NOVEL WEB Chapter 2: The New World
The Planetos, God's Eye, Isle of Faces
Now, the good thing was that the place where he was transported was apparently the Isle of Faces within the Westeros. I was on a sacred island in the middle of the lake called God's Eye, located in the southern parts of the Kingdom of Isles and the Rivers.
This brought another idea that he was in the timeline before the Aegon's Conquest by a few years, and the few years was around maybe fifteen, which is very hard to tell. The testimonies of the peasants were not really trustworthy, and the sole thing was the familiar shadows of the Harrenhall that was being built in the distance.
[Dungeon Heart has been planted in the location: Isle of Faces, God's Eye, Westeros, Planetos.]
[Occupation: Overlord (Dungeon Master) has been updated.]
[Occupation: Overlord (Dungeon Master) has been unsealed.]
[The dignity of an Overlord! 100,000 Blood Echoes will be paid.]
[The Beginner's Protection Period (240 days) has been applied.]
[A High-Class Creature will randomly be summoned on the 1st Floor of a dungeon.]
[This Creature will disappear after the Beginner's Protection Period ends. Be careful! The Creature summoned at random won't listen to the command of the Dungeon Master.]
[If the Dungeon Master managed to defeat the Creature, the Creature would become permanently bonded to the Dungeon Master.]
[Companions Ornstein the Dragon Slayer and Artorias the Abyss Walker have been summoned.]
Just as the notifications from the system ceased, Archaon was teleported from the surface of the Isle of Faces to something that seemed like a Dungeon Heart Room.
The room was circular, with high stone walls carved from dark, rough-hewn rock, shimmering faintly with magical runes that pulsed softly in the dim light. At the center of the room lied the Dungeon Heart.
A large, pulsating, ruby-red crystal suspended midair, glowing with a soft, ethereal light that seems to beat in rhythm like a heart.
The crystal was surrounded by floating arcane symbols, shifting in patterns as if guarding the heart's ancient power. Some of the Arcane Symbols were also engraved on the surface of the Dungeon Heart Crystal.
This enormous ruby crystal was the Heart of the entire Dungeon, and if it was destroyed, then the entire Dungeon would be destroyed as well. The Dungeon itself existed in the physical realm, and a large part of the Dungeon that he was in control of was right now buried in the depths of the Isle of Faces.
Yet, at the same time, the inside space of the individual floor was much larger, so if the Dungeon Heart was destroyed, the enlarged dimension would collapse, and everything would be destroyed.
The floor was a mosaic of obsidian and redstone tiles arranged in intricate, spiraling designs that lead toward the crystal.
Pools of liquified Magic Power bubbled in the corners of the room, casting an eerie orange glow and filling the air with the scent of sulfur. The ceiling is domed, with stalactites hanging down like jagged teeth, dripping water that sizzles as it meets the heat below.
[Congratulations! Stat: Insight has increased by 1.]
[Congratulations! Stat: Insight has increased by 1.]
[Congratulations! Due to Stat Insight Reaching 5, the Host has fulfilled minimal requirements for the unlocking Skill Mind's Eye (U)]
[Congratulations! Skill Mind's Eye (U) has been unlocked due to the effector the Dungeon Heart.]
[Skill Name: Mind's Eye
Grade: Unique
Description: Can see the status window of the opponent. This also includes Hidden Status, Potential, and other states. Effect dependent on the Insight.]
This was his Dungeon now...
Aside from the single monster that he got as the Guardian Creature, there was only him and two people who were summoned by the Patron Great Old One to act as his guardians, though they were also problematic as hell.
The real thing was that he would need to convince them somehow, as there were no bounds of loyalty or anything. That would be too easy, and all people that were summoned or would be summoned were either the ones that were dying or were on the verge of death; that was the first condition.
The second one was that, there were no loyalty compulsions or anything, as he would need to ensure the loyalty of his subjects. That would be rather problematic, considering the people that he chose, but from the choices that he had in front of them, they were still ones that were more or like sane enough.
For the moment, he looked at the last notification that Archaon received before the end of the Hunter's Dream illusion where he trained.
