《The Portable Dungeon》 Prologue "Ahhh... After months and months of coding, designing, and even sleepless nights, I finally did it..." The bright screen of the monitor displayed a working game where the user has to control a dungeon and defend it from the invaders. A few seconds later, a clash occurred. Adventurers versus monsters that the player summoned were having a bloody bout inside a darkness stricken cave. After a few clashes, the monsters won in the end, standing atop the corpses of the adventurers as if to say, "These are our prey!!!" "... I''ll have to include a non-gore function for the minors." I stretched my limbs and yawned because of the drowsiness. Being in front of the computer for a whole night is incredibly taxing to the body. ''For now, I''ll post this on the internet in my website for curious players to test since this is still in the beta.'' I clicked on the upload button after typing a few descriptions about the game, as well as a request for the players to send any info of bugs to my email. After the task of uploading the game, I took a quick glance at my digital clock beside the monitor. 23:56 ''4 minutes until midnight...'' I got up and slowly crept towards the bed. My body, fatigued from the continuous work of programming, felt very comfortable on the soft bed. ''Tomorrow... I''ll have to think up of a main storyline of the game...'' "Uwhaaaawww..." A deep yawn escaped my lips as my consciousness sank into the world of dreams. **************** "Mhhmm..." I opened my eyes and did a quick survey on my surroundings. "..." Tree... Tree... Tree... Bush... Bush... Grass... Chocolate fudge that reeks... "Oh fucking shit!!" The chocolate fudge smothered my hands with its chocolate rich goodness. And allow me to say this, this chocolate fudge can kill with just it''s smell alone¡­ "Oh for fuck''s sake! This smells fuckin'' horrible!!" ''What kind of animal dropped this for it to smell this bad!?'' Preoccupied because of the foul smell, I quickly searched for a water source. Luckily enough, there was a river nearby and I quickly soaked my hand stained with chocolate inside the cold water. The brown color, as well as the awful smell kept me nauseated throughout the process of finding a water source and dipping it in possibly-but-now contaminated drinking water. After a few minutes of intense rubbing, I finally got the horrible smell off my hand and got to my senses. ''Where am I...?'' I am not back at home which is obvious because of the thick nature, and this doesn''t seem like a dream either since this seems all to real for it to be one. ''This... Did I get kidnapped while I was asleep?''Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Various situations entered my brain. Most of these were because of surfing too much in the or . ''But if that is true, then what do they want to do with me here? Don''t tell me...They want to see me suffer as I struggle to survive in the forest!?'' My body shivered from fright at the possible scenario I am experiencing at present. ''Hmm...? I can feel something in my pocket.'' My hand dived into my pocket and took out a rather tiny ball that fits into my palm. It has a golden hue and engraved on it were beautiful shapes and designs that makes it breathtaking to look at. There was also a button that screams, "PRESS ME!!" on one side of the golden ball. ''I need more information, and this is one thing that rouses suspiciousness.'' After pondering for a moment, I hesitatingly pressed the button. Upon pressing the button, an amazing scene entered my eyes. (Welcome to Andeght! You were selected by the results of a lottery and gained the privilege of permanent residence in this world. Fret not for the organizers of the lottery will make sure that no harm is to come to the winner for a full month, as well as few items that make living in this world easier.) ''... What the hell...?'' In front of me was a holographic screen commonly seen in video games. The sentences written on the screen refused to register within my head as I dazedly looked upon the horizon. (As of now, the remaining time for your as what the organizers say, is 29 days, 15 hours, and 12 minutes. After the duration, you will be susceptible to monster or bandit attacks which may result in death.) A few seconds later, new sentences filled up the screen, burying the past sentences into oblivion. ''Death...'' "Are you fucking serious now? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?!?" (Now, to introduce you to the world system, please call upon the special skill you have been granted by the organizers by saying or wishing for said skill to appear.) As if to ignore my previous outburst, the screen continued to write sentences and more sentences, which right now, can''t be bothered by the ¡®me¡¯ who is in pure fury. "YOU FUCKIN'' ORGANIZERS!!! YOU THINK THIS IS SOME SORT OF JOKE!? SEND ME BACK RIGHT NOW!!" (... I see that for the moment, you are incapable of reasoning. Not to worry though, the organizers have some measures pertaining to situations such as these.) Once the screen displayed such lines, I was hit by something that felt like a strong electric current that sent my mind into near oblivion. (Do not worry as this action will not result in death. This is the result of linking your pain senses with another living being that is experiencing such pain at the present.) Because of the pain, I was not even able to read the sentences written on the screen. The only thing that registered in my mind was the feeling of death creeping closer. ¡®Shit¡­ Am I going to die like this¡­? Hell no!¡¯ My iron will that has been tempered by going through countless hours of suffering and work will not let me down today!!! (¡­ It seems that the organizers have picked up a rather interesting winner for this lottery. This is the first time after a thousand years for a human with a strong will like you have been chosen. Past winners mostly had the fear of death while experiencing such pain¡­ I wonder what you had to go through for your will to be tempered by this far¡­) My body writhed with pain and my breathing turned ragged. My consciousness was fading in and out and my tongue was hanging out of my lips. ¡®Endure!! Endure!!!