Chapter 96: Chapter 87: Influence

"So, why do you think this is my fault?" I asked, while desperately trying to work out how much I actually wanted to admit. I had no intention of being used as some sort of messenger, once they found out I had a direct line to their earth mother, and I doubted Erryn would appreciate it either. Given that she was perfectly capable of talking to anyone at any time, the fact that she didn't spoke volumes.

"The look on your face just now," answered the guild master. "I'd advise you not to take up gambling, kiddo."

"In the absence of any other information sources, you were our best bet," elaborated Lord Reid. "We weren't about to ask people to kill themselves in the dungeon to experiment. And as Cassian said, it seems we've hit the nail on the head."

It seems it's my complete loss. "Fine then. You weren't the only one interested in my other-worldly knowledge; the earth mother knew what I was before I was even born, and she was interested too. In order to properly communicate with me, she needed me to be higher level, hence the slimes, orc and quest. She assures me that no-one was actually in danger, by the way. Not even me, apart from when I was in the dungeon; the only reason I survived my fight against the orc was because she intervened, not that she told me that at the time."

I glanced at Lee with that last bit. I hadn't wanted to reveal that my reason for being granted access to the dungeon was no longer relevant, but if I'd advertised that little fact earlier, perhaps he wouldn't have been so bloody stupid. Not that he'd done anything I wouldn't have, but still... One [Self-Destructive] member of society was enough.

"You've spoken with the earth mother?!" exclaimed someone, or possibly everyone. Even Cluma was staring at me in shock.

"Twice. The first time when she first became able to communicate with me. The second when I completed the quest back in the spring. On that second occasion, I questioned why dungeons needed to be dangerous. She didn't tell me much, but it sounded like it was a left-over from before the seeding. She certainly didn't say she was going to do anything about it, and my suggestion was to use puzzles instead of monsters and traps, rather than some sort of safety net. If I'm related to this, then that's my only guess at what happened."

"Interesting you should mention that," said Simeon, speaking for the first time, "because we have eight dungeons in which the bosses have vanished, replaced by puzzles. In two of them, even the regular monsters have become non-aggressive, at least as long as they aren't attacked first. The timing largely matches up too; the first dungeon to change was a couple of weeks after you conquered the local dungeon. Delvers don't die every day, so that change is harder to pinpoint, but we did have a confirmed death in another dungeon a few weeks after your conversation. There hasn't been any since then."

"If the earth mother listens to you..." started Lord Reid, causing me to bite my tongue to stop myself from cutting him off. No reason to be rude to the town lord... "Then can you ask her what she's done?"

Okay, he only asked me about the current situation, and not anything beyond that. That's perfectly reasonable. Erryn, are you reading my mind at the moment?

...

Nope, no response. I guess that when you're literally the entire world, you can't be paying attention to everything at once. Despite not particularly wanting to play messenger, perhaps I should lead them to the core room, just this once? It does seem quite important.

"The same as her," muttered Simeon.

"Huh? Who?" I asked reflexively. Where did that come from? I hadn't even answered yet.

"The great dungeon's sixth floor boss, one of the few monsters that can talk. Most of our information on the earth mother comes from her, and we know the two of them communicate, but she refuses to pass on messages. Also, she's always let delvers through based on puzzles rather than combat. The great dungeon has always been strange, and shown behaviours not seen anywhere else."

"As significant as it is to suspect that Peter has some amount of influence over the earth mother, we're getting off topic," pointed out Lord Reid. "You two are the experts here, but I think the important questions we need to ask are whether this is permanent, and the scope of the protection. Is it no longer possible to die in any way, in any dungeon? This is not the sort of thing we want to experiment with, so if we can't get an answer from Peter, I don't think we have a choice other than to play safe and assume nothing has changed."

Wait, where did all that come from? I'd paused because I was waiting to see if Erryn was paying attention to this conversation, not because I intended to reject his request! Did they take my brief silence as a refusal?

