Luca DR
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The infinity dungeon 99
🕑 Added 2024-10-07 15:59:53 +0000 UTCLittle heads up: I changed a little bit of chapter 97. Here is the updated version for all of you who read as soon as the chapters come out
Somewhere, an entity existed with the sole purpose of overseeing a particular instance of the Infinity Dungeon. When Michael entered the dark staircase leading to the fourth floor, this entity was immediately roused from its semi-dormant state—one could say that it was only running the basest of subroutines because there wasn't much activity coming from Earth’s dungeons yet—by a set of messages. Excitedly, it rushed to see what was going on, only for its smile to widen when it saw the name of the delver who had prompted the messages.
“It’s him again!” it exclaimed. “Finally! I thought he would never do it!”
The messages scrolled one after the other in quick succession.
4th floor generation request received.
Request coming from:
Universe #4815162342
Earth #108
Rolling special challenge.
Roll is 37. Floor is normal.
Evaluating delver.
Michael Lexington #001
Estimated power level: ANOMALOUS
Adjusting floor difficulty.
WARNING: mana density too low to provide a proper challenge.
“No, no, no. He deserves better,” it muttered.
OVERRIDDEN
Floor set to challenge mode.
Local administrator requested increased complexity of the scenario — granted.
Scenario will reset unless completed.
Searching data banks.
Scenario selected. Extracting from storage. Materializing.
Floor bonuses adjusted to new difficulty.
Scattering exit points.
Scenario ready.
#####################################################################################################################################################################################################################
Now onto Chapter 99
Chapter 99
“If I understand it correctly, my lord,” Johanne was listing things off, counting with her fingers, “you are saying that you got an insight, whatever that means, after thinking about how magic makes no sense?”
“Ah, not—”
“Because such a thing, my lord, would be quite odd if it were true. And then you also say that the blue boxes went away?”
Michael nodded. “They did, all of sudden, but it’s not like the system is gone. More like the boxes were replaced by a less advanced version of the old system, with just text and much less nuance. I can’t show you but I can tell you what I see. Unity, for example.”
[Common - Unity]
In the tapestry of existence, each challenge conquered weaves a thread of mastery; Unity is the canvas of my potential. It expands, painting a saga of growth and accomplishment.
A vanishingly rare skill, its incalculable might concealed from all prying eyes.
Level 11.
“Is that it, my lord?” Johanne cocked her head. “Level eleven, nothing else? What about your status?”
“My status is still here.” Michael admitted.
“Level eleven out of a maximum of ten,” she sighed. “How did you manage to break magic? No, don’t tell me. You must be the anomaly. Please keep the statistics monitored. I want to see how much each level amounts to in terms of growth. For now, it looks like you gained 11 points in all the statistics you didn’t directly train, but I need more data,” she sighed again. “This business is a headache, my lord. A real headache.”
“I don’t like that face,” Michael said with a wink.
Johanne did not interpret it as the joke it was. “I don’t like when you make my life miserable, my lord.” Then her face cleared all of a sudden, “although, I should thank you. We were operating under several severe misconceptions that you have shown to be wrong. Perhaps you are not the anomaly, rather you are right when you claim that there are several paths to power and that all of them offer various modes of growth. I think talent and disposition play a big role, and that you might be the anomaly in the sense that you somehow have managed to use every single path without getting stuck. Travis’ dear Operators all suck in that regard. Hmm, most people suck when compared to you… I feel I would suck too, had I not found my path in science. In any case, I shall be busy for a while.”
As Michael left, Johanne talked into her phone to an instantiated version of Icarus, the AI she was developing. Thanks to a new development in mana crystal technology, her phone now had roughly the same processing power as an average supercomputer, without consuming more than 20 watts of power. She wasn’t ready to share such advancements with the rest of the company, however, much to Travis’ chagrin. The man had even complained to Michael, talking about some move to take over computational demand from Silicon Valley. As she spoke, a little icon in the shape of a wing appeared for a moment, showing that the AI was thinking, until it compiled a neat list of all her demands.
Johanne’s long list of unanswered questions.
· Did Michael’s change affect all skill users?
· Why do only skill users see the game-like system interface?
· Was incorporation of Qi into my Aura necessary or just a crutch to reach Silver via an external aid?
o Did I cripple my potential by using it?
o How I make sure Michael will be there for me when I want to reach Gold?
o How do I tell if I just made Michael mad with my attitude?
· Do all rarities function like SKILL-system rarities?
· Was Carmela’s Grimoire truly just Copper rank? Check for presence of Qi again. If confirmed, it lends credibility to Michael’s current understanding of magic. Estimated power was equal or greater than Mid-Silver, without usage of Qi.
· Do the same for the Tome of the Unmaking Flame. Qi might be present but undetectable. If not, check for mana. If not, check for elements. Figure out how the tome differentiates friends and foes.
· …
***
While Michael returned to the fourth floor, Travis was getting ready for the expedition to study, secure, and retrieve the strange chest the OA had failed to pacify. This was going to be the first official unofficial mission Candle Light would undertake for the shadow government agency, and as such, he wanted to be as prepared as possible.
For that reason, he chose the two spearhead teams of Operators who had best adapted to the dungeon for this mission. The two teams had gone as far as clearing a standard version of the second floor without reporting worrying levels of side effects from what had come to be called the Dungeon’s Gaze. They were, of all the Operators they sent in so far, the only ones.
Team Welles and Team Locke were gearing up in the parking lot, loading the SUVs with experimental equipment.
