Chapter 9: The First Dungeon
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After hours of flying through the night sky, the sun had just recently begun to rise over the eastern horizon. 

As David headed southwest the smell he had originally picked up on grew increasingly stronger.

Below him was a thriving forest stretching for tens of thousands of miles in every direction. It was full of trees as large as the sequoias of Earth, if not larger still. They were full of vibrant leaves and wildlife ran amok within the forest.

As he continued to fly he took note of a clearing a few miles ahead.

The clearing had a radius of about 100 feet, small compared to the forest as a whole. 

But it was nonetheless noticeable as the trees in the rest of the forest were no more than 20 feet apart.

There was a single tree in the clearing's center. This tree was a least 5 times the size of all the others, and its dragon-like roots ruptured the ground around it.

He soon reached the airspace above it and circled around the tree to get a good look at it. 

There was a Realm Gate located on its eastern side, positioned as if to catch the light of the rising sun.

A Realm Gate, similar to a Portal, could be used to traverse great distances. But, more often than not it was created with the purpose of breaking the boundaries between Realms; both the three major ones and their subordinate(sub)-realms, allowing people to reach the other side instantaneously.

There are three categories of dungeons within The Three Realms (as dungeons are not unique to Cornith).

These categories are as follows; Realm, Fortress, and Expansion. They are all created by Dungeon cores, and managed by Dungeon Masters. 

Dungeon Masters were a race of Celestial Fae which was a sub-Species of Deva. ,

They could exert even greater control over the Profound Laws within the region/world around them than most other types of Deva. 

The Dungeons they created could be compared to the leaves of the tree that was the Three Realms, whereas other Deva were seen as the fruits of the tree, and Sub and Main Realms as the branches. 

Dungeons could never fully leave the dominion of the Three Realms and had a way lower degree of independence than Sub-realms. 

But in return, Dungeon Masters possessed greater Authority over Profound Laws and the ability to place certain restrictions over Fundamental Truths in the region of space under their control (Their Domain/Dungeon). They had three routes of development in total.

The 1st allowed them to create an independent realm which afforded them even greater Authority than other Dungeons Masters. They developed this sub-realm by absorbing the energy saturating the Three Realms, slowly increasing its size across vast spans of time. 

This is a Realm-type Dungeon.

The 2nd was the cultivation of Divinity. Similar to most other Deva they could opt to cultivate Divinity while increasing the range of their Authority and their understanding of Fundamental Truths and Profound Laws. 

Then once they believed they had reached a satisfactory level in all standards they fused everything they had built up (i.e. their comprehension of Profound Laws and Fundamental Truths, their comprehension of their own Bloodlines, and their vast reserves of Divinity) in order to bring a section of space completely under their control and use it to establish a Dungeon.

But in this case, certain limitations would be imposed upon them. Such limitations included; the reality that they could not expand their region of control any further beyond what they already had. 

The loss of all favors that the Heavenly Will of the Three Realms had previously shown them. And the Three Realms' continual effort to both regain control over the spatial regions that had been usurped from their control and stunt the Dungeon Master's growth of Divinity and deepening of Authority. 

The Three Realms also awarded those who destroyed such cores with vast amounts of Origin Qi and increases in talent. As a result of these factors, the Dungeons Cores taking this route only managed to survive based upon the energy produced by their Sub-Realm and what they absorbed from the bodies of those who infringed upon their domain.

A dungeon produced in this manner is known as a Fortress-Type Dungeon.

The 3rd option, an Expansion-type Dungeon, was a fusion of the first two. A Dungeon Core cultivated Divinity and studied the Profound Laws and Fundamental Truths of the Three Realms. 

They then reached an agreement with the Three Realms where the Dungeon core "borrowed" or "leased" control over spatial regions. In return when it was their turn to withdraw into the world they did so without resistance. 

Such Dungeons also helped by promoting the growth of life within their territories, and by raising forces that could be used to fight against both True Demons and Dungeon Cores who established Fortress-type Dungeons.

The Realm Gate before him was the entrance to a Realm-type Dungeon.

"A Realm-type Dungeon, the third-best option for me to test my Authority as the Primordial Dungeon Master entitled to the entire Human Realm." He spoke as he furled his wings and landed softly on the ground before the gigantic tree.

"Going forward I must bare an inconceivable weight on my shoulders and prepare The Human Realm for a New Beginning. This is merely the first of many steps on a long and rigorous journey that will determine the fate of the infinite multitude of beings inhabiting this and many other realms." He resolved himself before deciding to walk through the Realm Gate. 

He soon entered into what felt like an entirely new world for the second time in 24 hours.

Three Moons of various colors were sitting in the middle of the vault above. The one in the center was yellow in color, the one to the west was green, and the one to the east was silver. Countless stars were hanging above them shining upon a serene forest intermingled with mountains. 

Animals could be heard throughout the entirety of the land, that teemed with life.

But none of that stuck out to David as he immediately sat in a meditative pose and attempted to sense the Fundamental Truths and Profound Laws governing the world around him.

It took a while for his Anima to sense them as the Divine Edicts serving as the Dungeon's foundation greatly suppressed them, and the Dungeon was currently operating according to those Divine Edicts instead of the Heavenly Will.

This was for the most part a normal occurrence within Dungeons as most Dungeon Masters either consciously or unconsciously sought to limit the influence the world would have upon their personal domain. 

