Dungeon Noble 2: Knight, page 1
Dungeon Noble 2
KNIGHT
J. PARSONS
Copyright © 2025 by J. Parsons
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Glossary
About the Author
About Royal Guard Publishing
Summary
Jake Khesh, an orphan living in Port Emerald, Ascends and gains a Class as he comes of age. His dreams of an easy path forward are crushed, however, as The Great Dungeon is revealed to be his Patron and he becomes a Dungeon Noble.
The occupying Triarchy government, who have invaded Strovia, forbids classers from having a Patron other than their three gods. Those who do are exiled or killed.
Doing his best to conceal his Class, Jake joins the Delvers Guild alongside Alan, Rhew, and Karl. They are assigned Ari as their teacher, and they learn about Dungeon delving.
The enigmatic shopkeeper Ivaldi seems to know more about what is happening, but is unwilling or unable to tell Jake the specifics.
Jake and his friends make progress, and when Ari’s old teacher Felix comes to visit, he takes an interest in their training.
Soon, however, Ari and Felix leave to deal with a Rift, while Jake and Alan encounter Nepthys and help her defeat some Corrupters, dangerous wielders of Skryx, the magic of the Shrouded. Nepthys is an Inquisitor and joins them to help figure out what is happening in Strovia.
Jake binds his first Dungeon, and it immediately advances in tier, causing them to move on.
The Triarchy searches for Jake, realising that a Dungeon Noble is active again, and Felix guides them to Casthorpe before taking over Jake’s training completely. Ivaldi introduces Jake to Varin, a Weaver of Crafts, who will help the party with their equipment.
Jake and his friends attempt the local Dungeons and the group grows in strength, but he and Nepthys encounter a Seeker in Casthorpe, who captures Nepthys.
Felix has deep ties to the local resistance against the Triarchy, and immediately draws on them to learn what is being done with Nepthys. Jake and the others push themselves to advance as fast as they can.
Jake completes an odd waterfowl-based Dungeon and gains The Mighty Drake Boon, which allows him to summon a duck named Moby. Initially, he is embarrassed by the power.
Felix’s contacts tell them Nepthys is being moved to a Triarchy outpost, rather than taken to a nearby city. Something is wrong about this, but they decide to strike it anyway.
Ari and Felix attack the outpost openly to draw away the defenders, while the rest of them sneak in to free Nepthys. Once they enter, however, they find the outpost is already being attacked by odd, masked classers.
Barely defeating them, Jake heads down to free Nepthys, only to find another of the dangerous classers about to kill her. Summoning Moby for the first time, Jake uses him as a projectile and kills the classer before freeing Nepthys.
They flee the outpost, regrouping with Felix and Ari a safe distance from the battle.
Jake admits things are escalating, and both Karl and Rhew decide they can’t risk a confrontation with the Triarchy, and leave the group.
With just Alan and Nepthys left of his original group, Jake must somehow continue to push forward, while avoiding the enemies that are no doubt already searching for him.
Chapter
One
Jake Khesh, Dungeon Noble and follower of The Great Dungeon, cursed as he hit the ground for what felt like the hundredth time this morning. The hard earth was just as unforgiving as it had been every other time, and Jake winced as he felt a loose rock dig into his ribs. He’d be covered in bruises tomorrow at this rate.
It had been two days since the Strovian resistance had passed the word that Jake was being blamed for the attack on the Triarchy outpost, and they’d been training hard since then. Jake had seen how dangerous other classers could be, and he was determined to make sure that he was prepared if he was ever in that situation again.
The problem, though, was that no one knew how the Triarchy had learned that Jake had been involved. Any official reports the resistance received stated that all the Triarchy guards had died in the assault, which only further highlighted the question.
Of course, it wasn’t as though the Triarchy was completely wrong. Jake had been there, along with his friends, but they’d been there to rescue Nepthys; they had barely fought the guards at all. It was the mysterious masked assailants who had descended on the outpost who had killed all the trikes stations there.
Jake felt a slight shiver run down his spine as he remembered the first masked fighter they’d fought. It had taken all of them to bring down the dagger-wielding classer, and even then, it had been close.
In the end, though, they’d gotten Nepthys out of there, and none of them had died, which was a win in Jake’s book.
“You’re making progress, Jake,” Felix said, plunging his wooden blade into the ground before holding his hand out to help Jake to his feet. “You need to work on your core; it will help your balance and keep you stable.”
Felix Drusus was Jake’s self-appointed trainer and their contact to the resistance, as well as the strongest member of their group, despite his missing left hand.
His pale blue eyes regarded Jake levelly as he helped him up before he nodded slightly and drew his sword from the ground. “Again.”
A slight sheen of grey Wyrd covered their weapons, an effect from one of Felix’s Skills that let them use real blades without killing each other. Jake couldn’t use any of his own Skills on his sword while it was active without disrupting the effect, but that was a small price to pay. There was no comparison to this kind of training.
