Chapter 175: Dungeon Origin

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Dungeon Origin

More D rank insects gathered.

They poured from between the crystal trees like a living tide with their spindly legs clicking against the crystal ground. They swarmed toward Lucian from every direction, attracted by the sound of combat and the scent of blood from the kills he’d already made.

Lucian drew Aethon. Sword Intent coated the blade in a shimmer of distorted air. He swung.

"Eclipse Sword Art. First Form — Crescent Moon Slash."

The crescent wave of sword intent screamed outward in a wide arc, slicing through the front line of insects. SHK-SHK-SHK-SHK. Four insects split cleanly in half, their chitinous bodies falling in pieces. But more poured in behind them, climbing over their dead, mandibles clicking.

Lucian swung again. The insects kept coming.

He jumped back, creating distance. Thirty or more insects filled the space he’d vacated, their crystal armor glinting in the white light of the dome above. They milled around his previous position, confused for a moment, then reoriented on him.

Lucian raised his hand in the air.

"Blood Needle Rain."

Hundreds of crimson needles materialized above the swarm — a dense cloud of condensed blood that blotted out the white light for a heartbeat. Then they fell. The sound was like heavy rain on a tin roof as hundreds of impacts in rapid succession. Needles punched through crystal armor. Twenty insects dropped instantly, pinned to the crystal sand by blood needles through their bodies.

The survivors scattered racing in erratic patterns toward Lucian. He wove between them with Light Steps, Aethon singing in controlled arcs. Light Blades flickered from the sword’s edge — SHK, SHK, SHK — each one cutting through an insect’s weak joint. Blood Chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around the legs of three more, pinning them in place. He finished them with quick stabs through their circular mouths.

The crystal sand became soaked in insect ichor.

Lucian continued deeper into the crystal forest.

The crystal trees grew denser as he progressed. Their branches clicked against each other overhead, creating a constant, eerie percussion. The smell of blood intensified.

He wondered how many layers this labyrinth had. The system had displayed "Layer 1 of ???" — the question marks suggesting the dungeon’s depth was either unknown or variable. C-Rank dungeons were designed for Grand Core cultivators. How deep did a C-Rank dungeon go? Five layers? Ten? More?

His thoughts drifted further. Who had the power to create something like this? Dungeons existed across the planet — had existed since the Cataclysm. They spawned naturally, or so humanity believed. But the complexity of this space — the layered environments, the ecosystem, the progression from cavern to crystal forest — suggested design. Purpose.

The system materialized beside him. The small white figure floated at his shoulder, arms crossed, its expression shifting from perpetual amusement to something more clinical.

"You’re wondering about the origins of dungeons."

"Am I that transparent?"

"You think loudly."

The system paused, then continued.

"Five thousand years ago, the universe faced an escalating crisis. Monsters, beasts, and abyssal creatures invaded inhabited worlds through spatial ruptures — tears in the dimensional fabric that appeared without warning. Civilizations were destroyed before they could mount a counterattack. The death toll was incalculable."

Lucian listened, stepping over a fallen crystal trunk.

"The Monarchs of that era — beings of immense power — devised a solution. Instead of waiting for ruptures to appear randomly, they created complex spatial tunnels. Controlled pathways. These tunnels served as filters — forcing invading creatures to pass through layered environments before reaching the target universe. The temporal effects within the tunnels slowed the invaders, giving defenders time to respond."

"Temporal effects?"

"Time flows differently inside dungeons relative to the outside world. A creature entering a tunnel might experience months of travel while only hours pass externally. This gave civilizations time to detect, prepare, and respond."

Lucian processed this. "And these tunnels became dungeons."

"Over time, the tunnels developed their own ecosystems. Mana pooled inside them. Plants grew. Beasts migrated in and adapted. Some tunnels stabilized into permanent spatial structures — fixed locations that could be entered and exited. Some became stable enough that sects and powers began using them for their own purposes — training grounds, resource harvesting, trial grounds."

"Earth’s dungeons."

"Earth’s dungeons. The Cataclysm three hundred years ago didn’t create them. It reactivated them. The mana flood reopened dormant tunnels that had been sealed for millennia. The dungeons humanity fights today are remnants of a defensive network built five thousand years ago."

Lucian was quiet for a moment. The scale of it — beings powerful enough to engineer spatial tunnels spanning universes. What realm were these Monarchs?

He filed the information away and kept walking.

The crystal forest thinned.

Lucian emerged into a clearing — a circular space where the crystal trees had been pushed outward, their trunks bent and scarred.

Two beasts stood in the center, circling each other.

Lucian’s eyes widened.

The beasts were Crimson Manticores. Mid C-Rank. Each one was massive — four meters long, built like lions with deep crimson fur that rippled with mana. Their faces were grotesque — human-like but distorted, with fanged mouths and burning amber eyes. One of them had bat like wings. Their tails were long, segmented, ending in a bulbous stinger the size of a man’s fist dripping venom that hissed where it hit the crystal ground.

They were fighting over something.

In the center of the clearing, growing from a crack in the crystal ground, was a herb. Unremarkable at first glance — a thin stem with three leaves that pulsed with a deep, warm crimson glow. But the energy radiating from it was unmistakable.

[Primordial Sight Analysis]

[Item: Vermillion Heart Lotus]

[Grade: King Grade]

[Properties: Strengthens the physical body at the cellular level. Permanently increases muscle density, bone hardness, and tendon elasticity. Enhances blood flow efficiency. Boosts physical strength by 15-25% depending on the consumer’s baseline. Removes minor impurities from the bloodstream.]

Lucian’s eyes widened. A King Grade herb that could boost his physical strength by up to 25% permanently. That was enormous. Combined with his Transcendent Body passive, the gains would be substantial.

But the two Crimson Manticores had found it first. They circled it with predatory intensity, snapping at each other, neither willing to leave the herb unguarded to attack the other. Their amber eyes burned with intelligence and greed.

Then both heads turned toward Lucian simultaneously.

Beasts of their level had sharp senses. They’d detected him the moment he entered the clearing. The brief clash they’d formed over the herb dissolved instantly. A new threat had arrived.