The door to the 5th floor opened to me. My expectations were getting rather high after the first four floors. This place wasn’t like the ones before. Instead of fungal hive minds or electric man-eating turtles this place was a prairie.

“What’s the catch?” I said. My face was beginning to feel really itchy.

I took the mask off and scratched my face. When something came off in my nails. I felt warts everywhere, my face had been infested by the spores. The mask was a trap!

“You might want to get that checked out. It looks contagious.” Luci said. I heard her chuckle as the communication dropped. She wasn’t my ally; our conversations had made me forget that.

What I did next still haunts me to this day. I took the mask and heated it with tier II fire. There was a risk that the fungi would take advantage of my regeneration. I needed far more heat. When the mask was good and hot I lowered my face to the fire pit, closed my eyes, and slammed my face into the mask.

I lost two days after that. When I awoke, I was laying in a field of ash. For miles around nothing lived, there was no whistling of cicadas.

The teeth of animals littered the ground. No bones besides teeth survived the heat of my flames. There were no teeth 30ft around were I woke up.

My fire and pain resistance were maxed out to the third tier. My robes were in tatters. They draped off my shoulders.

The mask had melted flowing down my face and chest. The remnants had hardened on the ground.

Using the reflection off a scimitar, I was able to get a good look at the damage. I had cast heal over and over in my pain filled delirium. My face was made of white flesh the same color as the mask. There was no pigment to it as all. It was smooth too. I had a beard before and now that was gone. My lips were no longer their normal red. They had become as white as the rest of my face. The hair atop my head was gone, along with all my body hair. Only paper white skin remained. A pop up told me the reason.

New skill

[Dragon skin lv45 – The user has gained flesh akin to a dragon’s due to intense pain and evolutionary triggers. Mag Def 450%Wis, Phys Def 450%Con. +45Wis, +45Con.]

I inspected my hands, mana bounced off my new scaley skin. My body had changed, like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, I emerged refreshed. Burnt bodies littered the area. As I walked through the ashen waste land, the bodies became more whole. I didn’t know how long I had been out of it, at the time I didn't want to know. I had thought it had been minutes a few hours at most.

“John, are you there?” Luci said.

I ignored her and continued. After a few miles the grass land returned. This place was much larger than I thought. Not that it mattered anymore. I had been betrayed.

“Why do you follow the mistress? Was anything you said the truth? If not, then what else have you lied about?” I asked the dungeon.

“John, I never lied to you. From the beginning, I told you I was a dungeon. I eat adventurers like you. Its nothing personal. To me you're just food. The politics of the surface are meaningless to me. I am on the side of whoever rules the city above. If I betrayed my neutrality, then the supply of adventurers would dry up.” That was right. The dungeon was in it for herself, just as I was in this for myself. Besides, my charisma was far too low to tempt a dungeon from its neutrality.

“What can you tell me Luci?” I asked.

“I can warn you about floors coming up. I can tell you your chances of success based on others who have challenged my floors. What I won’t do it reward you more than you earned, I won’t stop my mobs from killing you, and I won’t warn you of traps until after the fact.” Luci said.

I was understandably pissed. While in this dungeon, Luci was all business. The mask was a glaring example of that. There were bound to be man eater chests and other trapped pieces of armor. Could I trust anything this dungeon gave me? I took the spore skill book out of my inventory and burned it. Fire was second nature now.

The clearing was a vast pile of ash and bone. The prairie would retake it over time. Before that happened, I wanted to leave my mark on this place. A seed appeared in my hand. I altered it as I began creating an all new tree. Thousands of MP went into the creation of this new plant.

I tossed the seed in the ash and watched it grow rapidly. There was plenty of mana in the air to use as nourishment. The ash mixed soil was easy for the trees roots to dig through. A massive root system began to develop as the tree grew ever taller. Mana was taken from the air and the tree used it to grow ever faster. The air began to chill as the trees black leaves leeched the heat.

New skill

[Wood Craft lv1 – Create new and interesting hybrid plants from imagination and mana. Cost 2000/min. +5Int, 5Wis.]

Hades Umbrella lv1

This tree was created by John Union. Unlike most monsters of the wood element the Hades Umbrella has the capability to absorb heat based magics. It is a fruit bearing tree that blooms every 50lvs. It is unknown what the fruit of this tree looks like.

It looked as I envisioned, a black umbrella tree full of heat devouring leaves. The tree grew before my eyes as it absorbed more heat and mana from the atmosphere. Its roots spread deep through the ash covered ground.

