Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power C.518

"So this is why I've never seen an A-Grade dungeon..."

The same system text floats in front of my eyes.

[Create a Labyrinth]

[YES][NO]

The possibility of a whole new type of farming comes into my mind.

If the creation of a labyrinth spawns demons and dragons, and this process is possible to replicate, I could find a place to farm demon cores with minimal effort.

All it would take is a few hundred containment stones worth of mana to bring dungeons up to a high B-Grade rating. Then, between rank up stages, the dungeons produce their own high-grade element stones that I can craft into containment items.

The only issue would be finding more dungeons to drain mana from, but I haven't even traveled outside of Sector 2 for rogue dungeons yet, so I'm sure there's more than enough to go around.

I stare at the blue text that floats in the air, attempting to scan the rest of the dungeon I'm in, but no other defining factors show up in my mind's eye.

There are no other options than yes or no, so after a few minutes of thinking and waiting, I decide to choose [YES] and see what happens.

The text box pulses and disappears, then another one comes into view right where it left.

[Choose Labyrinth Type]

There is a list of options below it with detailed descriptions and 3d holographic scans.

The top option is one I'm very familiar with, showing stacked dungeons with boss room floors every 20 stages. After the 40th floor, there are only boss rooms on every floor and it stops on floor 60.

The next option below it has no boss rooms at all; it's 100 floors with only one final boss room at the top.

The third option is a 30-floor labyrinth with boss rooms on every floor starting from floor one.

As I scroll down the list further, more variations of these show up. Some with 40 floors and a boss room every 10, others with 15 and 2 bosses guarding each floor.

Once I get to the bottom of the list, I've seen every possible variation that I can get, but there still isn't any explanation for what kind of monsters will be on each floor or how strong they'll be.

From what I've seen in labyrinths in the past, every one of them has a floor boss every 20 floors. The only labyrinth large enough for me to reach past the 40th floor has been the Vice City Labyrinth. It is either a major coincidence, or these labyrinths that spawn naturally always end up choosing the first default option.

It would be the safe bet to choose the first, and I would know exactly what I'm getting myself into, but the 2nd option, a 100-floor labyrinth, looks like the most profitable option for me.

The potential for new monsters with unique skills to farm, and possibly higher A-Grade floors with infinite respawning monsters, is more so what I'm after rather than having cool boss rooms that lock up and don't let me rechallenge them.

After scrolling through the list for a few more minutes, I let out a sigh and choose it, whispering to myself.

"If I don't like this option, I can always collapse it and make another one..."

Then, more text boxes appear in front of my eyes.

[Input Floor Creation Catalyst][1/100]

[Go Back to Labyrinth Options]

It wants me to input items to create the floors and even gives me the option to go back to the main list.

That must be for the off chance that I don't have enough material to create what it needs.

I choose [Go Back to Labyrinth Options] out of curiosity and sift through a few of the other options.

The other options with fewer floors take exactly the amount of this "Creation Catalyst" relative to their number of floors; the labyrinth I've set my sights on has the most floors so it is the most expensive one on the entire list.

I scroll back to the 100-floor option and stare at [Input Floor Creation Catalyst][1/100] in bright blue text.

I have a pretty good idea what this mystery creation catalyst is, so I plunge a hand into my item storage and pull out a single fragment of luminite.

"This better not go to waste..."

I move my hand forward with the delicate white crystal in hand, and to my surprise in this unique environment, it doesn't dissolve or crack at all.

The crystal holds its form until it disappears into the blue text.

[Input Floor Creation Catalyst][2/100]

"Knew it..."

I smile, as this makes sense. To create dungeons within this system, they can't just spawn out of thin air. There needs to be enough mana in a confined space, and the right ingredients to craft them.

One by one, I shovel more luminite into the system text, leaving only a handful left in my item storage, but I feel as though this is worth it to see what happens in the end.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Once the text hits [100/100], it disappears again and another blue box appears.

[Labyrinth Creator: Jay Soju]

[Type: 100 Floor Tower]

[Floors Available: 26/100]

[!] More Mana Necessary To Unlock Higher Floors [!]

[!] Invite Humans to your Labyrinth and Grow in Power [!]

More text flashes across my vision, then disappears, leaving me with another two options.

[Become Labyrinth Guardian]

[Spawn Random Guardian]

Again, I think over the options carefully, but decide to pick [Spawn Random Guardian].

The thought of being stuck inside a labyrinth as its guardian doesn't seem like something I'd want to do. Seeing what kind of random selection this system gives me is a better option.

Once I click it, I expect another random text box to show up in my face, but it doesn't.

The text disappears and I'm left floating in the blue and white sphere of pure mana for a full minute before anything happens.

The room starts to expand outward, and a grassland dungeon with level 5-10 goblins starts to materialize in front of me.

As soon as it's complete, white light flashes in front of my eyes and I'm brought to another small blue and white sphere-shaped room. It expands outward after a full minute as well, eventually creating a swamp-like dungeon with level 20-30 frog creatures.

I'm teleported back to the blue and white sphere shaped room once the dungeon is complete.

Again and again, the floors are created before my eyes and I'm brought to the next one with magic that feels just like a teleportation crystal.

This process takes over a full hour before I get to the final monster spawning dungeon, floor 25. The lava-filled volcanic landscape filled with level 560-580 Ranked Up Lizardmen with Fire magic, wielding swords and axes, disappear to bring me to the 26th.

