Chapter 30 – Floor 0 – Lavilin’s Perspective

Ten years ago, when Lavilin entered the dungeon, he also faced Diana, the Goddess of the Gates of Life and Death. As Lavilin drug Diana towards the end of Floor 0, he jumped up and down with joy passionately.

"What challenge are you going to give me? I'm so excited!"

"You're a strange one…" Diana finally came back to her senses and shook him off of her.

"I will give you two options:

The first option is that you will have to start your aura realm from zero.

The second option is that you will have to judge every last Administrator on a scale from one to ten and kill those who are inadequate. In all likelihood, you will have to kill at least one Administrator per every ten floors."

"Hmm," Lavilin thought hard about it. "I will have to go with the administrator killing quota. Sure, the aura realm one is harder in the short term, but I think the administrator challenge is harder. Look at my current body; it's in shambles!" He tore off his cloak to reveal a completely mutilated body. Since he had just killed multiple Royalty Realm individuals in the past couple of weeks, he was heavily injured and on the brink of death.

"Restarting my aura would require you to heal me, or I would instantly die! I'm assuming you're nice, so I was thinking about which one would be a harder challenge. However, I don't want to kill administrators doing a bad job if they promise to turn themselves around. What do you think?"

Diana blinked multiple times. Was this guy a genius or an idiot? She was obviously trying to trick him into taking the easier option so his very apparent injuries would instantly kill him as he lost his aura. A Goddess of her rank could see through his physical status, but maybe it was better to let him stay in oblivious bliss.

"You've chosen wisely. That was your first challenge to see if you would pick the answer that would kill you or not." She joked.

"Wow! I did it. I passed the first challenge woo hoo! Can I go to the next floor now?" Lavilin got bored instantaneously. His Shade Core was unstable, and his aura was running wild.

"Surely this maniac would perish within the week." Diana thought.

"Right through this door, and you'll enter the First Floor." Diana conjured the door to Floor 1 with the ocean underneath it. She didn't even bother answering his quota question; if he could kill even one Administrator, it would be miraculous. She would let it slide. With this guy 'judging' Administrators, he might even judge half of them unfit for their positions and pick a fight. As the future 'King' of the Dungeon, he should be able to judge them properly, right?

"I love the Ocean of Souls! This'll be fun. Now, I want you to know that I am a just King, I will only bring righteous judgement to the administrators that deserve it! I promise I won't kill any of the good ones. Think of it as a performance review." Lavilin lectured Diana as if he was in charge.

"Wow. Well, good luck with that…" Diana was speechless. The challenge was meant to sound impossible, but Lavilin took it in stride.

"Thank you for all your help miss Diana. I rate your performance A+!" Lavilin smiled dementedly and jumped through the door with a loud, "WOO HOO!"

"There's no way that guy is gonna conquer the dungeon…" Diana watched him swimming below without a concern in the world. In the first place, he was supposed to judge Administrators from 1-10, not on a letter basis…

***

On Floor 1, Lavilin fell into the souls and embraced the ocean. It felt so good to take a swim! Lavilin's first order of business was fixing his decrepit state. His unstable Shade Core was causing extreme mood swings, and his injuries would kill him within a week if he didn't find a way to repair his core and injuries. Around him, the ocean spanned as far as he could see.

"Ahh yes, I should go visit Poseidon, this Floor's Administrator. I need to give him his performance review." Lavilin's train of thought quickly derailed. Snapping back into his right mind, Lavilin sought to fix his condition.

"Skill: Void Mask." Lavilin chanted weakly. His condition was starting to take its toll. Even a simple spell like this was difficult. Covered in void energy and a violent looking mask, Lavilin swam into the dark depths below.

"The bottom should be around here somewhere…" Lavilin kept swimming down, but he couldn't see the bottom. Because of his Void Mask, Lavilin could breathe and see, and soon, the bottom of the ocean could be seen! He was finally in the underwater world of the First Floor.

He landed in a forest-like region. Around him, sea creatures and monsters frolicked, and civilizations of ghosts founded settlements as if it was still the land of the living. He was isekai-ed into an ocean world; how fun!

Groaning, he realized he really couldn't keep moving at this pace. It was time to repair his Shade Core, or he would collapse and die. All monsters had cores that concentrated their strong aura, and likewise, Shades also had cores, making them like a humanoid monster.

Part of the reason Shades are categorized as monsters by many are because of the presence of a Shade Core. Different from a monster core, Shade Cores were stronger and formed with spiritual energy instead of physical energy; Shade Cores originated in the soul and the body whereas monster cores originated in just the body.

"This is as good of a spot as any." Lavilin looked around. His aura capacity when he fought Tourmaline the Wise, the King of Galeon, was a mid-King level, and when he fought the Council members sent to arrest him, he had to use extremely dangerous magic to propel himself further into a high-King level. Taking off his clothes, he saw firsthand how ruined his body had become. Luckily for him, an infinite aura source swirled around him, all he had to do was take it.

"Skill: Spirit Cultivation." He took in the spiritual aura around him. This technique was a derivation from the Natural Path body tempering technique known as elemental cultivation. By tempering the body with elemental artifacts, elements themselves such as fire or water, or even using herbal remedies and baths, one could increase their body's inherent aura capacity. Spirit Cultivation was a rare skill specifically designed to be used in the Ocean of Souls by Ghosts eons ago.

