Monroe

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight. Revisiting the Hidden Dungeon.

The crux of the issue was that it was never a good time to reincarnate. There was always something hanging out in the background that would be nice to take care of first. The list was long, and it just went on and on, with people adding to it at every turn.

He'd already delayed reincarnating for longer than he'd wanted to, and with Kellan's assurance that the Church of the Light from Parceus weren't going to be causing any trouble, it was time.

The hidden Dungeon that he'd built for Eddi would hopefully still be intact, although there had been two waves in the interim, and he wasn't sure how much damage the monsters that had to have escaped into the facility might have done. If it was still usable, that was where he'd grind up after reincarnating. While the Church of the Light had been the biggest threat, at least on Thayland, he wasn't naive enough to believe that there weren't certain parties on Thayland that would love a chance to have a conversation with him while he was helpless. Nor was he at all convinced that all of the people from Earth who'd chosen to remain on Thayland were true immigrants. The alphabet agencies from pretty much every nation had to have seen the opportunity to gather intelligence, and at least one of those agencies and already succeeded in kidnapping him.

Honestly, he would have preferred to reincarnate back on the Eire seedworld, but the rest of the group didn't have the same ability to access divine magic without taking a divine blessing, and while he trusted them enough to tell them, the fact of the matter was that he couldn't help them replicate it, which meant coming back to Thayland.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of his friends.

"I'm just saying that our survival pods are just as comfortable and don't cost nearly as many crystals," Eddi argued.

"And I'm just saying that the time we'd waste having to enter the city every day means it would be a wash," Wayna replied with a sigh.

"I don't mind paying a few crystals for the convenience," Erick said. "We have a tavern just outside our rooms, so we don't need to cook, and the Dungeon is in the building next door. Honestly, we keep building towns with the Adventurer's Guild, the Dungeon, and the Church all together because it works."

"Can you get him to scale down, Bob?" Jessica asked as she climbed over the mountain of floof to claim the chair next to him.

"He'll shift down when the food gets here, but he wants to be big right now," Bob replied. "There were a bunch of people waiting for me when I came down, and I think he wanted to make an impression."

"Who?" Bailli asked.

"Austan, Huron, Thidwell, Kelli, and some of the endless," Bob turned his gaze toward Eddi. "Apparently some of the Endless have decided I'm some sort of saint?"

"I tried stamping that out," Eddi protested, "but Ani and Sereh just kept on."

"Well, they seem to be really serious about it," Bob grumbled.

"Not much you can do at this point," Mike said. "Kids get an idea in their heads, it's hard to tell them otherwise. Teenagers," he shook his head.

"So, we're delving today?" Amanda asked.

"Jakob is going to get us a couple of slots on the fiftieth floor," Bob replied.

"Stock piling?" Dave asked.

"It's time," Bob nodded.

They'd discussed their plans for reincarnation at length aboard the Freedom, which was one of the few places Bob felt no one was going to be able to overhear them. One decision they'd made was to speak of it obliquely.

"We need to check out the clubhouse," Bob said, "make sure it's still in decent shape."

Eddi nodded, understanding the reference.

"We're sure that it's safe, yeah?" Jessica asked.

She'd been the most effected by their kidnapping, and while she was still the same bright, vivacious, fun loving woman she'd been before, her willingness to take risks had been tempered.

"Safer than we'd thought it would be," Bob replied.

Seeing a figure approach the table, he looked over at Jack. "Raul is looking for you," Bob said.

"Clearly." Jack shook his head as he stood up to greet his friend.

"Fair warning," Bob pointed at Mike, "Annisa is looking for you as well."

The Hidden Dungeon, also known as the clubhouse, was a mess. Once each of the floors of the Dungeon had filled with mana, the living area at the top had been flooded, and monsters had spawned as well. All the furniture was destroyed, and as were the cabinets and fixtures. The less said about the generator, the better.

"You know, back in the old days, a bit over a year ago, this would have been a lot of work to clean up," Mike said as he nudged might have been a piece of a table with his toe.

"While I could do without the monsters, the rest of the System is pretty amazing," Bob agreed.

"You say that now, but you're going to be grinding like mad," Mike replied.

Bob walked over to the Gateway that lead to the Hidden Dungeon, pressing his token to the frame before stepping inside.

You have entered an artificial Dungeon.

Would you like the System to replace it with a natural Dungeon?

