Styx had previously talked with Irie about the public information of dungeons, due to questions he held toward himself and why he could stockpile experience points rather than living creatures which would automatically undergo the level up process as soon as the threshold was met.
He had a deep understanding of the Max Level concept as he could physically inspect someone's mana network. It was possibly to level up in rapid succession very easily, but this led to no potential being gained in between, and a practically zero expansion of that individual's mana network and resulted in hitting Max Level at anywhere between <Lv. 10> and <Lv. 19>, almost forever unable to become a Second Step ranker.
However, there had never been a dungeon which had been recorded as hitting Max Level nor having a Class Up system. Not to mention, dungeons grew physically with each level up which also seemed to have no relation with potential built up between levels.
Styx observed his own dungeon core, which was his main body, currently still hiding in a pitfall trap he had ingeniously installed on the ceiling in the center of the dungeon. It had grown from the original 70cm in height to 115cm, increasing by 5cm each level respectively.
Despite this, there were still benefits to building up potential between levels. The higher level he reached, the longer it would take to level up each time as the experience points required scaled exponentially. This meant that using as much potential to level up his skills at earlier levels would increase his overall abilities at later levels, even if only by a tiny bit each level.
When a lifeform levelled up, their mana and potential in the mana network would burst out into the body and infuse itself in every cell, slowly evolving them to the theoretical point where they were essentially the embodiment of mana itself. Styx, and other dungeon cores, were already natural conduits for mana, so this wasn't a factor of their leveling system.
Styx was currently <Lv. 9>, and with the large influx of experience from the death of six adventurers, one being a Second Step ranker as well, he reached the required amount of experience.
'Should I, or shouldn't I,' He contemplated to himself as he mentally picked flower petals, trying to decide whether to level up now, or wait.
Eventually, he felt like <Lv. 10> was a significant number, and resolutely hit the marker to trigger his level up procedure.
[
,648 exp used to level up.
Lv. 9 -> Lv. 10
Accumulated skill experience bonus:
Mana Control <Lv. 12> -> <Lv. 13>
Dungeon Control <Lv. 9> -> <Lv. 10>
Mining <Lv. 15> -> <Lv. 16>
+ New Title: Dungeon Lord
]
[
Species: Dungeon Core (Dungeon Master: None)
Name: Styx
Mana: 1,320/1,320
Exp: 249
Level: 10
Abilities:
Dungeon Creation <Lv. MAX>
Mana Control <Lv. 13>
• Mana Infusion
• Mana Vein Creation
Dungeon Control <Lv. 10>
Dungeon Facility Construction <Lv. 7>
• Biomass Converter – 100 mana
• Breeder – 50 mana, 20 biomass
• Storage Crate – 10+ mana, 10 physical material
• Blast Furnace – 100 mana, 20 stone
• Storage Tank – 20+ mana, 20 physical material
• Rotary Mana Engine – 40 mana, 10 stone, 1 iron
• Material Refiner – 150 mana, 10 stone, 2 iron, 1 emerald, 1 ruby, 1 amethyst
• Alchemy Table – 200 mana, 5 stone, 10 iron, 1 ruby, 10 quartz
Basic Dungeon Construction <Lv. 7>
• Scan – 10 mana/m3
• Blueprint Creation – 37 blueprints
• Blueprint Manufacturing – 37 blueprints
• Mental Projection – 1 mana/min
Trap Construction <Lv. 9>
• Bait – 5 mana, 5 biomass
• Spike Trap – 20 mana, 10 stone
• Pitfall Trap – 10 mana, none
• Arrow Trap – 20 mana, 10 stone (5 on reload)
• Weak Poison Gas – 50 mana, 1 stone, 1 biomass (expendable)
• Chaotic Space Trap – 200+ mana• Crushing Wall Trap – 30 mana, 20 stone, 2 iron
Internal Resource Storage <Lv. 12> (49,977/102,400)
• Physical Material – Stone (30,000), Dirt (10,000), Biomass (785), Ardonite (1,200), Manasteel (37.045), Wolfbone Steel (11.988), Wood (114)
• Liquid Material – Water (7,829)
Mining <Lv. 16>
• Basic Material Identification
• Mineral Detection
• Auto-mine
• Overdrive
Avatar Creation <Lv. 1>
Resources:
Biomass – 1,401
Stone – 1.2m
