Chapter 2 #2
Aurketzu was right. Revealing the tower for the sake of my ego was a mistake.
No one knew that 100 floors rose into the sky, linking the material plane to the celestial plane.
We already saw that XP and mana crystal drops were better in the tower than they were in dungeons with comparable difficulty.
Rare drops were rumored to be more likely as well, so we had several reasons to want to climb in secret.
I gained more from protecting the illusion than I did from undoing it.
The Silk would make good use of the tower, relying on it for leveling as well as wealth and resources, and no one but the Order of the Silk Noose would know it existed.
In total, the construction of Sanctuary South took 17 days. That sounds unbelievable, I know, but we had 100s of silk soldiers working 24 hours a day and had a blank slate to build on. Other than moving the snow, we had no foundations to dig or inconvenient rocks to move.
In that time, we trained, and I used Ruler’s Voice to deliver daily messages to my followers. Since I could only use the ability once per day, I saved it for just before midnight. That way, I would have it available if there was an emergency.
Sometimes I reminded my treasures how beautiful they were.
Other times, I ordered them to seek out fellow members they didn’t know very well to spend a night with each other.
I told my followers they could have anything they desired.
I reminded them that all of humanity was beneath the Silk.
I encouraged them to serve themselves and one another.
On one occasion, I ordered every member of the Silk to get themselves off.
No matter where they were or what they were doing, they had to stop and cum to the thought of my cocks dominating them in every way they could imagine.
For training, my party ran the Borja boss every day, and no one leveled up.
We were in the upper levels where XP requirements rapidly went out of control, and I pitied the regular adventurers who couldn’t so conveniently grind a boss room for a morning workout.
If I was frustrated by the massive amounts of XP we had to earn, then normal shitheads had to be miserable.
But my party and I made progress:
Level: 30
Progress to Next Level: (5,488,091 / 6,553,600)
Class: Abyssal Sovereign, Tier 14 (843,871 / 1,638,400)
Second Class: Fighter, Tier 10
Third Class: Antipaladin, Tier 8
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Strength 51
Dexterity 35
Constitution 42
Intelligence 46
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
Loyalty Pledges: 346
Oaths of Devotion: 11
Followers of the Silk: 102
Progress to Your Fall: 59 / 100 (Abaddon, King of the Abyss)
Active Abilities: Sense Weakness+1, Abyssal Reward for the Loyal, Safe Word+25, Rope Burn+25, Ghostly Feint+4, Unholy Smite+10, Darkness+14, Wraith+5, Abyssal Permission, Blood Feast+10, Corpse Builder, Shadows of Death+1
Passive Abilities: Bend, Finesse+8, Improved Footing, Improved Accuracy+3, Enemy Study+1, Sense Danger, Unrelenting, Sugar Daddy, Pact of the Ice Fiend, Afterglow, Sharpen+27, Enthrall, Oath of the Silk Noose, Tactician, Silkmancer+11, Devotion Reaper+11, Intoxicate+3, On Behalf of the Viceroy, Dark Champion+2, King of Kings, Path of the Emperor, Restraint
Shared Abilities: Greater Touch of Ice, Touch of Abyssal Undeath
Equipment: Ring of Strength +1, Bonfire Amulet, Immunity to Poison Amulet, Ring of Legendary Obscurify, Ring of Mind Fortress, Ring of Magic Resistance, Necklace of Resistance to Holy, Bracelet of Nightsight.
Grubiit Dungeon Core
Lord: Brenin of Borja
Level: 1,378
Available DP: 8,810,334
Daily DP Gain: 17,821
Progress to Next Level: (781,197,529 / 999,999,999)
Status: Tethered
Purity: Level 17 (5,420,041 / 6,553,600)
Invia: Level 17 (5,671,555 / 6,553,600)
Solara: Level 17 (5,481,721 / 6,553,600)
Podni: Level 17 (5,449,030 / 6,553,600)
200,000+ XP a day was phenomenal by any adventurer's standards, but I had a plan to push that beyond a million per day. No, I couldn't gain XP in my own dungeon, nor could any of my followers, so abusing the dungeon core wasn't what I had in mind.
A few other pieces had to fall in place before our leveling habits could change, and one of those pieces was moving the Sanctuary South project forward.
We had to connect my kingdom with the Capital, so we had construction progressing in that city as well.
When that was finished, gates, like those we used to move materials from the bottom of a dungeon to an isolated corner of the northern wastelands, would make it possible for visitors to freely travel between the Capital and Sanctuary South.
I was preparing to visit our site in the Capital when a message arrived: Horpus wanted a meeting. The dust hadn't settled from my membership challenge, at least not for me, but Horpus would act like we were best friends again so he could profit off my earnings.
As much as I wanted to tell Horpus to shove it, the Thieves’ Guild was still a valuable ally.
One of the tips we got from the bounty board played a part in finding our first tower, so it would be foolish to burn that bridge right now.
I could coast on my existing Guild contributions for years, I suspected, but directly disrespecting my guild master would put that in jeopardy.
So observing the construction of our Capital gate could wait. Though, childishly, I wanted to be there for the initial demolition. We had purchased a noble’s house in the city, one whose line was ended by the Reapers. With no family to pass the property on to, it went up for auction.
Buying property in the slums would have been much cheaper, but then I wouldn't get to see every noble in the neighborhood wince at the destruction and then despair when they realized what would replace it.
With the only gate to Sanctuary South on their street, the wealthy elites would see far more traffic, from mules pulling wagons to chatty tourists who wanted to see this rumored magic city.
The nobles would hate it so much.
But keeping up appearances with the Thieves’ Guild was more important than my entertainment. I had to miss the show.