Siren's Reach - Fallen Lands Book 3

Chapter Twenty-Eight

How to Train Your Dungeon

Evelyn

"Tower of Learning?" I asked as we stepped inside, and Sibylla nodded.

"It's a great name."

A moment later, I had to agree. We stepped out of the stairwell and into a library that felt like a blend of the ancient grandeur of what I imagined the Library of Alexandria to look like combined with modern designs from libraries I was used to. I could immediately see where the name came from.

The space was vast, with three stories and an open layout. A mix of tiled and grated floors allowed glimpses down to the lower levels, while a spiraling staircase wound elegantly through the center. Towering shelves of books and scrolls stretched from the core of the room outward, forming wedge-shaped alcoves between them. Each alcove held tables, chairs, and plush couches, inviting visitors to research, study, or simply relax with a book.

On the bottom floor, I spotted Lilith sprawled out on one such couch, her face buried in the pages of a book where she'd fallen asleep. She was human again, though her hair was an impossibly dark black and her skin was a shade paler than I remembered. I gasped at the sight of her back to normal and instinctively moved to rush down, but Sibylla caught my arm.

"It's probably best to let her rest for a bit. That elixir only wore off a few hours ago."

I nodded, a little disappointed, but still happy to see her. "Alright." I looked around at the books, "I guess I understand where you got the name."

She only shrugged, "That's part of it for sure."

Alice stopped looking over a row of books and turned back, "Only part of it?"

Sibylla grinned, "Yeah. The other part is what happens if someone ignores the sign outside and goes through the doors. They're gonna learn."

The dark inflection on those last words sent a shiver down my spine. "Oh.. kay. Well, why don't you tell us about this place, like, where you got all these books from to start?"

"From you, technically." I blinked at her, and she grinned, "Well, you see, the core remembers a bunch of stuff. Or rather, it has a bunch of data from the previous dungeon, though it's lost all of its previous levels. I had to level it back up, but I still have a ton of options on what I can build or decorate with, and even what monsters I can spawn." I nodded along with her, but then an excited gleam filled her eyes, and she burst out, "I'll show you!"

I hesitated for a moment, watching her dash toward the stairs with far too much enthusiasm, then shook my head and hurried after her. I really hoped she wasn't about to fill the library with monsters. The others were already descending behind me, but she had reached the far wall before any of us caught up. The massive obsidian slab stood out immediately, its smooth surface flanked by towering black jackals in a distinctly Egyptian style. Their carved eyes seemed to watch the board with eerie intelligence, as if they'd been looking forward to seeing this display for some time. The wall's face was inscribed with writing that reminded me of an ancient tablet unearthed at an archaeological dig – except this was perfectly legible in modern script. Each section of the display provided a breakdown of the twelve floors, detailing their themes, room names, spawning monsters, traps, and even potential rewards. Off to the side, a Leaderboard took up a narrow column, its topmost slot occupied by an absurd entry: Sibylla's Super Blender. As I stared, its ridiculously high score continued climbing, the carved numbers shifting fluidly, like grains of sand tumbling through an hourglass.

"What is with the black foxes?" Amélie asked. "They do not look anything like you."

Sibylla smiled, "Oh, those are jackals! You know, like in Egyptian myth! I'm still working on the theme. The black actually represents decay, regeneration, and rebirth – kind of like us! But more importantly, like the dungeon and its monsters. Also, they're friggin' cool."

I crossed my arms. "Okay, so first off – Anubis is literally the god of the afterlife. He's about judging souls, embalming, and sending people out of existence. A dungeon is about grinding, killing, and coming back. If anything, you should be using Set, since he's the god of chaos and war. Way more dungeon-appropriate." I tapped a finger to my lip for a moment. "Or maybe Sobek, because dungeons devour adventurers whole. That actually sounds down your alley."

She wasn't impressed, "I think you're missing the whole point. This place is supposed to be for helping us, all of us" she gestured to include Alice and Caeda, "work on leveling up and learning about magic and the world."

Amélie snorted, "Sure, but this is bad branding. If you built an entire dungeon themed around learning and grinding levels, why not Thoth? He's literally the god of knowledge. Come on, Sibyl. At least commit to the theme!"

She scrunched her face up and glared for a minute before turning away. "Tch. None of you appreciate aesthetic synergy. Anubis represents judgment, yes, but also transformation. My dungeon literally breaks things down and rebuilds them! It's symbolic of the dungeon's cycle of death and rebirth! Also, it looks cool."

