36 Dragon-chan makes a Dungeon tower

AN: As I'd said in the last chapter, this is going back in time to before the promotion ceremony here, because I forgot to write this into arc three... well, the first bit is from then, later bits are current events. Also, warning, this chapter is a wall of text with almost no dialogue... and mostly skippable.

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After the announcement of my promotion to S rank went out, I went back to Crimonia, where I went to talk to Cliff and then the commerce guild about making the Dragon Spire, as I had decided to name the tower of orichalcum that I would make and turn into a Dungeon.

"I don't see any problems with you building it, I guess. If it won't have the monsters overflow to the outside, and it won't break no matter what, there really isn't a reason to refuse. It'll make Crimonia even more popular and prosperous than it already is, with the influx of adventurers looking to make money, and the exports of mithril, orichalcum, and iron, right? Hmm... there's this area a bit away from the southern wall that doesn't go much of anywhere, it's just a barren area where nothing can grow, and there are no monsters to hunt down, so it's basically useless. If you'd like, you could use that area for it" (Cliff)

He showed me the area on a map, and it looked like a good spot, so I said that it should work, unless I was to find something wrong with it when I inspected it. I went to the commerce guild, got their approval as well, and went to inspect the area Cliff gave me, which was almost a square shape, and about a kilometer on each side.

"Hmm... the mana concentration in this area is lower than normal... much lower. The soil seems to be fine, the earth below it sturdy enough for the support pillars and the rest of the foundation, so I should be able to build the Spire here. Once I do, the ambient mana should increase enough to make the soil fertile as well" (Nene)

I immediately went to work, clearing a circle about 700 meters across in the center of the area, which I also dug down several dozen meters to lay the foundation. Of course, I used magic for that job, as with everything else in the construction of the Spire. Once I'd made the foundation, I noticed that it was almost sunset, so I ate and went to sleep. When I woke up around dawn, I went back to making the Spire, which was just molding the orichalcum into much larger pieces, shaping them a bit, and moving them into place as the walls. Every time it grew a few dozen meters taller, I used my Dragonflame to weld it all together and added a floor or two at the right heights.

Days passed as I did that over and over and over again, until it was towering about a kilometer into the air, 80 floors tall, the top of the whole thing being about about 350 meters in diameter, as the general shape was a slight cone, not a cylinder. I decided that was tall enough, so I capped it with a 400 meter wide, 80 meter tall cone that acted as the roof, and went around it at each floor, adding windows, air vents, stairs, and interior walls to split it into rooms... more like a labyrinth, I guess. Once all of that was done, which was over the course of another week, I went to the uppermost floor, floor 81, which was in the inside of the cone, and laid down everything a smith would need, as well as an area for the Dungeon's core. The outer walls I spent a few days detailing, such that it looked like it was a giant screw or something like that, and then it was time for my promotion ceremony, so I left it like that for a while.

A week or so after that, I returned for a few days to put on the finishing touches, such as the doors at the entrance, the areas that would contain the {Gate} formations to go to each floor, and the other areas that would be the landing spots for those using the mid-floor one-way exit formations. I also made the area just outside the first floor entrance, including the bi-directional formations, be inside a large wall. I then made some buildings nearby to function as places to sell your drops, learn how the Dungeon would work, and so on. Once I was done with that, I went to the top floor, put up the magic stone I got from the Rotting Juggernaut, and had Obsidian, a Gold-bordered Black Dragon like me, come out and look around, as he wanted to be the Dungeon Boss, because he knew that he was getting close to going senile, and becoming the Dungeon Boss would stop that from happening by stopping him from aging. Since he liked smithing, I had put in the things he would need to do so, no matter what he wanted to make. After he looked around, had me make another few things for him, he went to the magic stone and bound himself to it, becoming the Dungeon Boss, as I ran from the influx of mana that resulted from that.

In the month following, I had gone to Drake, obtained the Sword of Victory, and made a few of the Goblin Caves functional, namely, the one near Crimonia and two of the three I'd made near the capital. They only needed a week for the mana to settle down, and once it had, I changed the settings to raise the spawn rates, lower the spawn limit, and increase the average quality and quantity of the Goblins' equipment. One of the ones by the capital I had made large enough to have it spawn Goblin Mages, Goblin Warriors, and so on, which was also thanks to someone capturing a live Goblin King for me to make into the boss. After that was done, I made those three areas known to the guild, they put up a sign advertising each of them, as well as a small building by each with a person collect the entrance fee and inform people of the rules, namely, "Don't enter the core room. Don't wreck the structure. Don't die. Entering the core room is punishable by loss of adventurer qualifications and other penalties"

Finally, when the Dragon Spire's mana had settled, I went to it, talked to Obsidian, and then changed the settings, which I could do SO much more with than I could with either the Golem Mines or the Goblin Caves. Now, I could set more than one type of monster to spawn, though they had to be somewhat related to the Boss. I could also set the spawn rates on a floor-by-floor basis, and so much more. I also was able to link with the core from anywhere in the Dungeon or within a several dozen kilometer radius, so I could see the map or change settings while walking around the Dungeon, and so that's what I did. I went from the bottom floor up to the top, over the course of three weeks.

