Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

The golden eyes glow brighter, and it feels like pressure is pushing down on us through the screen.

Yellow threads of divine energy even leak into the room straight through the mana shielding, and I see other applicants start to sweat and shake.

The gravity in the room increases slightly, and the Director continues to speak.

"It appears our stage 5 simulation room has been prematurely terminated... This was not within our expectations... There have been many oddities popping up lately...."

The pressure increases, making the room rise in temperature, the air thickens, and the gravity multiplies again. All applicants fall to their knees, holding their hearts, struggling to breathe.

I barely would have noticed it if it wasn't for their reactions.

After plunging deep into the aura of the green serpent for days on end, allowing its divine energy to tear my body down and saturate every cell in my being repeatedly to farm its energy; the light tendrils of yellow energy that fill the room feel like nothing more than someone turning the temperature up by a few degrees.

I send a telepathic wave into Emrie's head, and we both fall to the ground to play the part.

A ripple of minor amusement comes through the yellow energy.

It's doubtful it is noticeable to anyone else, but ever since I met the purple entity at the top of the construct, my ability to feel others' emotions through their energy output, that would otherwise be hidden, has seemed to have awakened.

The same monotone, almost static voice echoes through the video again.

"What you have all witnessed within these exams is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to power in this world. Every one of you has been chosen to become a part of the new B-Class Elites."

There's a pause, and I feel a ripple of anger come through the divine energy that leaks through the walls of this room.

"In addition to this, I will be choosing four of you to train exclusively with me, and become the new future A-Class hunters in the 8 Great Regions. Due to the increased nature of high-grade dungeon breaks out in the Dark Continent these past months, I've decided to double the number of fighters at our highest rank of Military Power. Other nations to our north and south will likely be doing the same, so we must match them in strength."

I think about his words carefully, and realize he's lying straight to all of our faces.

There were some dungeon breaks last month during one of the surges, but my doubles and army members handled all the severe ones personally with ease.

The real reason he wants to train more A-Class hunters is to strengthen his own military power in order to handle me, the Flame Emperor, as a growing threat in the Dark Continent.

While I think this over, three figures walk onto the outer edges of the video screen, and at the same time, the growing pressure of yellow divine energy in the room subsides.

A few of the applicants cough and gasp for breath. I stay down on the ground for a few seconds before standing and looking back up at the feed, then tell Emrie to do the same.

I watch the three figures on the screen surrounding the Apex Regions Director activate white light from their hands. I'm nearly certain these are healing skills, most likely the same [Soft Heal] skill as Nat and the battle healer in the room.

Ember's words about the Director most likely needing treatment for a sickness come back to me, and I come to the conclusion that he's probably right...

Using this Divine Energy seems to take a lot out of him.

While he's being healed, the mysterious man speaks again.

"I've contacted all of your Regional Directors, as we will be having a congratulatory ceremony for all of you. Your future contracts will be negotiated with any region that desires your work. It shouldn't take more than a few hours to have all of the Directors with us to begin the event."

My heartbeat speeds up at this statement.

The ceremony itself isn't what makes me nervous, it's the fact that it's going to take a few hours for all of the Directors to arrive.

The Lich King mentioned that his limiter, holding in all of his mana control, will only last an hour. If this is the case, there may be a major issue in hiding the identity of Emrie Carter.

If he's exposed, then my identity of Ray Anderson will be far more suspicious by association.

It isn't out of the range of possibilities to just leave right now back to the Crimson City and forget investigating any further. However, the Director's words of strengthening their forces and creating more A-Class hunters is something I still want to learn more about.

My mind races for more ideas to get us out of this new situation, but the Director speaks up again to disturb my train of thought.

"While we wait, I'd like to speak to each of you individually. I will give you all time to rest, but I have a few questions for each of you and would like to hear your personal thoughts on the results of the exam this year."

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The three healers leave the Director's side after this statement, and a very light flow of yellow Divine Energy comes back in through the room.

It isn't nearly as strong, but a door opens beside Rodrigo, and it's clear that down the hall that it leads, the intensity of this heavy pressure in the air will get stronger.

Without warning, the video above the room cuts off, and Rodrigo speaks up, looking down at his silver tablet.

"Alright, looks like we're going up the list in order starting with you."

He points at Mack, the battle healer in 12th place on the leaderboard.

He nods and walks through the open door without hesitating.

We're all left to stand in silence as the door closes, and the 11 of us are left in the empty mana shielded room with Rodrigo.

No one wants to speak up, and many of the applicants are still shaken by the immense pressure they were exposed to moments ago.

I even see Marcie, Nat, and Dane a bit shaken up by the events that just took place.

About 3 minutes later, the battle healer walks back into the room, and Callum is called by Rodrigo to go through the door for his meeting next.

My eyes widen when I see a golden collar around the healer's neck, and a new buff beneath his status called [The Sun God's Curse Mark] burning with golden yellow soul energy on his status.

My heart rate speeds up with a mixture of excitement, curiosity, and a hint of fear as well.

