Dakota Krout - Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)

I exclaimed, my vision exploding outward. I had never before been able to see so much more at one time. With a gentle sprinkling, she had more than tripled the area I could see! The information gained from all of these new things was nearly overwhelming.

“What?!” She yelped, “Did I hurt you?”

My mind was distracted with sorting through all of the new things I had learned.

“Oh.” She sighed softly. “You scared me there.”

I was really happy! It seemed that the more I learned, the faster I could learn other things. When I experienced something that coincided with another bit of esoteric understanding, I processed it even faster. For instance, since I already knew dirt and stone I was able to comprehend moss faster and more thoroughly; because I knew where it got its food and energy - the dirt! It used dirt for all sorts of things. Hopefully, building the basics of my knowledge here would allow me to understand greater things in the future.

“That is what I’m here for Cal.” She gracefully accepted my compliment.

I rumbled gruffly, somewhat embarrassed for an unknown reason.

“Go for it.” She laughed, watching me closely.

I reached out for the veritable feast before me and started pulling in energy. Dani watched in amazement the entire time. Pulling from so many different groups of moss, I was again vibrating, much less than before, but still.

“Wow! But that corruption is really thick in you. Must be a side effect of pulling from an unattuned source.” Dani gave a frustrated sigh, “Drat, you had such pure Essence when I got here.”

I agreed, “spitting” the sickly energy back out to rejoin the plant.

“No. Freaking. Way!!” She zoomed in for a closer look, making me feel a bit awkward, why was she so giddy over me eating?

Without the waste there was a little more room for food and I was already eying an untouched patch of moss. Curiously, none of the moss had withered this time.

“You just got rid of your own corruption?! That’s not...” She started accusingly.

I intentionally interrupted, I was getting a bit irritated over her telling me what I couldn’t do, when it was obviously happening right in front of her.

Trying and failing to come up with a good response to this, she conceded the point with a bit of ill grace. “Fair enough,” she mumbled. “Are you already full again?”

I declared nonchalantly, licking my mental lips.

“Not what I mean, you glutton.” She laughed, “I mean, we just joined, you should be low on power for weeks! If you are already full, that just means good things for the both of us in the future. You can pull power from multiple sources, we should really see what all is doable. But that comes later. First, let’s get you an upgrade.”

Where was she hiding them?

“No, an upgrade for you, silly rock! Look, you are a dungeon Core. You grow your dungeon around your Core by releasing Essence in a way unique to dungeons, called influence,” she explained, gaining my rapt attention.

There were things only dungeons could do?

She continued, basking in my undivided attention. “We need to spread your influence about as much as we can, then, when something is under your influence, you are able to fully understand it. When you fully understand something, you control it absolutely.” She waited for a response.

I prodded her.

“Using the Essence you collect you can directly alter the world that is under your influence. Doing so will drain you a bit, so you need to expand slowly, becoming a bigger and more important dungeon. Eventually, people will discover you and come in to explore you, looking for treasure and ways to make themselves stronger.” She explained, shining brightly in her excitement.

“When people come, they bring things in, like weapons, armor, magic, and even animals!! Whatever is left in here you can study, absorbing it and gaining the knowledge of how to make it, use it, control it!” She enthused. “Even when people die, you can absorb them, make copies, and re-animate their bodies as zombies, like a Necromancer does!”

My sudden shout nearly knocked her out of the air. I was furious that she would compare me to those animals . I trembled in rage, losing control of the Essence in me as I did so. The stalagmite received the brunt of this released Essence, growing sharp quartz spikes, which quivered in time with the fury ignited in my Core.

“Cal! Cal! It is ok! I’m sorry, I didn’t know!” Her voice calmed me down, the fear in her voice snapping me out of my fury in an indescribable manner. “How do you even know what a Necromancer is?”

I was really confused and had no idea why her words made me so uncontrollably angry.

“It’s ok, Cal.” She shakily stated, still quivering slightly. “That actually may be for the best, there is a church that is quite powerful right now that tries very hard to destroy dungeons that have undead or demonic creatures in them. I was just trying to give you a comprehensive idea of what you could do.”

me ?> I was rather stuck on this point, it seemed somewhat important.

“Yes, but don’t worry too much, usually they prefer to have dungeons stay alive as they are very beneficial to the world.” She soothingly tried to appease me by telling stories of the world, “Flora and fauna alike prosper in areas with high Essence concentration. Plants can use it instead of good soil and sunlight, and animals become much stronger in the presence of Essence.”

Dang it, she was able to distract me so easily!

“Animals gain Essence from the world mainly just by living their lives, and it makes them stronger over time. Other sentient creatures like Humans, Elves, Dwarves, or even Orcs are able to absorb Essence during meditation.” She paused to let me fantasize about all the creatures I could eventually eat.

“Magical beasts have Beast Cores similar to your gem that grow inside them from birth. Every type of creature absorbs Essence, but can only absorb the type they are suited to, until they are really strong, which can take over a hundred years, roughly. This is why I think you are going to be very popular. The Essence you concentrate has no affinity that I can tell, it’s just… pure Essence.” She was still amazed about that fact. Pure Essence was unheard of, even the best cultivators had some taint.

Did people try to kill popular things?

Dani snapped out of her reverie, “It means everything can thrive in your area of influence if you let it. Plants, animals, Beasts , and creatures of light and shadow.”

is good though, right? And why are you emphasizing Beast when you say it?> It was tickling my thoughts oddly.

“Having really pure Essence with no affinity should be very good, I think. Heck, wars may be fought over the right to explore here! I am a lucky wisp!” Dani gleefully exclaimed, flying in a spiral pattern. “Also, I am emphasizing it because Beasts are different from animals, they have gained awareness and can use Essence, becoming far stronger and much more intelligent than their original animalistic counterparts.”

Much as I loved learning, I am far more enthusiastic about being able to do things.

Dani launched into another lecture, “Well, we start with an upgrade! Here are a few basics first though. There are many different levels of Essence cultivation. Starting with the lowest, we have G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, Heavenly, and Godly. Each rank has ten levels within it. The lowest being zero and the highest at nine. When I got here, you were at G-zero, which is basic life with only the instinct to eat.” She chuckled at that, I had progressed far in intelligence since then. “After making the deal with me you moved to G-rank one, which opens the way for more complex actions and thought. You have enough power already to move to G-rank two, which lets you begin to grow your power and use your own influence intentionally .”