Chapter 16: Chapter 16

"What's up?" Nicky asked.

"Ugh, paperwork," Roxy said. "See, I bought a big ol' plot of land out in the middle of the Badlands- a place nobody wants to live in, because it's literally a desert and it never rains there. Very cheap, and very unlikely to disrupt anyone's business because it's miles and miles away from anywhere people actually live. Once the sale went through, I went over, and used magic to make a bit of a hill, supported underneath by a simple stone dome. Had an actual, for-real architect look over all my plans and tell me what would fail first, and at what point."

"Okay..." Nicky said, already slightly regretting asking such an open-ended question.

"Inside that dome is a hollow space," Roxy continued. "A hemisphere, with a radius of fifty meters. The inside of that dome has been spatially expanded by moi to be much larger, a kilometer in diameter, with a lot of stone buildings and infrastructure, and general space for people to do stuff. Including a Guild Hall. Because in this dome, I was going to put my Level 13 Dungeon Gate."

"Ah," Nicky said, as Roxy asymptotically approached the point of this long, meandering ramble.

"A Level 13 Dungeon Gate is a big deal. They attract high-level delvers, who have a reputation for antisocial behavior and general unruliness, but also for having more money than sense. A lot of towns with Level 13 Dungeon Gates absolutely hate all of the high-level delvers that roll through and trash the place and feast-or-fast the economy. It seemed quite obvious to me that no mayor in their right mind would want me building that thing anywhere near their town, so I built a completely new town, just to hold the Dungeon Gate and a Guild Hall, plus anyone willing to set up shop there to service high-level delvers."

"I take it this has also upset a lot of people," Nicky said.

"I have been targeted, by half of the towns and villages in all of Dorn, with frivolous lawsuits over the fact I didn't build a Dungeon Gate there," Roxy said. "The Guild is legally obligated to defend me in court, thankfully. If it was up to me, I'd settle with all of them out of court by building a Dungeon Gate in their locale- with, of course, the reasonable stipulation that they'd pay for inspection fees. And then, that would of course destroy the rural economy because there would now be a hundred fucking Level 13 Dungeon Gates that need to be inspected, it's taking forever to be done, and they aren't bringing in any profit because now there's enough Level 13 Dungeon Gates that they can afford to pick the ones with the best amenities- which, surprise surprise, would still be the one in the dome I built. And as fun of a revenge fantasy that is, it would also be genuinely monstrous to actually carry out, because it would absolutely ruin people who are already struggling, especially in this new economy."

"Why not simply build this Dungeon Gate here in Dornhelm, or some other major city?" Nicky asked.

"...It's complicated."

"You wanted to build an underground city from scratch, and forgot that building a Dungeon Gate in a place that already has a lot of them means you don't need to worry about building the supporting infrastructure, because it already exists."

Roxy was silent.

"You thought it would be more cool if your Dungeon Gate was a destination, rather than Yet Another Dungeon Gate In The Capital, and have warmed up significantly to the idea of being important and having a legacy."

"Fuck you."

"Was it the last one?"

"It was both at the same time. I want to make cool projects and be recognized for making them."

Nicky patted Roxy on the shoulder.

"I also put a Level 6 Growth Dungeon Gate in my new town," Roxy added. "I've gotten some help from the Guild in writing up a standard contract for parties to farm Class Slot Unlocks for me. Hopefully, we can use some more broadly-applicable techniques for farming those more reliably."

"Oh, hey, that's nice," Nicky said. "It would probably be better put in the capital, where you'll find more low-levels, but..."

"People can suppress their levels for a delve," Roxy said. "They just usually don't because there usually isn't a point."

"...Oh."

"Yeah, this is for like... a party of Level 15s who want a side job. Or maybe a Level 15 mentor with some low-level students, looking to get their feet wet in a hub of high-level delvers."

"Fair enough."

"Anyhow," Roxy said, setting her pen down. "On the plus side, I have reached Level 14 in Dungeon Master now, on account delvers are flocking to my gate en masse. Sure, that does mean the towns that already host Level 13 Dungeon Gates are suing me too, for lost business, but again, the Guild is handling that."

