Chapter 21

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The Third Layer, The Land of God

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Teka, Shaman of Fire Tribe, gently offered a fruit from the vine-plants that were found everywhere in the jungle. She offered the peeled fruit to the firebird that had nested in the branches of the tree her hut was built on. It’s feathers were mostly orange, same as the fruit, with some deep red like fresh blood or flower-yellow. The bird, that her creator had named the Phoenix, could be considered kin to Teka.

Despite their difference in shape, Teka knew that they both burned with the same inner fire.

The phoenix leaned forwards through the window from it’s perch on the railing around her hut, and took the freshly peeled fruit from Teka’s open claw. In one swift motion, the bird tossed it’s snack into the air and snapped it’s beak on it. The bird shivered, it’s feathers rustling in a wave from it’s head to it’s tail.

Teka knew she shouldn’t call this beautiful creature ‘it’. It felt wrong. She closed her eyelids and took a slow, long breath.

Creator, is this Phoenix a boy or girl?

She waited, the moment between heartbeats stretching forever. Then the God that created her people spoke.

This phoenix is Female, Fire Shaman. Do you enjoy it’s company?

Yes, Creator! It’s wonderful! Teka replied, opening her eyes to gaze on the phoenix once again. A female. She’s incredible.

That is good. I wish to perform an experiment. Do you consent?

Of course! Teka thought back, without hesitation. Her people owed their creator, and would perform any task to that end!

Very well. Brace yourself.

Teka felt the fingers of her creator within her being, drawing a tendril of her energy from deep inside her. She gasped as the energy was guided beyond her scales where it met a similar tendril, drawn from the phoenix beyond the window. Their energies twisted and twirled, thickening and merging.

Soon, what felt like a thin string connecting them grew to a sturdy rope, joining their very beings together.

Teka felt the Phoenix’s mind reach for hers and she embraced it. She felt complete. As the phoenix experienced Teka’s memories, she experienced the Phoenix’s.

She had not been Named by the Creator, but within the flock was referred to as ‘the-shine-of-light-through-the-leaves’. They soon pulled back from each other’s minds, but found they could easily sense the other’s emotions and thoughts.

You are Bonded. The Creator spoke, Two halves of a whole.

Yes. Bonded. Teka could feel the fire in her bonded. It was the same fire that burned in Teka. The-shine-of-light-through-the-leaves trilled loudly into the air, rousing a chorus from her clutch, mate and chicks. Teka whooped and hollered, swept up in the moment.

“Teka?”, “What wrong?”, “What happen?!” She was pulled from the joy of her companion as a few concerned snouts poked into her hut, staring wide-eyed at their respected shaman dancing about her hut in a fit of pure elation. Teka took a few seconds to clear her throat, breathe and center herself.

“Creator Bonded Teka to Phoenix.” Teka declared, to general confusion.

“What Bonded?” Asked young Jut. The boy was growing fast, Teka noticed. He should be fully grown in a few days.

“Teka has joined to Phoenix. We share thought and feelings at all times.” Teka said, pointing to her bonded, who watched the young tribesmen from the railing. They gasped and stare in awe.

“Cool…”, “Beautiful…” Were just some of their words.

“What name?” Jut asked, once again showing bravery. Teka smiled at her bonded.

“She has name, but Teka can’t say right. I think… Gleam”

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Approaching Medea Island, Kalenic Sea

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Captain Eli Hart stood at the bow of his ship, staring unwavering at the rapidly approaching island. It had been more than a month since he had discovered this island after a freak storm blew them off course. In that time the Phenoc Kingdom had colonized the island and the stretch of beach containing the dungeon had been transformed.

From the beach stretched three wooden piers, each with one ship docked and some smaller fishing vessels. From the port stretched a long dirt road, leading into a main street of sorts where fairly robust-looking wood buildings bordered it. About half-way up this section the road widened into a pubic square, a decent busy one from what he could see. Further along the road ascended a small hill where a keep was being slowly constructed, the stone for which likely being sourced from a quarry on the island.