"Let's see... this bottom floor, let's go with... a few Flame Lizards scattered around, I guess? Second floor, more of those, and a roaming pair of them, and the last room will have a Copper Lizard... those breathe fire, but it's only as hot as a candle flame... Third floor, roaming pairs of Flame Lizards, and single roaming Coppers... Fourth floor, trios of Flame and some mixed pairs... Fifth floor, pairs of Coppers, two or three Flame and a Copper, and an Iron Lizard in the last room" (Nene)

This sort of thing continued floor after floor, and I set up and marked safe rooms, emergency exits, and a bi-directional {Gate} formation on each floor as I went. On the tenth floor, you'd fight a Bronze Lizard after going through areas with groups of six or so Iron Lizards with a dozen or so Flame Lizards, or occasionally the Flame Lizards would be replaced by a Flare Lizard, which is a stronger version. Likewise, the Iron Lizards might be replaced by a single Steel Lizard at times. After that, Bronze would be swapped for Gold at floor 15, and the groups of Iron would be replaced by groups of Steel, single Steel for single Gold, all of the Flames replaced by Flares, and so on.

Floor 20, you fight a Silver Lizard as the floor boss, and floors 21 and above were interesting. Each one had two floors, one that you'd walk on, and one underneath it with holes in the floor above, filled with water. Lesser Wyrms (normal Wyrms after floor 25, Greater Wyrms at 30) would swim in the lower floor, and attack from the holes randomly, while Silver Lizards, and later Platinum Lizards as well, both of which breathe ice, roamed the floors. This continued through 25 (Platinum as the floor boss) and 30 (Mithril as the floor boss) until you reached floors 35-45, where you meet Hydras and Orichalcum Lizards, and after 45, you meet Wyverns, going from Lesser to Greater as you climb.

Starting at floor 60, Young Dragons spawn, ones I can't make contracts with, sadly, and then Dragons at 65, Elder Dragons at 70, with Ancient Dragons at 75 through 80, and a God Dragon (Gold-Red or, rarely, Gold-Blue) as the floor boss on floor 80. Other monsters, mostly Metal Lizards of various types, as well as Greater Wyrms, Hydras, and Wyverns, roam the upper floors in groups, but those are more to keep people on their toes and provide valuable drops besides those from Dragons... well, experience fighting them as well, I guess. Honestly, nobody is going to get beyond about 60 or 65, but I made the rest for those who might in the distant future.

Once I'd set all of the spawns and made the safe rooms, {Gate} formations, and added areas in the safe rooms where you could refill your water supplies, cook, or sleep in an actual bed, I went back up to the core room (floor 81) to make the changes that I couldn't make remotely. Basically, the settings determining the behavior of the monsters, the collection of dropped items into a storage area on 81, and so on, as well as three others. I won't go into much detail about the monsters or the drop collection, which happens when an item has been on the ground in an area other than a safe room for over two hours.

The three other settings allowed me to set spells that were active or could be activated in some or all areas, though only spells that I could cast, as well as create magical items whose use was exclusive to the Dungeon, and to create self-refilling treasure chests, though those were complicated, so I'll leave those for last, and start with the item creation, I guess.

The first thing I made, with the help of Sanya, were a few things that could scan a person's guild card and make a different card based off of that. That card, called a Dungeon Card, would record the adventurer's name and what floors he or she had completed, and that's basically it. To make the card able to know what floors had been completed, I made other items that I placed at the start of each floor, which would update the card when you put it in. After that, I made some things which I called Exit Sticks, which I will elaborate on later. I also made other items to be placed into the treasure chests or be sold, such as Dungeon-exclusive potions, antidotes, and so on, as well as items that, when used on a weapon, would protect it from being damaged or broken until it left the Dungeon, or a week had passed, whichever came first. I also made Dungeon Bags, which could store a LOT more than common item bags, and slowed the passage of time for the contents to about an hour a day, but couldn't store anything not made in the Dungeon. That all used a lot of mana to create, so I rested for a few days before going back to do more.

