Tower Master's Might
Lan didn't quite know just how long exactly he was building his Fourth 'Floor' if he could call the anthill of a maze he had dug out. The result was an abomination of traps, spontaneous and optional parkour sections, dead ends with things that would make you dead, and claustrophobia-invoking tunnels.
Overall, Lan would proudly say that this Floor could terrify even a veteran of the war in Vietnam. Provided that they didn't possess magic or some other superhuman capabilities of course. But this was the best way he could describe what he had built, as without an omnipresent gaze like the one he had, one would get lost quite easily.
And though the floor was nearing completion, Lan hadn't yet created the boss room, not really knowing who to put there, hence not knowing in what way to design it. But the fact that he finished everything else meant that his 'hands' were now free. Hands being thought channels that is.
As such, he left behind one of five parts of his split mind, the others settling on the floors they originally belonged to, various information of each floor he was briefly 'away' from flooding back in.
The Third Floor was as hot as ever, The Huntress being on the prowl looking for dinner, or lunch, who knew. The Second Floor was kind of chilling, no battles ongoing. It seemed that every beast that occupied a Place of Power was now too strong for a beast without a Heart Core to Challenge. Battles would usually happen when some Magic Beast wanted to get a spot closer to the boss room, where there was more mana.
But it would seem that the current generation was pretty content with the spots they were currently occupying, just sitting under (or on) their trees and accumulating mana.
'Well, what can I say, they be vibin.'
When the First Floor was reconnected, Lan noticed a difference. First of all, there was an abnormally abundant amount of mana present. Also, there were some remains of various beasts strewn about, and some places had traces of a recent battle, though they were disappearing quite quickly.
'It seems that humans came by once again while I was dungeoning my dungeon. Doesn't seem like anyone even tried to fight the boss. No one died on the human's side either, there are no souls. Still, what is up with the mana? A single hunt wouldn't result in such an outcome... Wait.'
Lan realized that he had quite possibly said the answer himself, a single hunt wouldn't result in so much mana being released, released from when a part of a dying animal's mana dissipated, even when they weren't a Magic Beast and their bodies didn't turn to mist after death.
But what if there was more than one hunt? Then it could be quite possible for such a thing to occur. Lan wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not.
'Well, this means that the humans come here regularly, and hunt frequently, the reason for now being unknown. But the abundance of mana causes the creatures to procreate and grow even faster, as such, I guess I shouldn't be too worried about a lack of beasts as long as there is a breeding pair. So, overall a good thing.'
Mind you, the whole internal monologue that Lan had went by in a second, with his thought processing speed being leagues faster than an average human, and that's only when utilizing a single thought channel. If he was as slow as when he was a fleshy being, building the Fourth Floor could take months if not years.
And as a couple of seconds passed, the vast information about the kilometers of the surface that his domain covered, flowed into his mind. Firstly, he saw that the forest was regrown, no trace of fire being present, greenery replacing the charred ground that was there mere... Days? Ago.
Lan wasn't sure how much time had passed. Because along with it, he witnessed humans who were rather close to his dungeon. A whole camp of them.
'Just how long exactly was I simply... Digging? Whatever, it doesn't really matter as long as I focus on the present. Now, let's see what the 'frail mortals' are doing.'
Lan noticed that as time passed he grew further detached from his remaining humanity. Though he was conflicted about that for quite some time, feeling his old memories get replaced by crystalline new ones, he decided to embrace the change. And what better way to accept a change of species than developing a god complex?
The camp was quite well developed. A nice palisade was already present, as well as a moat before it. The camp consisted mostly of tents, but it seemed that planks were being prepared for further construction.
'Huh. Looks like the humans want to settle here long-term.'
As he was looking, a group of five, which he now knew was the standard size for an exploration/hunting party, left the camp and headed in the dungeon's direction. Lan switched his focus to them, and sure enough, they arrived at the dungeon's entrance within fifteen minutes.
Followed by that, they entered the First Floor where they seemed to hunt the resident beasts, sticking to the outer edges of the floor, not going to the boss room. After securing a couple of kills, they dragged the bodies back out, the enhanced physical ability of their warriors being helpful for this.
After that, the hunters dragged the kills back to camp, where they were handed over to someone who looked to be in charge of body dismantling. Following that, a team who was proficient in the job separated the edible parts from useful parts, and the food was sent out to the chefs, the bones and useful parts were put into storage, and the waste was thrown away.
It was oddly interesting to see the whole process, like watching a video of an assembly on a conveyor belt.
Just then, a commotion erupted on another side of the camp, which drew Lan's focus. He expected to see many things, maybe a supply transport, the arrival of new explorers, or maybe some beauty getting all the attention. What he wasn't expecting was to see a woman emanating an amount of mana Lan thought impossible for a human to possess.
