“There’s a book on dungeon development?” If Erin had a book, she could just give it to him, and Ryan would know everything.
“Mm-hmm. It’s called the Dungeon Master’s Guide,” Erin said. “No one knows who developed it, but all dungeon fairies are taught from it. The book itself has been lost for a long time, though, so the elders only have notes pulled from it.”
That explained why she seemed uncertain about a lot of things. If Ryan had to guess, his sweet loveable airheaded Erin hadn’t been the best student. And he doubted she took notes of her own.
“Well, I guess next time I'll try not to play by the book,” Ryan said. “It’s no fun if I can’t surprise them.”
Marcus started to speak again.
“Now, there are a few other things to address before I let the dives begin.” Marcus pulled out a pendant. “As you all know, the dungeon town has now established its own teleportation crystal. As such, when you have gone as far as you wish in the dungeon, please use your pendants to teleport back to town. The clerics will establish a healing tent next to the crystal, to tend to your wounds.”
He pulled out the disc that was used to track adventurers.
“The moment your team teleports out, the crystals will flash blue, letting us know you have left, before they dim. That way, we can send more teams through on a faster schedule.”
The crowd broke out in cheers. Ryan couldn’t help but cheer as well. More teams each day meant more opportunities to level up. He really wanted more mob points so he could begin skeletal fight club once again.
Marcus looked at the crowd of adventurers, and as he scanned the group, his lip curled up and his eyes seemed to fill with distaste.
“I also see, with the implementation of our own teleportation crystal, the kingdoms have begun sending in nobles to train.”
A few of the more well-dressed members in the crowd frowned at this statement.
“Just know this,” Marcus went on. “The Adventurers’ Guild is not to be held responsible for any of your deaths. Dungeons are dangerous places, and accidents happen. The kingdoms understand this and have likely provided strong enough guards to protect the nobles as they conduct their dives. However, I don’t doubt one or two of you will be foolish enough to get yourselves killed in the dungeon. Just know if that happens, no one will cry, and no one will come and avenge you. You’ve been warned.”
The well-dressed individuals’ faces had taken on a mask of rage, while Marcus seemed to be smirking.
“Guess he really doesn’t like nobles, whatever those are,” Ryan whispered.
“I wonder why?” Erin peered at the groups through Ryan’s crystal.
Other than being dressed in much finer clothes than the other adventurers, Ryan couldn’t see anything that would make the rogue dislike the nobles as much as he seemed to. Guess he would just have to wait till they dove into the dungeon to make his own opinion.
“All right, with that done,” Marcus said, rubbing his hands. “Each group will once again draw lots to choose dive order. You are allowed to wait in town, but know that if you are more than fifteen minutes late when your number is called, you will be skipped.”
He stepped out of Ryan’s wolf skull, and Rasha and Sasha appeared at his side.
“Now,” Marcus announced, spreading his arms wide. “Let’s begin!”
Ryan was certain he and Erin cheered louder than the adventurers.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Ryan watched another group of adventurers teleport out of his dungeon, having barely managed to defeat Steve. So far, three groups of adventurers had entered, all new to Ryan, all with members in Bronze, and all barely able to clear his first floor. Three adventurers had fallen so far, courtesy of his single infested ratbie’s paralysis poison. It was like they were surprised when the paralysis kicked in during the fight against Steve.
“What in the name of the Goddess is going on?” Ryan groaned.
“I’m not sure. Where are the regular groups?” Erin shook her head, and Ryan could tell she was disappointed.
They both wanted adventurers to test out their second floor. But so far, it had only been these noobs – a term Ryan remembered the fire mage using to describe Blake during the initial exploration dive. He knew it was derogatory, but it described these weak adventurers so well.
“I see one regular group waiting outside, but they haven’t stepped up yet.” Ryan was secretly starting to hate the selection process. He wanted an advanced group, and he wanted them now.
“Oh, one of the noble groups is up next,” Ryan said.
