Dungeon of Niflheim

‘300DP not bad at all.’ The adventurer Barren was currently giving off 300DP per day. ‘Looks like Maya’s locked in theory was correct.’ If the man was giving off 300DP normally there would have been no way the frost troll could have beaten him regardless of the numbers he summoned. Ergo he was likely around 100DP worth, the locked room feature tripling that figure.

This was quite a substantial number and something Frost wasn’t inclined to pass on. Plus, there were a few experiments he’d like to run, and Barren was the perfect guinea pig. Having made his decision Frost moved to act upon it.

Without hiding his movements Frost moved up to Barren and without a hint of gentleness, wrenched back his head and force fed him a low level health potion. It would heal him just enough to live, nothing more. The dungeon wouldn’t heal an intruder after all.

After Barren was forced to drink the horrible tasting potion, he didn’t even get time to thank his would be saviour before being struck on the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

Frost looked down at the man was a nefarious gaze, trundles of dark thoughts flowing through his mind, a few bringing an even greater smile to his face.

“Rest now, you’ll need your strength for what’s about to happen hahahaha.” Frost turned to leave the room, leaving Barren still chained up and bloody.

“Monitor him every so often, make sure he doesn’t croak until I get back.” Frost gave an order to the defending dwarves and frost wolf. In response they saluted like soldiers, even the wolf held up its paw.

And with that Frost left, teleporting back to the private space. The issue had been dealt with, now he could get back to managing the Dungeon and settling in Nanna and Loki.

.....

He’d only been away for 20 minutes or so and by the time he returned Nanna and Loki had gotten over their momentary spatial nausea and were digging into the tasty bentos that Kathy prepared. Maya was joining them, eating a small dish. She waved to Frost before patting the seat next to her.

Frost’s bad mood and evil thoughts vanished, a gentle smile adorning his face as he joined them in eating.

“Has it been dealt with?” Maya asked after finishing her mouthful.

“Yes, the problem had already been eliminated by the frost troll and the dwarves but there were severe injuries and a few casualties.” Frost sighed as the image of the badly hurt frost troll came into the forefront of his mind.

“Hmmm what’s wrong master?” Nanna asked, curious about what Frost and Maya was talking about.

“You know how I said I’m like a sentient monster lair right.”

“Yeah”

“Well, some of the monsters I summoned were hurt badly, some even died, and I was checking up on them. Seeing what caused it.” Frost had already told Nanna and Loki the truth and seeing as how they were now bound to him, and he had lofty aspirations for them, he decided to rope her into to what’s going on.

“Ah!” Nanna felt a mixture of pain, anger, and awkwardness as she saw the slightly depressed look on her master’s face. Her master effectively lost his family or pets or whatever but at the same time they were monsters, it’ll take a while for her to get used to that fact.

“I know how the world tends to view monsters especially those born in monster lairs but to me they are my valued creations, beings that I’m willing to protect.” Frost spoke gently, trying to explain his feelings on the matter hoping that in time Nanna and Loki would feel the same. To not look at his creations as merely monsters but as people like them. Even if they can’t speak common tongue or aren’t that smart, each and every one of his monsters have their own personality, flare, and traits. They’re more than just aggressive monsters, mana filled beasts.

The world of Nova didn’t exactly look favourably upon monsters, due to their usual lack of intelligence and tendency to violence. Of course, higher ranked monsters were different but even then, it was more because of their strength rather than their intelligence that they were accepted. A stereotypical view that sapient born races are somewhat superior, some countries are better than others but it’s still there. For monsters born in monster lairs however there was a commonly accepted notion that they were incapable of being reasoned with, even those of high rank such as dragons or giants were feral and constantly prone to destruction. Treated as a separate species from their natural occurring brethren. Frost’s monster however seemed to not follow that trait; they were akin to natural monsters possibly even higher in quality though they were bound to the dungeon.

Frost ran a few tests before, ordering a goblin to try and leave vicinity of the Dungeon. The goblin only made it to the entrance before a strong pressure filled its heart urging it to turn back. Of course, he didn’t know how it would affect more powerful monsters.

Nanna looked into her master’s eyes and saw the care and affection within them, when he spoke her heart felt pained. Was she really one to talk about mistreatment and looking at entities with scorn. She and her brother had monster blood within them, taken and captured by a so called sapient race. Tortured, abused, and forced into slavery, then to suffer their souls being eroded, how could those people not be the monsters. Was there really any difference between them and monsters....she couldn’t answer that question.

“Can I see them?” With determination in her eyes and her belly now filled she requested to meet with some of Frost’s monsters. She’d face them and interact with them and make her own decision on whether they were mindless beasts or not. She and her brother were still young and although they suffered a horrible past, they were not tainted by the worlds views yet, they were open minded and willing to learn.

Frost eyes opened wide at her request before becoming soft and gentle. He nodded while smiling.

“I was planning on just that.” With a big grin he rubbed Nanna’s head with affection before doing the same with Loki who was behaving meekly once again, letting his sister take the lead.

“First things first however I need to do a little work before we head out, plus I need to create some new rooms for the two of you to live in.” Frost looked around, the private space was big enough at the moment for him and Maya but not four people. A little re-arrangement was needed.

“Can we help?” Nanna asked full of curiosity about the Dungeon and Frost himself, eager to please her new master.

“Sure, hopefully one day the two of you will be able to help manage the place.” Frost stood up and moved over to the sofa that was conveniently placed in front of the Dungeon core. Nanna and Loki joined him, while Maya silently started to clear the table and dishes.

“This here is a replica of my core, or my heart if you will. Through it I can access a menu that helps me spend Dungeon points or DP for short.” Frost brought of the large screen and took a look at his current wealth. With his over 4000DP gained by him outside of the Dungeon his grand total was now a little over 15000DP, after Frost and Maya left there were quite a few adventuring parties that entered the dungeon, some even stayed for a day or so, with many sporting injuries and a couple dying. The biggest dose however was from the killing and maiming of those Sanguine Snakes, with each kill giving an average of 1000DP, very lucrative.

Frost now had enough money to purchase a second floor including an environment but first off, he needed to replace the lost monsters. The Dungeon was starting to look rather bare.

“You see the number at the top right of the screen, that’s how much dungeon points we have to spend. They can be used to summon monsters, create traps, new rooms, environments, food, drink pretty much anything you can think of I can summon with DP and 15,000 is quite a lot.” Frost explained thoroughly while Nanna and Loki watched with rapt attention. They’d never seen or heard of any of this before, it was quite a thrilling experience.

“First off I’ll replace my lost monsters before extending the private space, pre-warning you however we’ll have to leave the private space during that time. It’ll be through the same method as before, that’s how we get around the dungeon.” Frost warned them ahead of time about the spatial teleportation causing Nanna and Loki’s faces to whiten, the memory alone made them nauseous.