His pet’s stats hadn’t just jumped. They had lunged! The snake had almost twice as much health as it had before, and there was no way the fact that it had gained a single level could account for that. It also now had an appreciable amount of mana. All of its stats looked like they had been upgraded in fact, except for maybe its Agility and Dexterity. If the snake was lugging around multiple layers of high steel scales, though, that was only to be expected. The thing was a powerhouse!
Richter would have completely ignored Hisako’s advice and kept the pet if not for one line in its description. “Chaotic reptiles are highly resistant to control.” It meant that whenever his latest Tame spell wore off, he would be faced with an extremely powerful monster that was immune to the mists surrounding his village and that could strike from hiding with impunity. If it stayed in his lands, his people would have to live in a constant state of fear.
He shook his head. There was just too much he didn’t know. One thing he did now suspect, though, was that he would be a fool to ignore Hisako’s advice. The passage she had recited had also said he only had a day and a night to make a choice. The chaos seed wasn’t sure what happened after that, but the best case scenario he could think of was that the choice would be made randomly. Better the devil he knew than one he did not. Richter didn’t even want to think about what it might mean if an undead was chosen as the Harbinger. Somehow, he didn’t think that would be a good thing for him or his people.
Richter sent out a mental command, and the adder slid through the grass towards him. It rose up until its diamond shaped head hovered only inches from the chaos seed’s face. It occurred to him that he should be frightened that a predator was so close to him. After weeks of fighting alongside the adder, though, Richter felt a deep fondness for the creature. He just patted its scaly side, while its pink tongue shot out and licked his cheek.
The chaos seed felt a lump start to form in his throat, so he turned to Hisako, “How do I do it?”
She just shrugged, “I do not know, but that might be a good place to start.” She pointed at the black pedestal in front of the cave mouth.
Richter walked over and placed his hand on the sphere at the top of the black metal spire, and a prompt filled his vision.
Greetings Dungeon Master. Your Dungeon lies incomplete. Have you chosen a Harbinger? Yes or No?
Richter chose “Yes” and thought about his tamed pet.
Your choice is acceptable. Send the Harbinger forth.
He didn’t drag it out. Richter gave his last command to the adder and sent it inside of the cave mouth. He watched as its long length disappeared into the Dungeon. Suddenly, he had the impression that it felt a great but fleeting pain, and the light that represented their connection disappeared from his mind.
The sacrifice is accepted.
A new icon appeared in the corner of Richter’s vision.
The stone around the cave mouth began to shudder. Pieces fell off, and Richter feared he had triggered another earthquake. The tremors eased though and the stone of the cave began to flow. It reshaped itself in less than a minute until the opening was a perfect replica of an adder’s open mouth, down to the scales carved into the rock and large fangs hanging down from above. The Dungeon’s eyes glowed a very particular shade of red.
Another prompt appeared in Richter’s vision. After reading it, he forgot about everything else. The loot from the goblin encampment, his skill prompts waiting to be read, and learning about his hundreds of potential new villagers were all things that could wait. Even the Chaos points he had earned that were begging to be spent seemed less important in that moment. Nothing else mattered except what he had read.
Congratulations, Dungeon Master! The Dungeon of Bloody Chaos is born!