[Before and After Comparison:
Strength 8 - Vitality 7 - Agility 8 - Endurance 8 - Magic Power 8 - Potential (39/500)
Skill 5 - Bloodtinge 7 - Arcane 3 - Insight 3
*
Strength 18 - Vitality 17 - Agility 18 - Endurance 18 - Magic Power 10 - Potential (81/500)
Skill 15 - Bloodtinge 17 - Arcane 4 - Insight 5]
[Congratulations! Host has reached Level 2 - Elite Trained Human.]
[Congratulations! Host has reached Level 3 - Superhuman Level.]
Right now, Archaon was at Level 3, a Superhuman Level; if he were to say, he was probably as strong as Captain America in Marvel Comics, maybe a bit stronger and more powerful due to the effects of the Old Blood.
And he was just at the starting range of Level 3. From what he understood from the explanation of the system, each following Level was more and more destructive than the previous one.
It was really staggering to this that most of this was obtained through the combination of his own hard work and the Template of the Gehrman the First Hunter. However, the higher he advanced, the more challenging it was to increase the stats in anything.
In the later stages, even a difference of 1 could make a tremendous difference, like that of heaven and earth.
For several minutes, Archaon was looking around the Heart Room as red light started forming from the core of the Dungeon Heart and was condensing into a small image. Little by little, the light condensed until it took shape when it was done.
The shape it took was like a translucent fairy.
The palm-sized Fairy spun around. It had a cute and adorable appearance, but the emerald hair and lantern eyes made it a beauty that couldn't be created with mortal hands at all.
After a while, the Fairy nodded and landed in front of him as she bowed to his belly button.
"Hello, Overlord. I am the Dungeon Master's companion fairy, Yihi! Yihi!"
Yihi laughed brightly, revealing her teeth.
'Yihi' was her laugh.
The name of a fairy that would be kept for their entire life was normally in this style. The owner of a clear mindset, they were very simple and pure creatures, that almost compelled others to protect them.
Archaon was the Overlord, the supreme ruler of the Dungeons, meaning in the plural, that was his Class that he received from the system.
Once he was strong enough, he could create subsidiary Dungeons and name Dungeon Lords into them to manage the Dungeons on his behalf, as the sole purpose of those Dungeons would be just to collect Dungeon Echoes and drain Mana.
"Nice to meet you, Yihi."
Archaon said gently as he observed the Fairy; only at a later date did he realize that this was the same kind of Fairy that was featured in the novel Dungeon Hunter, which rather made sense as his system was based on that novel as well.
And the Dungeon, too...
"Thank you for welcoming Yihi, Dungeon Master."
After that, the Dungeon Fairy started explaining to him how to run the Dungeon, maintain the ecosystem, and do other things. It was a rather lengthy explanation, yet at the same time, extremely valuable because he obtained a lot of information from the Dungeon Fairy.
"Master has 100,000 Dungeon Echoes, which is a lot as the starting point; Yihi would recommend using some of them to create new monsters and buy some animals. Right now, Master can only summon and create monsters that are either uploaded in the database in the Dungeon Core or the ones that are native to this world and Dungeon has scanned them."
The creation of something from nothing was impossible.
Only the Gods of Creation or the begins of unimaginable powers that mastered the Laws of the Creation could bypass this rule and create life from nothing. Obviously the Dungeons were not either, so they operated in different way.
Through the Dungeon Echoes.
It was some sort of currency for the Dungeon, and it was the combination of the Soul Energy, Magic Power, and Life Force obtained when someone perished in the territory of the Dungeon or under the hand of someone affiliated with the Dungeon.
Level 1 beings fetched 10 DE or the Dungeon Echoes, Level 2 50 DE, Level 3 250 DE, and so on, basically multiplication factor was 5 of the previous number. However, for some special individuals, the number could be wary and would be even higher.
The Dungeon Echoes could also be obtained passively, just by Dungeon existing, but that was much slower progress, because that was using only the ambient Magic in the environment, which was rahter low in the case of the Planetos, but still better than nothing.
