Chapter 65- The Core

As I stepped towards the 4th floors gate, I prepared myself for the final fight. From here, everything is a complete mystery to us, but there's one thing we knew for sure, once we stepped through the portal, we would all be sent to the same place. Given the chance we may encounter an incredibly tough foe, I opted to enter first and create a safe haven for the others to follow. With my weapon drawn at the ready, I stepped into the portal.

Blinding light invaded my sight for an extended moment. Yet after a few seconds, I could see everything around me. Currently I stood in a long corridor with large double doors at the end.

The corridor had shadowy hiding places perfect for any surprise attack. Nonetheless, I could not sense any potential enemies here. Evoking Ra's Domain, I created a safe place 100-meters in diameter surrounding the portal drop point and walked forward.

As I proceeded closer to the doors, torches on either side of the corridor lit up with a pale purple light, illuminating the entire corridor and sparing no shadow. In but a few minutes I stood before the double doors but noticed none of my party members followed behind me.

"What's taking them so long to enter?" I said to myself, my voice echoing throughout the whole chamber,

"Only 1 may enter… the heart of this place… Only 1 may prove themselves… worthy of the secrets kept here…"

A ghastly voice replied from the other side of the doors signaling them to slowly open on their own. Shiii… I am starting to have a really bad feeling about this. Steeling my nerve, I stepped through the opened doors and beheld a ritual chamber of sorts, an obsidian obelisk in the direct center of the room with an orb the size of a lion cub floating above it.

I dared not enter towards the center since I had no idea what the ritual circle would do; therefore, I walked around the edge of the magic circle while minding where I stepped. As I walked towards the right side of the chamber, I noticed a pile of robed bones clutching a satchel and a tome. The skeleton bore an emblem of an octagram with a lark made of blue, red, and green fire. Based on Lucas' information, this is his ancestor from 100 sols ago.

Being mindful and respectful of the remains, I stored them inside the inventory and continued circling the ritual circle. With that taken care of, I returned my focus to the dungeon core chamber and walked along the outside of the ritual circle. As I continued to walk around the room, I started to mentally draw a picture of the ritual circle in my head.

The ritual circle was a multi-layered magic circle with the core of the circle being a pentagram with the Latin words written inside. Each Latin word stood for one of the elements; fire, earth, water, wind, and wood neatly written at each point. The 2nd layer was a decagram with the celestial runes for the 10 elements of this world, fire, earth, water, air, nature, ice, lightning, light, dark, and neutral.

Within both layers of circle, matching elements place in similar positions. Meanwhile the remaining five elements in the 2nd layer had their own place. Lastly at the center of the ritual circle was a hexagram bearing no runes or inscriptions but had the obelisk directly in the center of it.

The entire ritual circle radiated the same pale purple light as the torches in the corridor, giving the entire room an eerie feeling to it. Once I came full circle and returned to the entrance of the chamber, I had a fairly promising idea of what the ritual circle was, a syphoning spell. This type of spell was quite common among demonic dragons when building their lairs.

The spell would draw all magoi and lifeforce from the surrounding area, turning the everything within a 5km radius of the dungeon or lair into a barren waste. Once enough energy is absorbed, it is then converted into the energy demonic dragons need to survive, miasma or what Ohmdorrans call baleful energy. This energy is needed to birth monsters similar to spirits but is also used to incubate monsters which are born from the seed of demonic dragons and their prey.

The orb in the center is a reservoir of sorts which is the dungeon core. Usually, the dungeon core under guidance of the dungeon master is condensed into either a small item worn on the dungeon master's person, or into a creature of some kind. Here, the dungeon core is in a neutral form. Meaning this dungeon has been active for a while without a real dungeon master, but a proxy of sorts. While I continued to study the dungeon core and the ritual circle, the ghastly voice sounded out again.

"Step into the center of the chamber… prove yourself… Only then may you… decide the fate of this lair…"

As I listened to the voice, I noticed the orb glowed with each word spoken as if it was the origin of the voice.

"You must honestly think I am dumb enough to fall for this lousy trap. Reveal yourself, or I will simply destroy everything in this chamber!"

"Oh! A challenger not blinded… by power or greed… enters my abode… very well…"

After the voice finished, a cloud of baleful energy slowly seeped out of the orb and condensed into an armored wraith. Their face was completely shrouded by their helm. Withered and ragged robes draped over their body with only their pale hands and feet being exposed.

Wrapped around the creature's neck was the same emblem I found on the skeleton. Only the lark was perverted and ghastly with only grey flames wrapping around it. Whelp, either this here is Lucas's ancestor, or the original dungeon master who took his mark as a trophy. Either way, I'm in for a fight.

