DD 304 STF + Ch 1 (Patreon)

Story Thus Far

Last time on Dungeon Diving 303, Ken saved Selene only to find himself at the point of the Harem Queen's sword. Luckily he managed to talk his way out of sudden death, but found himself not quite seeing eye to eye with her mother, Director Amatto.

Ken stays busy dealing with the aftermath while also finding himself navigating new complexities. The heirs to the UG have not taken kindly to him spreading the cure for Threadspawn infection. Rather than deal with their scheming, Ken ends up killing the current heirs to the UG and swiping the metal plates they'd used as stock since the very beginning of the organization.

Before he can use any of that power, he's thrust back into the dungeon, assisting the elves as the Drow begin their offensive. In pushing back the drow, Ken discovers that Felin's Nekorian clan can be reached from the elven world, and as he searches for them, he encounters more and more Drow. While the strange, venomous elves prove to be a problem, one of the more interesting discoveries is that the Threadspawn originally came from the drow who used them to keep slaves alive. They also learn that the Threadspawn themselves are terrified of drow venom. Still, Ken and company push all the way through to save Felin's people, only taking a short break to gain control of the UG.

Despite all of the chaos, Ken begins tutoring Selene to catch up on the time she’d missed, and the two build a bond, going on their first date. As is usual for Ken’s life, a simple night did not stay simple. A group of women running a smear campaign against Ken antagonize the two of them until Selene nearly kills them.

This all leads back to the next set of heirs, furious at Ken and company for taking fifty-five percent of the UG and essentially controlling it. As Ken deals with the Banks family heir, he discovers she's made a pact with the Threadspawn, and danger once again looms for Earth somewhere in the dungeon. In the dungeon, the Threadspawn are ready to swarm Earth once more, and though Ken allows them to escape, it's only so he can track them down at a future date.

While Ken prepares, Des works toward transforming herself completely into a succubus, and Charlotte begins training with Ken's grandfather so she can use melee abilities to take down the Crystal Whale and earn her own trial ability.

Ken has a new ability, [Stat Incubation] as a reward from the demons, that he's ready to put to good use.

Chapter 1

"Your punches are weak. “Crimson taunted me.

I swung as hard as I could, but she caught the hit gently in her fist before pushing it back toward me. Purple lightning wrapped around my body, increasing my speed to enormous effect. I ducked, dodged, and slammed my fists into her palm.

"How much strength did you put into Selene?" she asked, swinging toward my head only for me to duck. 

I jabbed toward her waist, which she had seen coming. 

She swayed like there was a hula hoop around her thin waist, knocking my fist aside.

I growled, grabbed her, and threw my weight into her as the two of us hit the ground and began rolling over each other until I landed on top. Crimson was beneath me, her barely contained chest heaving as she batted her lashes up at me. I groaned at her attempts and popped back to my feet before she could lure me into another type of physical activity.

Crimson pouted, her blue eyes looking genuinely sad before she kicked her feet up and threw them down with enough force to throw herself to her feet.

"Spoilsport," she stuck out her tongue and she checked her long black braid to make sure it hadn't come untied with all the physical activity.

"We're training, Crimson," I said, glaring at her.

"Yeah, well. You have a new way to increase your stats." She made a heart-shaped window with her hands right above her hips. "I saw the mark you left on Selene, and I want my own damnit."

"Later," I promised.

After Selene, all the ladies in my party had made it a point to participate in the new stat incubation skill. Right now I was down one hundred and seventy-four stats, and it was noticeable even in this spar with Crimson. She'd mentioned that my hits were light, and that was just because my strength was severely depleted as a result of all the stat incubation.

These women were draining me dry.

"Fine. Just leave me all on my lonesome." Crimson put a hand to her forehead and mimed swooning.

I rolled my eyes at her antics. "Yes, I'm sure it is so incredibly hard for you," I said, sounding less than sympathetic.

"Diving the dungeon is very stressful," she assured me, bobbing her head repeatedly. Though when Crimson wanted something, she was very good at getting whatever it was she wanted.

Given we seemed to be taking a break, I sat down and started drinking water so I could be ready for what came next. Knowing Crimson, she would likely soon be putting me through another grueling training gauntlet.