Ardonite – 265,994
Oltrite – 2,875
Black Sand – 256
Dirt – 220,009
Clay – 96,335
Celendine Clay – 134
Wood – 187
Water – 9,700
Iron – 34,102
Copper – 2,048
Tin – 979
Gold – 0.042
Steel – 7,821
Manasteel – 224
Wolfbone Steel – 52.006
Monsters:
• 21x Miners (<Lv. 4> x1, <Lv. 2> x8, <Lv. 1> x12)
• 6x Shroom Gnomes (<Lv. 3> x3, <Lv. 2> x1, <Lv. 1> x2)
• 8x Dirt Gnomes (<Lv. 2> x3, <Lv. 1> x5)
• 6x Forest Goblins (<Lv. 2> x6)
• 5x Stonerats (<Lv. 6> x2, <Lv. 5> x3)
• 12x Forest Assassins (<Lv. 8> x4, <Lv. 7> x8)
• 6x Midnight Guards (<Lv. 7> x6)
• 6x Treant Spirits (<Lv. 11> x3, <Lv. 10> x3)
• 4x Stone-Tailed Foxes (<Lv. 13> x1, <Lv. 12> x3)
Inhabitants:
• 1x Blood Crystal Bee Queen
• 150x Blood Crystal Bee Royal Guard
• 4,766x Blood Crystal Bee Worker/Warrior
Titles:
Level Suppressor, Lusty Dungeon, Dungeon Lord
]
[
Dungeon Lord: A dungeon which has developed its own individuality and has survived under it own rule without being conquered. It is a manifestation of itself which so long as its avatar is alive, cannot have the dungeon core be conquered.
Effects:
+ 10% Stored potential
+ 20% Mana
+ New Skill: Avatar Creation
Avatar Creation: A physical clone of the dungeon, shares all of the dungeon's skills and senses. It consumes an enormous amount of mana to create, so the skill will store mana in a separate space to recreate the avatar in the event of death. Recreation of the avatar will take 7 days of time.Avatar cannot leave the spere of the dungeon's influence.
One free avatar will be awarded upon earning the skill.
]
~~~~~
"What!??" Styx's shouted in shock, even unintentionally sending his shocked voices into the minds of the elven women and one unsuspecting human who woke up in a moment of fright.
"What is the matter?" Therina asked to the dungeon whilst in the middle of training with Elena, Klair and Kale, Rhea and Theo off training to the side also perking up their ears.
Styx was slightly embarrassed, but he felt this avatar of his rapidly being coalesced out of a sudden, enormous influx of mana.
There was an issue with this. His core was currently in a small hidden cavity in the ceiling above one of the bridges, where there was a 10 meter distance between the ceiling and bridge. His core could float, but the body couldn't. It was also very weak as the skill was currently only <Lv. 1>, so such a fall would be crippling.
Not wanting to cripple this new avatar, he called out to the elven girls and told them to hurry over to where his core was located. Theo naturally was told to remain in the training grounds, where he focused on his own training while absentminded.
None of the girls knew where the dungeon core was hidden as Styx had kept it a secret the entire time, so they had to follow his instructions on where to go. They arrived at the location which didn't seem any different from other parts of the dungeon, both excited and nervous.
Styx naturally trusted the elven women, it was kept a secret out of his own paranoia ever since he manifested, but now, he couldn't be conquered so long as his avatar existed.
"Be prepared, I need you to catch my new avatar when it drops from the ceiling."
"Avatar?" Elena quizzically asked while tilting her head in thought.
"Yes, a physical manifestation of myself, the result of a new title. The monsters are too stupid or not dextrous enough for this, now get ready."
Styx's avatar finally manifested in its entirety and his senses were immediately connected with it, like a set of senses which he had just remembered he had. Inside the small cavity was the new Avatar Styx along with a softly glowing 1.2m prismic, blue dungeon core.
It was an extremely strange sensation, to have the senses of a body while also still being omnipresent in the dungeon, as if he was looking at the same thing from two different perspectives at the same time.
"How strange, looking at myself." Styx said while rubbing his hand over the cold, crystal surface of his core.
The trapdoor on the dungeon ceiling was never designs to handle heavy loads from the inside of the door, so the hinges rapidly cracked and broke under the weight of his new avatar's body.
