Chapter 85: Information About The Dungeon 2

"Why?"

Selene thought for a moment.

"Mainly because no one knows its exact depth."

"It just keeps going down?"

"Yes."

"How many floors have been mapped?"

She gave him a number high enough to keep Adam silent for a few seconds.

Then Selene added:

"And the last mapped floors aren’t necessarily the last ones that exist."

Adam exhaled slowly.

"So even you aren’t sure you can make it to the bottom."

"Exactly."

"And you chose this place to train me."

Selene smiled.

"Obviously, we’re not going to take you straight to where monsters can destroy a city with a sneeze."

Adam stared at her.

"You could have just said we’d stay on the upper floors."

"That would have been less fun."

He shook his head.

"I should have known."

They continued.

Adam then considered the name.

"Why ’The Black Abyss’?"

Selene glanced briefly at the ground in front of them.

"Two main reasons."

She raised a finger.

"The first is the color."

"Black?"

"Many of the internal terrains are extremely dark."

She began to list them.

"Black rock."

"Black crystals."

"Dark sand."

"Underground forests with trunks that are almost entirely black."

"Swamps with water so dark it resembles ink."

Adam pictured the landscape.

"Charming."

Selene continued:

"Some levels do have normal colors. But the deeper you go, the more frequent the dark terrains become."

"And the second reason?" "

She pointed a finger toward the ground.

"It’s going down."

Adam waited.

"That’s it?"

"Very deep."

"How deep?"

Selene shrugged.

"Nobody knows."

Adam looked at the cobblestones beneath their feet.

"So each level takes us further from the surface."

"Yes."

"No climbing up a tower or traveling to a parallel dimension?"

"The dungeon probably has larger internal spaces than its external geography would allow. But overall, the progression always feels like going down."

Adam nodded slowly.

"Hence the Abyss."

"Exactly."

He thought for a few more moments.

"What kind of monsters are there?"

Selene smiled.

"Almost everything."

"Very reassuring."

"The lower levels are mostly inhabited by weak creatures."

She started counting on her fingers.

"Goblins."

"Kobolds."

"Giant rats."

"Slimes."

"Cave spiders."

"A few undead in certain sections."

Adam nodded.

"And lower down?"

"Orcs. Hobgoblins. Trolls. Ogres. Magical beasts. Golems. Elementals. Various subterranean species."

"It gets quite varied."

"Very."

She continued:

"Some levels even have complete ecosystems."

"Predators and prey?"

"Yes."

"Do they fight each other?"

"Often."

This information further reinforced Adam’s impression of an extremely sophisticated artificial environment.

"So the dungeon doesn’t simply create monsters to attack explorers."

"No. Many live almost normally until someone enters their territory."

Adam thought for a moment.

"And the lower levels?"

This time, Selene’s smile shifted slightly.

"Now that’s where it gets much more interesting."

Adam didn’t particularly like what she called interesting.

"Define interesting."

"Rare species."

"Again."

"Monsters, some of which are almost nonexistent elsewhere on the continent."

"Again."

Selene turned her head slightly toward him.

"Lesser dragons."

Adam stopped for real this time.

"Lesser what?"

Selene stopped too.

"Lesser dragons."

"In the dungeon?"

"On the lower levels."

Adam remained silent.

A lesser dragon wasn’t a true dragon like Vespera.

But the name encompassed several species that had inherited some of the blood, characteristics, or power of dragons.

Wyverns.

Drakes.

Draconic Serpents.

Armored Lizards.

And other, much rarer creatures.

Even the weakest could become terrible threats to ordinary adventurers.

"And they respawn too?"

"Yes."

Adam narrowed his eyes.

"Even the lesser dragons?"

"Even them."

"Quickly?"

"Slower than goblins, obviously."

Selene resumed walking.

Adam followed her.

"But much faster than their natural reproduction rate."

"Exactly."

Adam remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he asked,

"Have you ever tried completely clearing several floors at once to observe what happens?"

Selene smiled.

"Yes."

"The result?"

"The monsters returned."

"Did you monitor the spawn points?"

"Yes."

"How do they appear?"

"It depends."

Adam waited.

"Some emerge from tunnels that were empty a few hours earlier. Others seem to appear in areas where no direct observer is present. Some are born in nests that didn’t exist before."

Adam frowned.

"So the dungeon sometimes avoids being observed during regeneration."

"That’s one hypothesis."

"Have you tried monitoring an entire floor?"

"Several times."

"And?"

Selene smiled slightly.

"The monsters appeared elsewhere."

Adam remained silent.

"As if it knew where you were looking."

"That’s why some people think something is actually controlling the Black Abyss."

This time, Adam wasn’t joking.

A dungeon capable of detecting observers.

Of regulating its populations.

Of rebuilding its environments.

Of maintaining ecosystems.

And potentially of reacting to the methods used to study it.

It seemed less like a simple magical anomaly...

And more like a system.

Adam immediately thought of the Runic Calculator.

Then to a program capable of automatically managing resources.

Limits.

Populations.

Conditions.

Regeneration loops.

He whispered:

"A resource manager..."

Selene looked up at him.

" What ? »

Adam shook his head.

" Nothing. A comparison to something from my old world. "

" Explain. "

" Later. I don’t have enough information yet. »

Selene looked at him for a few seconds.

Then nodded.

" All right. »

Adam then had another thought.

"This dungeon has nothing to do with the Black Dawn Labyrinth, right? "

" No. »

The response was immediate.

"They are two totally different places. »

Adam nodded.

He preferred to have this confirmation.

With their names and dark features, confusion would have been easy.

Selene continued:

"The Black Abyss is ancient and mysterious, but it has never shown the same anomalies as the Black Dawn Labyrinth. »

"So you don’t think he’s related to Nocthar." »

"We have no evidence of this. »

Adam mentally recorded the information.

They were now close to the Adventurers Guild.

The massive building gradually became visible at the end of the street.

Adam looked at Selene.

"So if I summarize..."

She smiles.

"Go ahead. »

"You have chosen a gigantic dungeon whose depth no one knows, whose monsters respawn abnormally quickly, which seems to automatically manage its own population, which could potentially know when observed, and which contains sub-dragons in its depths. "

" Yes. »

Adam waited.

"And you see absolutely no problem with that. »

"For your training? "

" Yes. "

" No. »

Adam sighed.

"Why do I keep asking these kinds of questions?" »

Selene squeezed his arm slightly tighter.

"Because you like to understand. »

Adam looked at her.

This time, she wasn’t joking.

He smiled slightly.

" It’s true. »

They finally arrived in front of the Adventurers Guild.

As always, the place was already extremely lively.

Groups were coming in and out.

Adventurers were consulting the quest boards.

Teams were returning from missions.

Employees carried boxes of materials and cores.

But several people stopped almost immediately when they saw Selene arriving.

More precisely...

Seeing Selene arrive clinging to Adam’s arm.

Adam immediately felt the eyes return to them.

Selene paid no attention to it.

She just continued walking towards the entrance.

Adam exhaled slowly.

"I feel like the rumors are going to spread very quickly. »

Selene smiled.

" Probably. »

"That still doesn’t worry you?" "

" No. »

She looked up at him slightly.

" And you ? »

Adam observed a group of adventurers who immediately looked away when he caught them staring.

Then he looked at Selene.

He shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"I think I’m already starting to get used to it. »

The tigress’s smile widens.

And, still clinging to his arm, she dragged him with her inside the Adventurers’ Guild.