Luca DR

The infinity dungeon 211

Chapter 211

Infy looked just like he remembered her from her projection. Except, now she was naked and pale. Dark bangs hid her eyes, but the pain on her face was readable in the lines on her brow and the tightness of her lips. She looked hollow, taut skin covering malnourished flesh.

The fluid around her swirled, bubbles disturbing the green, viscous substance. Tubes ran from the top of the vat and disappeared behind the woman, digging into her flesh, feeding her and keeping her ...

The infinity dungeon 210

Chapter 210

The swirling dark mass approached, a calamity of spiral lightning and black clouds that had broken into Michael’s inner space and was now making a beeline straight for the source of his magic.

Nothing remained in its wake. The asteroid it had swallowed up was simply gone, and Michael dared not think about how many things the mass had eaten that he still had not discovered, and that now he would never discover.

He rushed to meet the thing before it could get any...

The infinity dungeon 209

Chapter 209

There was only darkness inside the hatch. Michael descended, storing the Force Lance in his spatial ring with a flash of wasteful magic, crudely imitating Qi he did not have. As the darkness deepened, shadows appeared all around, shrouding the faint light that still came from the outside and hiding even the rusted steps of the ladder leading down into the depths of the earth.

With a snap of his fingers, Michael summoned his trusty magical light, but it did little to di...

The infinity dungeon 208

Chapter 208

The shockwave propagated through the air, folding and compressing the bridge as it traveled across its length. It washed over the spot where Michael had last seen the Renegade, turning metal to scrap and concrete to rubble, then onwards towards the other shore of the river. It crashed into the forest, uprooting trees and overturning the earth, and finally smashed into the hill far away.

A part of the hill collapsed as the wave of force spent the last of its energy, tri...

The infinity dungeon 207

Chapter 207

The door of light deposited Michael in the middle of an empty street. Beneath his feet, tall weeds growing out of the many cracks in the concrete made the ground uneven, their thick roots widening any gap they had found and loosening the foundation of the road.

It had rained not too long ago. The air smelled of it, and large potholes were filled to the brim with muddy water. Mist rose from between the buildings, swirls of cold water vapour emerging from dark alleys and...

The infinity dungeon 206

Chapter 206

Mere moments after pulling the trigger, the asteroid returned to its full level of detail. Where the little basin of dark rock had been, however, now there was a lake of red-hot molten stone. Debris had been launched into space by the tremendous impact, and pieces of rock and minerals were flying off into space only to disappear when they got too far to see.

A large crack ran the whole length of the asteroid, originating from the impact site and almost splitting the gi...

The infinity dungeon 205

Chapter 205

As Michael approached the asteroid, it slowly grew from a small gray silhouette against a black background into a larger and larger celestial body. Its features were still mostly hidden, but it was clear that this was the largest asteroid he had ever explored so far, and by a large margin.

It was in the space between two instants that the asteroid became suddenly fully visible, as if Michael had just crossed an invisible threshold. Its surface was smooth, white, and mo...

The infinity dungeon 204

Chapter 204

When Michael woke up, for the tiniest of moments he forgot that he was inside the dungeon and thought he was back at Site 00. Then he saw the blinding light coming from outside, felt the waves of heat from the fierce sun up above, and remembered all about the latest challenge he had been put through by the dungeon in his quest to reclaim his long-lost magic and help Infy, the dungeon spirit.

No door of light; the challenge must still be ongoing, he thought.&nb...

BOOK 1 RELEASING IN ONE MONTH

Hello everyone!

I'm super happy to announce that Book 1 of the Infinity Dungeon is finally getting published on OCTOBER 9TH both on amazon KU and AUDIO!!!

Save the date and enjoy this awesome cover!

ALSO for more updates, consider joining my newsletter so we don't have to rely on PATREON of all things to send you all notifications. You can join it here: h...

The infinity dungeon 203

Chapter 203

Michael started running, masking his footsteps with an explosion right where he had been standing moments before. His magic made the ground explode, and immediately after that the worm followed. It tunneled through the dense rock, lifting layers of stone and sediment, making the whole side of the mountain bulge upwards and then pop like an oversized pimple.

“Fucking worm, wasn’t it supposed to stick to the valleys?”

Michael cursed when the shockwave reached...