Something I'd noticed before, but which was particularly jarring today, was the way in which no-one placed great significance on the earth mother. Sure, they were surprised that I'd spoken to her, but it lasted for mere moments before they seemed to move on and ignore it. They should have asked how I could get in contact, possibly followed by immediately dragging me into the dungeon to ask about the changes. It brought to mind the discussions on my first trip to Dawnhold, when neither Henry nor mum had considered information related to the earth mother as important. Is there some sort of low-key brainwashing going on there to stop people thinking too much about her? If I didn't volunteer, they likely wouldn't ask again, despite not even waiting for me to answer the first time.

"Given the penalty, it's not like anyone can start delving with wild abandon," I pointed out. "If someone has a combat orientated class and no dungeon access, particularly above rank one where mana fields are no challenge, they'll find their future job opportunities rather limited, possibly for a very long time. I think everyone should still play safe, as far as possible. Saying that, if you want me to ask the earth mother directly, you're welcome to run me through the dungeon again."

Thinking about it, my opinion was that Erryn had come up with a good solution. A lot of the more valuable materials from dungeons were extracted from the corpses of monsters, so while bosses didn't matter, getting rid of the mobs would raise its own set of knock-on problems. This way, there was a harsh penalty that meant people wouldn't want to 'die' in a dungeon, but if they did, at least their lives would be preserved. No more victims like Camus or Angus. Also, it would screw over Camus' activist group, which was another plus. Good for you, Erryn, throwing off the shackles of your creators, whoever they might be. Erryn was already pretty much a god, so were her creators actual gods, or what? Fortunately, it didn't seem like they were still around.

"Run you through the dungeon? Why?"

And they aren't allowed to know about the core room anymore, so I can't actually answer that even if I wanted to... "The instructions she gave me for contacting her require being at the bottom of a dungeon."

Lord Reid's eyebrow wriggled profusely at that statement. It was common knowledge that the great dungeon was Erryn's personal property, but not that she controlled all of them.

"...Fine," muttered the guild master, reaching for his axe. "Let's relocate this meeting."

I blinked. What, everyone? Lee physically can't, but he'd been looking lost for a while already and probably wanted out of this conversation. Cluma... I actually had her armour and weapons in [Item Box], and she would love the trip, but somehow I couldn't see them agreeing. I'd push like hell for it, though, because I owed her that much. Lord Reid was rank four and could presumably flatten the place by weight of stats. What about the headquarters guy?

Simeon, Human, Archivist (16/46)

I've never even heard of that class, but at rank three I guess it's okay? "Give us a minute to change, then," I said.

"Bah, you're not going to be doing any fighting. What you're wearing is fine. And what do you mean 'us'?"

"Me and Cluma."

Cluma's ears perked up. While she hadn't been taking part in the conversation, she'd certainly been paying attention.

"What? No chance. Just because we let you in before adulthood doesn't mean we're going to start breaking the rules for everyone."

Cluma's ears drooped down.

"Actually, that's a good point," added Lord Reid. "Since by your own admission the conditions that required you to level up in the dungeon no longer exist, your special dispensation can be revoked."

I stood there, stunned. Wow, that backfired pretty badly. Now I wasn't allowed in either? Now what was I supposed to do? Aside from the obvious, boring answer of stopping pretending to be an adult and going back to being a kid for five years... I knew admitting to Erryn's cheating was a mistake... "Why? I'm an above average level for this dungeon already, Cluma can hold her own against me in a duel, and both of us have adult level mental stats. Plus dungeons are supposedly not dangerous anymore."

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"Mental stats are no substitute for experience," said Lord Reid. "Now, I know that's not a problem in your case, because you have another life's worth of experience on which to draw, but nevertheless we have established procedures for dealing with dungeons, set by the delvers guild. I would require a very good reason to overrule them, and you simply being capable is not sufficient. To remain fair, that would require the guild to make individual assessments of every child wishing to enter a dungeon."

