Broken Anomaly

“…that’s why we need you,” Stella said as both she, Marcus, and Eric made their way toward the dungeon. “I can see the dungeon menu and everything, but it doesn’t fall under my duties as administrator. The System won’t let me do anything with it.”

Eric nodded his head as he followed along. “I guess that means you’ve figured out how to maximize the experience or something, right?” he asked, furrowing his brow as he failed to see any other possible solution to how they made enough dungeon points for an upgrade.

Before he had left, the dungeon had only gathered enough experience to earn a single dungeon point. Even if he had been gone for a few days—well, weeks. It turns out he really lost track of time during his journey, or maybe the fight with the rats had taken him out for longer than he originally thought. Regardless, it still wouldn’t have been enough, especially if you considered the limitations that they had discovered previously.

The experience that the dungeon used to create dungeon points was an aspect of dungeon management that they hadn’t been able to grasp quite yet. Even the FAQ failed to provide a clear answer. It only said the following: “Dungeon experience is the result of the actions done within.”

Eric had been more than annoyed by such a vague and brief explanation. It basically told them nothing. The only new understanding they gained was that whatever it was that they had to do, it had to be done within the dungeon.

So, the only explanation as to how Stella and Marcus had made enough dungeon points, was that they had discovered how to increase the experience that the dungeon needed in order to create dungeon points.

“Yes, we have,” Stella said with a smile spreading across her face. This was genuine joy. For the first time in weeks, that feeling of dread that kept creeping up on her was nowhere to be seen. “Turns out that the FAQ was being literal.”

They arrived at the dungeon, and Stella told everyone who was making a line to back away from the dungeon.

Some made faces, others complained in low voices, but regardless, they all did as she said and backed away from the dungeon. Though they didn’t go far, they just stood a couple feet away.

Eric guessed that they were just waiting for Stella to give the okay, and they would immediately make a line once more.

Stella, having finished making sure that everyone was where she wanted them to be, turned, once more facing Eric and Marcus.

“As I was saying, the FAQ was being literal,” she said, gesturing with her hands. “What it means by actions is skill use, or anything that uses mana really,” she added as she made a fireball.

Eric noticed that each time she conjured up a fireball, there was always a slight difference in how it would look compared to the previous time he had seen it. This time it looked rounder, like the flames were being pulled down, ensuring its shape.

“I’m guessing the fireball is a visual aid.” Eric said sarcastically. “But how did you get to that conclusion?” he asked as he crossed his arms and leaned back against a small wooden railing that had recently been constructed. “I mean, I personally thought it was about how many times the dungeon was run, maybe even how long it took.”

Marcus finally contributed to the conversation as he snapped his fingers in acknowledgement of what Eric had said, as if saying “right?” then he actually spoke. “I thought the exact same thing. But I can’t see the dungeon menu, so I wouldn’t know.”

“That’s when he went to get me,” Stella added, pointing at herself. “We began to run the dungeon at night, so that we didn’t disturb anyone, and began to take notes.” She took a quick glance at her hip and snapped her fingers. “Must be at the office. Anyway, we began to take notes and quickly noticed that I was generating more experience than he was, even though I tended to go slower.”

“Bombs really make everything easier, though the dungeon does take longer to recover,” Marcus said, with a slight grin.

“Yes, much longer,” Stella said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s when I thought about what you said, about the truth of leveling,” she continued, making sure that she wasn’t heard. something that Eric quickly caught on to. “If what you said is true," she continued, "maybe the dungeon does something similar, you know?”

“But the energies are different,” Eric said with a frown, also trying to be as vague as possible when he spoke.

“Yes, they are, but is a dungeon a human being?” Stella asked, pointing at Eric, and paused for a second as if waiting for a response but continued far too soon for that to be the case. “So, with that in mind, I began to consider that maybe we are what does the processing—”

“That wouldn’t explain how wild dungeons grow,” Eric said, cutting Stella off. “Who or what does the processing for them?”

