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Peek: The Rise of Neverrest
🕑 Added 2022-12-12 00:40:54 +0000 UTCDeath. The little purple gem shard is surrounded by it. Neat and orderly and quiet, the mana flowing steadily, as it should. It has two small spawners: rats and wasps, and it orders its denizens to ensure the mana flows smoothly, and to maintain the peace of the small room of death.
It's not long before the first test of that order comes, as roaches and flies squeeze into the secluded space, seeking what is changing the mana flow. The denizens do as ordered and destroy the invaders as they come. Their presence is an affront to the small gemstone, disturbing the peace and quiet of the simple mausoleum. They bring a dissonant chord to the quiet flow of its mana, but eradicating them returns the song to its proper pitch and cadence. Even better: their deaths give it power.
Time passes and it expands its area of influence, soon discovering the mausoleum is but one of several in a large cemetery, and adding its first undead spawner: crawling hands. Occasionally, large invaders called delvers come as well. They are not as grating as the invaders, but they still make the mana uncomfortable. If the invaders are constant sour notes, a single delver is like a band, each member playing a different song. Each part isn't bad, but taken as a whole, it's just a mess!
The gem's loyal denizens drive off the delvers as they can, but eventually a stronger one comes. The denizens are overrun, the core discovered, and the gemstone feels fear. Death is all around it, but death should not come and claim the gem. The delver doesn't even try to harm the gem, but it refuses to let its guard down.
It has ambushed far too many invaders to fall for such a trick itself. It must keep itself hidden, but how? The invader already knows where it is, and what it looks like! It casts its attention around, looking for inspiration, but all it sees are headstones of various quality. Some simple slabs, some ornate statues... but that gives the gem an idea.
The corpses under the stones look nothing like what marks the place. Perhaps it could move itself and leave a fake in its place? Yes... it won't be cheap, but it can be done. It orders a hand to come move it, and sets a very special trap where it once was. Yet it's not satisfied.
It's denizens were nothing to the strong invader. It needs more... it needs strength!
More time passes as the gem upgrades what it has, all in a pursuit of strength. Simple rats become plague rats, crawling hands become skeletal so as to sneak around easier. The wasps get upgraded to be more potent, but their potential is soon ignored as a new spawner is found with an expansion: fleshy undead.
The gem heaps upgrade upon upgrade on the spawner, and even creates its first scion. It will study the mana flows to help make the gem be stronger. More mana is more strength, after all.
The strong invader returns, and once more destroys whatever is in its path, even the new scion. It lands several telling blows, but the invader simply heals from them. Once more, it makes it to the sanctum, but the last line of defense seems to hold: the invader looks at the trap gemstone and never finds the true one. Once again, it doesn't move to harm it, but the gem refuses to be fooled.
It needs more strength! It expands to claim the entire cemetery, gaining a skeleton spawner. Much like with the fleshy undead, it heaps mana into it, creating a strong scion and strong skeletal undead. When it's fleshy scion respawns, it seems inspired by the invader's attacks, and soon adopts a form better suited to carrying out the gem's will: a lich. The study of mana proceeds quickly, theory moving to practice and ever stronger traps and enchantments are produced. The strong invaders come less often now, as the gem is able to kill them occasionally now. Their ends give it strength and quiet the cacophony of the delvers, and so the gemstone encourages destroying those foolish enough to enter its territory.
Eventually, the lich produces something truly special: a sword that can kill with a single blow. It drains the life force, almost an inversion of the magic the invaders use to heal their wounds. The gem considers using it immediately, but instead keeps it secret. The next time the strong invader comes, it will not leave.
The strong invader finally returns, and the order is given: kill it with the new sword. The skeleton scion is a better fight than that invader has had to deal with before, and it suffers first a single slash to the hand, but in the heat of battle, it doesn't realize it's already doomed. Its movements slow and more injuries are incurred, until the invader lays on the ground, dying, but know knowing how.
The rush of mana is a turning point for the gemstone. It can fight back, now! It knows there are the loud invaders just outside its territory, and there are the dissonant notes of the lesser invaders, too. It will bring the fight to them! With grim determination and purpose, it modifies the sign over the main gate, addopting a name for itself. The cemetery may have been Everrest before, a place of quiet. But that peace has been shattered by the invaders. It will Neverrest until they are silenced, and the mana can flow properly. It has much work to do.
Comments
Aerowarrier
It’s almost sad that Neverrest went down that route. He really only wanted to maintain the quiet serenity of his cemetery, but viewed the delvers as just another distraction rather than a tool to further that peace. Honestly, had he made a Voice and talked to an inspector, he likely could’ve been made at least Belligerent due to him legitimately wanting his territory to be peaceful. But that thought never even crossed his mind :(
waveclaw
The comparison with Violet is quite interesting: both Neverrest and the protege were paranoid and vulnerable. It was never about cheap, easy Mana for Neverrest but a misdirected drive for survival. A direction that violet would be certain to go down located so close to the breeding grounds of the Tunnel Horrors. It is lucky that Neverest had become an ally of the Crystal Shield instead of just turning plain murderous. A corrupt church allied with a paranoid Dungeon? Taking out Neverrest could have been much much worst. Fortunately it appears that non-Isekei and non-Lost dungeons are born as naive as regular people. He succumbed to eating the junk food of delver murders instead of a healthy diet of just challenging them.
SciGuy75
I like how the distinction between delvers and invaders is muddied for Neverrest. Perfect representation of how a belligerent dungeon would think. Was Neverrest's affinity meta-magic, because that would explain the lich's skill with magic and why it was so attuned to the mana flow.
Undead Writer
Thanks for the chapter!