(Quests will not be available for artificial Dungeons, and the coalescence rate of energy crystals will be significantly lower)

Speak or mentally project yes or no.

"Yes," Bob said firmly.

He emerged from the Gateway into open grassland. The sun was shining, and a gentle breeze caused the grass to ripple as the stalks bent from their bounty of grains.

The Dungeon was set in the autumn, quite a change from the early spring that Thayland was experiencing.

You have entered a naturalized Dungeon.

Would you like to assign a name to this Dungeon?

Speak or mentally project yes or no.

"Yes," Bob said.

Please state the name of this Dungeon.

"The Hidden Dungeon," Bob stated.

You have entered The Hidden Dungeon.

Capacity 99%

Estimated time until overflow 1 solar cycle.

User Tier Seven, semi-evolved.

Dungeon set to Tier Eight, Level Fifty.

Two more System notifications appeared.

New Quest!

The Hidden Dungeon was once a sanctuary for those who sought to advance discreetly. It was abandoned, and over run by monsters who have left it in ruins. Now warring tribes of monsters battle for control.

Defeat ten monsters to receive a reward!

Defeat one patrol from each faction to receive a reward!

Locate the outpost of each faction to receive a reward!

Defeat the leader of each faction to receive a reward!

New Quest!

You are the first user to enter this Dungeon!

Clear this Dungeon to receive a reward!

(All Quest goals must be completed during the user's first entry)

Bob nodded to himself. As Trebor had promised, accessing his Arcane Depths hadn't resulted in a prompt to convert the Dungeon, so this was his first time converting and artificial Dungeon. It did cause him to wonder if he could build out artificial Dungeons and convert them for the first clear reward.

He guided his mana out of his matrix and in to the pattern for his Summon UtahRaptor spell, the process so familiar that he didn't need to give it any thought, acting like muscle memory.

Jake appeared in all his glory. He turned his head from left to right, eyes darting, looking for prey.

Bob reached into his satchel and pulled out a drone. He unfolded the arms and the rotors, the held it out in his hand. Tapping the screen on his armband, the drones propellors spun up, and the device lifted into the air a few feet over his head.

"Time to cheese the shit out of this," Bob muttered.

The Hidden Dungeon Completed!

You have defeated ten monsters!

You have defeated one hundred monsters!

You have defeated one thousand monsters!

You have defeated two thousand monsters!

You have defeated three thousand monsters!

You have defeated the Lekil Patrol!

You have defeated the Gvru Patrol!

You have defeated the Wilun Patrol!

You have discovered the outposts for all three factions!

You have defeated all three faction leaders!

You have completely cleared The Hidden Dungeon! No monsters remain!

First time clear bonus applied!

Bob was sitting on the remains of a stone wall, which gave every appearance of having been toppled long ago. Overall, the Dungeon hadn't been bad. There were no hentai vines, and the monsters were fairly straightforward, if a little devious. They appeared to be goblins, if goblins were eight feet tall. The sharp teeth and long, dangerous claws were a little more animalistic than Dungeons and Dragons had portrayed them, but the rudimentary clothing and crude weapons were spot on, as was their penchant for cannibalism. It had turned out that there were three tribes of Goblins, all fighting over the ruins of an old fort. Each had their outpost to one of the cardinal compass points, with the entrance to the Dungeon in the east.

It was on the longer side, with each tribe comprising a thousand monsters, but it would work nicely for grinding up skill levels.

He dismissed the screen, curious to see what rewards were offered.

User may select from the following rewards.

600 Energy Crystals.

Natural Weapon Affinity Crystal.

Bloodstained Seal of Conflict.

Bloodstained Seal of Peace.

Bloodstained Seal of Discretion.

Gwarli Thrall

"Trebor, what the fuck is a Gwarli Thrall?" Bob asked.

'Gwarli is the name of the species of creature you eradicated,' Trebor replied. 'A thrall is a being sworn to serve. It appears that the System is offering you one as a sort of pet or servant.'

Gwarli Thrall.

You have utterly destroyed three Gwarli tribes. You may select this reward to receive a Gwarli Thrall. The Thrall will fight on your behalf and carry your burdens. It is sentient, not sapient, and cannot carry out complex instructions without significant training.

This reward will require the user to reserve ten percent of their health, stamina, and mana regeneration to maintain.

Activating this reward requires a number of seconds equal to the user's level.