As he spoke, a group consisting of four impressively armored soldiers and a well-dressed man stepped towards Marcus.
“It’s about time,” the noble said, shoving his pendant against the disc in Marcus’s hands. “How dare you make me wait for a bunch of second-rate commoners?”
Ryan was pretty sure he saw a vein twitch in the rogue’s eye.
“Baron Aaron, is it?” Marcus’s voice was cold.
“It is actually pronounced A-a-ron,” the noble replied haughtily. “My family has elven blood in our lineage, from my great-grandfather’s line. As such, we choose to adopt their noble naming convention, and emphasize our vowels. Though I wouldn’t expect a commoner like you to understand.”
Marcus’s eye twitched again, and his knuckles grew white on the disc. Ryan was starting to see why the rogue disliked nobility.
“Very well, A-a-ron,” Marcus said through gritted teeth. “I would love to see how your guards carry your sorry self through the dungeon. Please do try not to get killed just yet.”
The noble turned his chin up towards Marcus, fingers on his sword. “Are you implying that I cannot take care of myself?”
“I’m implying that you’re going to get good men killed with that attitude.” Marcus’s tone was cold, and Ryan was certain if looks could kill, A-a-ron would have died right there.
“My lord, please.” One of the guards stepped forward, bowing towards the baron. “Do not allow this lowly rogue to waste your time.”
“Good point." The baron motioned for the four men surrounding him to step forward. As one, they marched into Ryan’s dungeon, the noble safely positioned in between his guards.
“Now, let’s see just how strong they—“ Ryan pulled up the stats on the noble’s group. “—well, that’s just not fair.”
All four of the guards were Gold, while A-a-ron was high Silver.
“Hmm, well, you wanted a strong group to clear the first floor.” Erin had perked up, and was watching the group as they advanced.
As they neared the first room, A-a-ron stopped at the entrance, and the four Gold guards stepped forward. With practiced ease, they eliminated all the mobs in the room, and once again took up their protective formation around the noble as they started towards his second room.
“Yeah, but this just seems like cheating,” Ryan complained. “That noble is getting all the experience, while doing none of the work.”
I wonder if the noble even knows how to fight?
Ryan started to formulate a plan.
“Ugh. Guards, I will not walk through these filthy plants.” A-a-ron’s voice pulled Ryan from his scheme, and he watched as one of the guards stepped forward. A quick glance at his class told Ryan all he needed to know, and a second later, all the greenery in his second room burst into flames, instantly turning everything to ash. Ryan hated it when adventurers did that.
“I’m really starting to dislike this guy,” Ryan muttered.
“Me too,” Erin sighed as the group marched easily towards Steve’s room. Ryan’s poor first-floor boss didn’t stand a chance.
Sure enough, the four guards killed Steve before the boss mob could even launch his attack at A-a-ron, as Ryan had been planning.
“This dungeon is pathetic.” The noble flicked a small piece of bone off his clothes, the closest he had gotten to a skeleton yet. “Like, seriously, why must Father send me to such a drab place?”
&n
bsp; “Sir, you know nobles need to reach Platinum before they can be deemed a worthy successor,” the first guard – named Frank – said as he picked up the gold coin Steve had dropped.
“Yes, yes,” the noble said. ”But why this dungeon? It’s in the middle of nowhere, the town is pathetic, and the dungeon is only Silver tiered.” A-a-ron let out a sigh as the guards surrounded him and began towards the door at the end of Steve’s room. They were the first group to reach the door and actually choose to move on.
“Well, sir, it’s common practice to send nobles to Silver-tiered dungeons so that there is less of a chance of an accident occurring.” Frank cleared his throat. “We can keep you safe in this dungeon. The next lowest dungeon in existence is a high Gold fire dungeon, which has been known to wipe out entire parties of Gold—“
“Are you implying I cannot pull my own weight?” The noble pulled out a finely crafted sword, waving it at the guard. Ryan was sure A-a-ron intended it to be threatening, but the noble didn’t seem to know how to actually use his weapon. Ryan saw the guards behind the noble smirk.