Off to the left side of the main street, quite a few shacks and hastily-constructed houses stood. Most of the population likely lived in this section. To the right of the street rose a more prominent building, the design of which he was familiar with. The local Guild Hall retained many of the same design elements as ones he had witnessed over the years, even if it was only constructed from timber.

As his eyes panned right, he traced a path up the hill to a small construction site, situated on the edge of the small peninsula that bordered the black, sparkling beach. His eyes inevitably drew down the cliff to the glowing cave, now surrounded by tents and pavilions. There looked to be a decent number of people occupying that stretch of beach, which made him frown.

Assuming they were all Guilders… why were there so many? Surely they could not all delve the dungeon at once?

As they drew closer a smaller ship sailed out to meet them and started waving signal flags. Eli’s own flag-bearer replied in kind and when the exchange was over, approached him.

“We’ve been directed to the rightmost pier and told to expect an inspector, captain!” The man informed him. Eli raised an eyebrow and nodded to the man.

An inspector, huh? Granted it was common practice in larger cities, to curb smuggling mostly. But in a newly established colony? It seemed… out of place.

Soon enough they were docked and he stood at the gangplank with Gresh, watching as the ‘inspector’ ascended. The man dressed like a wealthy merchant, in fine but sturdy clothing suitable for life on the road. Eli had expected someone clothed in silk, fat on the taxes he skims from. He concluded this man was new to his post, potentially offered pay equal or greater than he would earn trading on his own.

“Permission to come aboard?” The man asked when he reached the top. Eli nodded and stepped back, making space for the inspector. He glanced across the deck, then raised his clipboard and quill. “I’m Inspector Olinar Herth of the Medea Island Port Authority. Ship Details?” The man asked, a little rudely.

“Eli Hart, Captain of the Good Tidings, registered to the Lorantia Ship Registry,” he replied. The inspector nodded.

“Cargo manifest?” He followed, prompting Eli to take a clipboard from Navigator Gresh and pass it on to the man. Eli was no smuggler, he knew what was in every crate and barrel in his hold. The inspector would find nothing wrong. Inspector Herth nodded after a swift read.

“I need to inspect your cargo,” the man stated, decisively. “We’ve had trouble recently with merchants smuggling illegal substances into the port. I don’t doubt your integrity, captain,” he said, heading off any outrage, “but there are always one or two sailors who maybe stow a pouch of manadust or two in their belongings.”

Eli fumed slightly at the thought that any of his crew would dare smuggle something on his ship. He nodded to the Inspector. “Feel free to go about your inspection. I’m sure you’ll find everything in order.”

The man left an hour later, having found nothing. Eli then left the ship to his first mate and strode into the port with Gresh. They had a merchant to meet. Though a quick trip through the local market wouldn’t go awry.

The small town was bustling, stalls were set up in the square selling various fish and produce. Some of the fish were unfamiliar to him. With their size and quality, they should have been selling for much more than the hawkers were shouting. Most of the fruit and vegetables seemed to be imported, which made sense to him. They had not been on this island long enough to do much farming, after all.

One fruit, however, intrigued him. The peel had a vibrant orange shade, and was rather small besides. The stall owner was boasting they were genuine Dungeon Mandarins, acquired from the third floor. Eli bought one for a silver. It was rather expensive, he admitted, but resources acquired from anything but conquered dungeons usually had to be fought for.

Low supply increased price just as much as high demand did, after all. The fruit was sweet, and slightly tart. It had a peculiar taste, one he couldn’t place as similar to any other citrus fruit he’d had in the past.

One corner of the market was hawking crab meat, both fresh and cooked in a variety of ways. Eli supposed that would have come from the first floor. He bought a stick of grilled crab and savored the taste. Kurt and Kale had died to these creatures, and now they were nothing more than a food source.

A pretty decent one, he admitted. The meat was succulent and flavorful. He’d see about acquiring some for the ship later. It would likely spoil before too long, as most dungeon-farmed food did, but he looked forward to what the ship’s cook could do with it.

Finally, they emerged from the other side of the market and continued on their way. They still had a meeting to get to.

