Dungeon Heart 03 - Hell Gate, page 10
“I see,” Smit said as he stroked his beard. It wasn’t hard to see why Pala, a proud warrior by nature, felt as if he was being left behind. Rather, it was completely understandable. “Well… if I had to guess why, it’s probably due to your species.”
Looking up from his spear, Pala blinked at Smit questioningly. Smit crossed his arms and looked him dead in the eye with a serious expression. Smit assumed that every creature had some knowledge about its own possible evolutions, but it seemed like that was not the case.
“Pala, you began as the simplest of kobolds. A creature barely stronger than a common goblin. In other words, a creature that might have struggled in a fist fight against a thirteen-year-old child,” Smit began. While that might have been a slight exaggeration on how weak a common kobold was… it wasn’t by much. Common feral kobolds relied on group tactics in the wild to make up for their weakness, much like goblins. “Think for a moment; how many times have you changed since your inception?”
Pala was quiet for a moment as Smit said this, remembering back to the days before he was even a kobold chief. From a standard kobold graced by the power of his father, he had evolved into a kobold chief, and finally reached the level of kobold lord with the guidance of Father. Three separate forms had marked his existence in all, more than any of his siblings.
“You see, Pala, when I selected kobolds as one of my races, I did not select them because they would be the strongest creatures immediately available to me, nor did I choose them because they were clever. I chose them because in my eyes they held the greatest potential of all other creatures. Did you know that every kobold, no matter how weak, is said to be distantly related to dragons?”
Pala’s eyes widened slightly at the revelation, but somehow it rang true to him, despite the impossibility of it all.
“Ah, Pala. I will not lie to you, at first even I found it hard to believe that kobolds could be related to the mighty dragons, but I will tell you something.” Smit continued looking Pala dead in the eye, making it clear that this was a serious matter. “Looking at how much you’ve grown, I can certainly understand now that this is no simple tale. Furthermore, it wasn’t that long ago that I looked into your potential evolutions and… Well. Let us just say that you are already within reach for your next evolution. You have been for a while actually. I just have delayed your evolution purposely.”
As Smit said this, he looked at Pala’s status screen. The category labeled “Level” had started to glow gently, followed by the number “101.” Blinking, Smit wondered how long it had been since he had used his abilities to view a full status screen. He had known for a while that Pala was ready to evolve, but he had not properly inspected the status. Matter of fact, he had never seen a level that high.
Pala’s eyes widened in shock, his pupils shrinking with surprise. A moment later he leapt to his feet, his expression looking confused and hurt. “But… Father! Why!? How could you?!”
“Sit down!” Smit barked at him, his voice filled with authority that Pala could not ignore. Wincing at the loud voice, as he had never been talked to like that, Pala hesitated for a moment, before slowly sitting down beneath Smit’s intense glare. Despite this, his tail showed how agitated he was, tense and alert, but still the tip of it twitched nervously.
“Good,” Smit said as he stood up. His short legs didn’t do much to increase his height, but the powerful aura that he carried with him would have been enough to make almost anyone forget about his height entirely. He briefly activated his ability, and stared into the possible evolutions for Pala for just a second before canceling the ability. As always, [Selective Speciation] was expensive to use. “Now, consider this. The available evolutions to you are: Bloody Kobold Lord, Great Kobold Lord, Warlord Kobold, and Kobold King.”
The names made Pala’s eyes glitter with expectation. They all sounded like great evolutions, particularly the Warlord Kobold and Kobold King evolutions. Though he couldn’t even begin to guess how these evolutions would affect him as a whole, those two were the only evolutions in which the title of lord seemed to be replaced; therefore, they were likely the most advanced evolutions.
“They sound excellent, do they not? But, the reason why I haven’t allowed you to go beyond these species is that these evolutions do not seem to be enough to me,” Smit said, briefly gazing at the faint blue window that appeared before him. “You see, Pala, there are two more evolutions you have the potential to achieve. By the looks of it, they are extremely rare evolutions. A normal kobold could never even dream of attaining such heights, yet here they are, only just beyond your reach. I have been observing them carefully, and as you have advanced in your development, the requirements for these seem to have changed slightly.”