“No, sir. It’s just… we would never wish to burden you with having to fight in the dungeon. Please, allow us to keep you safe as we level you up.”
A-a-ron huffed, and after three attempts, managed to sheathe his sword.
“Very well. Just know: the noble blood running through my veins means that even at Silver, I am much stronger than all of you. Never forget that.”
“I don’t like him,” Ryan repeated as the group walked through the long tunnel towards the second floor.
“He is rather dislikable, isn’t he?” The fairy frowned at the noble.
“Can we—“
“No.” Erin stopped him before he even finished his thought. “You know it’s not proper dungeon etiquette.”
“I’m getting really tired of this etiquette at times,” Ryan moaned. “Besides, he’s high Silver. I’m sure that would give us enough to reach Silver Eight.”
Three Bronze adventurers had barely filled a third of his experience triangle, but Ryan was sure a high Silver would do the trick. Then he would have enough points to start up skeletal fight club again.
“You know I want you to get stronger, Ryan,” Erin said. “But we can’t go around dropping boulders on people’s heads, no matter how dislikable they are. Dungeon etiquette is in place to keep you safe. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to tell you now, dungeons that break etiquette do not live for long. The Adventurers’ Guild has no qualms closing off dungeons that grow too dangerous. And, if that doesn’t stop you, or they view you as an even graver threat, the guild will destroy you. Everyone out there knows that, which is why so many adventurers are flocking to you. They don’t know how long you will be around.”
She had already told him these very facts many times. Ryan knew etiquette was important, and he had no intention of angering the guild. But still; this noble really deserved a good stoning.
“But we did it to Josh,” Ryan grumbled.
“Josh was evil. A-a-ron is just, well, a spoiled brat. That’s not a crime in the eyes of the Goddess.”
“Fiiiine,” Ryan moaned, watching as the group neared his second floor.
Sure, Erin said he couldn’t just flat-out kill A-a-ron. But Ryan was sure he could at least have some fun with the noble. Especially on his second floor.
Chapter Fifty-Four
“Break down the door.” A-a-ron stood with his arms crossed, staring at his guards.
They had reached the second room of the second floor and had discovered the locked door. Good luck with that. Ryan pushed a little more mana into the door’s reinforcements just in case the guards decided to give it a try.
“Sir, generally, attempting to force open a locked door in a dungeon is ill-advised.” As Frank spoke, the other guards nodded in agreement. Given their ranks, Ryan was sure they had all spent a good amount of time either in dungeons, or in extensive training.
“Bah! Are you implying we have to play this dungeon’s little game and search for the three keys?” A-a-ron aimed a petulant kick at the door. He missed.
“Yes,” Ryan snapped. “That’s exactly what you have to do, you pretentious little—“
“Ryan.” Erin shot him a look. “Language.”
“Sorry, hun,” Ryan said sheepishly. He turned back to the group. A-a-ron was really starting to irritate him.
“Trust me, Ryan, if it wasn’t so dangerous, I would be asking you to drop a rock on his head right now.” Erin gave Ryan’s core a comforting touch.
A-a-ron had insulted every aspect of Ryan’s dungeon so far. He really wasn’t looking forward to the baron reaching Buttercup.
“Ugh, it’s so hard being good sometimes.”
The noble’s words interrupted them.
“Let’s get this over with, then,” the spoiled man said. “Hopefully this dungeon’s next boss isn’t as pathetic as the first. I would rather rank up as fast as possible.”
A-a-ron motioned to the guards, and the group headed towards the next room. Sure, Ryan couldn’t purposefully drop a rock on A-a-ron, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have his mobs target the noble.
“Let’s see how well he—“ Ryan stopped as the guards opened the door and quickly stepped in front of the noble, blocking any chance Ryan’s skeletal archers had of hitting him. With ease, the Gold guards destroyed his two mobs.