“Congratulations John, you just created your first mob. Let’s see how it deals with some of mine.” I heard hooves and the patter of feline feet. A monstrous pack of lions burst from the tall grass and made a beeline for the tree.

Pyro Lions lv60

They move in prides that number in the thousands. These lions are communal creatures that are ruled by a Hierarchy of alpha males. They defend their pride from invaders while the females hunt. They are also well known for their ability to use fire magic..

The lions scratched and bit at the tree. Their swipes left behind an oil that quickly caught fire. That fire was in turn consumed by the tree. Bark was torn off and the tree continued to grow. There was a flaw in my creation. It couldn’t attack back.

As more of the tree was damaged the leaves began to die. It was running low on heat to absorb. The tree had only reached lv20 and it was beginning to drop. More energy was used to heal it of its wounds and the growth slowed to a crawl. The leaves fell out and the fire began to spread. Winged insects began to fly out of the tree.

This was an important lesson. If my creations couldn’t counter their attackers, then they would inevitably die. I rubbed my chin as I thought of a counter to the lions and insects. Mana burst allowed me to out run the lions, as I thought about a counter to them.

Fire III tendrils tore the lions brave enough to attack to bloody chunks. Small fire cores appeared in my inventory after each kill. After my initial retaliation the lions backed off and I let them retreat. A swarm of insects burst from the tree and I took a deep breath. With tier 3, my fire breath could melt stone. The bugs that stole the mana from my mob burned to ash.

Their loose mana filled the dungeon and the majority was absorbed by Luci, but much of it was left behind. It mixed with the grass that littered the dungeon. The thunder zebracorns, water buffalo, and hydro hippos ate the grass and took in the excess mana. That wasn’t the end, that mana was refined in their bodies and by the time the pyro lions, helios hyenas, and eel crocodiles ate the animals. The mana was further refined in their bodies and the cores were eventually created. Core’s were masses of highly refined mana.

When consumed this foreign refined mana became xp. I had a hypothesis that the mana core could do more. The turtle in the swamp back on floor three had dropped a thunder mana core. I held it in my hand. The core was smaller than a pea.

Do you want to absorb lesser thunder core?

Y/N

I clicked yes.

Level up

John lv 90

Experience 100million/464.429million

Points 589

New skill

[Thunder I lv30 – Unleash the power of lightning. Mag Dam 30%Int. cost 35/min. +3Int]

I had no recollection of being anywhere near 90 before. Not to mention that turtle was freaking strong. If I hadn’t used those halberds to ground the lightning, I would have died.

I explored the floor. This floor was filled with rivers and grassy hills. It was a place that reminded me of the lion king. I decided to spend a few days here grinding my skills. I had 6 skill trees to obtain and hundreds of skill points to allocate.

Thus far, I had two weaknesses. I had low strength and charisma, they were my problems the easiest way to fix them was a skill tree. Since, I doubted there was a skill tree that covered both strength and charisma, I would be out two skill points.

I needed a vast amount of stat points, to offset the growing difficulty of leveling. Blue mage could be exactly what I needed. That was another point lost. That left me with three skill tree points to use. There was an option, I hadn’t seen before. I could exchange a skill tree point for 100 skill points. If I added another 300points to my skill trees that would make me much stronger. I didn’t decide immediately. I opened my skill tree menu.

You have six points to allocate

Current skill trees available

Mage Archer I 0/25 – This tree revolves around long range combat and teaches Mana Arrow, Mana Bow, and Lock on. +3Per, +1Wis

Fire Elementalist I 0/25 – This tree revolves around the mastery of the fire element and teaches Fire Aura, Fireball Cannon, and Resist Fire. +4Int

Ice Elementalist I 0/25 – This tree revolves around the Frost element and teaches Ice Aura, Frost Breath, Resist Ice. +3Wis, +1Con

Thunder Elementalist I 0/25 – This tree revolves around the lightning element and teaches Thunder spears, Resist Lightning, and Thunder Aura. +3Int, +1Agl

Wood Elementalist I 0/25 – This tree revolves around the master of the wood element and teaches Forest, Life Drain, and Wood Spears. +4Wis

Druid I 0/25 – This tree revolves around using the power of nature and teaches Animal Speech, Fauna Transformation, and Natural Communion. +4Wis

Blue Mage I 0/25 – This tree revolves around monster spells and teaches Learn. +3Int, 1Wis

Red Mage I 0/25 – This tree revolves around the technical use of magic and teaches Grimoire, Runes, and Wards. +4Int

War Mage I 0/25 – This tree revolves around magical warfare and teaches Weather, Fortify, and Rally. +4Chr.