Styx's eyes widened in surprise as he was struck by a sense of weightlessness, the memory of such locked away in long distant memories of his previous life.
He fell from the ceiling among a now broken stone trap door towards where one elf and four dark elves were waiting. They all easily avoided the broken debris while Klair and Kale acted in unison to rescue his falling body.
Not long after it, the dungeon core floated down from the hole in the ceiling under Styx's control. It moved much faster due to higher Mana Control skill level, but it was still relatively slow and would never be able to run away from someone chasing it.
"So beautiful," Therina said amorously as she ignored Styx's new avatar and immediately jumped on the crystalline core.
She rubbed her hands all over it before hugging it and nearly causing it to fall to the floor.
'There is definitely a screw loose in her head,' Elena thought to herself with yet another mental sigh and starting to feel like she was the only sane person in the dungeon.
Elena then eyed up Styx's avatar, which took a similar appearance to his body in his previous life. He was tall, about 6'4", with broad shoulders and a muscular body. He had long, pure straight black hair and deep set eyes.
The body appeared powerful by any measurement, but it was currently been felt up all over by the dark elf twins who were still carrying him. Rhea covered her eyes at the back of the group in embarrassment while all three of the other dark elves were also a bit shy.
As a newly created avatar, Styx was completely naked, a large appendage between his legs which was appeared to be of a remarkably familiar shape to everyone except Rhea. Given the right amount of blood flow, even the size would be a seemingly perfect match too.
"Enough!" Styx stated and pushed himself out of the hands of the twins.
Kale giggled slightly while Klair awkwardly coughed, unsure what to say next. They truly were admiring his new body, as even by elvish standards it was rather handsome. As for whether this opinion was influenced by their connection was still a mystery though.
Styx turned around and built a large stone throne in the middle of the passage before sitting on it, shifting himself several times as he found the stone seat to be quite uncomfortable.
"Ahem, would you like me to get you some clothes?" The conservative Rhea nervously asked while looking to the side, at which Elena also nodded her head in agreement.
"Very well," Styx waved his hand nonchalantly, uncaring whether he was clothed or not. "Therina, stop admiring me and go get some clothes for me, your tailoring skills will be required."
Rhea was about to leave but awkwardly stopped and remained after hearing him suddenly delegating the task to someone else.
As if just noticing the avatar from the first time, she almost jumped back in surprise before rapidly getting closer and also touching his body.
"It works I guess, but… why are you human?" She asked in clear displeasure.
"What are you talking about? I'm a dungeon."
"But…"
"Clothes, now."
Therina nodded her head and quickly left to collect several articles of clothing she had stored from her village for their fabric, along with her tailoring tools.
"This is quite the surprise," Elena stated, waiting for what Styx would say next.
"Indeed, I also was not expecting it, hence I was caught off guard."
"But I've never heard of a dungeon having an avatar before, not that it hasn't happened I'm sure."
"You can consider it me being special then."
Kale looked between the dungeon core and Styx's avatar repeatedly before talking to the avatar Styx in her usual bubbly voice.
"Tell us, tell us, how did you make an avatar?"
Styx squinted his eyes in seriousness and hinted for her to come closer with a curl of the finger. Kale happily obliged and went over to him where he pulled her down to sit in his lap.
"It is a skill given by a new title I earned."
He slipped his hand under the hem of her tunic and ran it up her stomach, sending mana tendrils into her mana network from his fingers as he did so, causing her to lean on him and hum in pleasure from the sensation.
"What is the title?"
"It's called 'Dungeon Lord'."
He cupped his hand around one of her breasts, fondling, squeezing and pinching her nipples as he explored the abilities that hands gave him. Kale was still in public with the other elf women present, not just her twin sister, so she held some shame and nervously tried to hide the action from the others by wrapping her arms around Styx.
Rhea was also a bit too nervous, so Styx waved his hand and dismissed her back to her training.
"I've heard of that title," Therina stated as she just returned with a handful of clothes along with needles, thread and a few other small tools. "But it certainly doesn't give the person the ability to manifest and avatar."
Seeing the elf confused, Styx boisterously laughed before he explained.
"I thought of that at first too, and I should know if all the nobility who were dungeon lords had avatars. I quickly understood it though. It isn't a 'dungeon lord', it is literally a 'Dungeon' lord."