The Infinity Dungeon

  Book 2 [A LitRPG Adventure]

  Luca De Rosa

  Mango Media LLC

  Copyright © Luca De Rosa 2026 produced by Mango Media LLC

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact the publisher at admin@mangomediapublishing.com.

  The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

  Book cover by Ben Moran. Typesetting by Miblart.

  Contents

  1. Chapter 1

  2. Chapter 2

  3. Chapter 3

  4. Chapter 4

  5. Chapter 5

  6. Chapter 6

  7. Chapter 7

  8. Chapter 8

  9. Chapter 9

  10. Chapter 10

  11. Chapter 11

  12. Chapter 12

  13. Chapter 13

  14. Chapter 14

  15. Chapter 15

  16. Chapter 16

  17. Chapter 17

  18. Chapter 18

  19. Chapter 19

  20. Chapter 20

  21. Chapter 21

  22. Chapter 22

  23. Chapter 23

  24. Chapter 24

  25. Chapter 25

  26. Chapter 26

  27. Chapter 27

  28. Chapter 28

  29. Chapter 29

  30. Chapter 30

  31. Chapter 31

  32. Chapter 32

  33. Chapter 33

  34. Chapter 34

  35. Chapter 35

  36. Chapter 36

  37. Chapter 37

  38. Chapter 38

  39. Chapter 39

  40. Chapter 40

  41. Chapter 41

  42. Chapter 42

  43. Chapter 43

  44. Chapter 44

  45. Chapter 45

  46. Chapter 46

  47. Chapter 47

  48. Chapter 48

  49. Chapter 49

  50. Chapter 50

  51. Chapter 51

  52. Chapter 52

  53. Chapter 53

  54. Chapter 54

  55. Chapter 55

  56. Chapter 56

  57. Chapter 57

  58. Chapter 58

  59. Chapter 59

  60. Chapter 60

  61. Chapter 61

  62. Chapter 62

  63. Chapter 63

  64. Chapter 64

  65. Chapter 65

  66. Chapter 66

  67. Chapter 67

  68. Chapter 68

  69. Chapter 69

  70. Chapter 70

  71. Chapter 71

  72. Chapter 72

  73. Chapter 73

  74. Chapter 74

  75. Chapter 75

  76. Chapter 76

  77. Chapter 77

  78. Chapter 78

  79. Chapter 79

  80. Chapter 80

  81. Chapter 81

  82. Chapter 82

  83. Chapter 83

  84. Chapter 84

  85. Chapter 85

  86. Chapter 86

  87. Chapter 87

  88. Chapter 88

  89. Chapter 89

  90. Chapter 90

  91. Chapter 91

  92. Chapter 92

  93. Chapter 93

  Thank You

  Chapter one

  The cave entrance was a yawning mouth, full of jagged rocks and vines that looked like they belonged in a tropical forest. All efforts to clean it up had turned out to be in vain, the cave returning to its default state after a while no matter what was done to it to make it less ominous. All lights installed in its vicinity vanished, and rocks reformed in a matter of days, as well as the vegetation.

  Old Dave was already thinking about using this mechanism as a source of infinite stone to quarry, provided they found a place to quarry the stone from that wouldn’t make accessing the dungeon itself a chore. And, of course, provided that the dungeon itself didn’t see it as a capital offense and decided to vanish as a punishment.

  “Tell me about aura masking again,” Michael said as he and Johanne approached the threshold leading into the dungeon. There was work to be done, and time inside the dungeon had a whole other meaning compared to time in the real world.

  “Of course, my lord,” the woman said as they stopped right outside the entrance. There were things all around them, creatures moving in the mana that suffused the air around the dungeon. They were a known quantity by now, studied by the Candle Light division’s mana-sight operators. She looked at one of them with something like contempt before sniffing once and stepping into the dungeon.

  Michael followed soon after. The creatures were not a threat, not yet, and he couldn’t interact with them even with his manipulation ability. They were harmless at best and, at worst, a problem for the future.

  As Michael stepped into the dungeon, away from prying eyes, Johanne’s demeanor changed, her proud posture not gone but diminished. She regarded Michael with deference and subservience. Had Michael not been used to such a drastic transformation whenever they were alone by now, he would have felt deeply uncomfortable. Instead, he simply suppressed a sigh.

  “Aura masking is a way to conceal your aura, making it so that it appears weaker than it really is,” she began.

  She explained the intricacies of aura suppression while they fought the monsters of the first floor, easily obliterating everything in their way. Soon, they were at the threshold of the Valley.

  “Is the aura really weaker, or does it just appear to be so?” asked Michael.

  “A difficult question to answer. I suppose it depends on how you manage to suppress your power. Were you using conventional means, I would say it would indeed become weaker. But you are gifted with a magic system unlike any I have ever seen, and things might be different.”

  “You think I should try to make a skill, then?”