“I was getting there,” Stella said with an annoyed but clearly playful expression.

“You’re really taking your time,” Eric said, not with malice or mockery, just as a general observation. “You tend to be quicker with explanations, always to the point.”

“You try to run a settlement on your own, see if you don’t get bored. As I was saying. I then began to consider how wild dungeons work, and to confirm it, I blocked the entrance to the dungeon for a week.”

“People got rowdy,” Marcus added, nodding slightly to the people that had only moved back a bit.

“Yeah,” Stella said, with a slight snort. “The experience went up by two or three points, and I think you can do the math from there, right?” she said, looking at Eric with a questioning gaze.

Eric nodded, having understood what she meant. Even though the System no longer aided him in gaining experience, he found out that he still got a small amount whenever he killed a monster.

However, the amount was so small that it took a while to register. That meant that even without the System’s aid, his core did its own thing.

Applying that logic to what Stella had told him meant that dungeons could process mana into skill energy and gain experience. Or perhaps skill energy is easier to convert into the energy it uses, he thought to himself.

“And later you emphasized that everyone should use as much of their skills as possible during their runs, right?” Eric said, bringing the topic to a close. “Was it that much more effective?”

“Yes, to both questions. Check for yourself,” Stella said as she turned to face those that had just exited the dungeon and holding some people back.

Training grounds

Rank F

Experience 877/2000

Dungeon points 23

Eric was a bit surprised when he saw how many points they had gained in the few weeks since Stella and Marcus had made their discovery. Considering the dungeon’s recovery rate, that was basically a point every other day.

“Which upgrades do you want me to get?” Eric asked as he brought up the list of available options and concentrated on the ones that they had chosen when making their “Dungeon Roadmap.”

Stella made a fist and brought it to her chin as she pondered what she wanted. Just like Eric, she had wanted to follow the roadmap and get each of the upgrades. However, when the roadmap was made, it was done so without knowing that the same upgrade options would be available once again.

She had only seen it happen with the upgrades that were used on the settlement, but she was sure that it would be the same for the dungeon. Do I get one of each, or do I focus on one? she began to think about it deeply.

Eric and Marcus looked at each other as Stella muttered words that were barely comprehensible as they were only fragments. Her face shifted from one expression to another.

Both Eric and Marcus knew her well enough to be able to distinguish her expressions and could even guess the words she said at the same time she changed or made a specific expression.

“Maybe, well, however,” they began to mutter in unison, following Stella’s facial expressions. “Whatever,” they finally said as Stella raised her gaze toward them, amused at their antics.

“Cute, both of you, really,” she said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. It would’ve made someone who didn’t know her uncomfortable, but not her friends. “Buy the mana recovery one and tell me if it appears again,” she said, her tone and expression now normal.

Eric only nodded at her words and did as she said. He already had the correct system menu open, and he already knew where each option was, so he quickly found the relevant option and selected it.

Slight dungeon enhancement (mana recovery): Increases the speed at which the dungeon regenerates its own mana. Cost: 5 DP.

A few seconds after Eric was done, he felt mana rushing in from around him. All of it was passing through him and entering directly into the dungeon.

The rush of mana lasted about five seconds, but he wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t ask because it appeared that the others didn’t notice until after he did.

Though the mana rush wasn’t the end of it. Eric could feel the mana that was now concentrated in the dungeon begin to pulse.

He turned and, failing to see anybody reacting to it, increased his concentration and prepared Mental Focus. They probably can’t feel it, he thought but didn’t question as to why, only vaguely attributing it to a combination of his skills and stats.

Then, throughout the entire building, strange circles emitting a faint purple glow began to appear. Eric and others quickly recognized what they were.

Referencing their memories of comics, movies and web novels, they easily concluded that those were either sigils or magic circles. Their connection depended on the work in which they appeared.

The magic circles came in different shapes and sizes. At the front of the building, directly on top of the main dungeon entrance, was the largest one. It extended from the top of the door and stopped just before reaching the roof. Its center appeared to be somewhere on the second floor.