This floor is completely empty.

A blue system textbox hovers in the air at the top of this dungeon written in system text I'm sure only the labyrinth owner is able to see.

[Mana Necessary to create next Floor [2.453T/3T]]

"So this is how it works..."

As the labyrinth grows, absorbing more mana, it will build more floors below this boss room. All of the mana from a single A-Grade dungeon was dispersed to create the lower floors. However, the higher grade the floors become, the more mana is necessary to make them.

It appears that low to middle B-Grade floors will be about 3 trillion MP each to create.

My assumption is the stronger floors will require significantly more energy the higher I go up.

"So interesting..."

I walk forward and take in the sight of the final boss room that will be the final line of defense in this dungeon.

It's large and looks like a rocky cave.

In the back of this dungeon, I feel two living beings.

One of them is hibernating in a small brown egg-shaped stone and the other is 3 meters tall, muscular with dark red skin, white eyes, and dark black horns jutting from its forehead.

A level 623 demon with an Arch Demon's core and two skills makes eye contact with me from the back of the room and teleports in front of me as I look at his skills.

[Body Double][Legendary Grade]

[Dungeon Walker][Legendary Grade]

It pulls a long enchanted silver sword from its back and swings it down on me without saying a word.

I wait until the very last second to smile and turn to look the demon in the eyes and stop its blade with the tip of my index finger, sending it flying backward hundreds of meters from the impact.

I dungeon walk over to it and tap it with my index finger again, stopping its momentum to push it down into the rocky ground before it can even hit the back wall of the dungeon.

As it slams into the hard rock ground, it dungeon walks away again, and I follow it, not missing a beat.

I could easily kill this monster and take its core without breaking a sweat, but I'm impressed with the way it fights and if I'm going to be the owner of a labyrinth, this would be exactly the kind of security guard I want on hand.

Having mythic grade body double and dungeon walker would be very beneficial too, but I see a longer-term goal here that could be far more profitable than destroying my month long project right now.

A demon that fights and aims to kill an intruder without question. That's who I want on my side. However, I want to test it a bit more and give myself assurances this creature can't turn on me.

No matter how many times I beat it down, the demon continues to come at me with everything it has.

I start moving my attacks closer to its vital areas, aiming for the heart and head. Of course, I'm just testing it, and not even using Soul Energy, but I'm increasing my intensity and could actually kill this creature if it doesn't keep up with my movements.

A full minute goes by, and the boss room is decimated with rock holes and the demon itself is bleeding all over and torn to shreds from the impact.

It hasn't said a word, and continues to fight for its life, protecting this labyrinth with everything it has.

Once I slam it down on the ground again, my absorption skill's special perk notification rings, telling me the monster has fallen below 5% HP.

I choose dungeon walker and the process of stealing and creating a skill orb follows. 𝔣𝖗𝖊𝖊𝖜𝔢𝔟𝔫𝔬𝖛𝖊𝔩.𝖈𝖔𝔪

Once the system lights and soul energy clear, the demon still tries to fight back even as its skill falls into my item storage.

I finally speak up and reach into my storage to throw the defeated demon a bright green regeneration potion.

"Catch. You fought well. If we were the same strength, maybe you would have given me a bit of trouble, but there's only so much you can do against an opponent almost four times your level."

Its eyes widen and it catches the potion.

"Drink it. If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead. I'm the creator of this labyrinth after all; it wouldn't be wise for me to waste all this time and mana for nothing."

The demon tries to activate a skill, but nothing happens.

It looks around to see its sword 10 meters away on the rocky floor, then back to me.

"I took your Dungeon Walker skill, it's just a safety precaution of mine. I don't want you moving around to other nearby dungeons. I don't know how you'd manage it, but I've met some very annoying demons that have left their labyrinths before."

It still doesn't say a word, so I activate my intimidation skill just slightly and stare into its gaze, showing that I too have the white eyes of a demon.

"Drink it, or I kill you and your dragon right now."

I stare over to the stone-colored egg at the back of the room, then back to the demon, and it finally drinks the green liquid.

The slashes, bruises, and scars all over its body heal, and it stands to its feet with a confused expression.

I use telekinesis to give the demon its silver sword back, then speak again.

"I'm going to be doing some experiments in this labyrinth for a while, so it would be best if we get along. You pledge your loyalty to me, and in return, I grow this labyrinth to 100 floors and I'll even give you any skill you want back except for the one I just stole to make sure you stay put."

The demon's eyes widen, and I finally hear its voice.

"You have the ability to take away and grant skills... I thought that power was only a myth."

It points its sword forward at me again and takes a step back, then opens its status with its other hand.

My eyes lock onto it, and instead of blue text like mine, all of the lettering is black with hints of purple and dark blue flickering in it.

I've never seen a demon open its status before, but that coloring wasn't what I was expecting.

Before I can look at it for long, the creature closes it and looks back at me.

"It seems you can take away skills... You're telling the truth. What nation are you from back in the Demonic Realm? Which Lord do you serve that lets demons freely roam in the human world to gain enough power to summon their own labyrinth? This makes no sense, it shouldn't be possible. Please tell me, who are you?"

We're left in silence for a moment.

My words and actions may not make sense to him, but his words make even less sense to me.

I respond with a curious look on my face.

"Your assumptions aren't all correct. However, who I am doesn't matter right now. I have some questions for you, where you've come from and this so-called myth about my ability are more important..."