  Johanne nodded. “It is the safest way. I know you can do some basic unbound casting, but your ability to project magic is only limited to mana and the elements while your aura also contains Qi. Only an Uncommon-rank or higher skill can fully hide it.”

  She did not mention the fact that, despite [Magic Manipulation] granted him the ability to do unbound casting and influence the world directly, Michael had barely begun to get an understanding of how the skill worked. Sometimes the process was intuitive while at other times it was like trying to out-will the world itself.

  Lately, Michael had even taken to trying to replicate entire skill fractal structures using [Magic Manipulation]’s ability to project mana, sacrificing flexibility for ease of use. If he could learn how to copy the fractals and make them work without them being actual skills, he could free up a lot of space in his Sanctum.

  They made their way to the treehouse. Drullkrin greeted them on the way there, saying hello to his lord and then retreating to handle his duties. The goblin commander was about to go on an expedition to the third floor, training up some Fae against the mummified monsters and farming as many materials as he could. Safely, of course; the Fae who died outside the Valley did not respawn.

  At the treehouse, the duo did not immediately begin working on masking Michael’s aura; instead, they enjoyed some food and chatted for a while, unwinding and savoring the breeze at the crown of the tree. It felt rejuvenating, being surrounded by the swaying branches of the magical tree, their green color vibrant and lush.

  Time had another meaning down here. “Do we grow old in here?” Michael mused.

  “Yes, but not as quickly as normal people,” said Johanne. “If that is what you were worried about, my lord, then you should know that the aging process slows down as your aura ranks up, to the point where it is said to become completely still, freezing your body in time.”

  “I see,” he said. He wondered if having your body forever frozen in its state was a good or a bad thing before realizing that mages of such caliber would probably have their own ways to modify their bodies to suit their needs and desires.

  “I would not fuss over such things just yet, however,” Johanne said, looking at the clouds. How did clouds exist here? “The dwarves had a saying. Dark is the chasm of time.”

  “Why do you say ‘had’?”

  “They are gone now. As far as I know, at least,” she said. “A lost race from the place my original memories come from. Perhaps the dungeon has preserved them, perhaps not.”

  Later, when they were finally ready to start working on Michael’s aura, they took a seat on the wooden boards of the balcony. The two were like dark silhouettes meditating against the setting sun of the paradoxical space within the dungeon. Both had their eyes closed, but Johanne was speaking gently, following Michael’s aura and mana with her own senses. She instructed him, guided him, helped him feel the presence of his own magic.

  “I think I can sense the edge of my aura,” Michael said, “where it touches the solid matter of the world. But it’s fuzzy.”

  “That is a good start,” said Johanne, “but it is not enough, sadly. You need
to feel every part of the aura, starting from its edge.”

  Michael opened his eyes, frowning. “Am I not already feeling its edge?”

  Johanne shook her head, saying nothing.

  “I see.” Michael’s frown deepened. “It’s not just where it touches solid matter, is it? The edge is also where there’s just air. That’s. . . a whole different beast to tame.”

  Johanne nodded. “And it is but the first step. After that, you need to be able to feel every unit of space that lies under your control.”

  With that, silence fell between the two, each busy with their own matters.

  “I think I am seeing improvements.”

  “As am I,” Johanne said. “I might soon be ready to cross into Silver, perhaps with your guidance. Despite having more theoretical knowledge than you, I feel like your intuition and talent far outshine my abilities, and I would loathe to waste the chance of ranking up under your supervision.” She paused. “If that is alright with you,” she added.

  “That’s great. Of course I will help.”

  Michael sipped the slightly sweet drink in his ceramic mug. The drink was Fae-made, slightly intoxicating in huge quantities but nothing that his healing aura couldn’t deal with. His and Johanne’s mugs were imported from the upstairs world. Some conveniences were too good to let go of, and proper mugs were something one learned to enjoy after being forced to drink out of wood or bone mugs made by the Fae. Nothing wrong with them—should Drullkrin ask—but Michael preferred the more modern interpretation of the beverage container.

  The mugs were just an example of what was becoming a budding economy taking root within the now-united Fae civilization. Goods coming from the upper world were being exchanged among the Fae, the monsters learning to appreciate the conveniences of an industrialized world. As soon as Old Dave had gotten wind of this new development, he immediately started to leverage his instincts as a seasoned merchant to extract as much value from the Fae as possible.

  The Fae were technically under Michael’s control as their king, but even he recognized the need for a proper economy. They were monsters living in a dungeon with strange mechanics, which meant that it needed a lot of adjustments to implement, but the benefits were already evident, the Fae being even more motivated to work hard and fight now that they had some incentive other than just the thrill of the fight itself.

  “What sort of improvements are you seeing, my lord?” Johanne asked. “Did you finally map the whole edge of your aura?”

  Michael nodded slowly. “I think so. I can feel it all the time now, it’s almost distracting. There seems to be more outside of this edge, but it’s hard to tell.”