Smit looked at Pala with a knowing smile. Pala’s tail would not sit still at the moment, twitching and wagging with anticipation at these rare evolutions. Smit marveled for a moment at the dramatic change from a few minutes ago. Where there was once a sullen warrior there was now an excited child. Chuckling internally, he continued. “There are two more evolutions that you could reach. The first is the Solemn Kobold King, an evolution whose sincerity and dignity elevates it beyond that of a normal Kobold King. The second is the dragonewt, a creature that steps outside the realm of the kobold species and is closer to the nature of a true dragon.”
Pala’s eyes were sparkling with excitement, his heart beating like a war drum in his chest. He didn’t even realize that he had leaned forward, his hands gripping the spear before him tightly. It was inevitable that he would be excited, Smit thought. It would be like telling a squire that he might become a knight soon, or a dwarf that there was a vein of rare ore nearby.
However, Smit furrowed his brow as he kept on reading. The requirements had changed slightly from last time, though they still remained incredibly high. Deactivating his skill, he looked at Pala meaningfully. “There you have it. Now, Pala… Do you agree with my earlier decision to not let you evolve naturally?”
Nodding vigorously, Pala’s mood was completely reversed from that of just a few minutes ago. More excited than Smit had seen him ever outside of the battlefield.
“I do feel a little guilty not telling you beforehand, but I believe that hard work will make the transition into those higher evolutions much easier. As it is, the cost of evolving you has dropped significantly; you should be proud of that,” Smit said, further praising his son. He didn’t get to do that much, but there was nothing wrong with giving credit where credit was due, as long as Pala didn’t become arrogant in the process.
In truth, Smit would have still liked Pala to train himself more since he felt that it would be good for Pala to reach his maximum potential through his own means, or at least he would have liked to reduce the extent of help that Pala needed from him. Unfortunately, Smit felt that this was a luxury that he could ill afford, considering that a group of the kingdom’s most powerful fighters was literally just a half a day’s hike away from him. If they decided to take a stroll through his dungeon, there was little hope for him with his current setup.
Besides, Pala clearly was distressed and discouraged by his lack of progress. This would be a nice reward for his hard work. “Well. I suppose you have waited long enough. For your efforts to protect the dungeon and myself, I reward you with the gift of evolution, Pala. Are you ready to evolve?”
Nodding enthusiastically, Pala jumped to his feet, practically trembling with excitement. “Yes! I am ready Father! Please bestow upon me this honor!”
Chuckling at the overdramatization of the event, Smit lifted his thick arms and summoned the skill once more. “Now then, which evolution do you desire?”
“I leave the decision to you Father. I will be happy with anything you choose,” Pala said with the biggest grin Smit had ever seen on his face. It would have been terrifying were he not his son. He sometimes forgot that kobolds had very sharp, serrated teeth that could rip flesh with ease.
“As you say,” Smit replied, slightly disappointed that Pala hadn’t made a decision on his own. Yet, he was touched that Pala would entrust him with such an important decision. Either way, he already knew what he would select for Pala.
<<<>>>
Currently available evolutions: Bloody Kobold Lord, Great Kobold Lord, Warlord Kobold, Kobold King
Potential evolutions: Solemn Kobold King, Dragonewt
<<<>>>
Smit selected the highest-ranking option, the Dragonewt.
In an instant, fifty thousand points of mana and four hundred anima began to be drained from his body in a torrent of power. These energies swirled around him like a small-scale tornado, buffeting his body such that his clothes rippled as if in the heart of a storm. Pala could only stare in awe as he witnessed such a large amount of power being released all at once. Perhaps Father truly was a god of sorts. He could not fathom anything less than a god to be able to produce such awe-inspiring powers and maintain them under his control.