After that, I worked on the spell system. In the entire dungeon, I placed a few spells that were always active or would be activated when a condition was met. First, the one that was always active, was known as {Detect Injury}, and it did what you'd expect from the name. When someone got injured, it would detect it and use that information for some of the other spells. The second spell I placed was {Clock Restoration} which would activate when someone took a fatal injury or lost a body part. At the same time that happened, three other spells would be cast on them. {Saint's Mercy} which would heal them fully and protect them from harm for ten seconds, {Paralyze} to keep them from moving for the same time, and a {Gate} would open under their feet to take them outside to one of the exit formations. When someone came through there, they would get some points taken from their Dungeon card, the amount lost depending on how injured you'd gotten, and when the points got to be too low, you couldn't enter the Dungeon, so you'd have to pay a not-too-insubstantial amount to get them reset. You would gain some points when you reached new floors, defeated rare spawns, and so on, but that automatic emergency exit would cost you a LOT. Exit Sticks, when broken, would do the same, but wouldn't cost many points at all, as {Clock Restoration} wouldn't be activated. In either case, part of what was in your Dungeon Bag would be taken as well, between half and everything, depending on how many points you'd lost from that. In some cases, even the Dungeon Bag itself would be taken from you. The items that were taken would be sent to the same storage area on floor 81 as items that had been abandoned, by the way.

Other spells were placed in some areas to prevent the use or reduce the effect of certain spells, like preventing you from freezing over the water on floors with Wyrms, and some that would make people feel tired faster, or slow their movement speed and/or reaction times. However, the safe rooms would have spells increasing healing speed and mana recovery, as well as ones made people feel rested with less sleep than normal, among other things. The one-way {Gate} formations in the safe rooms wouldn't deduct any points, if you were wondering. I think that that is basically it for the spells, but I might have forgotten some of them. I did all this over the course of a month and a half.

Now, onto the treasure chests... basically, you put in your card, and you get some items. Those items come from 81's storage area, including some of the monster drops, and you only can get items from them the first time you reach a given chest each month, or rather, a four week countdown starts when you get a chest, and the countdown is even shown on the chest if you place your card on it. The items in the storage area are automatically appraised, given a value, and each chest has its own odds of containing items in specific value ranges. They also all give some Dungeon-exclusive items like the potions or Exit Sticks. Now, those consumable Dungeon items, including Dungeon Bags, can be bought in a shop managed by the guild near the entrance too, so I make money that way as well.

By the way, items that the system finds to be particularly valuable will be set aside for me to look at, and I might keep them for myself. Some of the things that Obsidian makes in his forge also find their way into chests from time to time, though most of them are the things he would consider as failures, such as if he was trying to make god metal, an alloy of orichalcum and adamantite, but only got something that is somewhat stronger than either of the two, he'd probably put that resulting failure into the mix. Rarely, some of his completed works, ones that he simply found a bit lackluster, maybe because he messed up the detailing or something like that, would find their way into chests on floors above 60. They would still be far better than most things you couldn't even find on the market, but not as good as the completed works he found to be suitable. But again, those lackluster ones would be extremely rare, even on floors that would only be reached by one or two groups a month. I'm not expecting one of them to be obtained in the first few months.

I put all of that information, well, general forms of most of it, at least, into a large sign on the wall in the building where you learn how the Spire works and obtain your Dungeon card, as well as making several copies for the staff to memorize for their explanations. I also changed the introduction building to look more distinct while also looking like a guild building. Once that was done, I went to the adventurer's guild in Crimonia and told the guildmaster that the Dragon Spire was up and running. He and I changed the signs posted in the guilds, the main plazas, and so on, from one saying that the large tower south of the city was being built by me, and would be a place for higher-ranked adventurers to train once it was done, to signs saying that it was open, and that those interested should head over to it to learn more. At first, I was the one working reception, but within half a day or so, a few people had been sent by the commerce guild to work there. In that time, and on the next day, nobody came. I later figured out that people weren't looking at the sign, as it had been the same for months, so everyone knew what it said and didn't look at it anymore.

Two days after it opened, a group came to challenge it, so I rushed over to greet them, as they were our first visitors. They were a B rank party of five who'd come to Crimonia as a merchant's escorts, so they went to the guild, where they actually read the new sign, and thought it sounded interesting enough to check out, which leads us to this point.

"Welcome to the Dragon Spire. Before you can enter, I'm going to have to go over the way it all works, as well as the rules, though those are a work in progress right now. You are actually our first visitors, so you'll be getting something special, if you decide to go in. That includes having your entry be free, the first time" (Nene)

I gave a quick but thorough rundown of the rules and how it all works, and they expressed interest in trying it.