  The woman reached for a small pastry, frowned, and put it back on the table where Michael snatched it instead. “What lies beyond, even I don’t know. It is fascinating to theorize, however it is not necessary to explore that far in order to learn this skill.”

  She took out a small notebook and scribbled something on it.

  “What now? Do I push on?”

  “Are you in a hurry?” she asked.

  “I feel kinda stifled, yeah,” he replied.

  “It would be best if you acclimatized to the change before pushing to perceiving the whole inner space. You would lose a lot of insights otherwise.”

  Michael hummed. “Let’s find something to do in the meantime, then.”

  “This is not what I meant when I said to find something to do,” Michael grumbled.

  Johanne was no longer consulting her notebook, but rather, she had commandeered Michael’s laptop to take notes and use sophisticated programs to create mathematical models.

  “Do you wish to stop?” she asked. “You know I am always at your service. This was merely something I thought would interest you, while at the same time furthering our own understanding of magic.”

  Michael hummed. “Mana, Qi, and Intent exercises are not fun, Johanne.”

  “Isn’t getting stronger fun?” she asked. “From what I gathered on the online forums, it should be.”

  “Yeah,” Michael said, getting up. “They don’t mention how boring incremental increases truly feel! They have no idea. You’re now one percent of a percent stronger, maybe, in this situational situation… situationally,” he said in a mocking tone.

  He levitated his mug in the air using nothing but his aura, letting it float around him like a lazy asteroid. Then, he manipulated the scented water inside, creating a ring around him that gradually got bigger until it finally left his range and fell to the ground. With a wave of his hand, the water disappeared.

  “That’s a great use of unbound magic together with aura control,” said Johanne, ever clinical. “Good data point. Next time, try to stretch your aura outward and use it to evaporate the water rather than using mana. How much magic did it cost, by the way?”

  “Almost my full pool.” Which was close to one and a half silver coins of it, having grown a lot with the constant use. Still a long way from the one hundred Silver needed to even start the upgrade process into Gold territory.

  Michael tried not to think about that. Instead, he concentrated on the feat he had just accomplished. It was something he would have never been able to do when he entered the Valley a few days ago with the intent to learn how to conceal his aura. He had, just like Johanne predicted, found a lot of new uses for his aura control now that he could perceive its edge completely.

  It was like the world was under his control, at least when it was inside his aura’s range. Magic was easier, and he could influence the world directly with just a thought. At the same time, his defenses were bolstered, to the point where Travis’s prediction of him being able to shrug off bullets was becoming closer and closer to being true.

  “Can we move onto the next step?”

  “Are you confident in your ability to perceive the edge of the aura at all times?” she asked.

  Michael nodded.

  “What about your control over Qi, mana, and Intent?”

  Michael closed his eyes for a moment, quickly sinking into his Skill Sanctum. There, he located the rolling thunderclouds of Intent, sometimes interacting with his Chi to create Jing but otherwise inert. He noticed the mana in the veins lining the walls of the sanctum like a vascular system. With but a thought, the mana pulsed, and the clouds of intent swirled as if moved by an intangible air current.

  There was only one thing missing. “I can’t find the source of the Qi.”

  Johanne hummed. “I know you have been looking for it for a long time, my lord. How can the source of your Qi still manage to elude your searches?”

  “It’s like my Dantian is nowhere to be found,” Michael said with a shrug that hid his real feelings on the matter.

  “Well, while I am thinking about possible solutions, it looks like we are at an impasse,” Johanne said. “Qi is necessary to create a skill that goes beyond Common rarity.”

  “Or we could farm skill stones,” said Michael. “Until the dungeon drops one that helps with aura masking.”

  “I hope you are not serious, my lord. You would relinquish control to the dungeon and pray to the god of chance? That is very much unlike you.”

  Michael shook his head slowly. “Sorry, I’m just tired. No, Theobond told me what happened to his world when they started relying on the dungeon. Whatever entity is behind it simply got bored and left them all to die, eventually absorbing them and turning them into pawns roaming its floors.”

  Johanne said nothing for a moment, looking at Michael with her still eyes. There was so much emotion hidden within, if one knew how to read their language, that it threatened to overflow in a great tide. A tide she kept well hidden, under control. “I know this is hard, but you have always valued hard work over chance, luck, and free handouts. Is this not the same?”

  “Of course,” sighed Michael. “Let’s take stock. I can’t feel the origin of my Qi, but I can control it, though. Isn’t that enough? Do I need to know where it comes from?”

  Johanne thought about it. “I suppose it’s not strictly necessary. However, you will need to be very careful and precise. You must mix mana, Qi, and Intent in just the right proportions while trying to get a feel of your whole aura. It would be easier if you knew where the Qi came from.”

  “That’s not going to happen any time soon.”

  “I understand,” she said. “If you manage to reach a balance, then you must pull the aura tight around you. Do you remember how it felt when it was still Copper-rank?”