Crimson watched me out of the corner of her eye. "What are you going to do when you're all done here?"

"Training, training, and more training. Don't you know, Crimson?" I grinned at her. "With stat incubation, I should be able to level up without having to worry about my stats staying low."

I drained my water and shook the bottle, slightly disappointed that it was empty. "Which means once I get over this first hump of low stats, you better be careful, because I'm going to chase after your level."

Crimson grinned. "Is that right? I'll cheer you on the entire way. I hope you won't disappoint me."

I chuckled and shook my head. "We'd absolutely never want that now, would we?"

"Never know, really," Crimson shrugged. "If you can catch up to my level, perhaps we'll have to give you something special." She winked. "Not to mention, I think the whole party will have to do their best to help you keep your stats up."

"They benefit too," I pointed out, not wanting to come off as too selfish. [Stat Incubation] never took back the original investment. For Selene, I'd given her fifty-eight points of strength. That would grow into one hundred and seventy-four, and then I would take back one hundred and sixteen at a later date.

As a party, the ability would triple whatever I put into the incubation, which was a good way for all of our stats to rise. And that was even more true if we were going to accelerate our leveling. It was the training that had always held us back. If we leveled too quickly without natural training to back it up, we'd end up far weaker than the monsters at any given level.

Crimson hummed in understanding. "Well then, I hope you can continue your training. Some of us are very eager to have you join us in the dungeon as an equal."

"You say that like there might be another. Are you going to add the Harem Queen?" I teased Crimson, but the way her face turned into one of serious annoyance made me take it back.

"Kidding," I smiled. "But sometimes I do imagine the face Helen would make if I did."

"I'm sure if we all work together we can get some pretty incredible expressions out of Helen." Crimson responded wistfully.

"Well, you must have plenty of energy if you can make jokes like that," I said quickly, and got back on my feet, ready to train.

"It would be far less effort if you just put a little agility in me," Crimson said suggestively, even as I had to drag her back to the center of the gravity chamber.

She purposely dug her feet in and made me physically drag her across the room the whole way. I couldn't help but squint at her for the behavior.

"I need Des," Crimson said quickly. "She's far more able to initiate these sorts of things."

"Des is busy," I reminded her.

"I know, I know." Crimson waved a hand and got back in the center of the gravity chamber, squaring up against me. "Working on the whole 'trying to become a succubus' thing," she said, pulling her hair back and fanning at her neck, pausing to squint at me to see if I would have a reaction.

I didn't. I squared up against her, waiting to see what she would do to start the fight.

Apparently my pausing wasn't what she wanted, because a brief scowl crossed her face before she darted forward in a blur, and the two of us resumed our training that rocked the gravity chambers in Star City.

***

Felin dropped on top of me out of nowhere, jumping on my back the second I got home. She clung to me tightly with a bright smile. "Kitty wants some cream."

I chuckled, though I thought I noticed a slight change in her. It could potentially be from [Stat Incubation], though I had the feeling it had more to do with rescuing her people than anything else.

"Felin, wonderful to see you." I pulled her off my back, pecked her on the cheek as I placed her gently on the ground.

She planted her feet but pressed her side against me, as if the Nekorian had been starved for touch as of late. But I also wanted to meet her needs. Even with her people free, she had chosen to stay with us, and I had to admit I had been afraid of what choice she would make.

I looked up from the gorgeous Nekorian to spot both elves hovering at the edge of the room as if waiting for their chance to descend on me. They were also visiting, and I loved having them around more now that some of the Drow pressure had been lifted off of them.

"I guess while Ken's being popular, I'm going to go take a nice long soak. Perhaps that'll help with my stress relief," Crimson called over her shoulder as she walked away, clearly telling me there was something else I could do to help with her stress.

I ignored her for the moment.

"Well, if Ken's not busy, I'd like to go try the level-grinding area he proposed recently," Elysara said, doing her best to sound casual.

I smiled at her decent attempt.

The woman was Empress of the elves, and while I was technically Emperor, it was more of an honorary role. I hoped to not need to use it. The elves were far too proud to let a human actually rule them.

"Well, I suppose I could do some more training today," I said, stretching my arms overhead and popping a few vertebrae. "Are we bringing Neldra?"