The Dungeon Echoes were used to create a new monster and upgrade the defenses of the Dungeons and other things. Of course, the Dungeons Core could create only creatures that were recorded in the database of the Dungeon Core.
Right now, his Dungeon Core has only a few creatures recorded.
To obtain more, he would need to kill more creatures and bring their corpses to the Dungeon, so the Dungeon could analyze them and create them with the Blood Echoes. He could see that this was going to be a hassle, but there was nothing he could do about it, because indeed...
Being able to "buy" them from the "dungeon shop" like in most of the novels would be rather too easy.
"Master, there are two scary armored people standing not far from you..."
The Dungeon Fairy Yihi pointed behind him as two armored figures were standing there for some time and observing the entire exchange between him and the Dungeon Fairy.
Two of them were heavily armored and looked rather menacing.
The more eye-catching of the two was the man in the golden armor. The armor was primarily a shimmering, gold-plated set, almost reflective, suggesting a divine or ceremonial quality. It gleamed with an ancient radiance, contrasting with the darkness of the world around it. The helm had a long, sweeping plume shaped like a lion's mane.
The chestplate was ornate and embossed with intricate designs, almost as if telling a story of past battles or dragon hunts. It had a flared, layered design around the waist, almost like overlapping scales or wings.
Ornstein the Dragon Slayer.
Archaon immediately used the Mind's Eye
[Name: Ornstein the Dragonslayer
Title: Dragonslayer (Legend)
Class: Dragonslayer
Race: Transhuman (???)
Rank: Level 3 (Dropped from peak Level 5)
Element: Lightning
Stats:
Strength - 25, Vitality - 25, Agility - 25, Endurance - 25, Magic Power - 25
Potential: (125/500)
-------------------
Arcane - 14, Insight - 1
Potential: (15/200)
-------------------
Martial Art: Skill - 75, Bloodtinge - 15
Technique: N/A
Magic: Lightning Magic - 65
Uniqueness: F?a??e?t ???? ????
Skills: Dragon Slayer Spear Art (Ex U), Lighting Impale (Ex U)]
He was indeed worthy of the One of the Four Knights of the Lord Gwyn and their nominal leader. Even though he was severely weakened, the power that he wileded right now was far higher than Archaon had, not to mention.
Only, the Uniqueness of the Ornstein was something that he couldn't see no matter what with his Mind's Eye as his Insight was too low. The Mind's Eye was a peculiar skill that allowed him to utilize better the Insight that he had.
Even though he clearly dropped in levels greatly, he still had all of the skills and masteries that he possessed during his life.
Novice - [Stat range: 1 - 10]
Apprentice - [Stat range: 11 - 25]
Journeyman - [Stat range: 26 - 40]
Adept - [Stat range: 41 - 50]
Expert - [Stat range: 51 - 60]
Master - [Stat range: 61 - 75]
Grandmaster - [Stat range: 76 - 90]
Saint - [Stat range: 91 - 99]
This was the stat range for the mastery over particular skills and for the stats such as Skill and Bloodtinge or the Magics and other things. Having 75 in the Skill, meant that he was only one shy step away from reaching the Grandmaster Realm in the combat.
Much less being said about his two skills, Lightning Impale, which was ranked as Exceptionally Unique, and Dragon Slayer Spear Art, which was also standing at the Exceptionally Unique.
The second man was Artorias the Abysswalker, whose armor was made from dark steel, glowing brightly with some remnants from the previous battles in the form of cars and so on.
The pristine metal was shining, with dark hues of navy blue, gray, and black dominating its appearance. It had a somber tone, as if corrupted by the Abyss itself, with patches of rust and wear showing how much it's endured.
The helmet is sleek and tapered, covering the entirety of the head except for the eyes. It has a narrow visor, allowing limited vision, contributing to the armor's mysterious and intimidating aura. A distinctive feature was the long, flowing cape of blue-colored fabric attached to the back of the helm, draping down his back like a shroud of darkness.
The chestplate is heavily reinforced but still has a knightly elegance, with subtle curves and lines that emphasize Artorias's agile combat style.