"Stay your weapon, challenger… I do not seek… combat in this place… I have watched your progress… and am aware of the devastation… you are capable of reeking…" the dungeon master(?) announced. Still, I kept my weapon at the ready and replied,

"That remains to be seen. Speak! What do you have to say to prevent me from leveling this place?"

"For starters… your magic will not only kill you… but all life in the dungeon…I know you travel with those…you cherish…let us parlay… and reach an agreement…"

He got me there… Although, I would be more than happy to level this place. That and there's the Escape Net formation set up at the entrance of the dungeon allowing my party and I to live. Still, the same can't be said for Aliandorith and the abyssal elves. Considering what it might say, I sheathed my sword and spoke,

"Very well, state your business."

"Good… Allow me to introduce…myself… I once was Alexus Levanti… Grandmaster mage and founder of… the Tower of Infinity… I came to this dungeon… in search of…knowledge like many before me… But instead… I have been… imprisoned… and forced to slay… all who reach here… the last to fall… being 100 sols ago…"

Well, why don't you look at that! The founder of Evelyn's mage organization, the Tower of Infinity turned out to be a wraith dungeon master. I don't know about the Tower very well, but one thing is common knowledge. It was said the founder had retired and made his Inheriting Arcana (his successor) the leader and Patriarch of the Tower.

Afterwards, he went missing, never to be seen again. This all happened about 1200 sols ago, just 300 sols after the dungeon was discovered. Coincidence? I think not. It looks like this old fogey was looking for ways to breakthrough or prolong his life. It also looks like he killed Lucas' ancestor, but why is he wearing his emblem?

"That explains who you are, but why are you wearing that emblem?" I said, to which the wraith responded,

"The Alchemic Craftsman who is… the original owner… made this to break… the dungeon's hold on… the core and dungeon master… at the time of their death … the emblem flew upon me… giving me my ability… to reason… At first… I meant to use you as… a catalyst… to free me from the dungeon core… but now I seek a separate way…"

"And what might that be?"

"I have but one desire… challenger, end my torment… free me from this place… I have seen the divine light move… at your command… use the dungeon core… to usher it here…" Skeptical, I remarked,

"And what's stopping you from reducing me to bones? You said it yourself, you first tried to lure me into the magic circle, now you want me to willingly offer up myself?"

"Indeed… only you can break the bindings… at first, I intended… to use your blood… but if you willingly enter… and become the true dungeon master… I will be able to… finally die…"

This was some morbid shit to say the least. If the system mission didn't state an objective of completion was to be the dungeon master, I would have said fuck this and attempted to leave. But now, since this false dungeon master is literally begging me to take the position of the dungeon master, I can't help but feel skeptical.

This is almost like that time one of my neighbors in Salem tried to convince me to be their daddy (and I don't mean sugar-daddy). The bloke wanted me to adopt him! Long story short, the guy was nuttier than a bag of trail mix. He somehow got into my apartment and tried to knife me once I came home. After "persuading" the loon (with a 2-piece and a biscuit at a 10 knuckle and a foot stomp discount), I called the police and had him taken to the nearest hospital for help. Moral of the story, don't trust crazy people.

Yup, this wraith was given off the same vibes. But there's no police to escort him to a padded room where he can embrace himself all day. I guess this very existence is nothing but hellish torment for him. Said torment will definitely drive one completely mad. The least I could do is… take his place!? Fuck that! The very thought of it annoys me. But what other choice do I have…

"I don't like the idea of taking your place, but I have business with the dungeon core. Consider yourself lucky I need to finish what I started." I said after making up my mind.

"Very well… place your hands… onto the core… begin the trials… survive and take full control… or fail and be like me…" Once he finished speaking, the wraith floated to the side as a system message filled my eyes,

"You have started the Quest: Master of Dungeons Part 1

-I shall claim all dungeon for myself! Try and stop me, challenger! – Random Dungeon Master

Requirements

- Reach the dungeon core of any dungeon

Objective

- Survive and pass the dungeon trail

Reward

- Full administrative rights over 1 Dungeon

- Ability: Magoi Familiar

- Moral Affinity: Good 20x OR Evil 20x (depending on user's alignment)

- Depending on the trial, additional rewards may be provided.

As I expected another quest has started. Well, all the more reason to answer the request of the wraith. No longer hesitating, I walked towards the dungeon core floating in the center of the chamber. As I walk closer, the patterns on the ritual circle begin shining in a blue light, until the entire magic circle is illuminated in the same blue light. Taking a deep breath, I placed my hands on the dungeon core, and like when I entered the inheritance realm, my consciousness was sucked into the dungeon core.

-End of Chapter