I grinned, "Ah, so it's just about looking cool."

"Exactly! Now, what I was trying to show you was this fantastic board. It's actually more of a control board than just a display. In theory, you could adjust things as needed without needing me to change things in my own menus since our souls are linked."

"Wait," Alice interrupted. "What do you mean, y'all's souls are linked? 'Cause you're sisters? Or 'cause you're [Heroes]? This don't affect me, does it?"

Sibylla blinked at Alice in confusion, but Amélie answered, "I do not know if you are linked as we are. We are identical triplets, and our nature links our souls together, but do not think you are included in that. You could only be our half sister at most."

Alice's eyes went wide, "What? Half-sister? How you figure that?"

Everyone stared at Amélie, and she raised a hand in a helpless half shrug. "I am not sure. I just thought of it now. The ones who summoned us stole the essence of three unborn Kitsune from our mother to create us. We have never really discussed it in detail with her, so we do not know if that is all they needed, or if we technically have essence from another that would be a father figure. If we did, that wouldn't necessarily mean you do as well, but if you did, it would likely be the same being. In any case, my only point was that it is not likely that your soul would be linked as ours are. I think you'd have noticed the changes with some of the things Evelyn does that empower our souls."

I cleared my throat. "Let's not talk about that." I turned back to Sibylla. "So we can change monsters and things here?"

As I spoke, I reached out and touched the listed monsters on the board for room six of floor twelve, and a window appeared in my vision with the same monster listed highlighted at the top, "Warden of the Undercrypt", and a list of what felt like hundreds of more options to select from. I quickly yanked my hand away.

"Well, I felt that!" Sibylla said with a laugh, "I guess it works!"

Alice crossed her arms, "Well, with that kinda reaction, maybe it's for the best I can't control it. But I thought you said this place lost all its old experience. This thing says the dungeon's level twelve."

Sibylla shot her a smug grin, "Oh, it was level one. But then I read enough of my prompts to figure out that dungeons drain the essence of the things that die inside them to level up. There were all those Mukade corpses out there just glowing with essence that was going to waste and I thought, well, it was my curse that created them in the first place, technically they belong to me! So I brought them all in here to be absorbed while I worked on removing reagents."

"Your what?!" Amélie asked in alarm, but Alice waved her concern away.

"Ain't that cheatin'? What if the gods or whatever run this place get mad?"

Sibylla snorted, "It's not cheating, it's just creative dungeon management! …Besides, it only gave the dungeon three levels. I really had to get creative to get to level twelve."

I blinked at her, "There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of those things! If they only got you to level three, what the heck did you do to get to twelve?"

She grinned. "Oh, I only brought the big ones, so hundreds, yes. But that was fine. See, they helped me confirm something important—I wasn't sure if monster essence would even work for leveling the dungeon, especially since the corpses had been sitting out in the open. But there was just enough lingering essence left—and it worked!"

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I squinted at her. "That doesn't explain level twelve."

She waved a hand. "Patience! So, I couldn't fit them all in here at once. I only had one room when I started, you see. And breaking them down for reagents? That was going to take forever. So, I improvised. I set up a magic circle to automate the process. It broke them down for parts instantly with the lovely and unexpected side effect of completely freeing their essence. Naturally, that let the dungeon absorb it even faster than expected! All I had to do was store the parts, drop in the next batch, and let the system work. It was super efficient."

I nodded slowly. "Okay… but that still doesn't explain the rest of the levels. And now I'm getting a really bad feeling."

She huffed, rolling her eyes. "I'm getting to that! So, by the time the dungeon hit level three, there wasn't enough leftover essence to make a difference. I finished with the Mukade anyway, because—why not? But then I started thinking… if I could use monster essence, why wait for adventurers? I had full control of the dungeon. I could just summon monsters and kill them myself! So, I figured – what the heck, let's test it. I set the dungeon to spawn a burning salamander, thinking it sounded like something I could make cool potions out of. It dropped right into the middle of the room, spotted me, and was about to charge… Only, I forgot to turn off my magic circle. Before it could take a single step," she gestured dramatically, "FLASH – the circle activated, and it flew apart into nicely organized stacks of materials!"

I felt a sense of deep, existential dread settle in. "…Oh no."

