Dungeon Heart 03 - Hell Gate, page 2
All of this for a simple sword made of iron. Granted, one might be able to mass produce blades with a simple cast and molten iron alloys, shortening the process substantially, but swords made in such a way were essentially sharp lumps of iron. They were less durable, more prone to breaking or bending, and had more defects in general, not to mention that they were not customized to best suit an individual.
For these reasons, Smit was understandably concerned at his lack of control and speed with this new body of his. That said, there were some ways to account for less precision or slower movement transitions between each step, but such methods became even more limited when rarer materials or magic was added into the equation. In the instance of forging a legendary sword with orichalcum, mithril, and dragon bone… Well, there was no room for error or delay. Not even a fraction of a millimeter, nor a second of hesitation. Every mistake would be magnified, and while the resulting sword would still be many times superior to a common iron sword, the swordsmith would know that it was still an inferior reflection of what it could have been.
But at least he had a body. For all his concerns and despite every flaw he could list, the fact he could move and manipulate things with a body was a giant leap forwards, compared to being only a ghostly consciousness without limbs. While he could certainly work wonders by sheer will power and manipulating substances with his skills, he was painfully aware that they were more often than not a lesser version of what he could have created in his prime.
If only he had been in his prime, with a body, tools, and materials… He could only sigh as he allowed the fleeting thought to vanish. It was pointless to dwell on it, not to mention that since his rebirth, Echo still was his greatest masterpiece.
Instead of regretting things that could not be changed, he decided to focus on what could be done now. He had a body, and it was high time that he started to make use of it. The brewery was but the first step. He needed a forge, too, as well as a multipurpose workshop for his other crafts. But he couldn’t forget about Ziggurd, or about expanding the entire dungeon.
Balance. It was all about balance.
Smit let out a sigh at the thought of the mountain of work that was awaiting him, but resolved to get it all done. Besides, the sooner he was a mighty dungeon the sooner he would have time to indulge in his personal projects. Now, the question was… Where to start? The current floor was already at its limit for space, so he supposed that whatever he did would have to take place on the sixth floor.
Frowning slightly, he sank into thought. What should the sixth floor look like? How would he distinguish it from the other floors? And how would he create a masterpiece out of it?
Just as he thought of these questions, Ziggurd’s soul floated into view, wandering about as it had done for nearly two weeks since it had been bound to Smit. Smit decided to give the former sorcerer a corporeal form once he had completed a few floors. Smit expected that he should be able to have more available spots for floor masters once he reached the tenth floor, and then he could turn Ziggurd into a more appropriate creature.
After some thought, he concluded that making something more spacious than the maze would be a refreshing change. As proud as he was of his maze, creating an extension of it would be rather boring and unimaginative. Considering that the deeper the floors were, the wider they became, he could certainly take full advantage of that larger floor space to make his next creation. Additionally, it would be quite the psychological change for anyone that had just come out of the maze too, which would heighten their appreciation for wide open spaces.
Nodding to himself with satisfaction, Smit set to work. He willed the earth itself to move, and his entire core room began to tunnel down into the earth, sinking slowly in a spiraling fashion like a boat sinking into the ocean. This time, however, he didn’t create stairs on his way down to the next floor as he had done with the stairway to the maze. Instead, it was a smooth tunnel with a gentle slope downwards.
On the walls of the path to the next set of floors, he kept the carvings of a forest, just as he had in the maze, but this time, the ceiling was alive with carvings of birds in flight, and gray clouds that seemed to slowly move. Of course, the clouds were not actually moving; it was a simple trick of the light by using spirits of light and fire. By having the spirits move slowly and able to free roam, the already gorgeous carvings seemed to take on a life of their own with the ominous light provided by the little spirits. It was a simple, yet elegant design, one that would serve well to transition from the maze to his next set of floors.
Once Smit had reached the appropriate depth, he began to work. Since he wanted to create something spacious, he decided to make a floor with a high ceiling, creating a space between the ceiling and the floor of fifteen meters. There would only be five rooms on this floor, connected sequentially and coiling inward, like the shell of a snail. At the center of it all, he would place his core room.
Next, each room gained a few select topographic highs and lows. Creating these few small hills that rose from the flat earth made for a more interesting and rugged terrain, one that contrasted sharply with the environment of the maze. From the walls themselves, trees were carved out of stone. Each tree was delicately carved, as if the stone had given birth to actual trees, down to the detail of bark, the pattern of the leaves, and the bend of their branches.
These trees were as haunting as they were beautiful, for their dark grey color made it seem like they had been frozen in time, petrified by some unknown curse. The trees, of course, were not growing out of the walls, but rather, it seemed like they had been partially unearthed from the stone, which added to this haunting feeling. Each room seemed like a few more of the trees had been unearthed from the virgin stone, almost like they were encroaching upon the open space of the rooms. It was a subtle difference, but a trend that he fully intended to continue for the next few levels.