The infinity dungeon 202

Chapter 202

Michael walked under the glittering dome of the night sky. Occasionally, an explosion echoed in the distance, its sound reflected by the nearby mountains and cliffs. He kept going until the night was almost black, and then stopped in yet another cave.

He built some collectors, a few batteries, and went to sleep. When he woke up, he developed his Inner Space some more and waited for the sun to set. Faint vibrations shook the cave at regular intervals, getting progressiv...

The infinity dungeon 201

Chapter 201

Michael did not wait for the giant worm to converge on his location. If the vision was to be believed, it was so big it could swallow not just him, but the whole cave in a single bite. The tremors intensified, making it hard to even stand, and large boulders crashed down from the unstable ceiling.

He looked outside. The sun was shining in all its terrible power, baking the surface of the planet for miles and miles. There were no trees in sight, only strangely sharp roc...

The infinity dungeon 200

200! Nice number.

Also a bit of news! I created a newsletter for updates and important stuff. If you want to be updated, receive little funny snippets about my life, and know when the next books are going to come out, subscribe here!

Right now a confirmation link, and that's it. Sooner or later I will have the time to set up some proper automated emails.

Cheers!

The infinity dungeon 199

Bonus chapter!

Thank you for subbing to my patreon and supporting the novel! From now on, you shall be 21 chapters ahead of regular Royal Road readers.

Chapter 199

The dungeon spirit was once again a patch of darkness against the whiteness of the room. But as Infy beckoned Michael closer, he noticed that she was almost see-through. The smoke coming from beneath the fabric of her clothes was barely even gray, and she felt just like the elves aboard the Seed...

The infinity dungeon 198

Chapter 198

The Tree-Alfyr was about to attack again, this time pulling so much magic that the walls were literally withering and turning to dust. 

“No,” a voice said. It was soft, like thin silk.

The magic stilled. The Tree-Alfyr crumpled to the ground. Behind him the very same elf who had tried to help him earlier cradled a bloody vine. His hands bled where the thorns had cut into his skin, but he didn't seem to notice.

Instead, he watched The Tree-Alfyr die...

The infinity dungeon 197

Chapter 197

The moment Michael saw what the Tree-Alfyr was doing, he immediately broke into a mad dash towards the old elf. Time did not stretch. There was no slow motion. Instead, it all happened in the blink of an eye.

Michael was still mid-air when he heard the click of the trigger being pulled. The next moment, he was within inches of the elf. He braced for impact, felt the frail body of the Tree-Alfyr, then the movement of magic from the very walls of the Seedship, and then s...

The infinity dungeon 196

Chapter 196

Michael slept in a cramped room on a bed of leaves. The bed was more comfortable than he thought leaves would ever be, but the room itself had given him a strong sense of claustrophobia. He had tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, thoughts gravitating around a single topic like the raving of an obsessed lunatic.

A pane of glass usually has imperfections, reflections, and glares from the lights behind it, he thought. Glass gives you the sense that it’s there. Eve...

The infinity dungeon 195

Chapter 195

Michael was left free to roam the Seedship as he pleased. The doors would open automatically for him, and the walls responded to his magic intuitively. With Icarus’ help, he even managed to access what passed for the ship’s AI, although he doubted the Tree-Alfyr could have predicted that.

The ship’s intelligence was odd and alien, slow and ponderous. It communicated using emotions and blurry images, with a weight that betrayed its massive scope and ancient ageles...

The infinity dungeon 194

Chapter 194

The door was made of translucent bio-material, cold but soft to the touch and with a texture like slightly glossy opaque glass. It was dark green instead of brown, with a seam in the middle that divided it into two halves.

The seam was covered in opaque growth, like a scab over a wound. Tracing its lines, Michael had the sensation that this door had been sealed shut from the other side, with biological matter acting in the same way metal would when welding a normal doo...

The infinity dungeon 193

Chapter 193

Michael was assaulted by the smell of wet earth, rotting plant matter, and putrid miasma the very moment he stepped out of the portal leading out of the white room. The very next moment, he found himself attacked by an almost solid cloud of insects of all kinds, ranging from giant mosquitoes to other less easily identifiable things larger than his own head.

Then, as if his situation wasn’t unpleasant enough, the portal behind him disappeared, and most of the light wa...