"I am almost certain one of the other royal censors will accompany us," Fayeth said.

I stepped over and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Lovely to see you too, Fayeth. Might I say you're fitting into the royal censor attire quite well." I told her, while giving her a long look up and down. She’d left our class to attend Elysara, her distant cousin and best friend. A Royal Censor was the highest law in their world and also the protectors of the royal family.

Fayeth fit into the silver armor well, though some poor blacksmith had to make sure that chest piece could fit her, she was large in the chest for an elf. That and she’d taken to pulling her long blonde hair back into a ponytail, likely to mimic Neldra. It also make her seem a little more strict, which probably helped in her role.

To me she was a hot sporty woman with a high ponytail and sunkissed skin. If it weren’t for the ears she’d fit right in on any beach.

She beamed. "Careful, Ken. Flattery will get you everywhere."

"That's the hope," I answered with an honest grin that lingered between us. "Okay, well, in that case I suppose we can plan for something in, perhaps, an hour," I offered. Both elves seemed pleased at that proposal.

"We'll get ourselves ready," Fayeth said, grabbing Elysara by the shoulder and dragging the ruby haired empress away. I turned back to find Felin already staring at me, a massive smile on her lips.

"Yes, you can come too," I said quickly, which put the party at her, myself, both elves, and likely Neldra.

I supposed that was going to be good enough. Neldra could very likely wipe the floor with the training area. It might actually feel far more like getting power-leveled than anything else. While I hated the idea of being power-leveled, I could at least admit it would be worth it.

In the meantime, I needed to run a quick errand before I left the home in Star City. I turned, heading toward the Orkai arbiters.

The area had very little traffic, but that checked out given most adventurers seemed absolutely terrified of the Arbiters of Justice.

As I stepped up, the receptionist took one look at me before tapping something in the air. Orkai had small implants that functioned much like CIDs did for humans, organizing the experience gained in the dungeon and, through electrical pulses, aiding the growth of stats as well as measuring just about every aspect of an adventurer's abilities. They also replaced just about anything a human would use a CID, phone, or computer to accomplish.

"The judge will see you," the receptionist said, glancing up at me before returning to whatever screen she was looking at in the middle distance.

"Thank you," I said, remaining polite.

While the Arbiters' underlying mission was general safety within the dungeon, they could also be absolutely brutal in that pursuit. With some of the Threadspawn threats we'd been dealing with lately, the Orkai Arbiters had simply executed entire dungeon floors rather than risk the threat spreading elsewhere. It was a brutal answer, and it reminded me of old-timey medicine, where the answer to a headache was to drill a hole in a person’s skull to let out the evil spirits. I shuddered at the thought.

"Oh, welcome back, Ken," the old Orkai said as I stepped past the receptionist's desk. He was waiting for me by the door beyond.

"The map?" I asked, and he nodded, walking with me, his arms tucked behind him.

"I must thank you for being so willing to assist us in this," he commented, and I let a smile play across my face. Though, in my heart, I always wondered what exactly would have happened if I'd said no.

The Orkai were aware that I had some ability that allowed me to accurately track people or objects throughout the dungeon. And similar to the demons, that realization had led to me getting a number of jobs. 

My latest job was within the old man's personal office. A single tap on his desk brought up a large hologram: a three-dimensional model of the dungeon, at least as far as they'd remapped since the most recent shuffle.

"Would you mind telling me where they are now?" He asked.

I was tracking several Threadspawn that had escaped Earth using [Eyes of Wisdom]. This was to hopefully stall any action against Earth and also get in with the Arbiters. At the very least the old judge was having me do this privately, protecting my secret.

The judge was a retired Arbiter, which meant he had thrown himself into some of the most dangerous situations and enforced a sense of justice with an iron fist. Apparently he'd grown old enough to retire, which spoke volumes about his own personal strength. It didn’t seem like a career just anyone was able to retire from.

He looked over at me, waiting.

"Here and here." I pointed.

"Interesting. They don't really seem to stay still, do they?" He looked over at me.

"No, they don't," I agreed.

"Why do you think that is?" the judge asked, and I was unsure if this was a test or if he actually wanted my opinion.

