The tree person’s roots wriggled irritably, though why Xander got that impression from the movement he had absolutely no idea, he just knew that was what it meant somehow. When Reginald finally spoke, his annoyance was only barely restrained. “I’m sure you do, many of which could have been answered had you not run off and kept me away.” Before Xander could reply, he continued on relentlessly “Understand that everything I do is for the good of Gaellus and the System, and to a lesser degree, your ability to grow. The things we need to do are for your own good, and the good of this world.”
Xander only barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes. His new ‘manager’ sounded exactly like the self-important cretin who ran the fast food joint he had worked at, and it immediately rubbed him the wrong way. He had recovered a good bit of his patience since losing his cool however, so he swallowed an unhelpful retort. “I don’t really understand what you mean, but I’m here now and willing to learn and get to work. Look, it seems like we are going to be partnered up in this dungeon for a long time, right? So can we please start over and try to get along? I’d rather not have another Dennis type situation.”
“Ah yes, a coworker who you feuded with for almost the entirety of your tenure, correct? Very well, I suppose that would be less preferable than a proper working relationship, though I will remind you that this is your second request to ‘start over’. There will not be a third…” Xander winced at that, but didn’t argue the point. He did, however, ask “I thought you said you couldn’t read my mind? There is no way that you could know that any other way.”
“Your grasp on what is and isn’t possible is still wholly inadequate. I cannot, in fact, read your mind. Rather, I have access to a comprehensive list of your memories that I can utilize when you make reference or I need the information for some other purpose. This is to ensure our proper integration and communication.” Reginald sounded a bit smug as they walked back towards the control room, but Xander did his best to ignore it since he had so many more questions.
“Alright, it's still kind of creepy, but you aren’t wrong” Xander allowed. “Also, it might be rude to ask, but what are you? I mean, like what species?”
“I don’t find it rude per se, especially since I created this body for myself to align with the needs and overall motif of the Dungeon Lord I was to monitor and assist. So I am a unique entity, though I did base the form and functions of those of a treant.” Reginald replied precisely. Xander tried hard not to wince as the implications of that sunk in. This being had created a body, chosen a name, and studied at length just in order to help him out, and he had been treating it as an annoyance at best. He wasn’t sure how or why any of that had happened, but it certainly shed some light on why Reginald had been so irritable.
“Alright, Mr. Sinclair.” Xander said, doing his best to be more respectful before moving on to his next question. “Do you have a book on dryads that I can read? I have no idea what I am, or how anything about my species works.”
“I don’t have a book no, nor are there technically any books in this world as you would recognize them.” Xander’s face fell, and the treant relented. “While I don’t have any books on the matter though, I can grant you access to the system’s database on dryads so you can look up what you want to know. Now that you are a Dungeon Lord you have additional permissions.”
“Oh, that would be really good!” Xander said enthusiastically, “But what do you mean there aren’t any books? Rheagan was talking about education so I figured there would have to be some.”
“Writing on Gaellus took a different path than what you are used to. With the availability of magic, it was much simpler to take a well grown tree and slice it into thin disks. There are a few advantages this has over books from Earth, but the differences also change much about interactions with the written word.” Xander’s eyes widened “Wait wait waittt, is that why the system windows are all disks and turn as I read them?”
“Of course,” Mr. Sinclair snorted, “Writing stacks are the most economical use of space, the text is continuous without the need to find your place between each line, and individual pages can be added, removed, or modified with ease thanks to the central spindle.” Xander was somewhat dubious that there weren’t any downsides to this method, but he held his tongue to keep from insulting the treant accidentally now that they had started to get along at least a little better.
By this point, they had reached the throne room and descended into the control room once more. “Alright, so I’m a Dungeon Lord now I guess,” Xander said, “But what does that mean exactly? I wasn’t exactly in great shape when I got offered this… opportunity, so it was pretty much either this or die. How screwed am I exactly?”
“Hmpph, don’t think of it as a punishment,” Mr. Sinclair said acerbically, “Becoming a Dungeon Lord is something that doesn’t happen very often to those already using the System. In fact, it is a vital position that will strengthen you and Gaellus greatly.” Xander had his doubts, but was trying to be more open. “Okay, if it is such a good thing, then why is it so rare?”
“The first thing that you need to understand is that magic isn’t actually an unlimited resource. With your technological background you might be able to understand this better than most natives. Nothing comes for free, and the System has its own limitations, including how many resources are available to it.” Xander nodded slowly, it was indeed something he understood. “Alright, I can see that, so you’re saying that it costs the System resources to make a Lord then?”
“Yes, it does, that’s the main problem. You see, Dungeon Lords are a sort of investment. They cost significant resources to create, but there are many pitfalls early on in their development that can lead to their destruction, and the loss of that investment.” The little treant seemed happier and more animated talking about this topic than Xander had ever seen him before. “The two biggest causes of this are Lords who ignore the advice of their D.I.E. and cause an imbalance in their dungeon, and Lords who get themselves killed permanently.”
“Wait… what do you mean permanently? Isn’t all death kind of permanent?" Xander asked, honestly curious about the distinction.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Not for a Dungeon Lord it isn’t, and besides, you should already know better, Xander.”
“Mmmm, okay, yeah I suppose I’ll give you that one, though I could point out that I did actually die, and reincarnation in a new body in a different world wouldn’t help whatever the goal of all this is.”