<<<>>>
Please select five species to sacrifice from the lower tier species available to you.
<<<>>>
Smit cringed slightly. This was part of the reason why he had not evolved Pala yet. Even though the cost had dropped ten thousand mana and a hundred anima, the number of species that he needed to give up had not changed in the slightest. He would have preferred it if the number of species dropped instead of the energies he gathered, but he supposed that would have been too good to be true.
Moving his hand, he selected five lower tiered species that he considered to have the lowest evolutionary potential. Goldfish, pigeon, gerbil, ground squirrel, and the common duck were the ones chosen in this case. He tried to select some of the lowest insects instead, but it turned out that they were considered “inferior tier” species, and could not be used as a replacement for Pala’s evolutionary sacrifices.
<<<>>>
“Alert! Ability [Selective Speciation] activated. [Pala] will commence the guided evolutionary process.”
<<<>>>
Then it began.
The tornado of energy moved from Smit to Pala, swallowing the kobold from view. The blue and white energies moved turbulently, switching from a pillar-like shape to that of a large dome. On and on the energies spun and raged as the dome became smaller and smaller, turning into a sphere that levitated inches above the ground. Small trails of energy streaked across the surface of the spherical storm, until the storm started to become more tangible.
Within seconds the storm seemed to have consolidated into a more solid form, like a giant egg made of blue crystal. Beneath the surface of the egg, one could still see the energy swirling slowly, like the gentle waves of an ocean.
<<<>>>
Estimated incubation time: 20 hours
<<<>>>
Blinking in confusion, Smit stared at the egg of energy before him, stroking his beard. This was… peculiar to say the least. Perhaps it was because Pala was making a leap to an evolution that was beyond that of a kobold king, or perhaps it was because the energies were so excessive that his body would need time to adapt. Either way, this was… not what Smit expected.
Sighing, Smit crossed his arms over his chest with a pensive look. I suppose I better tell the others of his condition. Otherwise, they’ll worry about him, he thought to himself. That said, he was certainly looking forward to Pala’s evolution, even though just utilizing the skill had consumed an additional ten thousand mana points today.
“See you in twenty hours, my son,” he said with a chuckle. Knowing Pala, he wouldn’t disappoint.
<<<>>>
Status
Species: True Dungeon
Rank: 3
Name: Smit
Age: 6 months
Mana: 275,080
Anima: 239
Mana Reg.: 1991 MP/h
Anima Reg.: 21.71 AP/day
Floors: 10
Inhabitants: 78 Species
Titles: Creator of Dungeon laws; Creator; Guide of the Bloody Evolution; Legendary Craftsman; Master of Concentration; Reincarnated One
Abilities: Absorb matter; Alter environment; Bestow Knowledge; Break down components; Craftsmanship; Creation; Digging; Destroy creation; Dungeon laws; Enhancement; Equivalent exchange; Ether manipulation; Evolution; Interdimensional storage; Life bestowal; Life-energy harnessing; Loot craft; Luck of the draw; Mana absorption; Masterful mana manipulation; Modification of creations; Monster link; Telepathy; Selective speciation; Trap building; Transfer dungeon; Treasure management
Resistances: Magic (general); Mind control
<<<>>>
CHAPTER SEVEN
The village of Nam was livelier than it had ever been. All its residents were taking part in the feast for the king. The fragrance of roasted wild boar and wine permeated the village square, where tables and seats had been set up in the open, around a bonfire that lit up the night. Every adult had a taste of some sort of alcohol, be it mead, ale, or wine, save for a handful of the royal guards who abstained just in case of an emergency.
Kids danced and ran around the bonfire, holding branches or apples in their small hands. The women and men talked with lively energy, sharing stories and old tales. There were even burning sticks of incense and offerings to the new gods by the bonfire, thanking them for the good fortune that had been given to them thus far. It was a wonderful sight to behold.