Each magic circles contained a second, smaller circle, with the largest one holding three smaller circles within it. In the space between each circle were characters that were incomprehensible. The characters looked like a combination of various styles while simultaneously appearing too simple to have any relation to existing characters.

Mental Focus was incredibly versatile. If Eric had gotten the skill before, when they were still in exam season, he would’ve easily passed most of the theory and facts-based classes.

The skill was capable of remembering anything he had seen at least once, only requiring more mana the more distant the memory was from the surface. But no matter how much mana the skill consumed; it didn’t recognize the characters.

Finally, at the center of each magic circle, were different lines, crisscrossing in various patterns. Some formed intricate geometric figures, while others appeared to just be put in there randomly.

From the largest circle at the center of the dungeon, two sets of lines branched out, connecting to two smaller ones. In the middle of both of the lines were more of the incomprehensible characters that were present in the magic circles.

Then, from each of the smaller circles, a set of lines extended, turning the corner of the building and disappearing from sight. Yet, that wasn’t all. Littered throughout all the empty space that lacked any magic circles or lines that connected them, were more of the odd characters as well as various symbols, all in different sizes.

While nobody could understand what was going on, they felt a sense of awe. The characters, the magic circles—all of it just seemed to be work done by something or someone greater, creating a distance in their minds.

However, that sense of awe was not present in the three friends, or at least not in the same way. They had both curiosity and greed in their eyes.

Suddenly, the characters within the magic circle changed lightly. Eric couldn’t tell what had changed, but he knew something had. Then, out of nowhere, a small circle appeared near the door.

Finally, with a bright flash, but not bright enough to blind them, the magic circles and characters disappeared, the dungeon going back to normal.

Stella blinked repeatedly, getting rid of the effects of the bright light. “That was... something,” she said, not really having anything to comment regarding what they just saw.

“Did any of you catch that last circle?” Marcus asked, turning to both Stella and Eric, desire clear in his eyes. “Please tell me one of you caught the last circle. Did you guys at least notice the new characters that appeared? Answer me!”

Eric moved his torso back a bit, distancing himself from Marcus. “I could probably draw it, but it’ll look like shit,” he said, confident that Mental Focus wouldn’t fail. “Why do you want it?”

“Inscriptions,” Marcus said, not explaining further, knowing that the other two would know what he meant.

And he was right, they knew exactly what he meant by inscriptions. In various magical settings, inscriptions were optional components that could be added to items.

The name changed depending on the work, but it was basically the same thing. Sometimes inscriptions were for small things like maintenance or self-repair, other times, times they were for combat or defense.

Eric suddenly remembered his spear. The enhancement might be an inscription, he thought as he looked toward Stella’s office, where he had left all the stuff he had brought back.

Stella snapped her fingers, bringing their attention back to her. “Check the options. Is mana regeneration available again?” she asked, in a hurried tone.

Was she excited? Eric asked himself. He scrolled through the options, finding that yes, the mana regeneration option was available, though more expensive. He just nodded and said “16.”

Slight dungeon enhancement (mana recovery): Increases the speed at which the dungeon regenerates its own mana. Cost: 16 DP.

Once again, Eric chose the same option, leaving him with only two DP to spare.

He didn’t question Stella’s reasoning. The only bottleneck they had encountered when it came to dungeon clearing was the amount of times it could be run before the dungeon simply began to falter, slowly regenerating fewer and fewer monsters, until it stopped functioning properly.

Eric wasn’t sure if these two upgrades would make a huge difference, but any upgrade, no matter how small, would go a long way.

Everything went the same way as it had done so on the previous occasion, however, there was a difference during the last part.

The same moment in which another magic circle had appeared before, this time no such thing happened. Instead, the characters within the recently added magic circle shifted, and the shapes at the center changed.

Eric made his best effort to memorize each and every change he could, while still prioritizing getting a good look at each of the circles so that he could later reference them with Mental Focus.