Battle Mage I 0/25 – This tree revolves around magical martial skills and teaches Enchant, Break, and Thrust. +3Str, +1Int

Sniper I 0/25 – This tree revolves around using long range weapons and teachers Multi Lock, Blend, and Camouflage +4Per

Even I had to admit, there was much to choose from. Fortunately, I had a plan in motion. Before I bought anything, I converted half my skill tree points for skill points. If I looked at all the awesome skill trees for much longer, I might just buy them. As planned, I chose blue mage, war mage, and battle mage. With 889 skill points to spend I would get powerful soon.

“John, I know your mad at me and you have a right to be, but there is something here to kill you. It was sent by the mistress. I advise that you run to the next floor. With your current power you should be able to slay my floor boss and descend the stairs. I’m currently sending my floor mods to slow him down, but I can only buy you a few seconds at the most.” Luci said. It was like getting dunked with cold water. I began to run towards the cave that held the boss of floor five.

I pulled up my stat screen to check my current level of power.

Stats

John lv90

Experience 100million/464.429million

Perks Sniper x3 accuracy x3 senses Information Osmosis Adept Channels x5 MP x5 Mag Dam x4 Hard Drive Master Aura x7 MR x7 Mag Def x6 Ram Apprentice Speed x3 Movement speed x3 Reaction Speed x2 Processor Nove Body x2 Durability x2 HP Novice Regen x2 Resistance x2 HR HP 9,300/9,300 HR 35.6/min MP 93.65k/93.65k Mr 1,953/min

Points 889

Stats Con 310 End 178 Str 57 Agl 421 Int 1,873 Wis 2,791 Per 362 Chr 2 Luk 17

I thought there was a reason why wood craft took so little out of me. I was always aware of my limit by the head aches that came with mana exhaustion. To find out that I have nearly a hundred thousand mana was an eye opener. Not to mention the shear amount of mana regen I possessed.

There were no longer any sounds to be heard on the floor. The only sounds of note were my foot falls as I ran for the floor boss. My heart raced, as I made my way at a break neck speed.

I arrived at the entrance of the cave to see someone already there. The boss monster a ferocious male lion with a mane of black flame, was dead. The figure had literally stomped a hole in its throat. Blood pooled on the ground. The figure took out a cigarette and lit up. From the brief flash of illumination his face was revealed.

The figure was a man in his late twenties. Blood caked the side of his head from multiple slashed from the lion. His wounds weren’t healing, and figure seemed unbothered by the wounds. Lumps of fungus grew all over the figure’s body. There was no shroom growing from his head.

After puffing from his cigarette a few times, the figure tapped some ash on the ground. Blood from the lion caught fire lighting up the area. My hands began to sweat and not from the heat. The figure walked forward calm and casual.

“So, you must be the one giving mother so much trouble. John right, well if you had died here and become a soul gem for mother, you might have been forgiven in a thousand years. After your sentence is up she smashes the gems and lets her prisoners respawn as a servant. You saw them right the butlers. Most are so happy to be free, they pledge to serve her forever. You were supposed to die John, you insulted my mother. Its only right you serve out your punishment.” The figure said.

Was this guy serious? In two steps he was beside me. Lightning crackled around his finger tips before he blasted me.

The lightning crackled against my skin, it felt like static. The guy was in front of me before my mind caught up to the situation. He delivered a punch to my stomach that lifted me in the air and sent me sailing away. My HP took a 10% hit from the blow.

In the air, I summersaulted and landed on my feet. I smiled at him and immediately began to heal myself. He narrowed his eyes.

“What’s wrong you were talking about making me serve my punishment? That lightning wasn’t bad, but you hit like a bitch, you must get it from your mother.” Lightning appeared around his body just as I activated mana burst. A halberd appeared in my hand from my inventory. I cast area inspect several times to feel for his location.

Even with mana burst and area inspect, this guy moved too fast to see with my level of perception. My mana filled the air like a spider’s web. Whenever I felt a ripple, I swung my halberd. The guy was like smoke. He appeared, just after my swing and delivered a combo of blows before jumping back and moving. The fire continued to rage around us as we fought.

