NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3 - Visitors
Dungeon Day 1 – Continues
For a mini-boss, Dan was not going to go with something practical like a bear to a cave. He wanted to give Ingot some eyes in the sky. Even if the two dungeon creatures couldn’t communicate telepathically, Dan wanted Ingot to at least have some air support.
So, for a mini-boss, Dan was going to make an eagle. He quickly pulled up the creature creation menu and went through the process. An eagle was a beast, of course. The problem was that it was considered a small creature, so Dan bumped it up to medium size, maybe the size of an average human. Then he gave it some sweet new abilities, and bam! A new creation was made.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Hawk the Eagle.
Type: Beast.
Size: Medium.
Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.
Mind: Bestial.
Arcane Mana: 50/50.
Arcane Mana Regen: +2 Per Minute (0 Outside of Dungeon).
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 6.
Stealth. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Night Vision. Wind Affinity. Wind Slash.
Innate Abilities: 4.
Keen Sight. Flight. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.
Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 24 Mana (47 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 47 Mana.
🔷
The name was stupid, but Dan liked it. Hawk the Eagle would be something hilarious for his future explorers to see.
With his new creations done, Dan told his two monsters to go out into the forest and bring him some living creatures. He didn’t gain mana from things dying outside of his dungeon area, so he had to kill the things in his little cave system.
That thought sparked something that he would put into progress later. For now, he was looking at his barren mini-cave system with its few mushrooms and spider webs and just sighed internally. He only had 118 mana left, so he should probably wait until his mana suppliers returned before doing anything else. Dan wanted to have enough mana to sling some kinetic blasts in case something came too close to his core. Something like that weird-looking mole with metal claws coming at him from the side of the shattered lands.
“Shit! Of course, stuff is going to leak from the shattered lands!” Dan cursed as he got ready to start blasting.
The stupid mole was coming straight for his Heart Crystal, so he elevated it. A few moments later, the mole shot up from the stone. And though he had claimed the area, he hadn’t reinforced the stone, and the mole melted through it like butter.
Now, even if the thing was just a mole, Dan was not taking chances and spent 50 of his mana to blast the thing.
The mole flew against the cave wall, and though its claws were made of metal, the rest of its body was not, and it splattered against the stone wall.
“All right, maybe that was too much force,” Dan said aloud to the dark cave as he inspected the splatter on the wall, which had left behind a semi-metal skeleton. If the thing had-had some regeneration, it could have been comparable with a certain clawed hero. Thankfully, it didn’t, as that would have made the battle much more annoying.
Still, Dan used too much force, and seeing that the mole only gave him 25 mana back, it was not worth the kill. Hopefully, not too many things would come out of the shattered space. After all, the size it covered was immense. However, since it seemed like a possible threat in the foreseeable future, Dan was thinking of spawning some basic animals as diversions.
He knew that with adventurers giving him mana, he would eventually have some proper bosses guarding his core. Though, in truth, he would probably end up sealing himself off completely. After all, there wasn’t any game rule in his new system that said he couldn’t. And more than likely, the stuff he would eventually deal with could probably disintegrate any obstacles as they made their way to him.
In the end, Dan didn’t make any more creatures. He would hold out and put some faith in his telekinesis.
Telekinesis: You can affect your dungeon area via your Dungeon Menu but are not limited to its options. Additionally, you may use Telekinetic attacks on invaders that enter your dungeon core room. The force of the telekinetic attacks is measured based on the mana spent.
With the whole mole situation out of the way, Dan went back to inspecting his cave system and realized it was small. How was he supposed to make a good introductory area for newbies with 500 feet of space!? Outraged, he poked the World Crystal through their eternal connection.
“Yo, chief, I need more land.” That was all it took, and he got a system message informing him of his increase in claimable land.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Notice! You can only claim 1000 feet of total space outside the shattered reality.
To claim more land, you must enter the shattered space.
🔷
Dan was honestly surprised at how a semi-eternal creature could be so lazy! He was trying to make a freaking dungeon here and was getting reused assets from the chief investor.
“Fucking, money grubbers!” Dan blurted out loud, thinking back to all the awesome games ruined by money-hungry bastards.
That was a bad idea because he then got another system message.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Notice! You can only claim 500 feet of total space outside the shattered reality.
To claim more land, you must enter the shattered space.
🔷
“Fuck! I am sorry! I take it back!” Dan yelled desperately into the air.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Notice! You can only claim 1000 feet of total space outside the shattered reality.
To claim more land, you must enter the shattered space.
🔷
Welp! This is not a free-speech world.
Moving away from the topic of land, he didn’t have mana to claim. Dan was going to start planning out his future cave layout when something entered the cave at blinding speed. And before he could even react, there was what Dan could only classify as an adventurer in front of his heart-shaped crystal.
