Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 84: Into the Dungeon!

"I’m back!" Alchemy shouted as Nera and Gravana entered into her vision.

When Nera looked at her, she also glanced behind Alchemy, almost instinctively.

"Sapphi isn’t coming?" Nera questioned.

"She didn’t want to." Alchemy shrugged.

"Are you two ready?"

Nera and Gravana looked at each other, the prior of the two nodding shortly after.

Gravana, on the other hand, had some worries.

"Entering into this dungeon or whatever you call it is fine and all, but I don’t think I’ll fit into that hole. Not without a considerable amount of digging."

Looking at the glowing Instance Dungeon entrance, Alchemy smiled smugly.

"You don’t need to worry about that."

As she interacted with the hole, the system notification once again came up.

|<Instance Dungeon: Dire Tooth’s Domain!>|

|<Time Limit: 23 Hours>|

|<Total Level Recommendation: 55>|

|<First Clear Party Limit: 4>|

|<Notice: Would you like to enter the Dire Tooth’s Dungeon? Y/N>|

|<Notice: Current party composition includes a mercenary outsider. Entering the Instance Dungeon with them will grant them temporary access to the System. Are you sure you wish to continue? Y/N>|

Alchemy had figured as much. If Rio could interact with the system during his time in the Chrysalis Nexus, it wasn’t a surprise that Gravana could also interact with it.

As far as she was concerned, it didn’t matter if Gravana knew about the system. At worst, she could play it off as part of her divine ability for the time being, and at best, he’d learn of it later on anyway when he joins her Civilization.

Alchemy took his words about joining her if she became a Goddess stronger than him seriously. Or something like that; she didn’t recall his exact words.

"We’re heading in. This might make you a little woozy."

"What do you mean b-"

Gravana was cut off by Alchemy entering the dungeon. A bizarre-looking circle had transported them from their previous location to somewhere new.

It wasn’t a magic circle as it lacked the magical glyphs that were a telltale sign of anything powered by mana.

On the other side of the transportation technique were a multitude of dark but wide tunnels not so different from the entrance.

Each group member had varying levels of vision in these dark hallways. Nera could see perfectly fine; it was nearly the same as what she’d seen during the day above ground.

Alchemy could see, but not nearly as well as she usually could. Well, enough to make out the outlines of the tunnels.

Gravana, meanwhile, couldn’t see anything. As good as a wolf’s vision was at night, there wasn’t any light to reflect in the first place.

His lack of vision was the least of his problems, however, as Gravana could be heard audibly gagging as he tried not to throw up.

"I swear to me, Teacher, if you’re gonna vomit, do it away from the waypoint!" Alchemy panicked, backing away.

"Grah... I can’t see where this waypoint of yours is in the first place..." Gravana complained, stumbling around in the dark.

"Nera, Light! Light!"

As quickly as she could, Nera grabbed some wood from the storage and created a small fire. During this time, Gravana managed to get his disorientation under control.

No vomit was had! The quick thinking of the goddess Alchemy averted another crisis!

"Grra... What was that? And what is this thing in the corner of my vision?" Gravana grumbled, swatting away... Something around the corner of his eye.

"That was spatial dislocation... Teleportation, effectively. It’s different, but that’s irrelevant. As for those bars..."

Their vital stat bars were at the corner of all three of their visions: Red Health, Golden Divine Energy for Alchemy and Nera, and Blue Mana for Gravana.

It also had a small experience bar beneath it, but since Gravana was not a system user, he didn’t have an exp bar.

The two Verminae present found the information even more intrusive, with skill icons and timers at the bottom left of their vision. Alchemy even saw her current mission objectives in her right peripherals.

"How close you are to dying and how much mana you have. Complimentary of my imaginary friend." Alchemy chuckled.

|<We are not the Prospect’s Imaginary Friend.>| A notification appeared in front of the three.

"Sure, sure. That aside, look at this. It’s perfectly made for three people, isn’t it?"

Behind the group was a small platform with rune-like symbols that gleamed silver. In front, three separate walkways, each with their small differences.

The leftmost path was the largest and seemingly most well-used. The center path was the smallest but had strange markings all over the wall. Lastly, the rightmost path was the most inconspicuous.

Moderately sized, seemingly moderately used. That said, the smallest tunnel was large enough for Gravana to squeeze through, even if only barely.

"These tunnels weren’t made for Horn Tooth’s. That’s for sure." Nera commented.

"Probably for the boss. The Dire Tooth or whatever. But, weirdly, the tunnels are so dark. The Horn Tooth’s have eyes, yet there’s no natural light down here." Alchemy hummed.

"That’s true. There’s also too much above ground during both day and night. It’s hard to believe they actively use these tunnels for anything. Maybe their leader is a blind mutant."

While Alchemy and Nera theorized about the reason for the tunnels being the way they were, Gravana couldn’t keep up with the conversation. Not because he didn’t understand what they were talking about but because he was still mentally caught up with the System.

How could they have this and act like it’s normal?

’What the hell is this thing? Why won’t it go away.’

|<Notice: Party View can only be disabled by Prospects or members of their Civilizations. Temporary system users do not have normal permissions. Perhaps try and ask a nearby Prospect to disable it for you!>|

Seeing the second pop-up, Gravana was more shocked than when the first appeared. He had more time to process it without thinking about a dozen other things.

’It can respond? What is this damned thing? Has that Disciple been carrying it around this entire time?’

|<Notice: The System is the System. Just as the Sky is the Sky and the Earth is the Earth.>|

Gravana narrowed his eyes at the pop-up.

When Alchemy turned to him and saw this, she let out a knowing sigh.

"If you’re trying to get anything out of the system, I’d give up. Just had this conversation with Sapphire, actually. It’s not worth the mental capacity."