Apinsig
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Chapter 222 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”
🕑 Added 2024-10-01 15:28:32 +0000 UTC----
Yesterday I titled the chapter wrong so if you thought I didn't post a dungeon core chapter yesterday please read chapter 221 before this one.
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Pov Enn
I watched as he finished eating quite fast and then started following me through the city towards the port. We were no longer using the secret language and just talking about nothing specific.
I don’t think he noticed how people seemed to keep their eyes on him, though they weren’t directly looking at him. I could understand why. He radiated power, but not the overwhelming strength that comes from people near the end of platinum rank or the absolutely crushing power of a diamond rank. It was a different kind of feeling he gave off.
The way he walked and talked—it kind of looked like he was just confident in everything he did, but it was deeper than that. I’m pretty sure that we can accomplish our mission with his help. I just hoped he was willing to end his current disguise, as none of us could return from this mission alive.
“Do you think it’s possible before we leave that you could get me other parts of dragons?” he asked me out of nowhere, but I guess it was a question that would be normal for us to speak about.
“That is not a problem. We should already have what you need back on the ship but get me a list of anything you would like, and we’ll get it before we set off.”
He was happy to hear that, and I wondered if he could truly get the patterns from just pieces of creature parts. Our father needed a living creature to get the full pattern, so I think in a way his way of getting patterns might be even better.
Is that the reason why he will become father’s guardian? There’s a lot of talk about why him, amongst the others, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. It’s their choice after all.
“Wow, that's an impressive-looking ship,” he said when we finally reached the port, and he could see the ship we would be using. It was indeed impressive—it was currently disguised as a seafaring ship.
“Is that my airship being secured to the port side? And what's the name of the ship?” he asked, looking at me with one eyebrow raised.
He kinda looked cute like that. “We took the liberty to transport your ship here. We lost two of our transport boats, so we had the extra room to fit yours. As for the ship’s name, it’s called the Crosscut. Yeah, don’t ask about that—I wasn’t the one who named it,” he laughed at that, and we continued our walk to the ship.
On board, we headed to my office, but before we got there, he asked me another question. “Wait, are you the captain?” I gave him a simple nod and led him to my office. I indicated for him to sit down and then sat down in my own chair.
“We can speak freely here. No one can overhear us.” My words seemed to relax him as he sat back and got into a comfortable position.
“I don’t know if you know this, but I feel like I should say it anyway. When I got the pattern for a dragon’s muscles, I also learned that they are protected, like most other adventurer species, as Father likes to call us. I hope that won’t be a problem?”
“No, it's not. This is something we know. Unfortunately, he found that out the hard way. It’s not too difficult to capture a live dragon, although we need to injure one quite severely before we can get it into the storage devices. It was an unfortunate discovery, but something we should have expected. When we brought it back to the dungeon and killed it there, only to find out that Father couldn’t get the pattern was not our proudest moment.”
“I guess I should explain the plan a little bit better and why we need your help. Dragons lay eggs in clusters of three to nine. Only dragons who have reached young adulthood lay eggs, and by that time, they are gold rank. They aren’t conscious yet—that only happens when they get closer to platinum—but we have seen and heard that that isn't an iron rule.”
“The problem is they are incredibly protective of their nests, but when someone attacks and they get angry, while they try to be careful around the eggs, we’ve found that most get destroyed as we simply don’t have the power to subdue a dragon without a proper fight.”
“What's more problematic is that the few eggs we have managed to save seem to die quite fast, no matter what we try, without their mother around. So, we are hoping that you could help subdue a dragon so we can store it when it's healthy enough to survive, take the eggs, and hopefully, they will accept their new location inside the dungeon and start caring for their eggs there. Then, when those eggs crack and little dragons come out, Father can get a glimpse of their pattern.”
I stopped my explanation there and simply looked at him as he said nothing. There was quite a lot of silence before he finally started speaking. "I am guessing that this ship will not return from this mission, and there will be no survivors?" I gave him a nod and hoped he would be fine with that.
"Good, that's good. The dragon was the last pattern I was hunting for anyway, so it would be good to return to Father. I should have no problem subduing a dragon, but I’m suggesting that we try to capture multiple ones just in case. And don’t worry, we can go fast."
That absolute confidence—that was actually something else, something more. Well, I was sure my antennae would be twitching right now if I was in my ant form.
"The scouts will be happy to hear that. We have a few possible targets, but we expected only to get one nest before we needed to leave, as our fighting would alert anyone nearby. But if you can subdue a dragon that easily, we should have more time while remaining undetected to hopefully get all the nests we know of."
"Would you please lead me to the other dragon parts? I would like to assimilate them as fast as I can, as that would make things even easier." I answered with the affirmative and showed him the way. On the way, I gave him a crash course on how the ship operated and would later leave him to be trained by others on the protocols we have.
We should be able to set sail in about a week, officially going on a mission to hunt a strong gold-rank dragon nearing platinum. But instead, officially, we would perish doing this, while actually getting full nests of dragon eggs with their mothers that will hopefully start breeding in the dungeon.
As I expected, we unfurled the sails on the three main masts as we got clear of the island’s wake eight days after Rafe joined us. We would have a journey of two months before we reached the dragon breeding grounds, and then this mission I have been working on for over a decade will finally be over. I think after this, I will just enjoy my life in the dungeon for a while.
Hopefully, when father gets the platinum rank, we will have an opportunity to fight platinum-rank monsters until we reach diamond rank, so we can help protect father even more. Hopefully, I can even reach diamond rank. While on this mission, I have learned a few important things, and that’s that not everyone has the potential to reach higher ranks.
While determination is a key factor in how far you can go, there are limitations you can’t overcome. Reaching diamond rank is not as simple as fighting hordes of monsters and achieving it. I’ve even met a few platinum ranks who technically could advance, as they have enough breakthrough mana stored up, but no matter what they try, they simply can't push through.
Still, that shouldn't limit father too much, as even if only 1% of us can reach diamond rank, that should be enough to keep the rest protected from the four great powers. I looked towards Rafe and watched him as he meditated at the bow of the ship. I was certain he could reach diamond rank, and what a scary individual he will become when he does.
I had no doubt in my mind that he could subdue her dragon, as he is right now, since the stories we heard of his underwater exploits are quite legendary.
The disguise he wore under the waves was now officially believed to be dead, as he went on the holiest pilgrimage of the underwater world. That was the visit to the bottom of the deepest place on this world, a bit over 30 kilometers deep. I wondered if he actually reached it or simply disappeared and came here to hunt for his next pattern. Hopefully, I can find that out during this trip.
Comments
Zarik0
Noice :) Like these Pov
Robert
That should be a prohibition the diamonds put on the race cus you have sapient ants at almost birth and dragons are the first race the top of the pyramid and apex of all life normally
Apinsig
Dragons aren't sapient for their birth they gain it at platinum or near the end of gold rank depending on the individual
Robert
Also are the dragons sapient or are they just mindless due to some prohibition?
Robert
Why wouldn't they just ask the dragons to move ? Stay where you are and be hunted or move to a place 3 times the size of the whole planet with no humans 50th play room , the faces when all the dragons just disappear would be funny as fuck
Apinsig
i see the problem will fix now
Apinsig
Meriana Trench is 11 kilometers deep so 30 km felt right and I think even then you would need more pressure to form ice VII or ice X
Kasper Lynderup Jensen
Was that depth meant to be in kilometers? Because that is half the distance from the surface the core of Jupiter. I don't even know how water behaves at that pressure. It would probably be some exotic version of ice or something. Without magic of course.