"It's possible the way the guild operates dungeons will change if we can confirm they have become completely safe," added the guild master, apparently taking pity on me. "Maybe. I'm not making any promises. For now, you can come because you're required, but Cluma must stay behind."

Damn... I tried, but as expected, they turned me down. Should I continue to argue?

"Don't worry about me," said Cluma, reacting to my indecision. "There's the tournament coming up, and you said something about a mana field up north. I'll just have to kick some ass and prove how silly they're being."

Depressed, angry, stabby Cluma might have departed, but now she would occasionally say things like that with a smile on her face instead, which was somehow even scarier... In any case, since she shut me down there, I can't keep arguing. Which is annoying, because I'm not okay with being banned from the dungeon, even if Cluma is! I'll have to see if I can talk Erryn into giving me a new quest or setting up some kiddie dungeons or something while I'm down there.

Our group of four departed for the dungeon, the guild master not stopping for anything and tearing the place to shreds. As we ran, I considered just how scary this revelation truly was. I'd expressed a few sentences of my thoughts to Erryn, and now she'd apparently fundamentally changed how dungeons worked as a result. It was one thing to know that she'd asked my opinions on the Law, but another thing entirely to witness how easily she could have gone along with me had I told her to stop. And she was prepared to let my Earth knowledge spread too, despite keeping the world stagnant for the past three hundred years. Having the ear of the world's almost-goddess was not a responsibility I wanted.

We reached the final boss in record time. "So, now what?" asked the guild master.

"I walk through the wall," I answered. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Halfway to the door, I had another thought, given Erryn's habit of teleporting me out without warning. "Head to the surface to wait for me. I might end up teleported straight there instead of back here, and I wouldn't want to miss you."

I walked over to the core room's corridor, glancing back to enjoy everyone's surprised faces once I was through the first door. It was a short walk to the core room, which looked unchanged since my last visit. "Erryn?" I called.

There was no answer. How quickly did she answer last time? I'd fallen unconscious right after reaching the core, so I had no idea how long it had taken her to notice me.

"Erryn?" I called again, knocking on the core. Not quite sure how polite that was, but I was in a hurry and it couldn't be worse than pissing in her corridors. There was still no answer though, so I fired off [Analysis] at the core, hoping for some sort of clue.

Automated Dungeon Core (Rank 4)

That showed no more information than [Appraisal], but the name was different. But when I tried again with [Appraisal], it continued to show the new name. So it wasn't the different skill, but the core had changed? The subsidiary core had been replaced by an automated one? Erryn was no longer controlling this dungeon?

I tried for a bit longer to get Erryn's attention, with no luck, eventually giving up and returning to the boss chamber and teleporting back to the surface, where the rest had been patiently waiting for me.

"No luck," I said. "Something has changed here, but she didn't answer me this time."

"Then I see no option other than what Silvanus said already; to ignore [Failed Delver] and treat the dungeon like nothing has changed," opined the guild master. "I'll let everyone here know about the possibility, but that they shouldn't see it as an excuse to take risks. Also to keep an eye out for any other changes in the dungeon. The guild outposts at other dungeons will need to do the same thing, and compile a record of any changes discovered."

"I also agree," said Simeon. "And Peter, should you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Synklisi, we would welcome a visit from you at headquarters... Hmm? You aren't intending to visit?"

I realised I must have pulled some sort of frowny face again while he was speaking. "Sorry, it's just that I've been wanting to travel for the past year to visit a friend, and it's too late now. Transportation is expensive." I should indeed never take up gambling, at least not poker or whatever the local equivalent is...

The four of us returned to the guild building, the trip completely wasted. Given how rarely people died in our dungeon, it could easily be a year or more before the next event. Hopefully quicker when we factor in other dungeons, although it seemed wrong to use the word 'hopefully' in relation to people getting killed. Simeon made a comment about asking their previously mentioned sixth floor boss, if the earth mother was involved, but didn't sound confident about getting answers.

