~ Chapter 41: Waking up ~

[Illsyore's point of view]

 Time shatters the illusion of reality and the reason of action spawned from a moment of recklessness. The longer you live, the more the world around you seems simple, fake, maybe a bit disturbing. Even the lives of those you see as precious seem nothing more than simple toys in the hands of gods and destiny. One may believe or not in these, but no proof except the one offered in the moment of death can show them the truth of existence.

Such was my case as well…

Born as a simple human on a planet called Earth, in the country known as Romania. I wasn’t a genius, but I didn’t suffer from learning disabilities either. My smarts and knowledge were nothing but an illusion. My body was the one that dictated the limits I was born with, but my mind was the one that could break them… something I never tried to do. After all, who was I to test the world and myself? Who was I to hope for being more than what I was? To understand that basically nothing in the world was outside my reach as long as I had the determination to take it. Human laws simply offered me a path to choose from the many offered by the society I lived in.

This was also a fact which I denied within my heart for a very long time. My girlfriend Alina was the one who reminded me of this. She was the one who pulled me from the darkness in which I slumbered for who knew how many days and years?

Once I died, I thought I had found freedom, but I was shown something else, a hidden truth…

When one said that God was Almighty, they forgot to mention WHICH God, and most importantly the fact that by Almighty, it didn’t refer to the pathetic and simple ideas we had about our current world.

Almighty meant change and acceptance of the limitless possibility of existence.

God could literally do anything, including reincarnation. His role exactly, I never understood it, but after I died, I realized that there was indeed something greater out there, something more powerful than humans ever imagined.

Reincarnation for me was simple, it happened without me needing to understand anything about it, but it offered me a strange calmness I never thought I would ever have about many things.

For example, in my previous life, the idea of killing another fellow human being was met with rejection and disbelief. I knew some people did it, but I never saw myself as someone capable of doing it. I saw wars as some sort of grandiose theater drama play in which the soldiers were simple puppets and the politicians were the ruthless overlords who were constantly sucked a country dry of its funds and resources. Partially true, but once I stepped into my new life as a Dungeon, killing became a simple matter of wanting to pull the trigger or not.

If God existed or not was not a question for me anymore. I experienced reincarnation with my own eyes and both saw and felt that a higher power existed somewhere out there. Did I need to worry about this entity? I never saw a reason to do so. Actually, I wasn’t even bothered by it or the possibility of a sudden death.

Together with this strange calmness about my fate or what was beyond death, I unlocked inside me another thought, another vision. Instead of wondering what’s beyond the grave, my mind turned to: what can I do in this life, so that I can live without holding onto any regrets?

Once I asked myself this, I began to look back at my few months as a Dungeon in this world, then at the passing years trapped in the Darkness, building my body for what was to come.

My battle with Dankyun left me with a new vision of the world, one torn asunder by wars and hate. The wars were fought on two separate fronts, those against the Dungeons and those against other species, while the hate was an everlasting reason to both fuel and start them.

Tuberculus, the former principal of Fellyore Magic Academy, built my Crystal Body in which I reincarnated. His desire was for me to be a Magic Academy instead of a Dungeon. I fulfilled that role, but not to its maximum potential. I was only a mere janitor. A housekeeper with a semi-omnipotent view and a good magic spell to clean the dust off the desks.

Unfortunately, what he created was not a TRUE Dungeon but a patched-up version of Frankenstein’s monster formed from countless body parts of other Dungeons. While I had a mind of my own, my new body also contained the memories of the former Dungeons. Most of them were mere shadows, pieces of their former selves. None held their initial personality, none could be trusted, and all were battling for the dominance over this one body.

On the bright side of things, I was the only one with a soul, so in essence, I had to be the dominant mind. I was a human, but I had no masochistic desires of being enslaved or to end up as the simple minion of another Dungeon.

Needless to say that from the moment of my birth, I also didn’t have the desire to rule over the other minds within me or bend their will under my own. First of all, this was because I had no idea how to do that, and secondly because I didn’t know they existed until that battle with Dankyun.

Long story short, I won, but the cost for my weakness in this world was that I lost my home, the students I was supposed to protect, and I allowed the three women I cared for the most in this world: Nanya, Ayuseya, and especially Shanteya to be injured by that unscrupulous bastard.

All three of them suffered horrible injuries and were on the brink of death. Unfortunately, because I tried to fight back against the Darkness, a lot of my initial abilities were lost. One of the few things that remained was the preservation ability of my Inner Mind. This place was like a dimension of its own that stretched out to infinity.

I couldn’t immediately heal the women, so I did what I thought would be the next best thing: I healed them one cell at a time. Just as I built my body, I was reconstructing theirs, putting their skin, muscles, and bones together. It was a very complicated version of a 'Make your own Girlfriend' game, but at least I didn’t have to start from scratch.

