Harvest Dungeon

"So the badgers can choose which hole to attack from?" Elisia asked as we walked.

I nodded. "Yes. There are also more badgers than holes. I hoped that would surprise the invaders if more than one came out of a hole. I have more I want to do on this floor, but I will use my own magic to create it." I added.

"Your own magic?" Elisia asked. "I have heard you are a mana lord, but you have just barely started using it, and your level is low. Can you effectively use your magic?" Elisia asked.

"Yes. I can tap into the dungeon for more mana, and the trials in Runic Shift exposed me to a lot of different spells and how to alter them to make them work for my situation. I also have a pretty good memory. I am pretty sure I could reform the portal spell your sire brought you here with." I told her.

"Seriously?" Elisia asked then was silent for a moment. "You are certain?" she asked.

I paused for a moment as I tried to imagine the image in my mind. It was fairly clear and while it appeared in a different dialect, it was still runic. I would have never arranged the runes that way on my own, but I could understand why it was done that way and what its purpose was.

"Yes, why do you have coordinates you want to use to summon someone else?" I asked her.

"No, not at this time, but if you can use that spell, I have several locations we could go to if we want to do raids for resources. Let alone there is nothing stopping the use of portals in this trial as long as the user them self makes the portal. Knowing this I would place you solidly within the top ten contenders for this trial." Elisia told me.

I frowned. "Are you certain? Wouldn"t others who have more training and higher levels have an advantage over me?" I asked.

"No. There are hundreds of trials in process and starting, candidates who enter the trial are separated by trial level and age so the gaps between individual strengths aren"t too big. There will still be some imbalance like in your case, but it isn"t meant to be completely fair. Also level means nothing. It is a system of this world, and is actually a limiter. Everyone starts off as a level one. As their levels raise most of the candidates regain the strength they had before." Elisia told me.

"Wait what? Are you saying I have an advantage and why limit us?" I asked.

"Of course you have an advantage. How did my sire and his dames look at you when they realized that you were a mana lord?" she asked me.

"Respectful. Though it was only after they heard I did it on my own without a teacher." I replied with a thought.

"Exactly. Remember how powerful my sire is, he would not show any respect to someone who hadn"t earned it. From what Lilian has told me, if you had access to mana and became a mana lord before you entered the trial, you would have probably entered a level eight or even level nine trial instead of the level seven. Do you understand now?" she asked.

I shook my head, "Not really, I am not even sure how I ended up in a level seven. I was under the impression that the company usually uses lower level trials. Besides that I am sure there are plenty of others who have reached mana lord by my age, maybe even younger." I replied.

"Yes there are, and they too would have an advantage. As to limiting you as you enter. It is to make things harder on you. You can argue that it makes it more fair, but in a level seven trial every contestant has their own skills. None of them are weak, including those who enter later. Avoiding the mediators, clearing a testing ground, and establishing their own dungeon, none of those are simple things." Elisia told me. "As to why you are in a level seven trial, there are two options available when a contestant enters the trials. If as in your situation, the contestant is being forced into it. Only the first three levels, or a level suitable to the strength of the individual, can be selected. I would guess the company usually chose one the first option, in your case the second option must have been chosen."

I nodded finally understanding the large discrepancy between where I was and where I was supposed to end up. "Come on, we still have a bit more to see then head down to the next floor." I told them.

"Any ideas for the next floor?" Vanessa asked.

I shook my head. I had ideas, I just didn"t see any point until I had a better idea of what kind of beast we would get once the serpent gem was synchronized with the core. I didn"t need to give Zephirah another opportunity to tease me. Besides I had a bit of hope that whatever Zephirah had gotten for Vanessa might give us some kind of clue to what we needed to do to resolve her issue. Once that was done we could have a discussion with the company and maybe get a larger variety of plants to use in the dungeon. I was sure we would have to agree to some kind of contract, but getting access to more magic plants would be worth it. Let alone I wanted to see if we would get enchanted plants every time I used the earth slime on them, or if it was a roll of the dice type of situation.

Once we reached the arena tiles I pointed out the earth golem then realized that I was missing the level three upgrade. I could also give the giant badger three upgrades. I would handle that all later. I wanted to grab a meal and get the synchronization over with.

"I like the idea of having the badger attack them from behind. There is no honor in this contest, and flanking your opponent is a tactic nearly as old as time." Elisia said with approval.

"That was what I was aiming for, but knowing a bit more about how much s.p.a.ce I have to work with, I have another idea I can use in here." I told her.

"I look forward to it. The energy and loot we will get from eliminating invaders will be well worth the work." Elisia told me.

"It will, but I am sure we will gain more from the crops, let alone what we will be able to do with the floors with the rarer ones." Zephirah spoke up.

"It is not a unique idea, but it is still a good one." Elisia replied.

I chuckled but didn"t say anything as I led them to the door which opened for us, I was sure it was Zephirah"s doing.

"Nope, unkeyed doors open automatically. They aren"t actually locked doors until they have a key." Zephirah told me mentally then we entered the portal to the third floor.

The third floor was huge compared to the second floor, also empty. I had the ten tiles of amber mint and one living tile of silver shamrock near the house but everything else was empty. I wanted to get some crops planted, at least blue dandelion, but the sheer number of them turned me off from the idea. Besides I was tired and hungry. I would get a chance to relax and eat while Zephirah did the synchronization.

Reaching the house I remembered that it was really small, and we had another addition to our number. We were going to have to expand it soon, especially since I knew I wanted to have some privacy, especially as the bathroom didn"t have a lock.