The infinity dungeon 192

Chapter 192

The raw ore orbiting around Icarus’ planet shifted, a gravity wave perturbing the almost perfectly planar ring of multicolored material. Magic spread through the cloud of iron, gold, carbon, and many other elements, seizing its bulk and pulling it towards a small area in the middle of empty space.

Three small dots could be seen far ahead. A silhouette of a man, a strange cube, and a flower of shiny reflective material with a dark center. They didn’t move, for motio...

The infinity dungeon 191

Chapter 191

The white light was all-encompassing. Michael was no stranger to it by now, used to what had to be the dungeon’s preferred mode of transportation for its delvers. He wondered if he was getting privileged treatment, being a champion of the resident spirit and all that, before chuckling at his own idiocy.

Of course he was. Infy was even talking to him!

Speaking of the dungeon spirit, by squinting hard and forcing some magic into his eyes, Michael thought he could...

The infinity dungeon 190

Chapter 190

There was a gap of at least ten feet between Michael and the robot. This gap extended into a hole several hundred feet deep, at the bottom of which Sitea’s shield was slowly turning metal into molten slag.

Not only was the fall deadly, but there was lava at the bottom.

Making it to the other side of the gap would have been trivial had Michael had a decent amount of magic. Instead, he found himself carefully calculating the risk of jumping on the uneven, unstead...

The infinity dungeon 189

Chapter 189

Michael looked around, frantically searching for a way out.

“Icarus, what’s the status of my magic?”

“The battery pack is full, 100 Copper with a max output of 10 Copper per second.”

He had a regeneration of a single unit per second if he pushed it, but looking at the giant robot seconds away from his position, he doubted the fight would last that long. He kept the pressure high as he scouted the land, shooting his Force Lance and forcing the robo...

The infinity dungeon 188

Chapter 188

Michael clutched the Force Lance with his right hand, while his whole left arm was sunk inside the weapon itself, fingers gripping the trigger and ready to shoot.

The doors opened with a ding. They were slow, agonizingly so, while the whole tower shook as the booming voice of the Lair reverberated through the city. The elevator was thankfully empty, with sterile light and a mirror, and garbage faux-marble brown walls.

There were only two buttons.

Michael’...

The infinity dungeon 187

Chapter 187

Michael hauled the gathered material back to Icarus’ planet. It was a daunting task, with little scraps of ore constantly escaping his mental grasp as he struggled to will the bigger pieces to move into a messy heap that followed behind him as he flew through the empty space. He powered through the pain and the discomfort, not obsessing over the little losses but trying to keep the cargo as compact as possible to avoid material falling through the cracks of his me...

Bonus chapter goal

Hi everyone,

First of all I wanted to welcome all the new free members. Thank you for being a part of this community!

As a little incentive, I have decided to increase the Patreon chapters from 20 to 21, if we manage to reach 10 patrons.

What are you waiting for! Subscribe to read more, and be a part of Michael's epic journey. You will be able to shape his destiny far more than you think

The infinity dungeon 186

Chapter 186

Michael gathered his thoughts. Time seemed to stretch as he thought back to his isolation as a powerless human at the heart of Site 00. Forgotten even by his closest allies.

“The resonance pill. Would it have healed me if I had taken it when the Sanctum broke?” he asked.

Infy shook her head. “It would have done nothing. All it does is bring resonance to power that’s already there. Without power, the pill is just sugar.”

“What about before it had...

The infinity dungeon 185

Chapter 185

The elevator doors opened with a ding.

The first thing Michael saw, before his eyes fully adjusted to the light, was a silhouette against a wall of windows. Blinding white light bathed the gigantic, empty room from all sides.

“Took you long enough,” the silhouette said. It was Infy. “Come, don’t be shy.”

Even though he could only see her outline, he could hear the grin in her voice. Michael gingerly stepped forward, still bathed in light from all ...

The infinity dungeon 184

Chapter 184

The wave of force impacted the sphere in less time than it took Michael to blink. The eerie lack of feedback, any sort of recoil or sound or… anything, made using the weapon jarring and uncomfortable. Not even the trigger emitted any sound.

The sphere stood immobile. The afterimages left on Michael’s retina, the faint imprints of the violet energy he had just commanded the weapon to shoot, they told him some scraps of information about what just happened. The viole...