"Well, in that case, the something special I mentioned. First off, you'll each be getting two dungeon potions, able to heal anything from small cuts to large gashes in your legs. In addition, you'll all get your own Dungeon Bags, and an Exit Stick... we still need a better name for those, by the way. Finally, the best bonus of them all, you could have me come along with you for the first run, and I will explain more about the specific monsters you encounter, as well as give you advice on how to fight them better. I won't fight, but-" (Nene)

"For the last one, no thanks. We don't want to have to protect a little kid with no real comba-" (Party leader)

"I see people still don't remember what I look like. My name is Nene Drachen, I can take care of myself" (Nene)

"Is that name supposed to mean something? If you say you can take care of yourself, prove it. Fight me, and hold your own for a few minutes" (Leader)

"Oh, right, I forgot that this counter prevents you from seeing more than my head... Here's my card..." (Nene)

As I spoke, I vaulted over the counter to hand him my card.

"... and here's what the rest of my body looks like. Note the fact that I'm a Dragon in addition to being an S rank. I also am the one who created this entire place, including the massive tower you'll be entering" (Nene)

"You look younger than I'd expected... and I'd heard that you didn't carry any weapons, so that sword on your back is misleading as well. Same with your lack of your usual cloak, actually. Oh, right. Name's Van" (Leader)

"I'm not wearing the cloak because I don't have to hide my scales now, and I carry the sword because, well... Have you heard of Tyr's Fang?" (Nene)

"The Sword of Victory? That's been stuck in a... Don't tell me... Well, uh, congrats, I guess? Anyways, shall we head on over and get our cards made?" (Van)

"First, why don't you tell me a bit about you and your party, so I know what to expect from you all" (Nene)

"Very well. First, I'm Van, leader of [Perverted Dwarf and Friends] and a B rank spearman. Then, we have the perverted dwarf in question, the C rank spearman, Bradley. Our B rank swordswoman, Irene, and B rank knife user, Shion. Last, our B rank healer and mage, Ninya... Sorry, Tuare now. She'd been disguised as a boy under the name of Ninya for almost three years before we learned of it, but that's not relevant right now" (Van)

"So, the main thing to learn from that is that I need to watch out for Bradley in more than one way?" (Nene)

"N-" (Bradley)

"Absolutely" (Irene)

"Yeah, that's basically the takeaway, I guess. Now, shall we move on to the main event?" (Van)

I guided them through the first few floors, which they had no problems with, but the groups of Iron Lizards on floor 7 made them have to flee and give up. Their haul for the day, well, half day, actually, was worth more than what most B rank requests would give them, even if you ignored the time factor. It would be less on future visits, as they'd need to pay to enter and they wouldn't get anything from the chests, which, for the time being, I'd stocked with things that were cluttering my hoard, as well as materials from the monsters on each floor. However, the advice I'd given them was worth more than all of that combined to them, so they were quite happy. They must have spread the word, because the next few days had adventurers flocking to the Spire like long-lost relatives to a lottery winner. We had to turn away those who were F or E ranked, as well as solo D ranks, but that's what the nearby-ish Goblin Caves were for, right?

On the ninth day after people started coming, a party cleared floor 20, thus being the first to encounter a Lesser Wyrm here... and it mopped the floor with them. I should have expected as much, honestly, as they were specialized in fighting against monsters using heat or fire, so ice was... well, they couldn't really protect themselves from it, and they weren't expecting to fight something that could come out of the floor at any time and couldn't be attacked by swords or spears, due to being in the water. In any case, people were complaining about how, if that's how strong the first 20 floors are and how quickly they increase in strength, even an S rank probably couldn't beat the whole thing. And actually, they're right about that, if you exclude me. However, the reason I made this was to have there be something to train people and give them experience in actual combat without any risk of dying or being crippled. It wasn't made to be fully beaten, as I didn't expect that any party would get past the Elder Dragon on floor 70... no, even the groups of Greater Wyverns, Greater Hydras, and Greater Wyrms you could find on 50 or 60 would probably stop a group that didn't have several S ranks. Well, Yuna and I could get past those, but that's it for individuals, so far as I know.

Day fifteen, Solomon showed up, and on his first attempt, he cleared through floor 24 by himself... well, with his summons, so I'm not sure if that counts... anyways, that was a new record for farthest clear, farthest solo clear, and farthest first attempt. He had to leave because he'd run out of food, and no other reason. As such, he obtained more food and went back to try 25, and he made it through relatively easily until he reached 30, as he and his summons couldn't scratch the Mithril Lizard. You know, if that was the limit of their power, I didn't need to dodge when fighting him and his summons, I could have just taken their attacks. No, wait, the bracelet thing would have still counted that as an injury, I guess? It's annoying that the rapid healing of Dragons would heal any slight injuries caused by those attacks before another one hit me, but the system wouldn't care, and would just keep decreasing. Oh well... I still won.