Perhaps the Ocean of Souls was one of the only places in Ryko where Spirit Cultivation was even possible. Slowly, Lavilin took in the willing Spirits from the ocean into his body, strengthening it and his soul's stability. The only downside for Lavilin was the speed of the technique. With a Shade's body, Spirit magic was much harder to use, and if he used a Shade Cultivation skill, his core would grow even more unstable. Sitting down, he relaxed and took in the peaceful forest as the spirits swirled around him endlessly. Because of his unique physique, the skill was still ten times more effective than it would be on a normal person. From afar, beasts and ghosts alike avoided the magnificent scene. The person responsible must be bad news.

***

Days passed. Weeks passed. Months passed, and finally, years passed.

Opening his eyes, Lavilin felt rejuvenated.

"By my estimation, about five years have passed on the outside. Wow, I'm making great time!" Lavilin stretched and skipped around happily. His efforts had paid off. All of his injuries were healed, his Shade Core was under control, and his aura capacity had also increased. No longer would the ambient spirits still alive in his Shade Core torment him and fight for his body! All it took was about 33 years inside the dungeon to settle his extenuating circumstances.

"It probably would've been easier to just restart my aura from zero… If I wasn't a Shade and used the same technique, I would be at least a God by now. Eh, whatever. Nillvia, look at me now!" He said to himself. Inside the Shade Core, Nillvia frowned at his progress.

"I must be about an F Rank God at this point. Let's see here." Lavilin flexed his aura. An extreme flashing royal crimson aura flew into the skyline. The mixture of Spiritual aura and Shade aura gave birth to the aura that resembled a Deathless.

"All I'm missing is a Living Vessel Artifact, and then I can become a true Deathless." Lavilin pondered how to get his hands on such a rare artifact. In all likelihood, he would have to make it himself deeper in the dungeon.

"What was I doing before this? Oh yeah, I gotta go meet Poseidon!" He ran at full speed into the horizon. Exploring the strange ocean world, Lavilin loved to see how intricate the First Floor was. Empires and tribes of ghosts roamed the first floor, and everyone there attempted to live their new lives on Floor 1. Warlords and tyrants struggled for power, but ultimately, the quality of life was poor. Keeping these souls here was done efficiently and effectively though. After his initial observations, he made his way towards Poseidon.

***

Inside his palace, Poseidon waited. He had heard the rumors that someone had opened the gates to the dungeon, but he hadn't seen nor heard anything for years. Did the person die already, stealthily move on, or was it all just fake news? Just as he was about to get up and go do something else, a man appeared in his throne room.

"How, how did you get in here?" Poseidon asked with confusion. His generals were all high-ranking Kings at the present. If a Deity appeared on his floor in any of the factions, he would know of it.

"Hi there friend. I am Lavilin, the man who opened up the dungeon and your future King. It's nice to finally meet you!" He came over and extended his hand to shake Poseidon's. As a true S Rank God, Poseidon was even stronger than Diana as well as over 90% of the other Administrators in Hell. Yet, the strange man in front of him was adorned in Void magic and had a Destiny Seal on his back! What was going on?

"Nice to meet you?" Poseidon shook the man's hand.

"I know about you from the one who helped me open up the dungeon. He said you were named Poseidon, right?"

"Yes, and who exactly helped you?" Poseidon didn't want to let this chance escape him. This person appeared to be at the High Royalty Realm or low Deity Realm. If he could find out which Authority opened the gates, it would be a huge step for their dungeon's security. Knowing the motivations behind strategic world bending events like forcefully opening Hell would be huge!

"Oh, actually, it was all me." Lavilin laughed. "You see, when I became a Shade, I accidentally took some of the memories of people reincarnated from Hell, and now I see memories from time to time that helps me do things I couldn't before."

Poseidon scratched his head. Did this guy open the dungeon by luck? There was no way this was the real story. He had to be lying, but Lavilin looked sincere. The Destiny Seal glowed in the water.

"Oh, sorry about that. It's a little distracting huh." Lavilin took the Destiny Seal and put it into his personal storage space. Now that he had control over his Shade Core, advanced magic like Spatial Storage was a breeze. Poseidon watched curiously.

"Okay, now, let's get down to business." Lavilin snapped his fingers. Two stools and a table formed from Void energy appeared in the throne room. Lavilin took a seat. Poseidon blinked with confusion but took a seat reluctantly.

"Diana gave me the challenge of judging every Administrators. I will punish the bad ones and reward the good ones when I conquer Hell." Lavilin explained.

"That can't be the real challenge she posed," Poseidon thought, perplexed. That was a ridiculous trial, leagues above the normal trials she would normally pose.

"For your performance review, I took a small peak around Floor 1 and decided that it is top notch. My only complaint is that it's more geared towards dead souls and doesn't really pose much of a threat to living people unless they can't swim or don't have a boat." Lavilin nodded as if giving critical advice.

"I appreciate the advice?" Poseidon asked in a confused tone. This wasn't really how the dungeon was supposed to work.

"Thank you for listening. I know you can improve, but don't worry, you're a great Administrator! I give you a B+!" Lavilin clapped and stood up to leave.

"Is there anything else?" Poseidon was beside himself. Normally, souls would challenge him or try to overthrow him, but Lavilin's friendliness and lack of awareness was so abnormal, he might actually be able to clear most of Hell like this, apart from the combat-oriented floors.

"Well, I know you're a busy man, so I'll leave you be. Good luck!" Lavilin sank into the shadows stealthily. It was impressive how fast he left to leave. Was he really unaware of his abnormal behavior? Poseidon wondered if this guy was secretly playing 4D Chess. Well, it wasn't his problem. At least, if that weird guy actually conquered Hell, he would be in a good standing with him.