"That much is nice," Nicky said.

"This time," Roxy continued, "I will be waiting a while to consult with the Guild on the potential knock-on effects of building a stable, regular, run-of-the-mill Level 14 Dungeon Gate that Guilders can just run. And that's gonna take a while, so in the meantime, we're gonna just keep running Sex Dungeons and grinding up my Incubus level. Hey, does Succubus have a level?"

"It does, yes," Nicky said.

"Hrm... Y'know what, sure, we'll level that up too," Roxy said. "Let's see, yesterday we did a Level 9 Sex Dungeon... should we keep up the pattern, do a Level 10 today?"

"I don't see why not," Nicky said. "Although, I do wonder about whether there could possibly be different types of Sex Dungeons. There's multiple types of combat-focused Dungeons, after all, and anyone with internet access can quite plainly see that there are multiple types of sex that people are interested in. And it isn't just a ranked list from 1 to 20, with vanilla at 1 and... some extreme kink shit at 20. I'm kinky enough to know that I'm not the kinkiest person on the planet. I just want to be shown love in a way that doesn't require me to present myself in certain ways that don't come natural to me, that honestly isn't that weird." She cleared her throat. "Right. It isn't on a ranked list. Someone can be into one very strange, esoteric, and commonly-considered-repellent kink, while thinking that another, arguably less strange, esoteric, and repellent kink is absolutely disgusting."

"Like a vore fetishist who isn't into scat," Roxy said.

"...I don't like that you had that example locked and loaded."

"Anyhow, yes, I do see what you mean," Roxy said. "And honestly, Sex Dungeons are generally just... not super well-understood? Everyone else considers them an expensive novelty. Something that low-level Dungeon Artificers make either because a very rich pervert paid them to, or because they themselves are very rich perverts. We may end up finding out for ourselves just how deep this rabbit hole really is. And in the meantime... that Adjustable Gate I built lets me make Sex Dungeons of any level, as long as it isn't higher than my level of Dungeon Master at the time I use it."

"And that means..."

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"That means I don't have to build a new Sex Dungeon Gate until we learn about new types of Sex Dungeons. We can keep using this Gate all the way up to Level 20, if I'm getting enough XP for Dungeon Master. Right now? We can definitely be the first people to delve a safe and stable Level 14 Dungeon."

Nicky blinked.

"Why didn't you lead with that?!" Nicky asked.

"Because you're Level 7, and despite being well-equipped and well-trained, you're not ready for a dungeon that's meant to be moderately challenging to delvers twice your level," Roxy said. "I'm not building a Level 14 Dungeon Gate anytime soon. I am building an Adjustable Dungeon Gate for the Normal type, which I will keep in my basement, and tell the Inspector only goes up to Level 13 because I would rather not even the Guild know that I can do this yet- I've been phrasing it to them in hypotheticals, and uh... misleading them a bit about the shape of the XP curve for Dungeon Master at high levels. They think I'm still at Level 13. It's not like they have another high-level Dungeon Master who can check for them, after all."

"Mm. Fair enough, I suppose," Nicky murmured. "Well. I do have other news, if you're interested to hear it. Less pleasant news."

"Which is?" Roxy asked.

"My mother messaged me, saying she wants to talk in-person, about my 'new friend,'" Nicky said. "I'm pretty sure she wants to talk me into talking you into supporting Mom's bid for the throne, since you're Level 14, and Vega only has a few of those ourselves- all of them being, like, in their fifties and sixties."

"Oh, really?" Roxy said.

"I looked it up," Nicky continued. "Given the highest-level dungeon you have access to is Level N, then hitting Level N requires only one delve of it, hitting Level N+1 requires a hundred, but hitting Level N+2 requires ten thousand delves. Given that even this country's insanely skilled delvers can't manage more than one max-level delve in a day, I'm willing to assume that Vega's delvers can't either. And simple math tells us that ten thousand and one hundred days is a little less than 28 years of delving every single day, with maybe four or five days off per year. Level N+3 is flatly not possible in a human lifetime, requiring literally more than a million delves, which comes out to around three thousand years of daily delving."

