A Lich's Guide to Dungeon Mastery

I headed back downstairs and started making another Seam over the entire dungeon, telling it to copy the one that I'd made previously. It did so, and soon I had a second instance to fill with mobs. I left only a single instance for the boss floors, though, since I didn't want to have two Ubans running around at the same time.

Now, the way that this worked was very particular. It wasn't actually creating matter, and it needed an example to copy. If any of the rocks or trees or whatever left the dungeon, they'd immediately vanish, since they were simply condensed strings that had taken on a certain identity. Actually, gimme a second…

I pulled some stone from the nearby mountains and reformed the emerald, ruby, and golden apples that hung from the stone trees as a reward, replacing the fake ones that hung there currently.

Anyways, I also needed something to copy, unless I wanted to spend hours forming each little pebble. It was easier to copy an imprint that already existed, because if I had to carefully draw, tighten, and Notch every thread while also applying an identity to it, I'd probably be completely drained of my Mentum before I finished a single floor.

By the time the second instance Seam was complete, I was satisfied that my Boon had reached the maximum level, but decided to keep pushing. Eventually, I had five instances, each with a portal of their own on each floor. Well, except every eighth floor, since those all led to just one boss room.

At that point, I decided it was good enough, and positioned the portals on the sides and/or middle of the floor, creating hexagonal shapes before and after each boss room, but decagons on all the others. I also made a bunch of exit portals that would dump people outside the tower, deciding to put one after each boss. They were all sealed in by tons of quarts and Conflict Tungsten for now, since I didn't have anyone coming in here and most of my bosses didn't exist yet.

Once that was done, I cut off my arm. It didn't hurt, really, and it got better. Necrotic Restoration finally got its 5th level.

The last thing to do was…

Azrael rushed down the stairs. "It's just like you said. The camp packed up and left, and now there are a bunch of girls just sitting out there. They look pretty beat up, and I'm not sure how long it'll be until Necrosis starts eating them up. What are you going to do?"

“Wait, what? Girls?”

“Yup, all women.” She turned to squint at me. “Why might that be?”

I shrugged my skeletal shoulders. “No clue. I’ll start working on defending them now.”

My Spread Undeath Boon easily overpowered the shivering young womens’ auras, and they became even more frightened. It only grew worse when I started forming walls around them out of quartz, reinforcing it with Conflict Tungsten on the outside. They were so terrified that they didn’t even realize that the Necrosis in the air was thinning to safe levels.

Bleh. Ungrateful mortals.

“I’m going to go talk to them. Want to come with?” I offered Azrael a bony hand, which she took gladly. I took a step towards the edge, then stopped.

“Actually, I’m gonna go clean up my appearance. I’ll be right back.” She made a surprised squawking sound as my body dissolved into motes of energy and I returned to my Phylactery, resisting the pull of my Clones and recalling my more humanoid design.

It would be best to make a good impression on my new subjects. Fear would work, but they would be terrified of me even if I looked more “normal.” This way, they’d see me as at least a little more similar to them, making it easier for them to trust me.

My body formed quickly due simply to my experience forming it, and soon, I was standing next to Azrael again. “You ready?”

She nodded vigorously, and I pulled her off the tower with me. I know she could’ve resisted if she’d wanted to, but she didn’t, which displayed a high level of faith in me.

Falling was something I hadn’t really experienced in some time. Interestingly, I could probably get in a lot of skydiving now, considering my immortality and easy access to a high ledge, but I didn’t really have time for that anymore, what with the deadline. Also, I didn’t seem to have much of a fear of death anymore, though that could just be the complete lack of adrenaline in my body.

Right as we were about to go splat against the ground, I Molded some stone to catch us, moving it in a downwards angle at first. It was rough, but some Necrotic Restoration was able to patch both of us up. I kept shaping the stone beneath us to push us forward, like a magic carpet, except touching the ground.

…Alright, fine, it’s nothing at all like a magic carpet.

We reached the walls I’d set up around the twenty-odd young women pretty quickly, much to their collective terror. I felt pretty weird at that moment. Part of me wanted to cackle, laugh, and rain destruction down on them, but as I looked down, the more human part of me told me that they needed help and protection.

Eventually, the human part won the argument, stating firmly that we’d kill plenty of people anyways. The lich conceded, so long as we terrified them. With a sigh, I started speaking, projecting as loud as I could and stilling the wind with Mold Terrain to ensure that they'd be able to hear me.

“Hello, puny mortals!” My cheerful announcement caused the quiet whimpers and cries to halt. “I am not here to eat you! In fact, I am here specifically to stop things from eating you. You may have noticed that it’s much easier to breathe? That would be my doing.” I bowed sardonically.

They were still quivering in fear, and I felt a distinct uptick of the organic waste in my Domain, but I ignored it for now. “In exchange, you must stay here, in my Domain, until I consider you strong enough.” As I spoke, I was working on constructing basic huts and a wall encompassing my tower.

