Vacuse had been waiting for the summon, so he was happy to heed it. After all, he had finished all the preparation he needed.
It was late in the evening when he went to stand beneath the glowing golden ship, and a beam of light cut down, floating him up and into the ship.
He found the Iron Knight and Eloryna waiting for him, the former giving him a glare, looking displeased that Vacuse was even there at all.
Vacuse ignored her and clasped his hands into a greeting as he bowed a little. "Iron Knight."
Iron Knight nodded with indifference and pointed to the chair behind Eloryna. "Welcome, young lord. We were just starting."
Vacuse nodded, his face hidden behind a most indifferent mask as he sat down.
Iron Knight waited for a while, then he smiled darkly. "I would offer you something to eat or drink, but I'm not really the most hospitable kind."
Nobody said anything, and soon Iron Knight began. "Good. I will cut to it then. In three days, you two shall be clearing the Great Dungeon.
"I have been appointed by his Majesty to oversee things, and that is what I will do. Let's talk about the Great Dungeon. But before that, what is a Dungeon? Where do they come from?
"A lot of explanations are out there, but I will follow the one this Empire adopted. Our world is saturated with Force energy, and as with all things, too much of anything is not good. When the Force energy is too much in a single location, it causes an imbalance, and since our world has laws that keep the balance of things in check, a reaction is sent out to keep things in check.
"That reaction is the Dark Wilderness. The cause is the oversaturated Force energy, the effect is the Dark Wilderness that balances things out."
Iron Knight paused for them to digest things before he continued.
"The Dark Wilderness is a place that is a little free from the fundamental laws of our world due to it balancing things, and that is what causes Dungeons."
Iron Knight looked at them. Although they most likely had been taught, he was only doing his job as his Majesty commanded him.
"Since the laws of the world are weaker there, it means that things, monsters and such, would try to pass through into our world. The Dungeons are created to contain them, and if we don't? Well, they run wild into the Wilderness and through there to anywhere else."
Vacuse's eyes gleamed as he realized something. The Sovereign Ascended rank must be really astonishing since they can have law and authority. He used the pause to ask a question. "Are the laws... are they sentient?"
Iron Knight shrugged. "Who knows if they have consciousness or not? I've not reached the stage to understand such things. And before you ask, I don't know who put the laws in place."
Eloryna and Vacuse both sat back down when they heard that.
"Now, let's talk about the Great Dungeons. They are both similar and different. The first thing you should know is that the Great Dungeons possess a resemblance of sentience. Not the creatures in them, but the Great Dungeons themselves.
"How are Great Dungeons formed? Honestly, nobody knows, at least not as much compared to Dungeons. But one thing we can say is that Great Dungeons are formed over a singular thing. It might be an event from the past, or events. Maybe even a powerful singular artifact. Or a scenario."
Iron Knight leaned forward. "Great Dungeons are like events, a story forced on you that you can spend days, weeks, or even months clearing. Sometimes years.
"How do you clear it? Usually by resolving the conflict of the story. Or just killing everything within sight. That works too." Iron Knight smiled darkly.
"But honestly, you just have to solve the conflict. Sometimes, it's as easy as killing an evil king or solving a case. There is no right or wrong. Just finish the conflict."
Vacuse took a deep breath.
It felt as if his head had expanded from all the information he had just learned. There was simply a lot that he had just gained.
Then, Iron Knight put something on the table.
Vacuse recognized it as an artifact immediately.
It was a small tree, full of leaves of deep green and ghostly green fruits.
He didn't know what the artifact was about, but with the way Eloryna reacted, he knew it couldn't be that simple. She gasped, and her eyes flickered all over the artifact tree, her face turning harder and colder.
Vacuse raised his brows and turned back to Iron Knight. "What is this?"
Iron Knight pointed at the tree. "You plant this beside a Dungeon or Great Dungeon and wait for it to show fruits. The number of fruits would determine the number of people that can enter safely." This content belongs to novel-fire.net
Vacuse blinked. "What?"
In his entire life, this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. There are artifacts to know the amount of people that can enter a Dungeon?
Why did he not know something existed!!
He frowned. "Number of people that can enter safely?"
"Yes. Soulbearers exert pressure on their surroundings, and there is a number that they can accept without them collapsing."
Vacuse swallowed. Now that he thought about it, in his past life, he had entered a lot of Dungeons, but it had always been in a team of ten to fifteen at most, no matter how difficult or dangerous it was.
He was sure nobody mentioned any artifact for measuring. The Vorrakyn must not have had one, and so they could only content themselves with keeping their numbers low.
Iron Knight shrugged. "There are a lot of calculations depending on the stage of the Dungeon and those entering."
"Wait... what happens when the Dungeon collapses with people inside?"
Iron Knight gave him a strange look. "What happens? Wait, let me think... ah! Yes, they get destroyed! Totally and utterly!"
Vacuse took a deep breath and scowled. "Then, how many Soulbearers can enter this Great Dungeon?"
That was the important question after all.