“Would you like to grab the first key, sir?” Frank motioned towards the tower of bones.
Ryan had made his keys out of bones and had named this one the skeleton key.
“I hate your sense of humor at times,” Erin commented as Ryan started chuckling. He could only imagine the looks the guards were giving each other was because of the name on the key.
The noble spoke. “Psh, like I would soil my hands with such a filthy thing,” he said.
“Very well, sire.” Frank stepped forward, reaching towards the skeleton key.
Ryan held his nonexistent breath, waiting.
As Frank’s hand brushed against the key, the pile of bones erupted in motion. Huzzah, sneks!
“Yes!”
Ryan’s cheer faded as Frank’s skin seemed to turn to metal. The sneks that lunged at him slammed against his metallic exterior, shattering into tiny bone fragments.
Right. Frank was a centurion, an elemental knight with an earth affinity.
“Well, that’s just no fun.” Ryan pouted, silently mourning the death of his newest mobs. At least he knew the sneks would surprise the other adventurers if they had managed to catch Frank by surprise.
“Maybe next time, hun,” Erin comforted him, though she seemed just as disappointed as he was.
“You know, I really hate the idea of this group being the first to face Buttercup,” Ryan said.
The group headed towards the next room, again leaving A-a-ron at the entrance while the guards easily dispatched the four mobs within. Ryan hated to admit it, but the guards were definitely well trained. If only A-a-ron wasn’t with them.
“At least there aren’t many noble groups out there,” Erin said.
“Yeah, but those other adventurers weren’t prepared at all.” Ryan wanted the original groups back.
The new adventurer groups were too weak, the noble groups too strong, but the original groups – Blake’s group – were just right.
“They will learn, hun,” Erin said. “They will grow stronger. It’s not like they have a guide to tell them what to expect. How would they have known your infested ratbies cause paralysis? All the original groups had to learn on their own as well. You just got used to them knowing what your mobs could do.”
She was right. Ryan had become used to his original groups. They had been just as clumsy as these new groups in the beginning, and Ryan had got to watch them grow stronger over time.
However, he wanted these new groups to be just as prepared now, without weeks of trial and error. Otherwise, it was going to be a while before Ryan could gain a significant amount
of experience, and level up. Perhaps he could come up with a way to help prepare these new groups, to prevent pointless Bronze deaths. Then he could benefit from the Silver experience.
Hmm.
“What are you thinking?” Erin’s voice pulled him out of his musings.
Ryan had come up with a new plan, and he was certain he would be able to implement it in a few days. He just needed to try a few things out.
“Nothing, hun. How’s our super powerful baron doing?” Ryan’s voice was filled with sarcasm as he watched the group head towards the room with the third key. At least Ryan would get to see his new trap in action.
“The Baron of Complaints has just been complaining about the state of your dungeon so far,” Erin said. “It seems the guards, other than Frank, are just doing their best to ignore him.”
“I don’t blame them,” Ryan said.
He watched as Frank pushed open the door to the third pillar room, the guards stepping forward cautiously as they scanned for enemies.
“Oh,” Erin said, clapping her hands. “This room should be amusing, at least.”
The fairy’s wings fluttered excitedly as she looked into his core. According to Erin, only adventurers with a thief class, a ranger class, or certain mages, were able to detect traps proficiently.
That meant the four guards, who were all elemental knights, wouldn’t be able to detect Ryan’s traps. That could be amusing indeed.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” A-a-ron’s voice came across in an irritated whine. His foot was tapping as he stared at the backs of the stationary guards.
“There aren’t any mobs in here, sir,” Frank explained. “It is likely the room is trapped.”
The four guards were carefully walking towards the pillar, taking slow, measured steps. They couldn’t detect traps, but Ryan was sure they had experience with a plethora of different types. He hoped his could at least surprise them.
“The dungeon hasn’t had any advanced traps so far.” A-a-ron pushed past Frank. “What makes you think it would have any—“
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 23