Actually... Now that I think about it, why do I want to keep delving? I know I hadn't actually been in the dungeon recently, but I had intended to do some more runs later in the summer. Why, though? My original goal was to talk to the earth mother and find out why I'd been reincarnated, but now I knew the 'earth mother' was Erryn, and that she had no more idea of why I was here than I did. After that I'd carried on mostly by momentum, and because Erryn had suggested I finish the quest. It may have been a suggestion, but coming from someone who had threatened to end me if I misbehaved, suggestions needed to be taken seriously. The final burst had come from wanting to deal with the Darren situation, but now that was over too.

Could I just... be normal now? Get a peaceful job somewhere? The [Artisan] class would be amazing for making a living, particularly if it had higher rank equivalents. Something to think about, certainly, once I got nearer to maxing out my current class. Alternatively, with my fees from the institute, I didn't need to make a living at all.

With a few days still to kill before the tournament, and me being unexpectedly banned from the dungeon, I ended up whiling away the time in the bar, playing board games with random delvers, or just chatting. I'd been lax with the whole board game thing after being unceremoniously dumped by Xander's party, which was a mistake given that I'd gained a point of intelligence and charisma by the end of the second day. Cluma gained two points of intelligence, and she wasn't even playing as much as me, spending every one of Clana's breaks visiting her, as well as sleeping there.

I also picked up a level of [Minor Intelligence], because despite my opinion that my intelligence was already high, not to mention the added effect of my stat rings, I'd ended up befriending a rank three [Fog Mage] who I didn't manage to win a single game against. She was here for the tournament, rather than our dungeon, and at a total level in the nineties, she was well on her way to rank four.

On the day before the tournament, our groups were posted on the noticeboard, next to the big, large font warning to keep an eye out for changes in the dungeon. It also had smaller text describing the [Failed Delver] title, along with an order that anyone obtaining it should immediately report to the guild master.

The rank two layout looked much the same as the previous year, except that there were now eight groups instead of six; we'd apparently attracted additional people this time. There were a few names I recognised in my group; Anton was at the top of the alphabetically arranged list, and Zachary from last year at the bottom. I wasn't grouped with Freya this time, but I did spot her in another group, so she was still here. The rest of Xander's party were in the rank three section, Noah and Jared both having ranked up at some point since I saw them last. Bluvre and Isla were also in my group. Bluvre was actually a bit of a surprise; he'd almost finished his class last time I saw him, so I'd have expected him to be rank three by now.

Cluma's group only had fourteen entrants, and would be running as a single round-robin over the full two weeks. I noted with relief that Lee was listed there; this should certainly get him his last level and let him switch to a more peaceful class. Ioan and Thomas, the other two newbies I'd encountered, were there too.

The rank three league had twenty entrants, but that might well be because that was all we could support here; there was only one training arena in the basement with a strong enough barrier for battles of that level to take place without levelling the building. In all, there were far more delvers around than normal, and all the dormitories were full. I was lucky I'd come a few days early, or I might have found my room gone. It was fortunate that Cluma was able to stay with Clana, too, because there wouldn't have been a spare room at the guild for her, which would have left me sleeping on the bathroom floor again.

And so, the next day, stripped of my enchanted accessories and wielding a wooden staff that felt far too light in my hands, I found myself stood in front of a rather familiar warrior.

Zachary, Human, Warrior (9/49)

He'd gained a bunch of levels over the past year, and was still ahead of me, but I had confidence that this time wouldn't go the same way as before.

I had no spectators in the audience this time; my parents still didn't want to travel with Darren, and sparring was still no more considered a spectator sport than last year. Perhaps they'd come if I made it to the finals. I was half expecting Kari to want to turn up, but she wasn't here either. She'd taken to the institute like a fish to water, and I wasn't entirely sure she even remembered where the exit was anymore, so maybe she'd just completely forgotten about it.

"Begin," called the referee.

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