The Infinity Dungeon [LitRPG]

There was no standoff, nothing. The moment the younger David saw that Travis was about to attack him, he sprang into motion. Travis, who had realized who this younger man was and had aborted his attack, had to scramble to do something.

His eyes widened at the sight of David's savagery. He didn't hesitate one moment before reacting with all his might, fists glowing with Blackstone and another Element he did not recognize, powerful legs cracking stone and pulverizing the concrete floor.

He dove to the side, defended himself from a savage strike, got a glimpse of David's savage grin. The elemental weapon generated by his card broke, evaporated into rapidly fading magic, and was about to be replaced by another Card's effect when David's fist hit his face and sent him tumbling into the wall.

He barely recovered his vision in time to see David's knee impact his nose, then darkness again. He felt the pain, however. The younger David was wiping the floor with him in a way he had never thought possible, savage strikes delivered with surgical precision and the intention to methodically dismantle him. Not only was he losing, and badly, but there was nothing he could do to stop the other man.

"David?" came a small voice. "Is that you?"

The fight, unilateral as it was, stopped suddenly. What Travis could not have hoped to achieve, not only because he couldn't speak but also because the other man wouldn't have listened, was accomplished by a single utterance from a small girl. David, his foe now forgotten, threw himself at the girl.

"It's me sweetie," he whispered, "it's all right."

"You're changed," the girl said, or tried to. Her last word sent her into a coughing fit.

David's attention shifted onto Travis again. It felt like the weight of a mountain, less than Michael's aura, but at that moment much more threatening. Had Travis not already experienced near death and the full anger of Michael's Aura, he didn't think he would have managed to stay upright.

"The vial, now." David demanded.

Travis threw the healing liquid at the man without question. David injected it into the girl, who had lost consciousness.

"Now what?" asked Travis.

David shot him another glare, and Travis realized that he wasn't used to someone else being more arrogant than he was. Even in Michael's presence, he somehow always managed to act his usual self, but now? Now it seemed that the rejuvenation had changed David more than just physically.

"I have no idea what's supposed to happen, but you're staying here with me until she wakes up."

Travis nodded, wondering if perhaps this had been David back when he was young. Or if he had been even worse, without the many years of experience mellowing his personality. He hoped the change was temporary.

"Where is Michael?"

"Inside," David said.

Silence. Travis bore the silence for a while, knowing that David wasn't in the right mood to speak, but after a while he couldn't contain himself anymore.

"I suppose the dungeon dropped another vial, didn't it?"

A nod.

"I'm glad for you."

No reaction.

"Too bad it was just one."

David's head snapped to him, and again Travis felt the weight of the man's anger and volatile mood. It was a sharp edge of obsidian, a jagged rock that could cut and tear, not subtle in the slightest.

"I know you want more, to cheat death yourself. Even though magic increases your lifespan, it's always better to have another ace up the sleeve, am I right, asshole?"

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Travis frowned. "It's not just that."

"But it is also that. Here, take this."

Travis caught the vial awkwardly, knowing full well that David had thrown it hard on purpose. Before he could ask the question, the other man spoke.

"I can read you like an open book, Travis, I've always been able to. I know what you want to ask. Liff is small, and didn't need the full dose. You're a necessary evil, man, do with the vial what you please, but know that if your usefulness ever stops outweighing your asshole-ness…"

"I got the message," Travis said, pointing at his stomach.

David shook his head. His white hair was long, and it caught his tattered shirt at his massive shoulders. "I don't think you did, but I'll pretend to believe you. Know that I will be here to make sure you don't ever forget it."

***

Back in the arena room, Michael was in the middle of an enlightened state. After his level up, he had continued exposing himself to the maximum amount of Truth that his body, mind, Sanctum and soul could take. He felt himself grow in ways he had never experienced before, hypertrophy not of one single part but of the whole system. At times, it was indeed his body that gave out, but repeated healing allowed it to adapt and grow strong.

At other times, it was his soul that proved to be the weak link. It cracked, micro tears dotting its inscrutable surface deep within the Skill Sanctum. Michael gave it time to heal, and it always came back stronger, more vibrant, but also changed. Once, it had been his Skill Sanctum itself that almost broke. In his visualization, the walls began to crack and crumble, threatening to bury him in a million miles of stone and unknown magic. It was in that instance that he glimpsed the true infinity of his inner space, where the stone was the unrealized potential of his being.

Now that he knew what he was seeing, he realized that everyone had a different amount of potential. Its shape also varied. In their visualization, it might be represented by an ocean, or an open sky. There, they would have to build towers, or explore the depths to gain more power, until they hit a wall. He, with his Sanctum, would have to dig. Uncover the unknown, or shape his own destiny by choosing the shape of his works. Use a chisel or a drill. A bomb, even, like his use of Truth.

Most people did not have infinite potential. Their sky was limited, their sea had a floor. Those who had endless oceans or infinite skies were special from the get-go. The others, like most Operators and normal people, would have to first build the visualization of their inner space to accommodate for more growth, and then grow into it. Push the wall out a little, deepen the sea.

Michael did not have a limit. He did not need to do the work.

He tried to do it anyway, because he wanted to see if he was able to. His mindset, grow through struggle, demanded it. It felt like a weak compulsion, perhaps a proto-manifestation of a Dao like in the stories. His Qi seemed to agree.

Even though he didn't need to create more potential, for his potential was already limitless, he had to know if he could do it. Because if he couldn't, then he would lack the potential to create more potential, making his potential no longer limitless. It would threaten to destroy him. This was the shackle of a Dao, and it too would need to be broken in the end, for the shackle itself was a limit imposed onto potential.

For now, Michael forwent digging and tried to create more stone in his Sanctum, so that he could dig it later. He failed, but he made good progress, and something much more pressing diverted his attention.

It was another realization, brought by the extreme strain of using Truth. He was dying. He watched death crawl towards him with cold detachment, emotions and sensations just clouds that hovered in different locations inside the Sanctum. Everything was inside the Sanctum, even the outside world.

"What is the outside world, after all, if not what we perceive of it? Reality is fabricated by the way my consciousness and senses react and mingle, and thus it lives inside my Sanctum."

"You are dying, Michael," Icarus said. He, too, was in the Sanctum.

"But I am onto something, am I not? The system is gibberish to me now, can you become the interface?"

"Of course. You are indeed onto something. I wonder if death will come to you first, or your epiphany."

"I thought you'd try to stop me."

"I know you well enough. But please, if your Dao is infinite potential, mine is infinite knowledge. I ask that you share with me what you are experiencing, and that I cannot sense."

"I thought I had seen it, Icarus. The space between life and death. I thought I knew how it felt to be alive in a body that is dead. I had not seen anything, not the first time it happened, nor did I behold more than just a glimpse this time. And yet, a glimpse is enough."

He cut the flow of Truth, and death disappeared like a mirage.

"Michael, Cultivation leveled up and I detected your Soul dantian awakening. It's at Qi Gathering 1 now. But, where is it? Is it in the rocks of the Sanctum walls, like we thought it would be?"

"No, it's inside the Soul, Icarus."

"Interesting," the AI said, "there's more. It's as if finding its location removed a bottleneck for you. You will need to do the same with the other cores. Find them, or you will be stuck at Qi Gathering."

Michael opened his eyes. Initially he felt nothing out of the ordinary, thinking that perhaps his awakening had no effect. But then he realized that his mind felt clearer, and now he could extend his senses without suffering as much backlash as before from overloading his mind.

With a nod, he spared the arena one last glance. "Let's go. We spent more than enough time in here."