Lunging forward, Jake did his level best to land a solid hit on his teacher. He was better with a blade than he used to be, a fact that he was proud of, but he was still well short of Felix’s level.
The dull thunk of their blades striking filled the air as they continued their spar, with Felix steadily increasing the pressure.
Jake was just over six feet tall, and though his wiry frame had filled out since he’d Ascended and gained his Class, he was both slightly shorter and far less powerfully built than his opponent. Although Felix’s dark hair was speckled with grey, his wide shoulders and thick muscles showed no signs of age, one of the many benefits of being a classer.
Of course, even if Felix had been shorter and smaller than Jake, his higher tier would likely have allowed him to still overpower Jake with ease. As it was, Felix could overpower Jake any time he wished.
Distantly, Jake heard the thud of an arrow striking a target as Alan kept up his target practice. They’d swap soon, and Jake would take a break while working with his throwing daggers. Hopefully, before Felix left a permanent bruise on Jake’s side.
“You’re both improving nicely,” Felix said once they’d wrapped up for the day. “Alan, you’ve taken to archery particularly well, but you need to work with your sword more. Not all fights will let you stay at a distance.”
“Yes, Felix,” Alan said, bobbing his head in acknowledgement. Alan was the only one of Jake’s original companions still with him, and Jake was thankful for the short Scholar’s presence.
Alan was a fair bit shorter than Jake and quite thin to boot, with mousy brown hair and watchful eyes. To be fair, though, Alan had put a good bit of muscle on in the last month or so and looked more the part of a combat classer now.
He had initially started using the bow to make more use of the Abilities he’d received with the Scholar Class, and he’d become more than proficient in Jake’s eyes. Alan was also the one who spotted hidden monsters when they delved into Dungeons, something that had proved useful time and time again.
Rhew and Karl, their caster and main frontline fighter respectively, had left them after the fallout from the outpost to avoid retribution from the Triarchy. Considering that he was now being blamed for it all, Jake couldn’t help but feel that they had made the right choice, and he worried about what that meant for Alan. Right now the Triarchy was showing no sign of trying to put any blame on Jake’s companions, but he didn’t know how long that would last.
“Alright, get some rest. We’re going to set out tomorrow,” Felix said, pushing himself up from where he’d been sitting. “I’ll go secure us some supplies in the meantime, but expect us to be travelling for a few days.”
“Where are we heading?” Jake asked quickly, perking up a little at the thought of doing something more than training.
“We’re heading to a small, neglected Dungeon. We’ll be meeting two other classers there, who will hopefully join your group for the time being.”
Jake and Alan exchanged surprised looks, but Felix waved off any further questions, saying that he’d explain the rest on the way.
“Wonder if w e’ll be meeting Nepthys there,” Alan said as he put some wood in the stove and boiled a pot of water for some tea.
“Maybe, but I’d be surprised if they’d found that many Corrupters in such a short space of time,” Jake said, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up with a sigh.
When Felix had gotten the word about Jake being blamed by the Triarchy, he’d also gotten word of a surge in Corrupter activity south of Port Emerald.
Nepthys needed to hunt down several more of those insane cultists in order to advance her tier, so she’d left with Ari to do just that. That had left Alan and Jake to shoulder Felix’s tender ministrations, but Jake couldn’t really complain.
It felt like it had been a while since he’d had a chance for some one-on-one training with Felix, and he knew for a fact that Alan was just as eager to take advantage of the opportunity as well.
No, the only thing Jake was concerned about was who they’d be adding to their party. Rhew and Karl had left, so he had to admit that they should replace them, even if it felt wrong to do so.
Taking a cup of steaming tea from Alan, Jake talked through the infusion process that Alan used to see if he could learn anything. He had gained a Skill to infuse his sword, but he knew it was far from perfect. Alan had a much better understanding of the process, so learning from him would be the next step on the road to improving his Skill further.
After a surprisingly productive discussion with Alan, Jake took the time to pray before turning in for the day. It still felt odd for him to pray, and he still hadn’t gotten into a regular habit of it yet. Growing up, Jake had had nothing but bad experiences with gods and their followers. Admittedly, those experiences had been primarily with the Triarchy, but at the time that had been a thin distinction.
When Jake had linked with his Patron in Casthrope, his perspective had shifted. Beholding The Great Dungeon, feeling how vast it was, had profoundly altered him.
He had prayed sporadically since then, but it was only since reaching this hideout that he’d tried to do so daily. He wasn’t exactly sure what his prayers accomplished—assuming they did anything at all.
Still, Jake felt like something happened with each prayer, but only when he was earnest in the attempt. Lip service did nothing; even Jake could tell that much.
Turning his attention inward, Jake delved into his soul as he whispered a prayer for The Great Dungeon to watch over Rhew and Karl, to keep them safe from everything that was happening.