The Thrall's level will equal that of the user, but the Thrall's tier will be one lower than the user's.

If the Thrall is destroyed, the user will not be able to recover the reserved health, mana, and stamina regeneration for a number of solar cycles equal to the user's level. The user may choose to activate the Thrall again, however, they will need to reserve another ten percent of those energies.

"Ok, that seems overpowered," Bob shook his head. "How is this balanced?"

'The creature summoned is less intelligent than Monroe, far less well trained, and perhaps more importantly, less trainable than a cat,' Trebor replied. 'You could have it aid you in combat, but it will fight just like those Gwarli did.'

Bob grimaced. He'd learned early on to either fight the Gwarli when they were in groups, or lead them back to one another. They lacked any sort of teamwork, often getting in each other's way to a degree that they did more to hamper their efforts than they did to help.

'Further, it's a monster, and not a summoned one,' Trebor continued. 'Anyone with the requisite skills will know it's an actual monster, and might likely act accordingly.'

"How is it not summoned?" Bob asked. "Because it certainly sounds like it's summoned to me."

'When you summon a mana-infused creature, you are effectively linking your matrix to it, which is why when you Beacon or Fade, your summoned monster does the same. This reward has no such link,' Trebor explained.

Bob frowned as he considered the reward. On the surface, having a disposable minion to fight for him, one that didn't require him to concentrate on controlling it, was amazing. The System's explanation, with Trebor's clarification, made him wary.

Then there was the issue of the mana and stamina regeneration. He honestly didn't care about the health regeneration, but his mana regeneration was already rather tight, especially with his reliance on channelled spells, like Summon Mana-Infused Creature, which required him to continuously spend mana to keep the active.

Shaking his head, he checked the other rewards.

Bloodstained Seal of Conflict.

This seal holds the echoes of genocide committed against the Lekil, Gvru, and Wilun tribes of the Gwarli, marking the wielder and inciting those around to seek retribution.

At the cost of one mana or one stamina per second, the user may flood their matrix with the legacy of their war crimes, increasing the Beacon aspect of their Matrix Manipulation by a percentage equal to the user's tier.

"I feel like the System was the one who issued that quest, and I'm being blamed for completing it," Bob muttered, before checking the next reward.

Bloodstained Seal of Peace.

This seal holds the echoes of genocide committed against the Lekil, Gvru, and Wilun tribes of the Gwarli, marking the wielder and causing those around to avoid the inevitable fate of those who stand in opposition.

At the cost of one mana or one stamina per second, the user may flood their matrix with the legacy of their war crimes, increasing the Fade aspect of their Matrix Manipulation by a percentage equal to the user's tier.

"We're supposed to kill monsters," Bob grumbled.

Bloodstained Seal of Discretion. 𝔣𝔯𝖊𝔢𝖜𝔢𝔟𝖓𝖔𝔳𝔢𝖑.𝔠𝖔𝔪

This seal holds the echoes of genocide committed against the Lekil, Gvru, and Wilun tribes of the Gwarli. The user feels neither pride nor shame in their actions.

At the cost of one mana or one stamina per second, the user may flood their matrix with the legacy of their accomplishments, reducing the apparent power of their matrix by a percentage equal to the user's tier.

"Ok, at least the effect doesn't involve war crimes," Bob sighed.

'This might actually be useful,' Trebor advised. 'You have noticed that the more powerful beings we have encountered had the ability to discern your tier and level. This would allow you to present yourself as less powerful, and possibly less interesting.'

"I'm guessing the Thrall reward is for the first time clear and complete clear, but why I haven't I seen anything like this before?" Bob asked.

'If I had to guess, and given my lack of access, it is a guess, I would say that it's because you were alone,' Trebor stated.

Bob nodded. Delving alone was not considered a best practice, and that had been before the System update had demanded specialization. Bob was confident that he could retreat to the gateway and leave the Dungeon if he'd encountered something he couldn't handle, but he knew that most people didn't have the advantages he did.

"I'm kind of tempted to take the Thrall, just because it's unique, and it's not like I have to use it," Bob sighed. "Hell, it might see more use than the Seal of Discretion, at least initially. But, looking long term, the Seal of Discretion might be of more overall use."

Bob considered the screen for another long moment before tapping the Bloodstained Seal of Discretion.

The Gwarli had smelled absolutely terrible and he knew how sensitive Monroe's nose was.

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