Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

A transmission is sent to a district six blocks away while Ember and Torvak continue to speak for a few minutes, catching up on current events in the lower and upper realms.

"Yes, even in the Lower Realm, the Demon's influence is spreading. Their newest fifth royal family branch popped up about a dozen lifetimes ago. I managed to bond with the Vermillion's Demons a few times, and in one life I bonded with the Morvale Family, but their selection process is even tougher—and information is airtight. No one speaks of the Upper Realm down there anymore."

Torvak nods, staring straight ahead at the door.

"Makes sense. They've taken control of all of the Citadels in the Green Zone. It all started about 12,000 years back; mine was the last to fall just 4,000 years ago. The Wyverns, High Orcs, a Berserker King Race, and, of course, the Ogre Conglomeration still hold enough higher-grade worlds to hold on, but the Demon Families continue chipping away at us, keeping us just out of reach from fighting back."

Ember nods slowly, thinking to himself with his eyes closed.

"If it's that bad even here, the Grand Citadel and higher Zones must be far worse..."

Silence fills the room before Torvak replies.

"One can only assume. We rarely get updates from our higher reps; you know how much it costs to even send transmissions down."

Before Ember thinks of a reply, the doors of the shop shimmer green, and a light chiming sound echoes through the shop to notify those inside that there are visitors.

Ember smiles and turns his attention to this. "Very well, that is more than enough of a broad update. I'd like to see things for myself to get a true feel of the action."

The doors then open, and two eight-meter-tall Red Ogres walk in. One has two silver horns, while the other has one black horn. Both have a bright green [50] on their palms.

The black-horned Red Ogre, with a bit more muscle on his avatar, speaks up as the doors shut.

"Randel and Syl, at your service, Lord Torvak. You put up a job offer for a bodyguard gig needed for an indefinite time frame in the Volterra District? Fifty Low Quality Ether upfront and ten Ether per month is too great an offer to even try negotiating higher."

Torvak smiles.

"Indeed. Good to see you, Randel."

He turns to the silver-horned slimmer, more feminine looking Red Ogre.

"Good to see you too, Syl. I'd like to introduce you to the new manager and consultant at our Dungeon Trade Palace. I want you two to show him around and guard him if he's ever talking with customers. Humans aren't well respected in our territories, but make sure people know he is off-limits for duels or exploitation."

Both of the Red Ogres look down toward the overly confident human between them and want to burst out laughing on instinct, but don't. If Torvak is being this respectful with a human, it must mean he is really someone they don't want to mess with.

There must be something in it for him that far outweighs the stigma and short timeframe of this deal.

The human puts out a hand to shake.

"The name is Ember. I look forward to working with you."

Both of the Ogres shake Ember's hand, confused even further that, even while making contact with them and the clear glowing [1] on his palm, he hasn't fallen from the pressure of Second-Class beings like themselves.

This only makes them more respectful while sharing niceties.

Ember casually walks to the side of the room afterward while Torvak and the two guards sign contracts and transfer pure Low Quality Ether through their system interfaces.

All three of them leave the shop soon after, and the Blue Ogre walks back behind the counter with a serious stare, though the corners of his lips are turned up as this kind of good luck couldn't have come at a better time. 'Maybe we're not destined to die out after all,' he thinks to himself while Syl purchases a three-person fast travel Orb, and they zip off further away from the heart of the Citadel. 𝔯

---

[Danger! Area Not Recommended for Lords Below Third Class!]

[Danger! Area Not Recommended for Human Lords!]

Ember brushes away these notifications and stares forward as the scenery around them changes again.

The smaller, more private shops at ground level and corporate buildings not open to the public in the district they just left begin to fade from prominence as the Orb travels farther out.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

More and more large shops become visible on higher and higher floors of the massive building. Green energy bridges connecting the buildings across streets make the massive shopping centers easier to access.

Even larger varieties of monsters are visible shopping and interacting in this district.

The Orb halts in the center of the massive bustling district, about ten kilometers above ground level, at the entrance of an enormous open shop with lettering over a kilometer wide reading [World Dungeon Trade Palace] Blasts of fresh, cool air pour into the streets, and access points to all of the stores left, right, above, and below all lead to this incredible storefront.

Its ceilings are over 200 meters high per floor to accommodate all monster races, and the walls are lined with items just like those inside Torvak's small store. Although, they are of a bit lower quality with many duplicates to sell to the masses.

There is at least one Red Ogre present on every floor, and many High Ogres and regular Ogres wander about with a palace logo on their avatars, helping customers of all kinds as they read status notifications for Ether, Mana, Soul Weapon, and Dungeon Contract prices.

In any given hour, over a million Citadel citizens whiz through, fast-traveling or window shopping.