“You will be provided with living spaces and opportunities to improve your own power. I will…” I looked at Azrael, then whispered, “Wait, how do we feed them?” She just shrugged. “This is your mess; you deal with it.”

I frowned. “Well, I’ll work out a way to feed you,” I finished my statement, then pulled the metal and quartz of one of the walls back into the surrounding earth with Mold Terrain. “If you want to survive the night, I would recommend getting a move on. I will tolerate no straggling.”

Slowly, and with a bit of coercing in the form of Antigos walking behind them in lockstep, the women started to move toward the city I’d made. One of them tried to break off from the group; an Antigo suddenly appeared behind her and knocked her out cold. The rest were much more amenable to my commands after that.

It took about an hour of marching, since the ladies were so slow, but they eventually managed to reach my makeshift city. The entire place, just like my tower, was built out of quartz and reinforced with Conflict Tungsten. I’d stripped the Necrosis out of the air, here, and pulled it all directly into my tower. More was generated, but it was slow and I would just need to pull it back in occasionally.

I looked around with my Omnipresence for something that the humans could eat, and right at the edge of my Domain, I found two items: A book, and beneath it, a large crate. I could tell right away that the crate was full of food, enough to keep the girls fed for a few weeks.

There was also a note stuck to the top of the book.

This supply box is enchanted, and the food within it will be preserved for as long as the magic within is sustained. Take this guide as thanks for taking these young women in.

Esheth the Wise.

I stared at the note, realizing who it must have been from. How did that jerk know that I’d do what he asked? Oh, right, Soothen. Does he know the future or something?

Well, whatever. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I controlled the landscape to pull the items along in the same way I had with myself. The food arrived a few minutes later, and I had it set down right beside my tower, where I snatched the book and the letter off right away before pulling open the crate and gesturing for the ladies to eat.

The book was titled A Detailed Guide to the Elements and Specialization Advancement. Right away, I knew that this was a treasure more valuable than any I currently possessed. Instead of reading it, I focused my Omniscience on the novel to extract the information as quickly as possible.

With Mold Terrain, I pushed Azrael and I up to the top floor of the tower, stepping off and rushing down towards my Phylactery with a gleeful expression.

“Ambrose? Are you okay?” I waved Azrael’s concern off as I went down the stairs. “Just excited!”

I skidded to a stop right in front of my gem, staring into the options it had for me.

Please select a Specialization Advancement.

Spatial Archlich (Death+, Space)

Archlich of Space (Space+, Death)

Ancient Seeker (Forbidden Knowledge)

Death’s Custodian (Phantom)

Caretaker of Slumber (Burial)

Debt Collector (Death Pact)

Bearer of Nothingness (Abyss)

Witness of Azathoth (Eldritch)

The first two were immediately dismissed. They improved what I could do currently, sure, but I would still have to restart in leveling my Skills anyways. Furthermore, compound elements were, according to everything I’d heard, seen, and now read, utterly overpowered.

Ancient Seeker. Forbidden Knowledge, or Forbodum, was a sort of summoning and ritual magic energy. Dark sacrifices, portals to other planes, and many more things were under its purview. The new affinity it drew from was Arcane. All of that was definitely appealing, but I needed to check out the other options first.

Death’s Custodian was a Phantom magic specialization. Phantom, or Phantax, was focused on incorporeal creatures and objects. It was an energy that could hold some properties of physical reality, while also ignoring it. I could definitely see the Spatium influence there. As for its composition, it would combine what I currently had with Dark energy, Nyx, which was probably also linked to the lack of care for physical reality. Darkness was a lack of light, and the inside of objects usually didn’t reflect light very well.

Caretaker of Slumber would give me Burial magic. It was pretty obvious, but it had Earth affinity in it. The book speculated that Burial was the same type of energy that had formed the Dead Belt, and I was rather inclined to agree. Burial, or Cryptum, would taint areas with undeath. Anything that died within the area would rise and the environment would become toxic to life. The book also mentioned that Burial could form some sort of golems, but the author had only heard rumors of walking graveyards.

Death Pact was Necrosis, Spatium, and Karma all rolled into one. It was pretty harshly specialized. Similarly to how my Sympathetic Bond worked, it would link two things together, though this one was one-directional. When the first of them took damage, though, rather than the other also taking that damage immediately via energy transfer, the Nemesis would alter that individual’s immediate fate, causing them to also receive that. It didn’t only apply to health detriments. Any negative thing that the first target experienced would also happen to the other with a similar intensity. It could also handle many more things related to the energies it was formed out of, but it was mostly focused on this idea of forming bonds of revenge, negative feedback loops, and so on.

The Bearer of Nothingness' Abyss added Lethe to my elemental portfolio before combining it all into one. It was just… nothing. It had no physical substance or energy, but was instead the lack of it. Throwing a mortal into the Abyss, for example, would likely instantly kill them. They would lack air, food, water, heat, and everything else. Eventually, they too would become nothing. The Abyss was a place, and using it would be like bringing a bit of that realm into this one.