Looking at the ceiling, Smit frowned at the roughness of it. He held out his hands, and summoned his mana, as he twisted and shaped the surface of the ceiling as he wished. Slowly, gently, he made the mana do twists and turns, guiding the stone to create a representation of small waves, like those on the surface of the ocean on a calm day. The process was by far the most complicated step he’d undertaken, requiring him to spend a half a day per room to complete.
Once the texture of the ceiling was finished, he created little droplets of silver, and embedded them gently into the ceiling, making it glitter when light shone upon its surface. He wasn’t finished yet, though. Next, he added black obsidian and serpentine of a dark green-blue hue, tinged with purple in small amounts in certain locations to accentuate the other colors ever so subtly. He coated the ceiling in their polished forms, creating an image that was surreal. If anyone were to step into the room, they would think that there was sorcery at play, for they would think that the ocean now flowed in the sky.
Of course, this was not magic, simply expert craftsmanship with a little help from the little spirits at his disposal. Smiling, he looked at his work with satisfaction. Halfway done, more or less.
He followed up his mesmerizing work with the ceiling by adding texture to the ground. He broke part of the hills in some places, modified the slopes on others, and added boulders of varying sizes here and there across the rooms. Gravel and soft, silty loam were scattered in some areas as well, making the footing unpredictable, and even dangerous in some cases. On some of the boulders he added various mosses and lichen of dull colors, including a few patches of blood moss.
To top it all off, he even added a few small plants that looked like daisies, but their petals were pitch black. Black daisies were a rarer variant of a plant with little use other than a handful of common remedies, but their presence made the entire dungeon level appear all the more mysterious. Darker colors dominated the setting of this floor, like the outskirts of a haunted forest, and they made the little silver droplets in the ceiling stand out more.
Lastly, he populated the floor. He began with insects, such as worms and beetles. They would help maintain the plants in proper condition. He then created, for the first time ever, birds. They were nothing fancy or extremely exotic, but they would do. First, he created ravens. Smart birds, and black as the night itself, their feathers luscious and neatly preened. Of course, he spent extra mana to make the critters larger than they were normally; their talons and beaks were sharper, too.
Then he made sparrows. Swift and decisive, these birds danced in the air effortlessly, like fish swimming in a pond. These sparrows he made tougher and more aggressive. It took him a couple of tries to get it right, but they were far more territorial than they ought to be once he was done with them. Of course, he didn’t miss out on the opportunity to make their beaks as sharp as knives. These avian creatures would certainly be a threat when they dive bombed their prey.
Beyond that, he created golems to inhabit the area, and an entire pack of wolves was assigned to each room. Each room also had a small population of mice, lizards, and snakes, just to increase the diversity of the room a bit.
Having done all this, he stepped back to admire his creation. After some contemplation, though, he realized that it was still missing a little something. He frowned and scrutinized his work with care. Eventually, he realized what it was. It all felt very... still. He needed to add something vibrant.
Thankfully, he had just the thing.
Summoning his mana, he created small spirits to inhabit the room. Just a few were needed to work their magic, but he focused particularly on wind spirits so that occasionally a light breeze would run through the dungeon. Just a bit of cool wind, that’s all he needed to create that sense of unease in the hearts of men and women alike. He chuckled as he imagined a knight with a great axe at the ready, warily scouting his dungeon, before nearly jumping out of his skin as a light breeze of cold air tickled his neck. Terrified, the knight would turn and find nothing more than empty space around him, making his heart beat like a drum.
Now that would be a sight to see.
Lastly, a few spirits of light adorned the ceiling, adding a modicum of illumination, keeping things relatively dark and mysterious, making it difficult for any man to see their footing clearly. Only then did he cease to work on the level, at least for the moment. Chuckling, Smit allowed himself a smile as he retreated into his core room again to cultivate once more. He had made good progress, despite spending four days on a single floor. Tomorrow, he would work on the next floor. He already had plans to expand upon the haunted forest idea.
And so, Smit closed his eyes, and breathed in slowly as the ether that surrounded him gathered into his heart.
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Status
Name: Vas Ulfric Crown
Age: 39
Species: Human
Occupation: King; Adventurer (former)
Mana: 396
Mana Reg.: 32
Blessing: N/a
Curses: N/a
Titles: Brave One; Enhanced Human; Hero of Red River; King; Sword Master; The Red Lion
Resistances: Blunt damage (minor); poison (minor); stun (minor)
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CHAPTER TWO
Smit’s eyes focused intensely as he continued to create his dungeon floors. As he reached the eighth floor, the sparse forest that he had begun on the sixth floor had become noticeably denser, with stone trees rising from the ground as standalone features. The ravens were no longer just a bit larger than usual and relatively harmless, but modified creatures that were at least twice as big as those that were found outside the dungeon. Their eyes seemed to be larger, better adapted to deal with the gloom of the cave, and they held a shine to them that seemed to peer into the soul of a man.