When Callum comes back into the room a few minutes later, these emotions only grow because he too has the curse.

Both of the Veridian applicants that passed with a single red fragment come back with bright smiles on their faces, and golden collars to match them.

No one else in this room can channel Qi, so I don't even know if they're capable of seeing that their fellow B-class applicants have this curse attached to them.

To be honest, I don't even know if they themselves are aware they've been inflicted by it yet.

I can't sense where these meetings are being held without sending out waves of my aura that would reveal my true power.

All I can do right now is wait.

Emrie walks through the door next.

I've briefed him on everything he should know about his role as the Bedrock Region hunter, and he knows not to expose anything about his or my true identity.

Sending him into the room with the Director alone will be the litmus test to see if it is safe for me to do it too...

As he disappears behind the door, and it closes, the next 3 minutes that pass by seem like an eternity.

I wait silently in anticipation, and when the doors open again, I'm even more surprised to see him in perfect condition without a golden collar around his neck at all...

My mind races for answers, but as the Phantom Region's applicant leaves to go out and meet the Director alone, I open a link with the Lich King and he tells me exactly what happened.

As he recalls these events, they don't seem like anything out of the ordinary. It seems this Director really only asked questions about what kind of future Emrie wants for himself, what Region he's looking to contract with, and asks what it was like using the Flame Emperor's power during the fighting tournament of the 4th stage.

He answers without going off script at all, detailing how he only signed up for this exam to get extra funding for the Bedrock Region and have access to B-Class dungeons back home.

He explains that he didn't know of the Flame Emperor before the tournament and that he only called out to use its power to have a chance in that matchup against Nat. He explains that as soon as the match was over, he never got that power back at all once he left the ring, and that it showed up on his status screen under buffs as [The Flame Emperor's Curse Mark].

This last part is a total fabrication, as even the real power users don't receive any visual status changes when they use my granted power.

I want to throw the Director as far off the scent as possible. If he believes that the power only worked while Emrie was in the ring, the possibilities of a traitor messing with the B-Class results could have been anyone that was present that day.

Hundreds of visitors, ranging from C and B class hunters were present in the crowds with the other Regional Directors. There were also over 60 other applicants watching the fights as well.

The final questions are about his time in the construct, and he retells the same story that I told the guards when they questioned me about my red fruit.

At the end of their meeting, the Lich King explains that the room was filled with an immense amount of yellow divine energy and golden soul energy, but his limiter blocked the effects of an odd mental attack that was meant to hit him.

The Director grew tired and had to be healed by three people as he left.

As he finishes up his explanation, the shadowy figure from the Phantom Region comes back. He too has the golden collar on when he walks in the room.

The two Vice Region water wielders walk out, then come back in with golden collars too.

After hearing this, I'm less worried about myself. If the Director bought Emrie's disguise and was unable to overpower him, I believe I'll be just fine.

The only issue I'm concerned about is the other three teammates in the room that I've formed alliances with.

I quickly message them all through telepathy to make sure they won't spill the fact that I helped them in this 5th round.

They all agree, and I make sure to ensure that Nat's experience with the Flame Emperor is the same as Emrie's, using the extra detail about the status change in her story if she's asked about it. She agrees without any hesitation.

The three of them enter the room one by one, and each time about half a minute before they come back, I get the same message pop up in my mind's eye on my Rising Emperor's Domain interface.

[Attempt to Sever Link of Loyalty]

[Failed]

[Attempt to Sever Link of Loyalty]

[Failed]

[Attempt to Sever Link of Loyalty]

[Failed]

Three times in a row this occurs.

I feel an odd pressure on my heart each time it happens, and watch the vitals of my teammates waver during the process. Each time it does, I channel dense Soul Energy within my own body aided by the power of my yellow divine core to flow through my heart and make this external pressure subside.

Every time I manage to fight off the pressure successfully, the three of them walk back into the white room unharmed and without golden collars on their necks.

Each of them recounts their stories of their time in the room, and they all sound very similar to the Lich King's explanation.

The only difference is that when the yellow energy entered their body at the end of the meeting, each of them passed out on the floor and was revitalized by a healer.

None of them are quite sure what happened in the few seconds they were unconscious.

Rodrigo looks up from his silver tablet to me.

"Ray Anderson, you're the last one on the list. Please, walk this way. Good luck."

As I smile and walk by, we meet eyes, as Rodrigo is the A-Class hunter that managed to get me into these exams.

His aura emanates worry and is filled with uneasy nerves.

He's unable to see pure Qi, or inactive Soul Energy; so he doesn't know that some of the applicants today have not fallen under the Sun God's Curse.

As I walk past down the dark hallway, the door shuts behind me, and I see a single black door at the end of a long hall at least 30 meters long.

With every step I take, the aura of the Sun God gets thicker.

There are too many emotions flowing through it to count.

It's furious, impatient, devious, anxious, but also extremely calm and confident in its own overwhelming power. Uncertainty fills the air as I prepare to put on my act and finally meet Mr. Freeman face to face.

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