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

“Finished.” Father Richard happily stated. “Listen, Dale, the Chi threads are rough right now, broken beyond my power to repair. As you cultivate more energy, they will smooth and fix themselves, all the tiny breaks will be mended. Time and effort on your part are the only things you need to become whole again. When the threads are fixed, you will be able to feel the real power and cultivation speed this rank affords you.”

“Thank god .” Hans’ outburst caught Father Richard completely off guard, making him flinch. “You trapped me in this room with you and a pile of vomit for two days . The least you could have done was show me how to open the stinkin’ door!”

Dale stood shakily, his body adjusting to the flow of energy within him. He didn’t feel stronger, but that may simply be due to his near starvation as he waited for the process to complete. The others watched him carefully, making sure he didn’t abruptly die or explode.

“Well.” Dale was looking down at his soiled clothes, “I don’t suppose you have baths in here?”

Father Richard nearly slapped his forehead. “How could I forget bathrooms?” he rhetorically muttered in horror.

“No matter. Let’s… go get cleaned up, then find food. I’m… I’m not sure if I am ok.” Dale was wobbling while standing, trying to remember something... Something that had happened when Father Richard breathed a word, but it slipped away as does a dream, leaving only the word ‘sonder’ in his mind with no context to it. He felt like he had forgotten a profound truth, all he could remember was the process he had undergone afterward.

Father Richard opened the door and the small group slowly moved to find a spot to bathe along the river; sore from the lack of movement over the last few days. Father Richard happily scrubbed the dried vomit off of himself, shuddering even as he did so. Dale reached into himself, trying to follow the complex path his center had become. He was nervous that he would need to hold this pattern himself soon, though Father Richard assured him it would become as easy as breathing.

Clean but still damp, the three started walking toward the mess hall when a voice reached them. “Try the Pleasure House for lunch today! Forget the watered down gruel the Guild offers, fill up with a real meal!” A young teen boy was shouting, trying to find customers for the new business.

“It’s already running?” Dale was surprised and a bit upset by this development. “Where did she build it?” They walked over to the herald, asking for the location of the restaurant. The boy sneered at them as if they were insane.

“There’s two permanent buildings in twenty miles, and you can’t find ‘em?” The boy pointed out to them rudely, “S’over there.” He pointed in a direction, and they gladly left the unpleasant young man alone. They walked toward the area he had pointed, and whistled as the building came into view. Whereas the church had sprawled, this restaurant went straight upward. At least four stories tall, the building was made out of gleaming walnut trees, which were growing and interweaving into an interesting design even as they watched.

Dale snapped his fingers. “That’s what it is! It looks like a really tall copy of the one in the capitol.”

The others nodded, and Hans piped up, “Yup. She is all about brand recognition. When it is done growing to how she wants it, she’ll carve it herself. All of her places look the same, so everyone knows where the best food is.” They joined the queue moving toward the door; in a few minutes they were in a small waiting room as a host took their names and started to put them on a list. When she made the connection of Dale’s name and something she had been told, she blanched and ran from the room.

“Dale!” Hans’ voice was mockingly horrified, “What did you do to the poor girl to make her run off like that?”

The other people in the room rounded on him with dangerous looks, starting to become rather rowdy, when the girl and Madame Chandra walked back in.

“Dale! There you are! You caused quite a stir, vanishing like that. Come in, come in! We’ll be using the private dining area.” She told the host in passing. Chandra personally walked them up several flights of stairs, stopping them at the very top. “Do you know how my businesses work?”

Dale shook his head. She smiled knowingly and explained, “The floors are based on price and quality of food. The higher you go, the better it will be - though more expensive. Don’t get me wrong, all of our food is sumptuous but as any true gourmand will assure you, high quality meals of varying ingredients are still very different. A quality salad will not match the flavor complexity of a quality steak dinner, for example.”

Chandra threw open the door, allowing a wave of tantalizing aromas to flood out as the group filed in. There was a kitchen attached to the dining area; she explained that each floor had its own kitchen and wait staff. No sooner had they been seated than a thin soup arrived for them to sip whilst they awaited their meal. The decor in the room was stunning, and the soup vastly superior to anything Dale had eaten in this area previously.

Several servers emerged from the kitchen as the last person finished their appetizer. Each of the servers laid out a massive steak, covered in finely diced herbs and a spicy sauce Dale had no name for. They ate with gusto, each time they felt full their stomachs would demand more. After the deprivation of the last few days they ate like wolves, stuffing themselves as full as possible. Chandra watched them, shocked at their poor manners until she took a good look at Dale.

“Who did that to you?” She gasped in horror, one hand going to her throat while the other clenched into a fist. “Dale, how did you reach the D-rankings in two days?”

Father Richard waved his hand. “I did. We made a deal for it.”

Chandra was not pleased. “And you thought this was a good deal? There is, what, a thirty percent survival rate? Maybe ?”

Dale was shocked at this tidbit of information. “That low?” He looked incredulously at Father Richard. “You gambled a seventy percent chance that I would die for a dagger ?”

“I knew you could do it!” Richard waved at them nonchalantly. “I put myself at risk too you know.”

Chandra glowered at him. “If it were up to me, I’d kick you off this mountain right now.” She looked meaningfully at Dale.

“Oh come on!” Richard looked up nervously, eyes darting between them before settling on Dale, “It turned out fine! He didn’t lose his mind, or die, or bleed out, or…” He trailed off as he saw his words were having the opposite effect he intended. “Ahem! Anyway, it turned out for the best! Look at him! Already in the D-ranks, and only twenty-one years old!”

“Hmm.” Dale looked at him. “If this weren’t so freaking tasty, I’d be mad at you.” He took another considering bite, just to make sure he still wasn’t mad. “What is this, Madame? It’s so flavorful!”

“This is seared Raile steak. Freshly butchered this morning, of course.” She boasted, still glaring at Father Richard.

Dale looked at the meat oddly, “As in the Boss Mob? Is this safe to eat?”

“Of course it is!” She turned the conversation to another topic suspiciously quickly. “About my granddaughter coming here to train, I was wondering if you might be willing to put her on your team.”

“Isn’t five people the maximum?” Dale got out around a mouth full of rabbit steak. “I’ve never seen more than five go in at once.”