Reconstructing their broken magic channels was the most difficult part of the process. Without those, Magic Energy could become unstable and result in destroying their bodies from inside out. Nanya’s case was by far the worst… By releasing her seal forcefully, it resulted in her magic channels being heavily damaged. If I woke her up like this, then it would have been almost impossible for her to even cast a single beginner spell without going through an excruciating pain. Not only that, but given her nature as a Half Dungeon and Half Demon, her lifespan would have also been greatly reduced.

I didn't want Nanya to go through any of that, so in her case, I rebuilt from scratch her entire magic channel network.

Then there was Ayuseya. Her body had been suffering from Magic Energy deprivation as a result of her curse. The Magic Energy flow inside her channels was all over the place. Cleaning them up and ensuring a steady flow was quite a tricky thing to accomplish, but if she stayed like that, even if her stats showed incredible ability, she would never have been able to use it properly.

As for Shanteya, although she didn’t have as many problems as the other two did, I still cleaned up her magic channels and properly healed any sort of injury or illness she had. Doing this would most likely help her gather Magic Energy faster as well as store more.

While I did all of that, I never woke them up. I let them sleep and rest. It took me about two months to finish all of these detailed and highly complicated operations, but once I was done, my experience with this sort of skill also increased. Next time, I was going to be able to heal them much faster mostly because I understood their anatomy better.

Another thing I did was to strengthen my Magic Armor. After the Primordial returned my body to my control, it returned to the performance it originally had. I realized through this that Magic Armor was mostly determined by the experience of the user to hold that much Magic Energy within it not by the physical advancements and improvements of the body itself. Thus, every day, I began to patch it up and strengthen it wherever I could. There were a lot of holes and cracks I had to fill in it, and the more I worked on it, the more I realized how weak it was when compared to Dankyun’s or even Nanya’s, but little by little, I was getting there and soon I was even going to surpass them.

The last thing I focused my attention on was what I could build with my current knowledge. I had to learn how to create and control both those traps and my spells. Thus, I took the liberty of assembling and disassembling most of those I had already built. The Power Crystals were the most intriguing parts. They were tiny Magic Energy storage batteries with integrated circuits. Magic Energy simply flowed through a network inside them, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out the logic behind them. Fortunately, I understood how to at least copy the already existing circuits.

Using this knowledge as a basis, I began to reconstruct my traps, to make them integrate these strange crystals as well as implement various switches. The hardest part was trying to make a magic crystal version of a micro controller. I wasn’t able to do it. As for recreating it as an electric component was even harder. I simply didn’t have any knowledge of how to do it.

Eventually, I gave up on understanding some of the finer details of how those Power Crystals worked and instead focused on building some stuff I could use in the real world. Every trap and machine I created afterwards ended up as a blueprint I stored in my mind while also turning into a Skill on my status screen.

As long as there was space in my Dungeon Territory, I could summon the materials for it from that inner deposit and then rebuild it in the real world. Magic Energy was the way those atoms were rearranged.

The same was for spells, only in this case, they were heavily dependent on my Magic Energy supply and the type of spell it was. If it required certain materials or it could use the nearby environment was the whole difference. For example, your average Ice Spike required water, which was cooled down in that shape by Magic Energy. This was done super fast. The Fireball used the Oxygen and Hydrogen in the air as fuel. Magic Energy provided the heat by agitating the atoms, however, it could also act as the fuel itself. This was done AFTER consuming a big part of the original fuel. Of course, as a Dungeon, I provided both, but a normal person had to use far more Magic Energy for just one single Fireball.

But as expected, while a magician learned to used Magic Energy by feeling and understanding the effect they needed, they weren’t familiar with molecular physics, chemistry, biology, and stuff like that. On the other hand, Dungeons somehow had that information. This fact led me to ask another question:

“How can a Dungeon know of things which would normally require an advanced civilization to understand and develop through experiments and constant scientific evolution?”

I couldn’t ask the Darkness, since it didn’t talk with me after that battle with Dankyun. I was left alone to my own devices, but I had the feeling I would end up finding out the answer to that question sooner or later.

That being said, it made me realize that maybe I don’t need to chant anything in order to cast a spell. I just had to focus and control Magic Energy in a way that allowed me to receive the required effect. This resulted in the creation of a new Skill, which in order to upgrade, I had to better understand its in-depth effects as well as develop it through practice.

This, in turn, took a hell of a lot of time to do.