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The Dungeon, Medea Island

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Well, that little experiment with the Kobold and Phoenix turned out well. Turns out I can sort of bond two monsters by linking them together with a tether of mana. They share senses, feelings and thoughts while remaining separate consciousnesses with their own motivations and wills.

I went on to Bond several other animalistic monsters to the Kobolds, both to practice and to see if my experiment was repeatable. In the end I had a half-dozen Kobolds bound to the more friendly tigers, and another four bound to various phoenix. The Phoenix were too small for the Kobold to ride, lacking in wingspan and body size. A little extra mana thrown their way soon fixed that.

It was also interesting to see the effect the bond had on both parties. The ones bound to the Tigers slowly gained a similar affinity to shadow, while the tigers gained in intelligence. Not enough to reach the level of sapience the Kobolds were rapidly approaching, but it certainly elevated them beyond a normal tiger.

The Phoenix-bound Kobold likewise gained their bonded partners affinity to fire magic. The Fire Shaman, who had been named Teka by her tribesmen, was happy to teach them to use their new gifts. I could have just shoved the knowledge into their minds, of course, but I was willing to let them learn at the shaman’s feet. The Phoenix were already fairly intelligent, their gains were more in reasoning ability than raw brainpower.

After the last party of the day departed, I made a few sweeping changes to the third floor. Now, there were far more small ruins. These ruins would like go unnoticed initially, disguised by the undergrowth. They increased size leading away from the entrance, the most prominent on that side of the river being the ruins of a bridge.

On the far side, the ruins were more whole; the mostly-complete but still crumbling buildings mimicking Mayan and Incan architecture. The largest of these was a stepped pyramid, where the guilders would encounter three Mini-bosses in a single fight. Speaking of, I’d once again upped their toughness across the board and hopefully increased their intelligence to beyond the level of the tribesmen. That trio of Golds shouldn’t have overwhelmed the Lightning Shaman so fast. And I lost the Stave of Sparks as well. Unfortunate.

Meanwhile, The sixth floor was filling out nicely. I’d used plenty of mana to reinforce and increase the heat resistance of the rock at the bottom of what would soon be various lakes of lava In order to get more meltable rock to use as my lava, I excavated the ceiling a bit more. Most of this floor wasn’t below my other floors, being more off to the side, so I had plenty of room.

In the end, I had a lake of lava, filled with tiny, toughened orbs of rock enchanted to keep the lava hot enough to stay lava. Several spots on the ceiling of the caverns had ‘lavafalls’. It was a stroke of genius that made them work. I’d finally worked out how the teleport crystals work.

They transport matter by briefly turning it into pure mana and hijack my manastream to rush out to the entrance. It was difficult to figure out, since when the guilders teleported it was over almost instantly. I also worked out that while not single use, they definitely had a use limit. The act of using them drained some of the mana stored inside, and multiple teleports rendered them unusable. Probably to do with the crystal itself also being teleported, since that seemed to mess with the runes carved into the facets.

My theory then, was that a crystal that teleported something other than itself could work indefinitely, as long as it was supplied with sufficient mana.

It took a bit of finagling and a few failures, but I figured out how to modify them to only teleport what came into contact with them. I’d taken two crystals and linked them to each other, one as the output and the other as the input, then dropped the input in a lava lake, with the output crystal in the ceiling directly above it.

Hence, a constant pillar of falling lava that didn’t take more than a little mana to upkeep. As far as I could tell, the constant use didn’t seem to degrade the enchantment at all. Those crystals they were made of seemed to hold enchantments and mana much better than rock did.

The multiple caverns I’d carved were supported by enormous pillars, where I placed the nests of my newest creations. I had wanted monsters that could swim in the lava, but I’d settle for ones who could drop them in it instead. I’ll probably need more time to develop a monster that could even survive living in lava.

This floor covered probably about three times the space of the third, and would be a much more inhospitable environment than the third.

I haven’t worked out a boss monster yet, but I’d set aside an arena. There was a couple of options, but I wanted my lava-dwelling monster first. That would make for a tough boss.

In the mean time, I continued digging. Always deeper.

The seventh floor needed to be started after all.

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