"I doubt they know they're being tracked. However, they lost, so perhaps they're the rejects," I offered. "Threadspawn are weird, but no one really likes to take in those who've already failed."

"Could be, could be. You don't have any other insight?" He asked.

"I'm not omniscient," I answered with a little more bite than I meant to put into the words.

"Of course not. But it is a very interesting ability," he said with a smile, "and one of your harem has it as well."

I nodded slowly.

"Something like this would be more than capable of solving a great many problems in the dungeon. You do realize that, Ken, right?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Also seems like a massive way to make mistakes. I mean, sure, the information hasn't been wrong yet, but it does feel a little prone to missing the point if you don’t ask the right questions."

"Oh?" the judge said, leaning on his cane. "Explain."

"Well, I could ask it to show me any murderers in Star City and help you clean up your city." I offered.

"Ah," he said, likely already jumping to the end conclusion before pausing. "Please, go right ahead. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Well, as you can imagine, every single Arbiter would light up under that particular question." I watched him.

"Yes. Nuance is important.” He agreed.

I nodded along, happy I didn't have to convince him of that one.

"I understand it is a powerful ability nonetheless, even if we're only tracking the movement of those who've been convicted of great harm," he said, putting a hand gently on my shoulder. "And do not fret. We will be just as careful with our own movements in its regard. I would give you my word that it won't be abused."

I waved a hand. "Just thought I'd stop by since I had a little time, and I was wondering if the Arbiters had any method of helping someone level faster."

The judge chuckled. "You've been cooperative in this. I suppose you deserve a reward. However, faster leveling is worthless without stats." He paused and smirked. "Of course, some demons have very unique methods regarding that, don't they?"

"They do," I said quickly, without providing too much detail. "This one even helps the rest of my party, though admittedly not as much as it helps me."

"No. Demonic abilities are almost always inherently selfish," the old Orkai said. "I think one of the best ways for you to level would be training grounds that spawn large numbers of enemies. Ideally near boundless, even if it comes at the cost of loot," he spoke almost as if it were a question, and I nodded.

"I have a location shared with me by the demons, in return for my assistance. It's a lovely spot. A boss that spawns endless adds that generate a good amount of experience." I told him.

"Such places are quite rare and can be incredibly valuable.” The judge agreed.

“The Arbiters are already extraordinarily high level," I offered. "There have to be some suitable for someone at a lower level."

"Oh, there are," he chuckled. "But who says the Arbiters are only high level? All of them had to start somewhere. Given you already have something from the demons, I won't give you anything just yet. How many levels do you think you can continue to grind at your current location?" He paused, waiting for my answer.

"With every level it's slowing down, but I think it's still fairly valuable for another five, maybe ten levels." I told him. "I have a goal to catch up to Crimson.”

"Competition. Nice," he said, bright-eyed at the mention of the concept. "Always a valuable training tool, even if often overlooked. After the shuffle, one of the first steps the Arbiter organization takes is to reestablish its training protocol, which includes places well suited for experience grinding when that becomes necessary. I will see what the current protocol is for the mid-sixties, given two things." He held up two fingers. "One, you continue your assistance in tracking Threadspawn."

"Of course," I agreed quickly. "That was already part of the plan, with or without this boon."

My answer made him beam.

"Good. And the second is you do not allow your stats to become too imbalanced. If I inspect you and they are off, I will not permit you to continue leveling with our assistance." He told me.

I frowned slightly at that condition. "I'll always be able to rectify them later," I argued. "Even if I get a little ahead, it's something that can be solved."

"Yes, but then the solution is time out of the dungeon, or time wasted killing things far too low level for you. While gaining stats and levels is important for growth, I've seen too many lose their edge by taking the easy way for too long. While it might not affect you, I'd rather not feel responsible for damaging a young man's future."

I felt like there was something he wasn't saying in all that, but I let it be. It was, I assumed, an acceptable compromise. "Agreed."

"Good. Then that is all I need from you here, and I look forward to our future cooperation, Ken Nagato." He held his hand out, and I shook it with the faint thought that he and Grandfather would likely get along wonderfully if the two of them ever met. In fact, they might get along so well that it would be best if they never did meet.