I didn’t call upon my fire or aura attacks just yet, I needed to find a way to keep up with his movements, before I resorted to expensive attacks. My area inspect skill filled out the area, the mana I used thickened more with every use.

The man appeared above the cave and splayed his hands out like a conductor. His skin was peeling away, black patches of hair fell out, and he was missing an eye. That wasn’t from me, that was from the fungus spreading around his body. It was unsuccessful in taking a hold.

“It seems to be time to change skin. Do you mind if I use yours? It looks healthy enough.” The figure grabbed at his face and ripped away chunks of infected flesh. When it was all gone, the man revealed his true form. He was a golem but not like those that were in the city. He was more streamline.

Royal Golem lv150

The Mistress’s true guards. These golems are known for their speed, strength, and thunder magic. It is advised to never fight them below lv100. They have been known to steal the skin from bodies of the mistress’s enemies

Mana Burst, Mana Charge, Mana Aura, Fire Aura, and Area Inspect were the best skills I could use in this fight. I unleashed all of them at their maximum. An aura of purple mana appeared around my body. The heat around me began to increase incrementally. It felt mildly warm to me.

The golem appeared in front of me, he was carried by a single step. His hand easily slipped through my destructive aura and he slapped me across the face. It felt like being hit by a train. Yet, I held back my most dangerous attack for the end.

I held up my hands and unleashed a barraged of fire balls. The golem dodged them and returned a series of lightning strikes. They didn’t do any damage, but I acted like they were the most devastating of injuries. Every physical hit, I pretended it did nothing and healed my wounds as quickly as I could. Slowly, he began to stop throwing so many punches and stood back to shock me. I tanked bolt after bolt with little damage. I dropped my fire aura stopped using area inspect as often. The smug golem chuckled as it blasted me with ever more lightning.

I remembered when the turtle shocked me so long ago and pretended that the lightning was destroying me. The golem walked up slowly shocking me the whole time. By this point I was shaking with excess energy.

What little flesh remained of the golem’s stolen face was smirking. “Now be a good little human and die.” The golem said as it replicated a laugh.

Through the lightning, I grabbed the golem’s arms and my fire tendrils rammed through its body. I devoted every bit of my mana to driving through the golem’s armor and skewering it. I let go of the golem’s arms and launched it in the air before it could snap my neck. I ran forward and stabbed it repeatedly.

Liquid metal from the golem’s inner workings attempted to heal the open wounds. I continued to stab and slice with my tendrils. I ripped away the arms and legs and tossed them aside. Yet still they dissolved into liquid metal and began to creep closer to the main body. The golem laughed as I sliced off its head. Taking a deep breath, I unleashed a gout of fire on its body.

That was when I had an idea. After my latest stab, I created a Hades Umbrella seed and placed it in the open cavity. The tree began to grow immediately and best of all, it kept the hole open. I held out my hands and rained fire upon the golem. The tree began to grow faster with more heat to work with. Black leaves sprouted, and roots ripped through the golem’s inner workings.

The tree continued to expand around the golem. I molded the tree to encase the golem in its trunk. With the fire from the battle the tree grew faster than ever. There were hardly any monsters left to fight my mob now. Excess mana was quickly absorbed by the new mob. It continued to increase in size as I watched. It began to absorb and rapidly refine the mana, even the golem within was little more than a mana battery at this point.

I walked into the cave before the tree blocked the entrance entirely. Jabba the bitch wasn’t going to let me relax and grind my skills away until I was ready for her it seemed. Smart, now I had a new definition of power to strive for. Then again, that golem didn’t have a name. Did that mean, it was just off the assembly line? If so, how strong would the unique ones be?

“Wow, I didn’t think you would survive that one. Good job, now you should probably get to the 10th floor by tomorrow. With one of her golems destroyed or at least trapped, the mistress will see this as a new war on patriarchy. She will rally the other cities and adventurers by the hundreds will invade my floors looking for you."

I nodded and touched the side of my tree. There was something I could do, that I hadn’t tried before. I took out every core I had and put them in the tree. The bark changed becoming something akin to steel. Its roots dug deeper in the dungeon and I could see cracks on the cave wall from the tree expanding.

“Hey Luci, be good to my tree. It’s going to hold the adventurers back for me. By the way, why does the mistress hate men?” I said.

“If you make it to the tenth floor, I will tell you now go John, every second counts.” Luci said. I activated mana burst and ran for the stairs. More of the cave began to collapse as I moved.