“So when the Darkness said it was doing everything, it actually meant that using memories scattered among all of them, it could advance and upgrade my spells, then I just had to ‘select’ the upgrade. That’s why I was limited to just a few skills. Those I learned from books were basically the old Dungeons applying the contents of the books for me. In short, I was just ordering the Darkness around…” I told myself while playing with a fireball, sending it from one hand to the other, increasing its size, and concentrating on the various effects it could have.

What I couldn’t understand was how did the Magic Energy cost was reduced for some of them? In case of my Emperor Rank Skill [Infernal Glacier] the cost of energy was smaller the more powerful the Skill became. It didn’t make any sense. It was almost as if Magic wasn’t following its own rules.

From what I came to understand ever since I was reincarnated in this world, Magic Energy had many ways of changing the Laws of Physics, but in reality, what appeared to be a complete and irrational change was actually just a complicated puzzle of all the known and yet unknown laws of Magic and Physics. It made my head hurt just thinking about it, but I promised myself that someday, someway, somehow, I’ll be able to decipher it. I was practically immortal, so I had time to spare.

Seven months after I landed in this desert, the cubicle residence I created for myself remained unchanged, but I did manage to construct many technological marvels I could use in future battle or for household things. Unfortunately, a bug repellent wasn’t one of them. I don’t even want to remember how many times I woke up with a bug nesting in my mouth or a spider in my ear. I screamed like a little girl every time and shot a fireball at my face. There was this one time when a snake nestled in my lap, as in actually made a nest in my lap.

There was another thing I came to a conclusion about, and that was my objective in life, or rather objectives:

First of all, the Darkness had to go. That was my main objective for now. Secondly, I was curious about the world, how other species interacted with each other, and how society worked here in general. Lastly, after I got rid of the Darkness, I wanted to train for a while.

All of these were for the final purpose of resurrecting the Fellyore Magic Academy, but this time, it was going to be Illsyore’s Magic Academy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t start building it until I was certain of the location, the teachers, that I was powerful enough to wipe the floor with an entire party of Supremes, that I had at least one class of students, and that I wasn’t in the danger of being controlled by anyone besides the calls to bed of my wives.

As to why I wanted to build a Magic Academy? It was strange, but I felt a bit connected to that idea. I also desired to do something to change the twisted opinions of some people and kingdoms, especially those in regard to the equality between species. I could grow big muscles and force these changes upon them, or I could simply teach the youngsters my truth. With education comes revolution and from it comes change.

Opening my eyes, I took a deep breath in, coughing a bit from all the dust and sneezed because of the spider that turned my nose into a silk bridge. Getting up, I stretched my arms and dusted off my body. Looking up, I summoned from inside my Inner Mind a cubic meter of water and kept it suspended above me with the help of my magic. Focusing on the bottom part, I created a hole in the field and allowed the water to pour on top of me.

It was an improvised shower, but it did the job and cleaned me up of the dust and dirt that gathered over time. The temperature didn’t matter since this body had a function that increased or decreased its temperature with a bit of magic.

Once I was sparkly clean, I intended to absorb the clothes on me, but then I notice that I wasn’t wearing any.

“Oh yeah… I was butt naked all this time…” I said and then closed my eyes.

When I was fiddling with technology, I also learned how to create items. It was RIDICULOUSLY easy and simple. Basically, I just had to know the materials, summon them from my Inner Mind and then infuse them with Magic Energy. Afterwards, I just had to reshape them in the form I desired. It was similar to working with clay.

Using this method, I created myself a pair of trousers, which ended up with one leg bigger than the other. I was a bad tailor… The most complicated part was to create the twill, but I had plenty of cotton and linen. I chose the first type as material.

About ten tries later, I managed to create a pair of modern dark-brown trousers with a black dyed leather belt.

“Great… Now I need socks, shoes, shirt, and all the other stuff… I think I’ll make a robe too while I'm at it.” I thought as I looked at my newest creation.

Without any further delay, me, the Godlike Dungeon started knitting, sewing, and dyeing. Ten hours later, I was wearing a long, dark-brown robe with a hoodie; a pair of long, blue trousers; a pair of silk socks; a pair of leather boots; an orange cotton T-Shirt; and a brown leather vest. I actually looked pretty good. All that was left was to cut my hair, and I was ready!

Walking out of my shelter, I looked up and saw the clear sky with about a hundred hungry flying birds flying straight at me. What a beautiful… Wait, what?

“THE HELL?” I shouted as I dashed back in my home.

“CAW! CAW!” the birds screamed.

“You aren’t crows!” I retorted.

“MOO?”

What the? I thought as I raised an eyebrow.

“Chirp! Chirp!”

I was starting to feel like I just landed in a bird house or a zoo, but I could swear that I saw only one type of flying bird with razor-sharp teeth around their beaks. There were no cows in that bunch…

Taking a deep breath, I expanded my Dungeon Territory and prepared for battle.