Sibylla just grinned. "Oh YES! I was so surprised I didn't believe it at first! So, I changed the respawn timer from one day to one minute. Another salamander appeared, hissed at me, and… BOOM! Instant stacks of goodies! It was amazing. I started experimenting, trying to find the perfect rate for leveling with the monsters I could summon. Eventually, I hit a monster that was too high level for the circle. That one, I actually had to fight. But it gave me just the data I needed to fine-tune the perfect kill-to-essence ratio for powerleveling the dungeon."Her grin stretched wider. "It. Was. Awesome."

Amélie pointed at the leaderboard. "So… 'Sibylla's Super Blender'?"

Sibylla grinned and nodded. "That came next. I didn't want to just sit there and watch it, so I tweaked the setup. Now, when something spawns, the materials drop straight into portals to storage. The dungeon only has enough mana to run three of the circles at a time while maintaining the other floors, but that's probably fine. I'll have to turn it off soon anyway - at least until I have time to use up some of the reagents. No point in maxing out my storage space, after all."

I sighed. "So, you only stopped because your magic circle wasn't strong enough to auto-kill whatever you needed for more levels?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but now I have Alice and Caeda! We need to level them up! This is great! Once they reach the third floor, the dungeon will start getting useful essence again!"

Caeda blanched. "I'm not going into a dungeon! Are you crazy?!"

Alice placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, her voice much calmer. "I think we're technically already inside a dungeon." She turned to Sibylla. "How dangerous is this place? Can we really use it to catch up?"

Sibylla nodded enthusiastically. "Definitely! And, well… it is dangerous. But I think you'll be okay. We can go over every room before you enter. Honestly, the worst thing about dungeons is the unknown. I designed the difficulty curve to be really gradual, and you'll be able to run each floor a few times. If things ever get too bad… I can keep you safe."

It took Alice and Sibylla a few minutes to convince Caeda that the dungeon was both safe enough and worth it. While Sibylla didn't have absolute control over the loot—that was dictated by the system—she could tilt the odds in their favor. By adjusting the settings to prioritize equipment and items over raw currency, she ensured a steady supply of useful gear. Between the consistent experience gain, carefully designed progression, and guaranteed survival tools, it was hard to argue with her logic.

As interesting as the conversation was, the responsibilities I'd been trying to ignore all day gnawed at the edges of my focus. I needed to take advantage of Dawn's Light being back and end this war once and for all. Too many things were pulling at me already, and putting it off would only make it worse. Amélie must have noticed my distraction. She bumped her shoulder against mine, pulling me back to the present.

"Evie, what's on your mind? Are you alright?"

I nodded. "I'm fine. Just thinking about everything I need to do."

Amélie tipped her head to the side, her usual quizzical expression in place. "Anything important? Perhaps I can help you with it tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "No, I think I'll go soon... Actually, I should probably go now. I was planning to leave with Dawn's Light the moment you got back. I need to finish claiming all of Blackstone's territory before anyone finds a way to drag this war out. They have no leadership now, and a fast conquest will throw them off balance and buy us some time before they can complicate things again."

"Ah." She nodded in understanding. "Then let's go now. Sibylla can take care of our friends, and we'll send another carriage for them later."

I hesitated, then shook my head again. "No, let's leave the carriage for them. I'm a little nervous about everything, and we'll run a lot faster than it could take us anyway."

The others finally noticed our conversation. Alice raised an eyebrow. "Y'all are leavin'?"

"Sorry," I said, trying to soften the sudden departure. "Sibylla, Kira, and Constance will still be here, but I really need to take care of this."

Alice just rolled her eyes, waving a dismissive hand. "Long as you're takin' Amélie with ya and outta our hair."

I grinned. "You all okay with that?"

Sibylla beamed. "I'll take good care of them, don't worry!"

That was exactly what I was worried about – but Constance gave me a knowing nod, so I just smiled. "Okay. We shouldn't be gone too long."

I gave Lilith one last glance before heading out. She was still asleep… and definitely drooling on the book a little. I couldn't wait to tease her about it later. The thought put me in a good mood as we made our way upstairs and out of the tower. We didn't bother shifting into our smaller fox forms. Instead, we went full-sized, two-tailed foxes and sprinted south toward town. We probably covered the distance in a quarter of the time, and when we blurred up to the gondola, only shifting back at the last moment, I was pretty sure we almost gave the marines on watch a heart attack. To their credit, they recovered fast. Snapping to attention, they gave us a quick bow as we stepped aboard and rode up to Dawn's Light.