Yet, what was slightly abnormal was the offensive stance the Divine Edicts took towards the Heavenly Will, it was almost to the point of complete rejection.

If Dungeon Cores were the leaves of the tree, and other Deva its fruits, then Fundamental Truths were its roots and made up the bulk of its trunk, and Profound Laws were the rest of the trunk and the branches extending outwards. The Laws provided stability to the World and helped direct the flow of the various forms of energy throughout. Hence they were needed to foster life and create souls.

Celestial Fae, the Ancestors of all other Deva, were created naturally by the World/Heavenly Will.

As a result, all Deva is connected to its source and able to draw energy from it, and endowed with the Authority to alter its function.

Humans were the inherent rulers and executive agents of the world and could place it under their Dominion. Like a farmer in his orchard, they could determine the way the tree (or in our case the world) developed, functioned, and enforced its laws to a certain degree.

But sadly, after the original sin of Adam and Eve, it became difficult for Humans to display this inborn right. They first had to tend to the tree first helping it thrive. And even after they gained its recognition they were required to exert greater amounts of effort in order to alter its development and function than originally intended.

Both races could use their inherited abilities to give birth to phenomena, through techniques known respectively as Aria and Spells, through Divine Edicts and Magic Circles (the physical manifestations of the two techniques).

After David's transformation, he had become the one and only Primordial Dungeon Master. He was the result of the perfect fusion between Celestial Fae and Humans. This was in part due to the power of Eden, the woman he had encountered within his Mental World. 

She was one of the first Celestial Fae to 'Emerge' from the world, her ‘Emergence’ taking place in the homeland of Humans, Eden. 

Thus she was named after it and became its guardian Deity for a time before choosing to follow God as one of his personal attendants.

After sensing the current suppression of the Heavenly Will around him he switched gears internally and began to absorb a vast amount of ambient Mana.

He was technically a Deavum, a term used for beings resulting from the fusion of multiple Bloodlines belonging to the Four Major Races; Angel, Deva, True Demon, and Humana.

Their talents and Bloodline potential were unpredictable. 

This led to them often having to create a new path of cultivation for themselves if they wished to grow stronger.

David was placed into a similar situation by his transformation, or at least he should have been. But, his future was more certain than his predecessors due to his identity as Primordial Dungeon Master with his optimal cultivation path having been outlined for him and engrained in his genetic code.

As such, he simply had to let nature take his course and continually cultivate Divinity to ascend the Tiers.

His body currently teemed with Origin Qi that flowed out from his cells in endless waves, and his soul had fused completely with his fleshy body. 

He used his soul to refine the Mana as it entered his body and fused it with the Origin Qi flowing freely throughout his body. 

Divinity was created as a result of this fusion. It was unique to Deva and the Devaum who shared certain aspects of their Bloodline. It powered their Aria which allowed them to manipulate the world in conjunction with their 'Authority'.

Six Aria had been ingrained in his genetic code alongside the outline of his cultivation path and as a result, he had gained immediate comprehension of them upon his transformation.

One of these inherent Aria was quite aptly named; 'World Sovereign'.

After activating it he would become the representative of the world, his will becoming equal to, if not superseding, the Heavenly Will. 

Thus making him able to subject the World around him to his whims whilst simultaneously gaining a comprehensive view of its interworkings.

This ability was a fusion of the natural 'Authority' of Deva and the Human ability to place the world under one's control and affect its laws through the creation of a 'Domain'.  

The only thing he had been lacking in order to initiate its activation was Divinity.

As soon as his body produced its first silk-like strand of Divinity his perception of the world was completely altered.

The World within a radius of a few feet of him seemed to quake as his blood began to boil, and he seemed to become one with his surroundings. At the same time, the operation of the Divine Edicts grew sluggish and their suppression of the Heavenly Will slipped ever so slightly.

He opened his eyes and observed the world around him. 

He could feel the World around him on a truly profound level, privy to all its details.

He was now capable of altering the flow of the air in his vicinity and shifting the ground beneath him. 

He waved his hand forward and the air condensed into the shape of a blade. He waved his hand a second time and the blade flew forwards at the speed of sound.

Right before it reached the 3 feet limit an image formed in his mind, and the blade made a sharp u-turn. It then flew back to him before taking on the shape of a palm-sized bird and spiraling into the air above his head. 

At that moment three things stuck out to him as he continued to experiment with altering the air's form; 1st, the world showed no resistance to his will, 2nd, it didn't seem like his actions went contrary to the natural flow of the world, and 3rd, he didn't need to expend any of his own Mana, Origin Qi or Divinity reserves in order to alter the world like others. 

He had truly reached the mythical state of; 'A Single Thought To Alter The World'.

As he was about to ponder all of this on a deeper level the World trembled and the flow of time appeared to grind to a halt.

Soon after, a loud boom sounded from the depths of the forest, and explosive roars were released one after another.

Massive tides of Origin Qi, Mana, and Divinity shining in various colors could be seen rising from the depths of the dungeon as the ground began to tremble and auras surged forward in his direction.

"As I said before, this is but the first step on a path to bring about A New Beginning. No matter how difficult the path forward becomes, I shall press onwards in an effort to play my role in achieving the grand plan." He spoke with resolution filling both his voice and gaze.

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