As Ember and the two Red Ogres touch down on the top floor of the trade palace and begin walking toward the back, many employees recognize the bodyguards and greet them with respectful bows and professional smiles.

Randel speaks up again as they walk past some of the glowing displays.

"Torvak said you may need a rundown on the facilities, which, for a new manager and consultant, I find quite odd..."

Ember grins as his gaze falls on a row of bright green glowing doors numbered 1-20 on the back wall of the room.

"Yes, I'm quite a fast learner."

The black-horned Ogre follows his gaze and replies.

"These are our new dungeon contract facilities. As you must know, we don't only sell completed and fully programmed dungeons but also buy Lords' fighting data to use on new Luminite Blocks. Maybe you can take a crack at it, humans don't come around here much."

Syl grins and adds to his statement.

"Human combat data sells best in the level 1-10 range. They're a great starter mob for the Fourth and Fifth Class worlds. Most of those world bids never have enough energy on them to reach past the level 100 range, lots of lost potential profits for the other 900 levels on standard luminite blocks. So we mainly deal in Third-Class worlds and above."

Just as she says that, one of the doors swings open, and a High Orc comes walking out with a satisfied smile on his face as Ether is credited to his account.

Ember gets close enough to see some of the pop-ups above the doors.

[Cyclops Combat Data Needed!] [Lv. 110-120][i]

[Griffin Combat Data Needed!] [Lv. 330-340][i]

[Wyvern Combat Data Needed!] [Lv. 740-750][i]

Various payout options detail how many virtual combat sessions are needed to gain enough data for each race. It also outlines whether participants would like to sell their training to the Lord who made the contract bid directly or receive no payment now and be paid in dividends once it is deployed on a world.

Syl adds in to comment again once Ember loses interest in the stats.

"The level of the monster doesn't matter. You could be over level ten thousand for all we care. It would just take far less time to run the machine learning trial—maybe only a few minutes. An identical monster race running simulations inside at level 100 might take a few days to gather the same data."

Ember nods and turns around to look at the entire shop.

"Yes, yes. Not much has changed. You all work in the world exchange business too, don't you? What is the exchange rate for worlds these days?"

His gaze falls down to the [50]s on their palms, and Randel replies.

"Yes, of course, we trade worlds. It's mostly Fifth to Third Class in this building. One to three Low Quality Ether for a Fifth Class, and up to 100 for a Third Class; it really depends on how much of the world's resources have already been farmed. While higher grade dungeon contracts are processed here, selling full Second Class or higher Worlds is handled with the bosses in the Ashen Blue District directly. This is more of our flashy consumer front."

"Understood. Well, I won't be a tough client to protect. If there's a back room with a view of the marketplace, that will be perfect. Plus, the sales figures for as far back as you can get them. I'd like to get a deep dive into how this trade business has been running the last few millennia."

Both of the Ogres look at each other, then turn to the other side of the back room with a few other doors, some unmarked while others have [Duel Area] marked above them.

Syl comments.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like a Tour of our dueling rooms, or the Mana, Ether, and open air World exchanges on the lower floors?"

He shakes his head. "No, I think this is self explanatory enough. I'll request access to more area's if I have any additional questions after looking at your sales figures."

On this note, Ember is led back into one of the unmarked office rooms that brings him to a floor above, where he overlooks the entire shopping district as requested.

The two Second-Class Red Ogres stand outside his door and guard it, awaiting new requests as the day goes on.

---

Meanwhile, at the top of the Vermillion Tower in the center of the Citadel, Andras turns to his two subordinates with a smile.

"Looks like I won't be the only Noble Demon in town starting this month. Maybe we'll have enough power to finally push those pesky gangs out of the center of the city for good."

One of the other green-cored Demons nods, looking out the window as well.

"Yes, but we still need confirmation from the upper families that we're in the clear to take them out. Angering the wrong race that still has power in even a Cyan Zone could set us back millennia if we're not careful."

Andras sighs.

"Yes, yes, I know. I'm just looking forward to the inevitable future. We might as well give them a scare and kick them while they're down. Go sell off that stockpile of trash Fourth and Fifth Class worlds at the palace run by those Ogres ten blocks over. Even throw in some nearly drained Third-Class worlds if you have some. I want to use the profits to buy a few Second-Class worlds as a personal welcome present for our newest Lord."

He lets out a chuckle while his rows of sharp teeth show, and the bright white horns jutting out of his forehead match their Ether imbued glow.

"There isn't enough mana on them for us to trigger labyrinth contracts, but we can still use them as leverage. I want double the price for all of them just to rub in my duel victory against their Leader. Don't leave that mall until you get what you're asking for."

The Noble Demon's subordinate stands from his seat and bows.

"Of course. I'll have it done by the end of the day."