It wasn't until we'd fully shifted back to our humanoid forms that I realized the sun had set. I felt a little bad about calling on the crew so late, especially after they'd just finished a long trip, but the need to act outweighed my guilt. First, I stopped to check in with Penelope Hawkwood, who had the watch. Then, I sent a runner to summon Aric and the other senior officers to the quarterdeck and awaited them at the planning table just behind the helm. I'd half-expected them to be frustrated or annoyed by the late summons, but, once again, their professionalism never wavered.

As soon as I started explaining my plans, Aric sent another runner to retrieve Septimia. She returned during our discussion with Lady Sarah at her side. We all agreed that bringing Sarah with us would make the transition of power smoother. We also agreed that we'd need to leave ten to twenty of our own soldiers at each manor for a while to ensure stability. Septimia wasn't thrilled about this, but it would give her and Sarah time to root out anyone disloyal. Of course, Sarah would be administering the territory from Siren's Reach with Septimia's guidance. That way, she'd have both protection and an experienced hand to steer her through any difficulties.

The plan was simple. First, we'd head straight to Blackstone Keep as it was the most likely place to cause trouble. Sarah would help reassure the locals and quell objections – unless someone contesting her claim was already there. That seemed unlikely, but she'd gone over the list of possible challengers, and none of them sounded like the "go easy on them" type.

Next, we'd move on to Ashenford, where many of the soldiers who'd fled the battle had come from. Their defenses were weak with no real fortifications to speak of, and after witnessing Blackstone's fall, the fear I'd instilled in them on the battlefield, and with Dawn's Light overhead, we expected them to surrender quickly.

Ironwood Hollow was the wild card. It was far enough away that any fleeing troops might not have made it back yet, but their lord almost certainly would have. Unlike the others, they had a fortress to hide behind, and it was unclear if they'd choose to resist.

The planning and discussions went on for longer than expected, and, in the end, it would be past midnight before we could leave, so we decided to take a few hours of sleep and reconvene before dawn. That would also give Septimia time to decide which soldiers she wanted to bring along to secure the manors.

To save time, and avoid suffering through egregiously bad furniture, Amélie and I decided to stay on the ship for the night. Amélie headed below decks ahead of me, but before I could follow, Commander Aric called out.

"Captain, if you have a moment?"

I stopped and turned to rejoin him on the quarterdeck, "Of course. What's on your mind?"

"We need to talk about the state of Dawn's Light. As you know, two of the battery banks have failed. This campaign was unexpected, and we interrupted our plan to find replacements for those and the remaining six. I have noticed a small deterioration in their maximum capacity over time. It is nothing serious yet, but I do worry about continually putting the ship at risk without completing the refit."

"Ah." I moved closer, glancing down at the map before crossing my arms. "I haven't forgotten, but this needs to be done quickly. I think even if our worst fears about the situation turn out to be true, this should at least give us a break long enough to send the ship back to Vigilance."

He nodded. "I agree. The full refit could take months, especially if we go through the entire checklist. That would be the most efficient way to do things, both in time and cost. But if necessary, we could get by with just replacing the mana batteries for now."

I crossed my arms, "No, this world has gotten by without skyships for long enough. I think I can find a way to handle a few unruly pirates and an overly ambitious baron if I need to. Besides, as much as I'd really like to work on my sky captaining skills, having such a powerful war ship at my back is likely part of the reason I've been getting so little experience lately."

His brow lifted slightly, lips twitching upward in the barest hint of amusement. "I wasn't aware you were one of those. Really pushing for those levels, eh?"

I huffed. "Oh, it's not like that. I mean – it is, but it's not. I just have so many things I need to do! Did I ever tell you about my quest to kill an undead dragon? And that's not even counting the fact that I need to find and kill two more Great Devils. It's not about chasing levels. I literally don't have a choice."

He nodded, conceding the point. "I see what you mean. Well, if you keep sneaking off for these little 'adventures,' I'm sure you'll find all the opportunity you need."

I laughed. "This isn't what I had in mind at all when I thought about adventure. I wanted to explore, see the world, maybe even conquer a few more dungeons. Anything but this nonsense. I'd much rather be facing monsters than dealing with my neighbors."

Aric glanced out toward the sea, his voice thoughtful. "Yes, perhaps. But you should be careful what you wish for."

His words were an ominous way to end the evening. A faint breeze swept across the deck as I stepped below, carrying the distant scent of salt and wood polish. The ship hummed softly beneath my feet, its stabilizing magic holding firm even against the ocean winds. But when I reached my quarters and found Amélie already curled up in my bed, softly snoring, I knew I'd sleep just fine.