Dungeon of Niflheim

161 Chapter 161: Next stage of the gathering

“Next second place, Aqua, my eldest daughter for you I grant a spell book, the 4th circle spell [summon water elemental] hopefully you find great use of it given your magically tendencies.” Dark summoned a highly decorative book this time, that floated before Aqua. Though she was skilled in weapons and physical combat, she preferred to command water in battle and Dark knew this. Therefore, he granted her magic, much to the jealously of Void and Chronos who were biting their lips, their eyes glistening with desire. Even them with their magical tendencies hadn’t unlocked or even touched upon the boundaries of 4th circle magic.

Aqua took hold of the book, gently holding it against her large chest as she performed a courtesy towards Dark. “Thank you for your generous gift father.” She then stepped back into the crowd, walking tall and magnanimous, far different from Pyro. Next was the final prize for the oldest and highest ranked dungeon core, Yami.

“Yami my son, you have proven your capabilities and then some, not only have you garnered the most DP in the past month, but you have surpassed all of your younger siblings in strength. And along with Aqua are the only two dungeon cores who have unlocked access to C-rank monsters, very impressive.” Dark nodded his head repeatedly, filled with joy and pride as he looked down at his son. Yami was perfect in every sense of the word and reminded him greatly of himself when he was younger. A tad bit stand offish and anti-social with a rather poor sense of humour but still.

Yami gave a curt nod in response yet even he with his cool and calm exterior couldn’t help but develop a smirk on his lips, much too small to been seen by others, however.

“For you I have two rewards, first off the magic spell [summon lesser undead] a 3rd circle spell that should help populate your dungeon. A little weaker than Aqua’s [summon water elemental] but of the same category.” Dark waved his hand once again, summoning another book, this time dark in colour that floated in front of Yami. “And now the second reward, and the most special and unique.” This time Dark didn’t simply wave his hand to generate a magic crest no, he teleported down from his elevated position, appearing directly in front of Yami with a more serious expression on his face.

Dark thought long and hard on what to reward his children with today. The items couldn’t be too overpowering otherwise it’d wreck the balance between them plus he couldn’t and didn’t want to interfere in their growth too much. Therefore, he needed to find the right balance. 4th to 10th would receive something no more than several gold coins worth, and it would be random to make it more exciting. Then for 2nd and 3rd they’d receive something that would suit their fighting styles either a 4 star weapon or 4th circle magic. When it came to Yami’s prize he wanted something extra special, not just giving a weapon and a spell no, something unique was needed.

However, what he came up with, though very rare and quite powerful, had a hitch.

When Dark arrived before his son, he channelled a great deal of divine power throughout his body. Activating his powers of creation, darkness flew from his hands, taking the shape of a large egg, just shy of a metre tall. When the formation finished and the darkness receded back into Dark’s body what was left was a smooth black coloured egg, that seemed to pulse with life.

Everyone here Yami included looked on in amazement at what Dark held in his hands, a few cores holding their breath in suspense. Dark smiled gently as he handed over the large black egg to Yami, a little bit of sweat accumulated on his forehead from the strain of what he just did. He wiped his forehead before going on to explain Yami’s reward

.....

“This is a spiritual egg of the darkness element, eventually as long as it’s nurtured with care and placed in an area with thick mana it will hatch into a high ranking darkness spirit that will be bonded to you like a child to its parent.” Dark looked at Yami and the egg fondly, hoping in some way that such a gift would cause his stoic son to smile more often.

The egg would hatch and release a darkness elemental, with very high potential. Elemental spirits were avid spellcasters and quite powerful entities in the higher ranks. Though the potential of the spirit was far higher in quality than Aqua’s and Pyro’s rewards, the downside was that it would take time. However as long as Yami took good care of the egg, frequently feeding it with his own mana it may even have the potential to become a spirit lord, a S-rank monster.

Yami held onto the egg with confusion on his face, it was heavy and not what he was expecting. His reward seemed to be that of a long lasting chore, but he didn’t question his father, once again giving a curt nod, and a short word of thanks before walking carefully back into the crowd. Regardless of whether he found it boring or tedious he’d follow his father’s wishes and care for the egg.

Dark’s mouth twitched a little, still finding it awkward to deal with his eldest son’s attitude. He shook his head and took a breath before restoring his warm expression, teleporting back to the top of the staircase to continue the next part.

“Now that the rewards have all been dealt with, I hope that I fuelled some fire in each of you to covet as much DP as possible.” Dark gazed across the room, seeing fire and desire in many of his children’s eye, his methods working. “That’s some great looks you’re giving me, every time we have a family gathering, we’ll compare each of your progress and dish out rewards for those in the top positions and those that have greatly surpassed their previous place. I’ll also come up with some compromises for some cores since I know that this format doesn’t necessarily work for each of you given your personalities and or locations.” Dark couldn’t help but look toward Void and Chronos who though among the oldest dungeon cores were pretty much in the bottom rung DP wise. He needed to come up with something fairer in the future, to take into account such cores. His words and gentle looks eased a few worried cores in the audience, those in the bottom rung in particular.

“Ok time for the next part of the gathering.” Dark couldn’t help but smile wildly, as though hatching some sort of scheme. “It’s all well and good to see how everyone did with DP income but lacks a more practical reflection of ones abilities in regards to dungeon management. I don’t know what forces Light or even the denizens of this world will send against you, so I need to see how well you do in a battle!” Dark spoke with a booming voice, as though an Emperor at the coliseum. With mention of battle, many of the more aggressive cores felt their bodies heat up, and their eyes became ablaze with excitement. Pyro and Bahamut in particular. Frost and Indra couldn’t help but smile as well, they welcomed a physical challenge.

“Today we shall have the very first dungeon war, two of you will face off with the dungeons you have established, aiming to either decimate your opponent’s monsters or reach their dungeon core. The winners will receive a special reward and loser will earn a regular reward, for being a participant in the very first dungeon war.” Dark wouldn’t be too mean to the loser, they would be revealing their home and abilities to everyone here after all.

“I plan to make this a regular thing even out with the gatherings, it’ll help foster competition and establish a proper hierarchy among each of you as well as help prepare you for what may come. Now a few ground rules for this demonstration. First you the dungeon core will not take place on the field of battle; you’ll be restricted to purely a commanding role. This well help show me your leadership and strategic capabilities, in future wars there won’t be restrictions so stop with that sour face Pyro.” Dark admonished Pyro who visibly deflated when he hard he wouldn’t be able to take part in battle personally. That was his whole wheelhouse, his strategic ability was pretty non-existent. He’d run into battle with his monsters by his side, and simply cleave the enemy in two with brute force.

“Second you cannot, break the dungeon core/kill your sibling, this is just a friendly battle to showcase your strengths. You reach the opponents core, game over, it ends got it!” Dark stressed this point with a stern gaze. In the future his children may very well end up killing one another in dungeon wars but he wouldn’t promote such behaviour especially in the very first demonstration. Today is a happy celebration not a potential death anniversary.

“Thirdly those chosen will be granted an hour to prepare their dungeons and spend any DP they have saved up if they wish to. No more DP can be used during this war, to make it fair and test your future planning capabilities. And finally, your guardians cannot take part whether that means fighting in person or commanding, they will take a strictly observing role. Any questions?”