Usually, that was where things ended, but today, Jake felt something stir in response.
It was nothing like his previous interaction with The Great Dungeon; there was no mind-bending vision of reality, no existential revelations.
Instead, Jake felt a sense of danger from the link they shared. It wasn’t imminent; more the warning of something that was coming, but coupled with the feeling of loss.
Jake tried to understand what he was being told, but he couldn’t parse it any more clearly than that. He was sure that his introspection triggered it, not the prayer itself, and it was unrelated to Karl and Rhew.
Troubled by what he’d experienced, Jake finished his nightly routine before climbing into bed. If it wasn’t an immediate danger, it could wait until he’d had time to get some sleep.
The three of them were on the road early the next day. Jake mentioned the warning he’d received from his Patron to Felix before they left. After talking it through, they both agreed that there was nothing to be done right now. It was concerning and clearly was a reference to something specific, but was too abstract to be understood.
Jake would try to narrow down the feeling of danger and loss with subsequent prayers, and hopefully, they’d figure out what it all meant soon enough. In the meantime, however, they were pushing forward with Felix’s plan and heading for a Dungeon that saw little to no traffic with most classers.
To do so, they’d be heading south towards the coast and the least-developed part of Strovia.
The Viridian Expanse, a veritable sea of trees that stretched from Strovia to its neighbours, dominated its eastern borders. Before the Triarchy came, Strovia had been slowly expanding into that area, bringing the scattered villages there into the fold as independents. Now, however, the Triarchy was focusing on consolidating its hold over the country itself. Jake knew that once they were satisfied, they would expand their grip in a far less merciful way.
Strovia’s north was likewise bordered by a large group of mountains that were all but impassable, while the western and southern borders hit the ocean. The western coastline had several cities with well-developed ports, such as Port Emerald, but the southern coast was rocky and ill-suited to shipping.
Without those port cities there to house the non-Ascended, there was no flow of new classers leaving the cities and spreading out into the countryside. Some people would still move there from the north, of course, but not many.
Moira’s Hollow was the southernmost city of Strovia, and even it was a fair distance north of the coast. Eventually, Jake was hoping they’d head there, as he knew the city had two Dungeons in the second tier, but right now, that would be almost suicidal.
No, their current plan was to head to a small village south of Moira’s Hollow called Restern. The Dungeon they were looking for was nearby, but with how remote it was, and the city just a short trip away, the village would have few classers present and little traffic.
According to Felix’s contacts, protecting the village from monsters or other threats was a handful of retired classers who’d dropped out at the peak of the first tier and now acted as a local militia. The lack of an organised Triarchy presence would hopefully mean that they could operate without too many issues. Well, that was the plan, anyway.
The three of them would take a circuitous route to the village, avoiding the larger population centres and settlements as much as possible. The fewer opportunities for them to be spotted, the smoother this would go.
They settled into a steady routine easily enough, spending most of the day walking through barely used, poorly maintained trails before setting up camp and getting some training done during the evening.
Despite Jake’s reluctance—or perhaps because of it—Felix insisted they run through several exercises regarding working with familiars. The older classer didn’t have one himself, but he’d worked with others who had in the past and he knew the principles of how they worked.
In theory, Jake had no issue with the training. After all, the Mighty Drake was one of his Boons, and Jake wasn’t so spoilt for choice that he would ignore that. Still, it was embarrassing.
Moby, the vividly coloured duck Jake could summon, didn’t help matters either. The duck was intelligent enough to pick up on Jake’s reluctance to use him and seemed to take offence at that. Despite perfectly performing whatever Felix wanted, Moby was far from helpful to Jake, exemplifying the tenets of malicious compliance.
The second time that Moby ‘accidentally’ dropped a rock on Jake’s head, rather than where he’d indicated, Jake had almost given up. However, Felix had helped him persist. It had hardly been a resounding success.
“As your familiar, he will perform to his highest standards during combat,” Felix said with barely concealed amusement once they were done and Jake had dismissed Moby. “However, I would recommend you resolve whatever issue the two of you have before you rely on him out of combat.”
“Well, that’s something, at least,” Jake muttered, resisting the urge to protest that it wasn’t his fault.
One of the first things that Felix had taught them was that Jake shared a bond of sorts with his familiar, which allowed them to communicate. Unfortunately, Jake had realised that the same bond had passed on to Moby in how he felt about the Boon.
Exactly how Jake would get past this issue, he wasn’t sure. Still, he didn’t intend to use Moby for anything except combat anytime soon, so he had time to figure it out.
Rubbing his face tiredly, Jake took a bowl of stew from Alan and swapped over so that the Scholar could get some archery practice under Felix’s supervision.
They’d alternate like this to give them both a chance to take advantage of Felix’s knowledge while the other rested.
