Infinite Farmer-Chapter 179: Arena of Physicality

“See, once you left, the dungeon just kept growing. It killed the grass around it for a while, like a blight dungeon. And the grass outside of that grew a little slower. Eventually, that stopped. And then it just kept going,” Necia explained.

“You didn’t think of clearing it? Just to make sure everything was safe?”

“That’s the thing. We can’t. Take a look.”

The dungeon was huge now, to the point where it had eaten a good portion of the hill behind the town, converting it into a chasm that cut straight into the terrain. That was odd, but the fact that the dungeon entrance was about ten times bigger than any other he had seen was even more shocking.

The oddness continued.

Private Dungeon (Ownership: Tulland Lowstreet)

This dungeon has been specifically tailored to the needs of Tulland Lowstreet, transplantee from The Infinite Dungeon and potential hero of Aghli.

The dungeon is single-use, and designed entirely to advance Tulland’s progress in his understanding of his own class. No other classer of any kind can enter it, and even manipulating the entrance to the dungeon to allow entry for anyone but Tulland will result in the sudden, catastrophic collapse of the space.

Entrance to this dungeon cannot be voluntarily triggered.

“Can’t be voluntarily triggered? I don’t know what that means,” Tulland said.

“Nobody does.” Necia shook her head. “It’s a dungeon for you, and only you, that you can’t enter. We figured we’d be able to get some more light shed on it once you got back.”

“Why didn’t you just ask the System?”

“I didn’t want to worry you. Plus, I’m pretty sure our connection doesn’t work once you get a certain distance away.”

Is that true?

I certainly have no way of verifying that. And as for this dungeon, I have no idea what it could be either. I would, however, advise you to step back from it.

To step back? Why?

Think about it, you fool. If you can’t voluntarily enter it, and it wants to be entered, what other choice is there?

“Necia, I think we should…” Tulland stopped talking, and sighed. “That quick, huh?”

For the first time in a long time, he found himself in the white room between places. There, sitting in a very large leather chair, was a man he had never seen before but was nonetheless sure he knew. Tulland sat silently while the man worked away at writing something with a pencil onto a pile of paper in his lap. He got the sense lately that The Infinite had a certain flair for the dramatic that he didn’t feel like encouraging just then.

“Heya.” The man eventually looked up from the pad of paper, dark-skinned and wearing spectacles. “Do I need to introduce myself?”

“No, The Infinite. I think I have the knack of recognizing you now.”

“Good. You’re probably wondering why you are here.” frёewebnoѵēl.com

Tulland didn’t respond, and the man went back to working on his pad for a while. Eventually, smiled down at what he was making, lifted it up, and showed Tulland a rough sketch of his own face. The Infinite’s face. Not Tulland’s.

“That’s very nice,” Tulland said.

“Thank you. I’m one of the designer aspects of The Infinite. I make new things, at least at the concept level. Other parts of me take those concepts and check them for balance, refine them, and create them for real.”

“That’s nice. I’m assuming that’s relevant?”

“Oh, yes.” The Infinite waved its hand, and a tea set appeared in front of Tulland. “You don’t enjoy coffee, correct? This tea is something we know you at least used to like. I’ll even give you a little quest, if you want motivation to try it.”

Quest: To a Tea

The Infinite would like you to try a tea it prepared and give your opinions on it, for development purposes.

Reward: Tea Seed Pack

Tulland couldn’t pass up seeds, and as much as he wanted to stay in control of the pace of the conversation, the drink was in his hands in a moment. A sip of tea later, he was both refreshed and the new owner of a small, segmented leather bag of seeds.

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“There you go. Now, to your question. I have been tasked with creating the contents of this dungeon for you. As you might have guessed, a personal dungeon is an odd object, something that doesn’t come up very often.”

“That makes sense. Not everyone can overgrow a pillar like I did.”

“Only you. Every other dungeon has been acquired some other odd way, and mostly by warrior-types. You aren’t quite that, but you aren’t quite not-that either. And to make things worse.” The man sipped his tea and raised his eyebrows in surprise. “This is very good. And to make things worse, your needs are incredibly odd as well. I can’t give you a weapon or armor because those come out of Aghli’s budget. I can’t make you stronger, for similar reasons. You are in an uncomfortably middle-ground position that makes it hard to give you what you deserve without vastly overshooting energy costs.”

“Why are you involved in the first place? This seems like an Aghli problem.”