Her quantity of mana alone was comparable to that of Lorn's, who was made of mana for dungeon's sake. Not to mention that her mental mana was even stronger, very impressive for a human even though it was meager in comparison to Lan.
Her overwhelming might aside, she struck an odd feeling in Lan, feeling as if she was somehow familiar. Lan tried to find the source of such a woman, but other than some vague feeling in the back of his mind, a fog of nothingness shrouded all else.
Suddenly the woman seemed to feel something, and she tilted her head away from the crowd in front of her, and she looked slightly to the top. Right, where Lan's point of view was currently present. Though Lan was omnipresent in his domain, he preferred to focus from a certain point, rather than being everywhere at once. And the fact that the woman sensed him, who wasn't physically there, spoke to him of various things.
Still, it was a rather unsettling experience, so he stopped observing from a point but dispersed his focus over an area. This seemed to have worked somewhat, as the woman furrowed her brows and looked around, but didn't find what she was looking for.
A startled shout from not far away could be heard.
"M-Mrs Matilda?!"
Lan finally found out the name of the woman who possessed such power. But just her name and the fact that she was, apparently, married, didn't tell him much else.
"Hello there, young mage. I have heard interesting things about this place. So I decided to go out for a walk."
As Lan perceived her words, he finally decided to check out who she was talking to and was a little surprised when he felt a faint mental link connected to the person in question. It was the Mage who was among the first four people to delve into his dungeon.
He barely even remembered of establishing the link, as with how hastily constructed it was, it was rather faint. Additionally, it seemed that the Mage seemed to subconsciously reject it, further weakening the signal, and rendering it useless at long ranges.
But with Lan being far more powerful now, he could try and re-establish it properly, overpowering whatever resistance the man may put up. For whatever reason though, such an option seemed rather repulsive to him, as he established a proper contract even with the Huntress back when she was merely an intelligent beast.
Additionally, with a woman named Matilda, who was very sensitive to mana and magic, such a thing seemed risky, and she may as well somehow thwart whatever Lan tried to achieve. So, Lan continued to observe, resorting to spying on the outer thoughts of the Mage whose name was Ian, to try and find out more about her.
Surprisingly it worked, as the mage's mind turned out to be frantic at the status of the woman before him. She was the mysterious Tower Master that Lan had seen so much about in the memories of the fallen. With the brief mystery being resolved, her absurd power now made sense.
Lan decided to observe them for now.
"I've come here to speed up the research, which was agreed upon by the personnel present. So, expect me to join the 'delves', as I'd heard people have begun to call the expeditions."
The young mage seemed like a man meeting his idol, nervous but trying to appear calm.
"Yes, of course! So uh... I suppose you are planning to explore the First Floor? I doubt anything of value is yet to be found there though..."
The woman who was surveying the camp with her gaze, upon hearing such words, had the slightest of smiles appear on her face.
"Just the first? That would be rather counterproductive... Rather unambitious. We will go as deep as the Second Expedition went, maybe even further."
Staring at the dumbfounded Ian, her gaze turned reminiscent.
"Like a certain young boy used to say long ago, you gotta go big, or go home."
Matilda seemed to stare off briefly into the distance, before snapping back to reality. Meanwhile, Ian the Mage was already saluting her by putting a fist to his chest.
"As you command. A proper exploration party will be ready in two hours!"
And with that, he retreated away and somewhere into the camp, gathering and debriefing various explorers. Lan's gaze remained at the woman, however. That gaze, that voice, all tugged at his mind, like knowing that it was important, but not knowing exactly why.
She seemed so familiar, but he didn't remember her face at all. So, he continued to observe her like a stalker, trying his hardest not to get noticed. Had this world gained a System along with the Awakening, words like 'Stealth has risen to 70' would appear. But they did not.
Two hours later, Ian delivered on his promise. Fifteen people, three parties, and one exploration group stood before the Tower Master. Among the teams were the Dungeon veterans. Marilyn, Leopold, Rob, Beatrice, Anna, and everyone who had been down there at least once was prioritized for this delve.
Ian stood behind the imposing woman, who seemed to not even notice those before her, instead gazing in the direction of Lan's dungeon. And the direction from which Lan just so happened to observe.
"I have heard many things about the place you have been to, and I have heard about the horrors you have encountered. For that dungeon is a place like none of us have encountered before. One of unknown origin... And design."
With that, her gaze seemed to drill into the point where Lan was staring from as if his efforts of concealment meant nothing.
"Some of you may be afraid. I would not blame you, for many have not returned from the depths. You know best what fate befell them. Yet you forget one thing."
With those words, mana seemed to erupt out of her body like an ocean tide. While previously she seemed normal to any human, now they felt palpable pressure emanating from her. Matilda's figure seemed to be surrounded by an unearthly glow, pure energy crackled at her fingertips.
