, and allowed me to make my first deals, which led to so much more.”

The kitsune nodded, a wry smile on her vulpine face. “And I need not ask whether you would give up your Slave Master profession. You wouldn’t have been able to capture most of your floor bosses without that ability. Or distribute the Slave Collars that made your dungeon so contentious that even before joining the Global DEN, I had heard about it.”

“Really?” I asked. That was new. “I hadn’t thought my exploits were so well-known, at least not then.”

Silver Mercy sighed, shaking her head. “Sometimes, I can’t tell if you really are this unaware of your situation, or if it is another one of your acts. Did you forget, Kuronoth, that your Demon of the Dungeon act and the way you ran things got the US Military to work with you directly, not to mention the fledgling Adventurers’ Guild? That was HUGE, especially for anyone who paid attention to dungeons. That bit about you interacting with the outside world, even if they didn’t know it was the dungeon itself, rather than just a demon acting as the dungeon boss, got around so much that even the Ambassadors, when they came, heard about it. Wasn’t your dungeon the first one they stopped at, after all?”

“Honestly? I’d forgotten about that. Things have been pretty hectic, these last couple years. Once things started moving, well, I’ve been running as fast as I can to keep on top of things, which only adds more things to my plate.”

“Oh, poor Kuronoth. Fortunately, the rest of us have had plenty of time to learn from your actions, and none of us who remain have any desire to start getting worshipped. Especially since godhood seems to have kept you from developing your dungeon as much as it could be.”

I chuckled. “Well, you’re not wrong, there. However, because of how my dungeon is structured, there really isn’t a need for it to be as deep as I could make it. After all, I still haven’t had anyone come to the end of the desert floors, yet. They’re still struggling with the open-desert level. If it weren’t for the escape charms, there are several teams that would have been completely wiped out by the boss, since they got unlucky and he surfaced under them.”

Silver Mercy winced. “That boss is a sandworm, like in the Dune books and movies, right? I can imagine that falling into that gaping maw, with all those teeth, was not exactly a pleasant experience. How did they manage to escape before getting killed?”

“Well, they were smart enough to use their escape charms as soon as they saw the boss’s mouth rising up around them, so they hadn’t actually met the teeth, yet. Even so, there have been a few deaths on that floor. Which is unfortunate, since that boss is optional. You just have to survive long enough to cross the floor and find the exit, without falling prey to the boss, and you’re clear. Well, as long as you’ve signed the contract, of course.”

“Yes, your infamous contracts,” she said, teasingly. “Actually, one of the better ideas you’ve had. At least, one of the better ideas that wasn’t completely perverted. I know you haven’t been paying that much attention to the different DENs, but your contract idea has been spreading through the Earth dungeons. Pretty much every dungeon on Earth that has ‘woken up’ enough to join one of the DENs has some form of Dungeon Contract.”

“I wasn’t aware that they were that widespread on Earth. Oh, I knew that they were spreading, just like they are spreading in the Galactic DEN, along with my church, but hearing that they’ve become near-universal is new. Kind of flattering, actually, even if they don’t give me royalties on the idea.”

I shook my head, clearing away those thoughts. “Anyways, Mercy, I wanted to ask how that dungeon was doing. I’ve heard people saying that it is a real horror show. I can peek in, if I focus on it, since my shrine is there, but that is just a live viewing. It isn’t like having a camera there taking video that you can review later.”

The kitsune leaned forward, a teasing look on her face. “Feeling sorry about the mess your follower left behind?”

“I’d be lying if I said that I felt any actual blame for that. But I do feel that, because of how it was born, I ought to keep tabs on it, at least until it grows up enough to wake up. From the little I’ve seen, the only reason that the dungeon hasn’t gotten a reputation for being a slaughterhouse for any adventurers that go in is because the Japanese version of the Guild is keeping out low-level adventurers, so anyone who goes in is properly prepared to fight spirits and zombies. That also helps keep the mobs from growing too strong, which is a bonus. However, my main concern is whether it will start doing something problematic, like trying to take the entire city into its domain, or send monsters out to hunt, and bring people back to the dungeon. If the dungeon goes fully rogue, then that could be bad for all of us.”

Silver Mercy sighed, and took a more serious tone. “So far, that doesn’t look to be the case. The Japanese Adventurers’ Alliance has been informed of the danger, though, so they have people monitoring the dungeon fairly regularly. Thankfully, despite the horror theme, the dungeon is still young, and so it hasn’t been able to truly improvise.”

“Then the reports that the ‘spirit traps’ all resemble Japanese horror movies?”

“Accurate. The thinking is that either at least some of the spirits of the schoolchildren and teachers are truly trapped there, or, at the very least, their memories were used in its creation. The zombies are standard versions, as well. Just the slow-movers, thankfully, instead of some of the ones that show up in American cinema.”

“I see. That lines up with some of the further research on the ritual I’ve done in my limited spare time. Unless the dungeon develops a more refined taste for necromancy, especially the soul-capturing kind, then the adventurers should at least pass on to whatever afterlife awaits them. Well, their souls, at any rate. I can’t promise the same for their bodies, naturally.”

“Oh? What did you find?”

“The ritual drains all the mana from an area to fuel the dungeon’s initial creation. That includes the individual mana of any creatures in the area. Once their mana goes, their life force is next, until it is all consumed, focused into the newformed dungeon core. When done properly, their knowledge and memories are used to create a dungeon which is already aware, and able to respond.”

“That hasn’t happened, obviously. What went wrong?”

“The caster is supposed to stay in the center of the ritual space, and guide it to completion. This allows the core to properly process the memories, and it gives the caster some degree of control in how the dungeon’s mind develops, about the same as a parent raising a child, though compressed in time frame. Alternatively, the caster can force out the new mind, and become the dungeon mind, themselves. But, either way, the caster is not generally supposed to remain alive and free from the dungeon afterwards.”

I paused, and then said, “Unfortunately, the caster did not know that, or knew it and did not care for that outcome. Either way, they fled the school before the ritual was complete, causing the unfiltered minds and memories to come crashing into the new dungeon mind, all at once, while they were being transformed. Not the ideal outcome, naturally.”

“Oh, by the kami. That dungeon is going to be psychotic when it finally wakes up, isn’t it?”

“The chances are high. However, there’s also a chance that it can work through its issues. Especially if someone is able to help it, before it becomes rogue. And no, it can’t be me. With my shrine in the core room, I already have to focus on not just crushing the dungeon in a dungeon war and conquering it as my own.”

“Why don’t you?”

“For the same reason why Batman doesn’t kill the Joker. I know myself. If I start down the path of Conquest, instead of Domination, then I won’t be able to stop. And that would not be good for anyone.”

“Ah. Well, in that case, I should go make some calls, and see what I can do.”

“Thank you, Mercy.”