Amongst the common folk, the king sat at the highest table, close to the central pyre. There was no man that laughed louder or recounted tales with more energy than the king himself. A charismatic leader down to the bone, he held the attention of his audience effortlessly with tales of his time as an adventurer. With Ikfes sitting at his left and Alester at his right, the two friends added to the king’s stories with animated gestures and loud voices, eliciting exclamations of wonder and roars of laughter from the crowd.
It was a situation that no one from the village of Nam could ever have even dreamt of, yet it was happening now before their very eyes.
“Aye! And even after all that, the jade cockatrice was a royal pain to take down, I can tell you all that!” the king said as he waved a half-emptied tankard of ale in the faces of his enraptured audience. “It was missing an eye from the explosion and its wings were bloodied, but the tenacious beastie could still cast [Death Eye] from its remaining eye, and its breath was a poison that could bring even an ogre to death’s doorstep. But Ikfes here had a plan, you see!”
The king leaned forward and looked at the men and women before him with a twinkle in his eye. He put his tankard down, causing the audience to come closer, and in a low voice said, “As you can imagine, the beast was in pain and going berserk! It paid no mind to its own safety anymore, just looking to destroy us for inflicting upon it such pain. So, while I and the rest of the squad kept it at bay with wind magic and polished shields, Ikfes positioned himself behind the creature. He waited until the moment it made a large lunge towards me, and it locked its beak on my shield. The monstrosity had a vice-like grip on my buckler, but I held fast, fighting the strength of the half-ton monster to keep it in place. The entire squad used the opening to try to strike its sides, even though we all knew it was useless. Its hide was too tough, and we could only scratch it.”
The crowd was so entranced by the story that they could only stare moon-eyed at the king, their minds attempting to recreate the heroic moment. It wasn’t too difficult to imagine a younger version of the king, and the cockatrice had been described to them in enough detail that their minds could picture the green reptilian creature struggling viciously to pry the shield off the arm of the young hero.
“But that was also a distraction,” the king continued. “It was then that Ikfes leapt on its head, and with his orichalcum dagger, he stabbed into the injured eye of the beast, reaching deep into its brain!” The king boomed, leaning back dramatically, causing the crowd to gasp.
“But even then, the beast refused to die. The beast had plenty of vitality left, and bucked Ikfes off his perch as it writhed in pain. It wasn’t until the mages used the dagger as a lightning rod and cast lightning magic to fry its brain that the creature finally died,” the king concluded, stroking his beard with satisfaction as the crowd cheered. “Ah but it wasn’t an entire success. A subjugation force of twenty-three adventurers, reduced to thirteen. All because of a glorified chicken lizard with thick skin.”
The king laughed, and so did the crowd. It was a gross oversimplification of the terror that a jade cockatrice was. Resistant to blades and magic, it was fully capable of fatally wounding B rank adventurers in one strike. The creature was a monster that could easily destroy entire towns on its own with little effort. For such a being to be called a “chicken lizard” was unimaginable. Then again, their king was the Red Lion. Perhaps he was one of the very few people strong enough to slander such a beast.
Outside the inn and away from the roar of laughter, one of the royal knights held his silent vigil as it was his duty. Standing at the edge of the town with two slender sabers at his hips, he beheld the darkness of night with only the moon and the stars as his company. The pale light of the celestial bodies cast eerie shadows upon the forest, creating a peaceful and yet eerie scenery.
Yet it wasn’t the shadows of the forest or the rustling of its leaves that caught the knight’s attention. As the most capable tracker of the royal guard, Hans had keener senses than most of his fellow knights. And at the time, his senses were warning him that there was something about the air that wasn’t quite right. He frowned and pondered the situation, using his skills to search for the source of his unease without leaving his post.
For long minutes he simply stood there, straining his enhanced senses to the limit and all he could gather were the scents of the forest and the sounds that one would expect from nature at night. The situation was so utterly mundane that he began to wonder if perhaps it was the influence of the dungeon’s mana leaking out that he was feeling. After all, who knew what kinds of effects the dungeon could produce.