Though they weren’t too impressive as far as their attack power went, their maneuverability was amongst the best. Smit had spent a total of thirty-six hours modifying the ravens extensively to improve their abilities. As a result, Smit had managed to create a breed of ravens that was significantly superior to the common dungeon raven. These ravens, which were already intelligent by bird standards, now had a larger and more intricate brain. In particular, the frontal lobe of their brain had increased in size, giving them greater problem-solving capacities. He had made their vocal cords more flexible, too, which let them produce a variety of eerie sounds.
Beyond that, Smit had made certain to retain the maneuverability of the ravens despite their increase in size, making them agile fliers that could harass adventurers without taking damage. Smit had made some general upgrades to their beaks and claws as well, ensuring that they would have improved means to defend themselves.
There was only one feature of the birds that Smit struggled with in modifying: their appearance.
Anyone that knew him would have asserted that Smit was a first-class craftsman, capable of molding almost any substance to his will. He loved to make things look exactly as he wished, and beauty was paramount in most of his creations. However, a true craftsman would not be constrained by a single abstract concept such as beauty, and he was not one to shy away from other concepts. A haunted forest couldn’t have colorful pretty birds flying around and singing love songs. It needed ominous, sinister birds whose voices made the spine tingle with doubt and anxiety.
That said, there could be beauty and terror in synergy. Beauty was subjective, something that Smit had learned long ago. Even a vicious snake could have a lovely set of scales. So, Smit made their feathers a deep black, shiny as steel. Their eyes, though larger, held a spark of intelligence, which to some could be more terrifying than a mindless monster. Their claws curved majestically, able to cling to the limbs of trees as needed. And as a final touch, he gave the tip of their tail feathers a smoky black look, to make them seem more ethereal against the gloom of the forest.
Only when Smit had been satisfied with their appearance had he let them loose in the forest on the eighth floor, and he would ensure that they would be present all the way until the tenth. By the time he had finished with these ravens, they were essentially a new species. Though time consuming to make and costing a lot of mana, he figured that these creatures could become a force to be reckoned with in the future. He called these birds “night ravens”, due to their uncanny presence in the gloom of the forest.
Besides the ravens, he also introduced another bird with barely any modification, and he did so for one reason only: The great potoo bird had one of the most mournful and haunting songs he had ever heard. It was a bizarre looking bird, with deep black eyes and a mouth too large for its body that reminded Smit a little of an owl, but its deep and eerie song could never be mistaken for one. It was by no means his most powerful creature, but one that fit the environment he was creating perfectly. Better yet, he was certain that it wasn’t a bird common around this region of the kingdom, which would only make it all the more terrifying to the adventurers.
With this, he was satisfied with the creatures that would dominate the air and set himself to work on the next type of monster that would roam these haunting floors. Unfortunately, due to restrictions in his current arsenal of monsters, he could not create true stone golems unless he did so by hand, like he had done with Echo. And without a soul, or an adequate core, they would just be another pretty statue anyway. It was a shame, but it would simply take too long to make the number of golems he needed with such restrictions in place.
However, he could create wooden golems.
And petrified wood could be created.
Thus, Smit started messing with his golems, modifying their appearance to look like rock, and changing their material composition to be harder, denser, and more mineral rich than that of standard wooden golems. The limbs were not thick like those of the wood brute’s nor sickly thin like the willow’s but instead they were long and rugged. The creatures had no face to speak of, save for a pair of broken vertical slits set into the textured surface, which acted as their eyes. The fingers were long and clawed, ending in sharp nail-like protrusions, perfect for stabbing. Their arms were particularly fast and capable of movement, requiring complex joints to function. Their legs, on the other hand, were very bulky. The reasoning behind this was that when the golems stood straight, they would look like part of the trunk of a tree. This, of course, meant that they could not walk or run very quickly, but it made them very stable and difficult to knock over.
These petrified wood golems could look very much like the regular petrified trees, varying in size between two-and-a-half and four meters in height, making them by far the tallest beings that Smit had created in the dungeon. Though they could only move slowly, no faster than brisk walking speeds at best, their deceiving appearance made them ideal for ambushing unsuspecting adventurers. Their long arms gave them impressive reach, making up for the sacrifice of their movement speed. Unlike regular willow golems in the maze level, though, their hands could inflict serious damage thanks to their sharp fingers.
He started scattering his creations throughout the eighth floor, placing them amongst the original petrified wood trees, letting them remain dormant until they were needed. Naturally, the number of petrified wood golems increased progressively towards the tenth floor. Smit idly considered the possibility of partnering the night ravens with the petrified wood golems, using the ravens to herd adventurers into a crowd of petrified wood golems.
Inexperienced adventurers would surely face a tough situation, by being assaulted by agile birds and powerful swipes of his huge golems. That said, he wondered how effectively the ravens would be able to herd intelligent adventurers that were no strangers to the oddities of his dungeon. Humming thoughtfully, he simply presented the idea to his ravens via his skill [Bestow Knowledge], though he did not give them much detail on how to cooperate with the petrified wood golems.