"You forget that now I dive down alongside you. I bet you may have heard many things about me, thinking that most tales about me were a hoax or a mere embellishment. And though that may be sometimes true..."
The Tower Master flicked her hand at a distant tree. A bolt of pure mana condensed and then flew out with a whistle, before slamming into the target. The trunk shattered into pieces, the entire tree crumbling to the ground. And the woman herself looked like it didn't take any effort at all.
"Every tale has truth in it. And today I will remind you that I am no mere eggbrain who knows nothing but maths and research. Today, I will remind you that I search for the mysteries of this new world, I long to find out the truth. And together with you, we will find out the truth behind the Dungeon!"
Her final sentence was met with cheers and shouts from the group before her and all the other explorers around. Just a couple of sentences caused their fear to evaporate, instead, the courage to face the unknown replaced it.
After that display of power and charisma, Matilda began to walk at the front of the expedition, everyone else following behind her. No beast dared to attack the group, the mere presence of the Tower Master overwhelming their instincts and whatever sixth sense they possessed with fear.
Plants that were in their way titled out of the way with nothing more than a twitch of the woman's finger, as a flicker of Life Mana under her control steered them the way she wanted.
Even Lan could only remain in awe of such a display. Though the woman's power was small compared to his, her control was far more refined. Where the Core relied on an overwhelming amount of mana, often condensing things into being, the Tower Master possessed a far more delicate control, being able to bend mana to her whims like a seamstress weaving a picture.
If Lan was honest, he felt that he might learn something just by observing her at work. He previously thought that he was now far beyond any human in terms of knowledge and skill with mana.
'Welp. You can't always be right. I admit my loss on this one.'
It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the dungeon. The Tower Master stopped briefly before it and gazed up at the tree towering above it, which was exactly 67 meters in height by Lan's measurements. Lan didn't exactly know what exactly caught her eye here, whether it be the flow of mana, or the tree itself.
What Lan didn't notice in his fascination with the Tower Master, were the threads of mana intertwining in the middle of the Great Tree's trunk, similar to when a Heart Core was formed, yet completely different. Mental Mana emanated from it was also far beyond when it was a mere sapling, and still growing, what would come from it, Lan wouldn't know for a while.
"What are you?"
Matilda asked seemingly no one, yet Lan knew who she was asking, as she was once again staring at his viewpoint, which he didn't even bother to hide at this point. Lan really didn't know whether to admire or fear the woman for her skill at this point.
'Both? Both. Yeah, both is good.'
Soon after, the human group ventured on after the Tower Master gained no response, which was kind of what was expected when talking to seemingly empty air.
Obviously, no beast on the First Floor could pose the slightest threat to veteran delvers, not to mention the absolute monster of a Mage present, who could probably sense them from afar.
Against all expectations, the Venorms struck once again, defying any expectations. Yet the battle didn't ensue anyway.
When the giant earthworms erupted from the ground, they became stuck in midair, and solidified mid-motion as a result of the Tower Master lifting her hand and making a grasping motion, mana twisting around every attacker in turn. And then, she tightened her grip.
The slithering beast started to twist and writhe midair, before exploding into a shower of gore. Interestingly, not a drop landed on the woman, instead sliding and bouncing off of an invisible bubble around her.
Lan watched the display, which was basically her controlling all mana in a certain area, before over-concentrating it in certain points, causing localized shockwaves. And that invisible bubble of hers made by her twisting mana in an invisible cocoon around her, with a structure so intricate, Lan 'saved' it to his memory to study it later.
The group then proceeded along towards the boss room, Matilda obviously feeling the denser mana. Along the way, she looked towards the 'stars' dotting the ceiling. A slight smile crept onto her face as if remembering something pleasant.
It only took a short walk to approach the boss room, as the First Floor wasn't that big. Facing the corridor, the Tower Master slid her hands along the unnaturally smooth walls, while whispering unheard to anyone but Lan.
"Just who are you... To make something so wondrous? What is your purpose?"
She turned her head towards a certain point above her, once again staring straight 'at' Lan.
"I know that you're watching. Probably listening too. I don't really know why and how you built this dungeon..."
Matilda then began to walk towards the boss room, approaching the clearing. As the other fifteen people began to follow her, she held out her hand and said to them.
"Stay here. I will go in alone."
"But madam-"
"This is final. Or are you doubting me?"
Matilda Stein then headed away from the dumbfounded group, a smile now being fully present on her face. She then continued to whisper.
"But whoever you are, you made me remember some fond memories, and you gave me something fun to research. So I'll do it. I'll play your game."
As she walked towards the center of the clearing, her white coat swaying in the breeze passing through the room, two wolves emerged from opposite sides of the clearing, circling her, being wary.
Energy began to crackle at her fingertips.
"Let's dance, shall we?"
Estado de energía semanal
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