"Yeah, I know all of that," Roxy said. "So, what you looked up..."

"Vega's highest-level Dungeon is only Level 12," Nicky said simply. "Their greatest, most dedicated champions are Level 14s, who came of age at least thirty years ago- oh, to be sure, many of Vega's nobility carry their at least one of their children through delves to preserve their family's power, even though the cultural sentiment towards this is that it is shameful and weakening."

"Mm," Roxy said. "And that Level 12 Dungeon... or Dungeons, as the case may be... are they all Growth Dungeons?"

"None of them are. I'll admit, I don't quite see the relevance..."

"Level 14s who came up through a Level 13 Dungeon are actually more terrifying than Level 14s who got there from Level 12," Roxy said. "Who do you think would be more dangerous: someone who spent thirty years overcoming a reasonable challenge on a daily basis? Or someone who spent a few months overcoming a thoroughly unreasonable challenge on a daily basis? Because someone who's learned how to delve Level 13 Growth Dungeons knows how to fight as well as a Level 16 who's putting forth a reasonable effort." She chuckled. "Honestly, it's kinda Dorn's fault that the sentiment of 'struggle makes you stronger' is prevalent everywhere, since we're the ones who have almost all the Level 13 Dungeons, and all of those are infamously-tough Growth Dungeons."

"...Do you think my mother knows that?" Nicky asked.

"That depends on how stupid she is," Roxy said. "Given she's been an adult in this society with an internet for probably like twenty years-"

"Twenty four. I was born once she had been here for two."

"-then the answer is probably yes, unless she is exceedingly dumb. Anyhow, I see what you mean. Your mother knows we're friends because it's reasonably-public knowledge that you were contracted by a Level 14 Wizard, who you are still connected with on Grindr, and where you post- in a very sanitized, public-friendly way- about delving with me and still living with me, and generally being good, close friends with me. Your mother also knows that, if I went to Vega now, I would be the baddest motherfucker in the land, and that if I could be convinced that you or your mother belong on the throne, then I could convince everyone else of that same thing, because the claim has enough legitimacy that I wouldn't have to exercise much force or violence."

"Mm," Nicky said, rubbing her arm. "I... don't think I need to tell you how I feel about this, do I?"

"You hate the expectations that being a royal places on you," Roxy said. "You don't want to be a Prince or a King. You don't want to talk to your mother, either, because you hate her too. How close am I?"

"Right on the money," Nicky said. "But, there are also some other concerns I have."

"Oh? Well, by all means, elaborate."

"Vega does not have a Guild, like we do," Nicky said. "They did not benefit from the same economic boom that Dorn has had; over there, non-combat classes mostly top out at Level 4, with Level 5 and 6 old masters being uncommon and expensive to hire, and anyone above that being a once-in-a-generation talent or a potent delver who mostly just crafts their own gear."

"Oh, interesting," Roxy said.

"As such, Vega, much like the rest of the world outside of Dorn's regional hegemony, has a far more depressed economy, with functionally no internet or anything like that. I live in the house of a Level 14 Wizard in Dorn; even the Royal Palace of Vega would be like a slum to me, now."

"...So the fact I'm also at least Level 12 in three production classes, with a Familiar who's also Level 12 in two more..."

"Would, alone, suffice to completely revolutionize Vega's economy."

"Hrm..."

"...Ah, fuck, that was the wrong set of things to tell you, wasn't it?" Nicky muttered.

"Well, Nicky," Roxy said finally. "I'm not going to force you to do anything, nor am I going to ask you to do anything about this for a good few months or even at least a year. I am, instead, going to simply state that I am very interested in the prospect of leveraging your legitimacy to become, effectively, the God-King of Vega, and bringing about massively-improved quality of life to every last person who lives there. But. If we keep going the way we've been going, it may well turn out to be that you don't need to be part of this plan in order for it to work, and thus you don't have to worry about upsetting me by not going along with my stupid whims."

"...I will not be the King of Vega so you can puppet me," Nicky said. "I will, however, be the Queen of Vega, if you'll be King."

Roxy grinned. "Deal."

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