Witness of Azathoth would give me the Eldritch affinity. The book explained how all these advanced magic types were represented by alternate dimensions, places where the energies could be sourced as they were in such high abundance there, and Eldritch was one of the most ancient of these. Eldritch power was sourced from a plane where everything was organic. Dark gods and nigh-omnipotent beings ruled this place, and Eldritch users usually either pulled creatures from there to here, turned things here into the sorts of creatures that lived there, or they made pacts with the deities of that world, gaining insane amounts of power at some sort of cost.

They were all good options, but ultimately, I wasn’t focused on my own personal power, but rather the power of my creations. Bearer of Nothingness didn’t do much for my minions, nor did Debt Collector. Maybe there were some creative uses in there, but it wasn’t guaranteed.

Caretaker of Slumber would help me make environments like the Dead Belt, but, well, I was already in the Dead Belt. I didn’t see much of a point to that, and honestly, wanton slaughter in a far off place didn’t appeal to me either, so Burial wasn’t for me either.

In the end, the two best options for me were Ancient Seeker’s Forbidden Knowledge, making me into a jack of all trades with a focus on “evil” magic, and Witness of Azathoth’s Eldritch magic, which would make my minions stronger, but also had the unfortunate consequence of having the potential of forcing me to interact with incomprehensible beings, and could very well be even more evil than Forbidden Knowledge. As for which one I’d actually pick…

Well, I was going to finish getting all of my Boons to level 5 before finalizing any decisions.

Seif Ambrose

Spatial Lich 5 (Max, Specialization Available)

Phylactery 5 (Max)

Undead Possession 8

Reconstitution 7

Incorporate Phylactery 6

Mental Shield 0

Mentum Generator 8

Clone 6

Necrosis Manipulation 5 (Max)

Deadsight 7

Animate Necrosis 8

Shape Necrosis 5

Create Undead 9

Necrotic Restoration 6

Construct Consciousness 10

Domain of Undeath 5 (Max)

Spread Undeath 9

Mold Terrain 10

Transmute 8

Omnipresence 7

Omniscience 5

Empowered Control 5

Spatium Manipulation 5 (Max)

Delinear Sight 7

Stitching 8

Folding 6

Notions 6

Notching 8

Seaming 6

Calling 5 (Max)

Taglock 6

Nomantic Call 5

Bondsight 7

Alter Bond 6

Sympathetic Bonding 6

Call Through Space 5

Enhancements: Willpower x5

Named Belongings: Caerbalope, Antigo, Arachnomicon, Drachma’Uban

The last Boon to level was Mental Shield. To level this one, I would need to be affected by energy attacks. Pretty simple, right? Or, maybe you’re thinking that I have no way to do this, since none of my minions use attacks like that?

In the latter case, you’d be forgetting about Azrael. Well, and the Nailwolves, but there was no way I was letting that sort of power near my Phylactery. Azrael’s Lethean effects had to count as energetic influences on my Phylactery. I went upstairs to fetch her. She was gazing down at the little town I’d made for our guests, but noticed me immediately.

“Do you need something?” Her voice came out a little terse, but I decided to ignore that for now.

“Yes, actually. I have a Boon that I need your help leveling. Would you mind?” I gestured towards the stairs.

She glowered at me momentarily, but led the way downstairs after just a moment. “Alright, what do you need me to do? This had better not have anything to do with that stupid Calling Skill of yours.”

“No, no, nothing to do with that. Actually, having mentioned that, this might be somewhat therapeutic for you.” Her right eyebrow quirked, asking the question for her. “I need you to try and use some sort of energy attack or Skill on me.”

She looked off to the side, and I could tell that she was considering the Skills and Boons on her legend. “What sort of abilities should I use?”

“Well, I’d prefer something that doesn’t hurt, if I’m being honest.”

My qualifier made her smile and nod. “Are you ready?”

“As much as I’ll ever be,” I grumbled. She just smiled again, and I felt something shift. Then she was gone.

Frick.

I focused on my Mental Shield, empowering it with my Mentum. For a long moment, nothing happened, then I realized what I was doing wrong and concentrated on my Phylactery. The Boon would do nothing on my own body, since this wasn’t actually where my mind was housed.

Still, I didn’t see anything for a long moment. Then I saw what looked like a brown smear in the air coming towards my face. I tried to move out of the way, but instead got roundhouse kicked in the face.

The force behind her kick was enough to knock me flat and shove me a few feet to the side. As an undead, my sense of pain was very dulled, but I was currently regretting switching back into a fleshy form.

I was only able to see her grinning face for a bare instant before she vanished again. This time, I was able to see a blur a few seconds before she hit me, but hit me she did. A few more attempts, and I was getting better, but was nowhere near good enough. Bruises and scrapes started to form all over my body, and I didn’t have the time to use Necrotic Regeneration before Azrael descended and sent me across the room again, sometimes with a kick, sometimes with a punch, or sometimes just with an especially hard smack.

My guess from earlier seemed to be correct. This was apparently helping her relax quite a bit. Who knew she could be such a sadist?

I couldn’t even stop her, since I needed the levels so badly.

This was going to hurt.