“Mooo!” the cow was heard again.

“I mean, seriously?” I said out loud.

With energy pulsing at the very tips of my fingers, I dashed outside and aimed my palm at whatever was flying around my home.

There were about twenty birds making all those three strange sounds while pecking and scratching at my temporary home. Their long, sharp beaks and claws were chipping away at it little by little. Lasting two or three minutes would have been a wonder. Surprisingly though, none tried to use the front door to get inside, but I doubted any could enter. Each bird was as big as a full-grown draconian, and its wingspan was around 10 meters in length. They were HUGE!

Still, none of them looked friendly. Despite being in the middle of the night, my eyes allowed me to see as good as during the day. Their feathers were dark blue on the top of their bodies, and bright red on their bellies. On top of their heads was a crest made out of long black feathers. If they weren’t after the flesh on my bones, I would have considered them to be quite interesting and maybe even beautiful.

Before I used any other Skills, I decided to try out my AGLMC Laser on them. The first I aimed it at was one flying in the air. It saw me and decided to make me its dinner, diving straight towards me.

“Not today!” I said with a grin and fired the laser.

The red beam went straight through its skull and landed next to me, dead.

I heard the ding of my level, but I ignored it. The next thing I did was to try out my Magic Armor and allowed one of them to hit me. The bird struck me with its beak as hard as it could, but I didn’t even flinch. The Magic Armor wasn’t even chipped, so I reached out for the bird’s beak and with one strong pull, I sent it flying towards another bird. The two collided in the air, and I do believe I heard the sounds of bones cracking.

With a smirk on my lips, I aimed my palm at the two birds and released a laser beam, piercing them in one shot and silencing them for good. The other birds looked at me for a second and decided I wasn’t worth the trouble. They flew away, but not after grabbing the bodies of the last two I killed.

“Cannibalism?” I wondered as I saw them fighting each other in the air over the remains.

I was left with only one big bird next to me, the one which I vaporized the insides of its head. Kicking it once, I decided to turn it into food for later, so I absorbed it and walked back to my little home.

“I guess I’ll repair it and then wake up the girls…” I told myself as I smiled and got down to business.

The floor was a bit too hard and cold to simply lay them down there. I had no fire started, and it was a bit too dark for them, so I placed a Power Crystal that emitted light on top of the ceiling and a pile of branches in the middle of the room. With a tiny fire spark at the tip of my fingers, I lit the campfire.

I sped up the heating process a bit by magically raising the temperatures of the wall by about 15 degrees Celsius. To keep it warm, I added a layer of fiber glass on the outside, which acted as a thermal insulator. Over it, I added a plaque of wood, so the fiber glass wouldn't be left out into the open. It would act as a double protection against those pesky birds as well unless glass was part of their usual menu.

Afterwards, I released the girls from inside my Inner Mind and laid them one next to each other. It was very hard to resist the temptation of fondling Nanya’s bazookas, but I abstained… surprisingly.

Shanteya was the first one to wake up, then was Ayuseya, and the last one to do so was Nanya.

“Ugh… Who are you?” the el’doraw asked a bit confused when she saw me.

“I go by many names, but you may call me the esteemed and renowned…” before I was able to finish my sentence, Nanya finished it for me.

“Pantie Snatching Perverted Dungeon Lord Illsyore.” she smirked.

“Ugh…” I groaned.

[You gained a new title: Pantie Snatching Perverted Dungeon Lord] Do you wish to apply? Y/N

WHO THE HELL WOULD APPLY THIS TITLE?! I screamed in my mind at the ridiculous message.

“It’s good to see you again, Illsy…” said Ayuseya with a soft smile.

“That means… we survived? What about Dankyun?” asked Shanteya a bit surprised, but then tears started rolling down her cheeks. She was crying. “MASTER!” she jumped and hugged me tightly. “You are alive! You are alive! You are safe!” she kept saying.

I embraced her and gently patted her back. My cute el’doraw was really worried about me, although I wasn’t expecting such a strange reaction from her. It was like the first question didn’t matter at all.

“It’s alright, my dear. I’m alright.” I smiled and then looked over at Nanya, who was looking down.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Well…” I scratched my cheek and then began to explain to them what happened, leaving out the little part about the Darkness inside of me.

Although, it was a bit wrong of me to do so, I didn’t feel prepared yet to tell them about it. Actually, I had no idea how to break it to them. I couldn’t just go: Hey, did you know that I’m being slowly taken over by a Primordial Dungeon because I don’t act like a psychopathic villain with the intention of using you three as breeding tools?

Yeah… I had to take one step at a time.

Until I felt like I was actually losing control over my actions and mind, I saw no reason to open the subject. With a bit of luck, I would never have to do so…