“This is different though,” insisted Mr. Sinclair, “A Dungeon Lord who is killed in their dungeon will be resurrected after a certain amount of time, based on their power level and a few other factors.” Xander’s jaw dropped open as he was hit with the welcome news, but the treant wasn’t quite done yet. “Please pay attention, since if this was an ability without faults, then obviously losing Dungeon Lords wouldn’t be such an issue. The problem is that there are multiple ways to get around that resurrection, or to invalidate it. If you are killed outside of the dungeon, you do not resurrect. If you are killed several times within a certain timeframe, you do not resurrect. There are a few powers that can prevent regeneration and resurrection. And finally, if enough damage is done to the dungeon, its core, or the leyline, you will not be able to resurrect.” he said with a grim stare.
Xander nodded slowly. If there were that many ways to cancel out the resurrection, then he could see why it wasn’t quite the catch-all shield it had sounded like. “Alright,” he said slowly, still thinking things over, “How much of this do adventurers know about? Like, if everyone knew this information, then there would be little point in having Dungeon Lords at all.”
His guide looked surprised at the insight, and nodded with a grudging respect. “Very few know this information, mostly only other Dungeon Lords, other types of System agents, and some extremely high leveled adventurers and researchers.”
“How is that possible though? Secrets are next to impossible to keep. I mean, you guys don’t have the internet or anything, but I would think that people would share important information like that around.”
“There are multiple factors at play, but it is a combination of greed, power, and System restrictions. Dungeon Lords are usually incredibly powerful, and so only those with power have the opportunity to learn through experimentation. And as for yourself and other Dungeon Lords, well… there is a psychic lock on the information, which means that if you tried to talk about it with someone not already authorized, you would simply fail in the endeavor.” Mr. Sinclair shrugged a little, but before Xander could ask more about it, he shook his head, the leaves on it rustling slightly. “This conversation is wandering too far, and we still have much work to do. We can revisit this at a later point, but there are some critical tasks that you need to take care of.”
Restraining the urge to complain, Xander made sure to note this down to look into again in the future. He was not a big fan of anyone or anything telling him what he could or couldn’t say, especially if that something was apparently in his brain mucking about. “Fine,” he groaned, “What do we have to do first?”
“You’ve already completed your first few tasks, or at least your subconscious did.” Mr. Sinclair either didn’t notice or chose not to remark on Xander’s reluctance. “You created the minions that will populate your dungeon, and a generic layout of the grounds and type. We will revisit these later to add some refinement. For now, the first thing you need to do is add your bonus stats.”
“Bonus stats?” Xander asked, pulling up his character disk. There was nothing different there from the changes that he had made right before causing this whole debacle.
“You won’t find them there… these stats only apply while you are in the dungeon, and can only be selected from the dungeon core interface,” Mr. Sinclair said patiently waving at the crystalline orange cube. Xander reached a hand out to it, and upon touching the cool surface, a disk appeared floating at eye level. It didn’t look like a hologram or energy projection, but instead appeared to be a thin slice of circular wood that came from nowhere.
Welcome to the dungeon interface for The Grove of Bones. Your name is currently set to Dungeon Lord Xander. Accept or Change?
He stared at the screen for a moment, then sighed heavily. “Everyone’s going to think I’m a necromancer, aren’t they?” Mr. Sinclair shrugged his little wooden shoulders, “Probably. Is that a problem for you?” Xander thought about it, and then shrugged back. “I suppose it isn’t, actually. Is there any reason that I should change my name?” The treant shook his head. “No, not for you. Some wish to keep their identity a secret and others are just attaining sentience.”
Xander accepted the name as is, and the disk flipped over to reveal more text on the other side.
Select an option:
. Dungeon Status Disk
. Dungeon Lord Status Disk
. Minion Status List
. Trap Status List
. Intruder Information List
. Dungeon Modification Menu
. Minion Modification Menu
. Trap Modification Menu
“You know, now would be a great time for the camera to pan out and then go to various cuts of me studying and working on this stuff.” Xander said, only half joking. “I’m sorry, Lord…” Mr. Sinclair said as dryly as kiln fired wood, “But even with all my magnificent magical powers I can’t simply make your work into a montage.”
Xander chuckled a bit, then selected the Dungeon Lord Status Disk. The disk flipped over again, now showing a familiar stat disk.
Dungeon Lord Information Disk: Xander
Race: Dryad (Level 11)
Class: (Reclamation Mage)
Title: Dungeon Lord (Minor)
HP: 50/50 MP: 130/130
Stats:
Strength - 2
Agility - 5
Resilience - 5
Regeneration - 10
Intellect - 5
Insight - 5
Magic Resonance - 10
Mana Pool - 13
Stat Points Available: 30
Affinities:
Nature: 90 (99)
Death: -75 (-50)
Fire: -50 (-25)
Water: 25 (50)
Divinity: 20 (45)
Heresy: 10 (35)
He almost couldn’t believe his eyes, and he nearly choked at the considerable changes. Almost all of his affinities had increased by 25 points, except for Nature, and he found it interesting that it didn’t even reach 100, which meant that he could still take damage from nature based magical attacks. But that was small potatoes compared to the thirty stat points he had available! "Reginald," he said in an excited whisper, "Are you telling me that this is valid? That I have thirty motherfucking stat points to spend?"