The human in front of him had been moving so fast that the only reason it didn't look like they had just teleported into the room was that his dungeon sense registered something moving through his dungeon area. However, just because Dan knew there was something in his dungeon didn’t mean he could even remotely track it with enough speed to react.
She was a dark-haired beauty with tan caramel skin and beautiful golden eyes. The woman had a lean body and wore black leather armor with intermixed embroideries of small chain links that glimmered silver-white and light blue. The beauty in front of him was a bit taller than the average human woman back on Earth and was built like a sexy olympian athlete, at least from what Dan could appraise. She also had beautiful black earrings whose shining and glimmering jewels reflected unseen light in the dark cave. Closer inspection showed she had some expensive-looking daggers strapped to the sides of her thighs and a small leather pouch magically attached to her belt.
Even if she looked good, the human was an intruder, and Dan would at least try to defend himself. However, before Dan could gather his mana, the woman spoke, her voice sweet and soft, unlike the sheer pressure she gave off as if a dragon was in the cave.
“So, this is the new creation by the World Crystal.”
Now, even if Dan couldn't use telepathy with creatures, not from his dungeon, he could still talk by using telekinesis and abusing his magical dungeon abilities.
“Technically, it didn’t create me. Though in a sense, it is the reason why my current form exists.” Dan said, smiling inwardly as he saw the woman suddenly hide the surprise from having him talk.
She then stared at his crystal for a moment before speaking.
“Hmm, I see. Either way, you are quite an interesting existence with a rather unique way of speaking.”
“Yeah, well, I would use telepathy, but sadly, you aren't special enough.” That particular line caused the lady to harumph, denying his statement. Dan, unbothered, continued. “So, why are you here if you aren't here to destroy me? Actually, who are you?”
“I am an Adventurer, Arch Cleric, and overall badass.” She responded with some sass and then casually dropped a bombshell: “I am just here so my god can talk to you.”
That's when the pressure in the cave really began to rise, and Dan felt like he was going to shatter, at least until his connection with the World Crystal tugged, and a literal coating of multicolored sparkling light covered his crystal, blocking all the godly energy.
As Dan watched, the woman in front of him began to glow with silver, blue, and golden energy, and her eyes became orbs of power of the same color. Her dark armor was also overcome with energy and transformed into a shining black metal with hints of light blue chains. The adventurer floated above the ground, her body adjusting as she became more graceful. As her body became filled with unnatural grace, she was also blessed with unequal perfection and radiant splendor that could only be given by divine energy of the highest caliber.
Once the transformation was completed, the clear divine entity before him was content to float around his crystal, inspecting it again. Then, once their curiosity was satisfied, it spoke.
“Hello, ??’????? ???’????.” Dan had no idea what the entity said, but reality did not like it, and everything went funky for a bit before he felt another pulse from his World Crystal connection, this time mixed with a bit of anger. Whatever the avatar or god had said was not approved by the world, and as reality was restored, Dan saw the energy around the woman flicker for a second.
“Apologies.” It said out loud, and Dan felt the anger lessen and eventually disappear.
Turning its attention back to Dan, it spoke once again.
“I am the deity of adventure in this world that you so kindly tried to destroy.” The avatar said, and Dan kindly interrupted.
“Listen, Linda. I haven't done jack shit! I am just some dude who was on Earth a whole few hours ago before being shoved into this situation. And now, apparently, I am trying to help unfuck your world. So, I would appreciate it if you would go fuck yourself!”
That got her or it, whatever, laughing hysterically.
“You are one rude crystal and either especially brave or stupid talking to a deity like that. You’re lucky that she is interested in this little scenario, or you would be scrap by now.”
Well, that was useful information to know. Dan had political immunity from the gods, though maybe it was best if he didn’t push it. It's not like what he had said was a lie. He still felt like the whole thing was a freaking dream. Some things were just hard to accept. Either way, he responded, moving the conversation along.
“Uhuh, so what do you want? I can’t imagine you’re here to chat.”
“I just wanted to come check out the thing that is responsible for killing so many of my adventurers and to give you a warning since you will be their future trainer as well.” The avatar stated calmly before the energy in the cave changed, and things got serious. Dan wasn’t affected by it but could still feel it, and it sent a chill down his crystal.
“Don’t take advantage of my heroes. A fair challenge, a quick death, and all with equal recompense are acceptable. Anything less, any tricks, and even the World Crystal has limits you do not wish to test.”
The entity spoke, and the world reacted as the walls melted for a fraction of a second, and the air became glass. Then, the dark hair returned in a flash, and the woman’s feet hit the ground. Blood spilled from her nose and eyes as she gave Dan a soft smile and disappeared.