Each team was well-rounded and suited to operate solo rather than together, but as this was the first operation, Travis decided he would bend the rules a little. He could do that, after all, he had made the rules and he could break them when necessary. Rules were a good foundation to build upon, and it was thanks to them that he could be sure Candle Light would operate well enough under his tutelage. But it would be him who took ‘well enough’ and turned it into ‘impeccably’.
Both teams sported a peak-Copper rank leader and four other mid- and high-Copper Operators with skills and areas of expertise that would hopefully allow them to handle any threat. Later on, when Candle Light had more specialized teams at its disposal, things could be done better.
“You sure it’s wise to send them off like this?” David whispered in Travis’s ear. The old man and CEO of Unity Corporation had become a bit of a background character in Travis’s mind, but the head of Candle Light soon realized that, in truth, David’s position within the company was much more important than he gave the man credit for. Despite their differences, David kept Unity running smoothly, letting Travis do his thing without having to worry about the minutiae.
Which also meant that Travis would need to work his interpersonal skills on the old man a little, probing limits and establishing common ground. Better not leave such important bonds wither and die just because Travis was buddy-buddy with Michael, the man himself.
“Team Leader Val Thorne and Team Leader Izzy Reyes have been made Level 3 Operators,” Travis stated with a nod. “Both oath-bound. Had to do that because they seemed to like the dungeon a bit too much, reaching the peak of the first rank in less than a week. Other than that, though, they are perfectly loyal to the cause. They submitted to their oaths voluntarily.”
“Why would they?” David inquired.
Travis laughed. “So that they could keep delving!”
“Are they crazy battle maniacs like Michael, then?” David wondered.
Travis shrugged. “Seem to be. That’s the dungeon’s preferred type anyway. In terms of power, though, they won’t come even close, even after they rank up. They lack his well-rounded talent, according to Johanne. Hell, everyone sucks except for him, according to her. If I hadn’t seen him in action firsthand, I’d think she’s lying.”
“Will they stay at peak for long? Isn’t it uncomfortable?” the old man asked.
Travis smirked. “Right, you are still high-Copper. Let me tell you, it sucks big time. That’s what messes you up, though. The discomfort is so bad that it makes you rush the process, resulting in a bad foundation or a huge fuck up that ruins you… I took my time, and I came out stronger for it.”
It wasn’t a lie per se, Travis thought to himself. It was just a little distortion. He didn’t take months to rank up because he wanted a better foundation; rather, he had to wait months because he spent most of that time trying and failing to reach Silver no matter how he tried. Still, this set up the expectation that slow and steady won the race, which was the preferred thing for Candle Light in the long run. It might deprive them of powerful Operators early on but, with Michael on call, it was hardly a problem.
“What about them, then?” David pressed.
“We have them dump the excess mana into crystals, for now. They understand. Well, Val Thorne does. Izzy is… itching for more power. That’s why we are going to greenlight Thorne’s rank-up first, make Izzy stew a little bit. They must understand that all this”—Travis gestured to Site 00 with his hands, to the half-finished buildings, to the underground pipes filled with Water elemental stones, and to the dungeon in the distance—“all this is possible thanks to my… our efforts, not theirs. They are being given something most people can’t even dream of having. You understand?”
David nodded. “If that’s how you think Candle Light will work best.”
“Depends on the person,” Travis replied. “Those two are talented, but they aren’t geniuses. It’s fine because even after we greenlight them, it will take weeks of real-time before they manage to step into Silver, provided they manage without help, which they might not. They are potentially dangerous, but not out of control. Suppose we encounter someone like Michael out there? Now that’s going to be a problem. What should we do with someone like him? 'Cause his kind is not someone you can keep down with hierarchy. Do you nurture a loose grenade, hoping to harness its power, or do you fear it will explode in your lap?”
“Sounds like you’ve made your choice,” David observed.
“Except,” Travis held up a finger, “Michael seems sure that one day, trained grunts aren’t going to cut it anymore. That we need those loose geniuses on our side. It’s going to be our job, you and me, to figure out how to keep them in line. And unlike with grunts, no matter how talented, being more powerful than them isn’t going to work as a deterrent. They will rebel and they will fight us and they will lose and they will die in the end, and we will lose a huge investment. Oaths aren’t going to cut it either.”
“I never liked oaths. When it was just us, it was one thing, but now…” David trailed off.
“You see my point then, old man.” Travis put an arm around him, despite the height difference, and David seemed to feel the difference in their auras even though Travis was restraining his. “Oaths depend on Michael, aren’t very effective, are limited in number, et cetera, et cetera.”
“But even with normal Operators, are you really going to play the catch-up game and always stay ahead of all of them in power? You will have to ask Michael to power level you again if you do,” David pointed out.
“Pff. I might just do that,” Travis admitted.
“Or you could let them grow on their own,” David suggested.
“Eventually. After we have hammered home the point that even though the world is different, might doesn’t make right like some might think,” Travis declared.
“Yeah,” David agreed.
“Except it does, doesn’t it?” Travis muttered after the man was out of earshot. “I just don’t want people to try anything funny.”
While it was clear that while David had worked with deviant individuals, he didn’t seem to understand the severity of the problem like Travis did. People like the Technomancer, for instance, had powers that were hard to contain and control. Those kinds of people needed to be bound tight. For now, Michael was going along with Travis’s suggestions, but each oath seemed to put him in a worse and worse mood. It wasn’t sustainable, and not just because he could only keep a limited number of oaths active in his aura.
He needed to develop a system to handle these people, a system that didn’t require Michael to even see what was going on. Out of sight, out of mind. And Travis might have just the perfect system for that.”
