We walked into the 9th floor safe room, immediately preceeding the boss. As for the lore, I didn’t bring myself to care. I made some promises about respecting and understanding lore, but that nicety ended when that dungeon was holding back one of my girls. They had also covered one of my other girls in sticky white stuff, so there went the last of my consideration.
I didn’t spend too much time resting. It was just enough time to adjust my stuff and potentially prepare for anything. Celeste and I walked out into the 10th-floor boss room. I frowned as I approached a young boy standing there with a glower on his face.
“A child?” Celeste asked curiously.
Since the upper levels, she had mostly been sitting on my shoulder, enjoying the ride. It had been such a long time since I had felt her there, that I didn’t complain about her lack of accomplishments. Well, it wasn’t like I was solving these puzzles myself. However, was this a puzzle? It could be a boss fight. Expecting me to fight a child? Was that one of this dungeon’s tricks?
“Fellow dungeon master, what are you doing here?” The little boy demanded as I approached him.
My steps slowed to a stop. “You know that I’m a dungeon master?”
“Hmph! Who else could you be? Those foolish humans don’t possess the kind of strength that we do! They have to fight in groups just for the hope of overpowering us!”
“I see…” I was a bit more than a dungeon master, but for all intents and purposes, it didn’t matter. “Why have you come? Shouldn’t you be on the bottom floor?”
“It’s clear that you are a superior level dungeon.” He snorted. “I don’t know why you haven’t initiated a takeover yet, but if you intended to probe out my dungeon further, I should say that you have already seen all there is to see. Although my dungeon is a bit older, I did not waste my absorption on growing my dungeon. Twenty levels are all that I possess. Oh, if you were hoping that meant my mana stores were valuable, I assure you that they are not. I have been continuously using the mana I absorb.”
“On what?” I blinked.
“That’s none of your concern!” He sniffed haughtily before pulling out an orb. “Here is my lore glossary. It contains a penance of mana, as well as my registered mobs and traps. Take it and leave here.”
I stared at the glowing orb in his hand. It resembled the dungeon lore, except that it wasn’t as large nor did it glow as brightly. Using my intuition mixed with my Dungeon Master skill, I had a feeling that this was some kind of copy? It was like scanning a copy of the basic lure. It didn’t contain the heart of the dungeon, but the information could be used. What information? That would be the knowledge to create different monsters, traps, and biomes. I didn’t know dungeons could exchange such things.
When I hesitated to take the item offered, his face grew dark. “If you intend to continuously break through each of my carefully laid out puzzles and take everything, I’ll warn you. I’m part of the dungeon master council. I’ve tolerated your presence thus far for my reasons, but if you press me any further, I will report you. A high-level dungeon cannot attack a weaker dungeon. This is according to the dungeon master pact!”
I felt like I just stumbled on something big that no one from the surface even knew about. Dungeon masters were organized.