I looked to Zephirah who seemed to be contemplating. "We could, we have a few options available to us with our current funds." she told me aloud.

I winced, I hadn"t even thought about the price of my modifications earlier.

"Don"t worry about it. It is the only defense we really have at the moment so the price is worth it." she told me. "I wouldn"t do that again though. Serious alteration of the floor"s height gets pricey. Next time we can just plant in the ceiling, it would be cheaper." she told me.

I stopped and stared at her. I hadn"t even considered that. We still use it if we wanted too, it would increase the density of ice mana in the floor.

"Wait till later, if you want to upgrade the house we can wait on adding ceiling plants." Zephirah told me. "Changing the ceiling to be plant able costs a bit, but not as much as raising the floor"s height nine feet." she told me.

I nodded, though I was certain we weren"t hurting for energy. I was sure she would be more panicked if we were. However I would need to get a better sense of how much energy we had, and how much we gained from the ambient.

"A larger home would be nice." Vanessa chipped in.

"Hoping to put more s.p.a.ce between you and Jason?" Zephirah asked.

"Maybe, maybe less s.p.a.ce." Vanessa countered,

Zephirah snorted then flew to the door as we arrived at the house.

"Let"s do dinner, then we can pretend to head to bed. Once we play that out I can set the image of us sleeping as what company sees, then start the synchronization." Zephirah told us.

I agreed then led us all inside. I knew bringing Seth and Elisia inside would raise questions, but I had a sure proof way to handle them.

Sure enough fake Candice showed up as soon as we appeared.

"Oh! Where did you get the dog?" Candice asked distastefully.

I looked at the fake Candice in surprise, usually she played the role of my sister really well, and Candice loved dogs. Elisia wasn"t a dog, but she looked close enough. "Thought you liked dogs." I commented moving closer to the orb so I could pick out a meal. "What did you guys want?" I asked.

"What is available?" "Elisia replied after giving fake Candice a dirty look. .

"Mostly food from my home world." I replied.

"Then steak, hold the sides, make that two." Elisia replied.

"I am fine for now." Seth spoke up.

"A chicken Caesar salad sounds good." Vanessa added in.

I nodded then ordered everything and a plate of tacos for myself.

"So?" fake Candice asked.

I shook my head, "too much happened. Food, rest, then we can talk in the morning." I replied.

Fake Candice glared at me then with a grunt she disappeared.

"That was your plan?!" Zephirah asked astonished.

"You blocking this?" I asked.

"Of course." Zephirah replied.

I nodded. "Then yes. She has to play the role, so…" I said then left it hanging. "Granted she did screw it up when she saw Elisia."

"Does the real Candice like dogs?" Lilian asked eagerly.

I nodded, "dogs, wolves, any and all kinds of canines." I replied.

"Are there any other kinds?" Vanessa asked.

"Coyotes, dingoes, foxes, jackals, chihuahua…" I listed.

"Aren"t the chihuahuas considered dogs?" Vanessa asked.

"Anything smaller than a football is a rodent in my book, though I haven"t been able to convince Candice." I replied pretending to be aggrieved.

Vanessa giggled then moved to the box on the counter to pull all the meals out. Since we didn"t have a better place for her to eat we had to set Elisia"s plates on the ground. She didn"t seem to mind though so I didn"t bring it up.
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Dinner was quiet and quick. Then as we planned we all headed to bed. Elisia jumped up onto mine while Seth stayed with Vanessa. As we weren"t actually going to sleep I didn"t comment. Though it did solidify the idea of expanding the house. Since Vanessa accepted the champion position I had been feeling more possessive of the woman. Like the fact that she willingly agreed made everything more acceptable. Not sure how that logic actually worked, or if her charm was aiding in the shift in my thought process, but it was there. Having another male in my girl"s bed didn"t sit well with me.

"Good to know." Zephirah said in my head then the lights dimmed. The room stayed dark for a few moments then the light returned. "Alright we are good to go." Zephirah announced.

"So anything I need to do?" I asked.

"Just agree when the screen pops up." Zephirah told me.

"Don"t bother me." Elisia told me from the foot of my bed. " I can still move if I need too, but I am told it will make it more unpleasant."

I nodded. "Great, then let"s get this over with." I said.

Zephirah flew over to the orb then opened it and returned to her core form. "How long does this last?" I asked mentally.

"Twenty minutes." Zephirah replied mentally with a giggle.

"Didn"t you say it would take a while?" I asked mentally.

"I lied." she replied mentally. "I need the serpent gem." she added aloud.

"Why?" I asked mentally.

"How else am I supposed to synchronize it?" she mentally asked with a giggle.

"Here." Vanessa said handing me a pale green gem that looked like a dull emerald while I was glaring at the sprite.

"Where? Wait never mind." I was about to ask about where the gem had been but then shook my head, I wasn"t sure I wanted to know.

"Fine, I was suspicious of him too." Zephirah told me mentally, "but he has behaved himself and has shown no signs of becoming a problem, and yes there are plenty of ways he could be a problem without betraying his allegiance."

"Fine." I thought then held out my hand with the serpent gem and Elisia"s wolf shard towards Zephirah"s core.

A screen appeared in front of me asking if I wanted to synchronize the gem and shard to the core. I agreed.

As soon as the screen disappeared the gem and shard floated up off my hand then began to orbit around the core.

I smiled at the sight then turned to look at the others.

Seth had grown to the size I had initially seen him forcing Vanessa into a corner.

"Orifus! Vanessa get the core!" Seth shouted.

Before I could question what was going on Seth struck his mouth open and fangs dripping with venom as he aimed for my head.