“It is, but even a minor System has the right to appeal to me for help. I looked, found it was a problem it lacked the authority and power to solve, and then stepped in.” The Infinite took another sip of tea and then set down the cup. “Of course, what I’d like to do is just give you a blight-killing spear and walk away.”

“But you can’t.”

“I won’t and can’t. Both matter. The struggle you are going through is important for reasons I don’t want to explain, but as important as a planet’s survival is, we can’t ignore its development either. If you are to be Aghli’s hero, it’s important the greatest figure of their entire history isn’t someone who simply waited for The Infinite to let them cheat.”

“I guess I have nothing to say about that.” The fact that Tulland was alive, in his own body, and getting a chance to save Aghli meant his leverage wasn’t that great. “So what did you settle on?”

“Something weirder. And sadly, it’s a little bit of a repeat. Something I hope you won’t mind very much, considering what you’ve been through.”

The Infinite fished through his pockets, found a small token, and flicked it to Tulland. The description for it popped almost immediately.

Token of Stake

With this token in your possession, your current farm value cannot go up or down until you leave your personalized dungeon. It cannot be taken from you by any means known to The Infinite until that time.

“You’ll need that. You want to be at full strength for what’s coming.”

“Which is?”

“This.” The Infinite snapped its all-powerful fingers, and a world started to materialize around Tulland. “Make the most of it. You’ll need every bit of what it gives you to pull off what I think you’ll end up trying. Enjoy.”

Tulland found himself alone in a huge sand arena, surrounded by high brick walls. He didn’t have the words for the kind of space it was, but it was clear it was for some kind of fighting. Brist had once told him that you needed traction and level ground to fight on truly even terms. He said that since some classes worked by cornering people and then unloading on them. So even though an arena needed barriers, those barriers couldn’t be too close or too far or else one person would get an advantage.

It had been a sort of daydream of the older man’s, something he had worked on in his mind for decades but never got around to forcing some king or another to build for him. This fit it perfectly. If he had been there, he would have loved it.

“I love this. Tulland, are you seeing all this?” Brist, behind Tulland, burped. “There’s even food through that tunnel over there. It’s pretty good, too.”

“Brist!” Tulland shouted. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, right. I forgot to send the notification.”

Arena of Physicality (Private Dungeon Space 1 of 5)

You have entered the arena of physicality, in which everything athletic is celebrated. Every aspect of this space is optimized to allow for peak athletic performance. From the sleep quarters to the baths, the food to the equipment, there is no small particle of this place that has not been considered from a perspective of maximizing the function of muscle and sinew.

Even the air of this place burns hotter in the lungs of a warrior. It is the perfect home for those looking to participate in combat of the highest order.

Yet, it is not without its risks. In this place, a monster lurks, a strength beyond mere brute force. There is a beast here that has spent untold decades honing its ability to fight, kill, and destroy. Only by defeating it may you leave this arena successfully.

“A monster, huh?” Tulland blinked. “Are you and me supposed to hunt it?”

“That’s the second part of the explanation, actually. And you aren’t going to like it much.” Brist scratched his cheek. “Just take a closer look at me. It will all make sense after that.”

Monster Brist

Brist the man perished months ago, his soul reassigned to another warlike world much like his last. There, he will lead armies, punch kings, and generally incapacitate any god-like powers that get in his way. By the time he’s done with that world, it is likely it will be a pacified, safe place, just as any of the other worlds his soul has touched have come to be.

This Brist is not that Brist, despite being much the same. You are interacting with an amalgam of all the instances of Brist’s soul The Infinite has had the opportunity to examine, a kind of mega-Brist skilled in the use of every weapon, every kind of defense, and who has access to very good equipment of all kinds.

He is unassailable in almost every way. Only his limited stats and your extreme outlier performance characteristics will grant you a chance of defeating him. If you fail to defeat him within the time limit, no rewards will be issued as you are expelled from the dungeon.

Time Limit: One week

Rewards: ???

“Oh. Weird.” Tulland looked at Brist. “So you aren’t him?”

“Oh, I’m him. The Infinite gave me some details on how all this worked, when it sold me on the prospect of working as a tutor a couple lives ago. Apparently,” Brist puffed up proudly, “I’m almost exactly the same in every lifetime. The main difference is my choice of weapon.”

“Ugh.” Tulland imagined what Brist would be like to fight with a sword, or a bow, or even a pointy stick. None of them were great prospects. “This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

“For days and days. But first, let’s eat.” Brist patted his stomach. “Trust me, you’ll want to load up before what I’m about to put you through.”