Like Ornstein the Dragon Slayer, everything was in pristine condition, not tattered and worn out like it was depicted in the game.
Now, too he used the Mind's Eye to check up on the status of the Abysswalker.
[Name: Artorias the Abysswalker
Title: Abysswalker (???)
Class: Abyss Knight
Race: Transhuman (???)
Rank: Level 3 (Dropped from peak Level 5)
Element: ???
Stats:
Strength - 25, Vitality - 25, Agility - 25, Endurance - 25, Magic Power - 25
Potential: (125/500)
-------------------
Arcane - 18, Insight - 3
Potential: (21/200)
-------------------
Martial Art: Skill - 72, Bloodtinge - 24
Technique: N/A
Magic: N/A
Uniqueness: F?a??e?t ???? ????
Skills: Abyss Sword (Epic)]
Like the situation with the Ornstein the Dragonslayer, even Artorias has dropped from the peak Level 5 to Level 3 in terms of physical stats; his Skill and Bloodtinge were untouched.
While he had only one skill, it was Epic, and it was the characteristic Abyss Sword, the swordsmanship that imbued the power of the Abyss itself.
Neither of the two said anything as they just continued staring at the Archaon while the Dungeon Fairy Yihi was floating around them all, as she realized that they were somehow connected to the Dungeon Master.
The silence between all of them started getting uncomfortable until it was Archaon who broke the silence between them.
"I can see that you both should understand the situation fully and that you are once again. And yes, everything that 'He' told you should be the truth. Both of you are free of your curses and are restored to humanity, or Transhumanity in your case. If you wish, you can remain here and serve a greater purpose if you will, but should you deny, the 'He' will most probably erase you from existence as they say... there is nothing like a free lunch in this world."
Archaeon stated that neither of the two armored knights said anything as they just listened because what they heard from the man in the Yharnamite three-piece suit correlated to what they heard upon their resurrection by the Great Old One.
It was related to the information that the Great Old One told them. Both Ornstein the Dragonslayer and Artorias the Abysswalker were among the Four Knights of Gwyn and were Lord Gwyn's most trusted warriors and were one fo the top warriors of the Lands of the Ancient Lords.
Artorias was corrupted by the Power of the Abyss itself, and now the corruption was gone, the corruption imposed on him by the Manus, the Father of the Abyss, was gone like it never happened, only the Power of the Abyss in the uncorrupted form remained within him.
As the silver-armored knight pondered over the things, he knelt in front of the Archaon as he stabbed his sword into the ground.
"I pledge my undying loyalty to the Overlord Archaon."
A deep male voice sounded from behind the helmet.
The formal captain of the Four Knights of the Gwyn wasn't that surprised by the action of the Artorias because he, too, was hit very hard when the silver knight was corrupted by the Abyss and Manus.
In the end, Ornstein decided to wait and see, but even he knew that there was nothing to lose, and he very well understood the implications of refusing.
In the end, he would bid his time, and till then, he would at least guard this place to the best of his abilities, and if the new Lord proved worthy, he would fight for him just like he fought for the Lord Gwyn in the ancient lord-forgotten past.
"I know that you have doubts about me and that is perfectly understandable. It would be foolish to pledge yourself eternally to someone without the presence of erasure or death, and in the future, I will prove it many times that I am worthy of the service of such fine Knights as yourself."
Archaon said as he knew both of them pledged their loyalty for different reasons, and mostly due to the outside factors. For the Artorias, it was the gratitude that he was freed from the corruption of the Abyss and the threat of being erased after being brought back to his sane self.
Ornstein's motives were unknown even to Archaon; maybe it was curiosity or something else, but nevertheless, he obtained the service of the two top-notch individuals who were probably more powerful than anyone in this world, sans for the few beings.
Beings that he needed to kill by himself.
Another reason why he was delighted that they agreed was because both of them had terrifyingly high Skill stat and knew some Magic. This meant that they could continue to teaching him, which would hasten the assimilation rate of the Temple of the Gehrman the First Hunter.