¡¯ ¡°Hahhh¡­. Hahhh¡­ Hahhh¡­.¡± After a few minutes of enduring the unbearable pain, it finally left. As if it was a lie, the pain faded away into nothingness, but my body still remembered the harsh memory of it occurring. ¡®If I don¡¯t want to experience that again, I¡¯ll shut up for a moment and read all the sentences and commit it to heart.¡¯ Because of the earlier incident, my mind became a little calm and clearer, but tinged with a little bit of fear. ¡®I¡¯ll need to squeeze out information from this holographic window¡­ I¡¯ll just call it ¡®Tutorial Board¡¯¡­¡¯ Because of reading too much isekai novels, I got a gist of what I need to do to survive in an unknown world filled with unknown creatures. (Have you quieted up now? Good. Moving on¡­ Start by saying . We¡¯ll continue once you have called upon the skill given to you by the organizers.) Once I read up to the end, I got a little bit of information regarding those who have brought me here, otherwise known as ¡®Organizers¡¯. ¡®If I¡¯m not mistaken¡­ These ¡®Organizers¡¯ must have some sort of special power in this world¡­ Best not to mess with them for now¡­¡¯ Setting that as one of my creed in this world, I sucked up some air to catch my breath before following what Tutorial Board displayed. ¡°Dungeon Menu.¡± Dungeon Master: Drake Wota Dungeon Level: 0 Type of Dungeon: Not set [Market] [Customization] [Statistics] [Community] (Available at Dungeon Level 5) (This is the Dungeon Menu, where you will spend most of your time creating and managing your own dungeon.) Prologue pt. 2 Dungeon Master: Drake Wota Dungeon Level: 0 Type of Dungeon: Not set [Market] [Customization] [Statistics] [Community] (Available at Dungeon Level 5) (This is the Dungeon Menu, where you will spend most of your time creating and managing your own dungeon.) As soon as I said , a transparent, holographic screen with a light-blue hue appeared in front of me. Written on it were a few lines, including my name, as well as some things called and . The letters were in darkish-blue coloring. Below those three lines were four more lines that shone in a reddish color. The words , , , and were written in a bold font. But different from the three first words, the word was greyed out and a few lines next to it stating that it will be accessible once the hits level 5. ''Such bad design... Much wow...'' (Continuing on... Written at the top left of thescreen are the basic information of your created dungeon. This includes the name of the , in this case, you, the which we''ll explain further next, and the .) Tutorial Board continued displaying line after line of descriptions about the , which I fully tried to remember and engrave it in my head. (Now let me explain the . refers to the level of the dungeon managed by the . Each level increases the type and number you can summon. In the case of a level 1 dungeon, the maximum amount of monsters summoned is 10, and most of it are lower-ranked compared to higher levelled dungeons.) '' is important... how do I raise it? Please don''t make it something like reaping the souls of the dead inside the dungeon...'' (There are various ways for the dungeon to level up. First, creatures killed within the dungeons have their mana sucked out and sent to the . Second, the can kill creatures by his own and send their mana to the . Please remember that the further you are to the core, the less mana it receives. Third, feeding mana crystals to the . The higher levelled the mana crystal, the higher quality and quantity the core receives.) ''Based on Tutorial Board''s description, the most efficient way is probably the third option, but there must be a huge problem to it. Probably something like low supply... The first option I kinda did expect that, but anything dying within is treated as a mana source, so this can probably be exploited. The second option... I''ll hold that off until I get physically stronger...'' (Next is the . This signifies what type of monsters are mostly summoned, as well as the environment of the dungeon. There are a total of 8 types of dungeons, and each have their individual strength and weaknesses. These are , , , , , , , and . Choosing what type of dungeon you want will greatly affect the growth, and once decided, it is irrevocable.) ''So I get only once chance when choosing a type. Looks like I''ll have to study the types of dungeons more carefully... I don''t want to end up dying because of a wrong decision...'' (Now for the exciting part. Below those three basic information are the each labelled as , , , and . To start with, open the tab and I''ll explain further. To do this, simply use your finger and poke at it.)If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I followed the direction without hesitation as time is running. I only have a month of safety, and I don''t want to waste it. Once I accessed the tab, a new window appeared next to the with a golden hue. Written on the left side were three lines labelled as , , and . At the top right, however, had two letters called with a 0 to its right. (There should be an additional window appearing next to the . On the left side of the window, three tabs known as , , and are displayed. The tab is where you summon monsters or other creatures to protect your dungeon. Do not worry as the monsters are made up of mana and are forever loyal to the dungeon master. The tab, however, reverts the summon back to mana and back to the . Do note that the mana refunded will only be 50% of the cost of the summoned monster. The price may fluctuate depending if the summon has levelled up or down during its time protecting the dungeon.) I focused all of my attention to the description written on Tutorial Board and made sure not to forget any single detail. (The tab is where you can spend mana for items. Such items can be classified as weapons, luxuries, or other things that may be valuable to the invaders or . Please remember that once an item has been formed by the use of mana, it can never be reverted back so be careful to not make a mistake when spending mana in this tab.) ''So pretty much like the ''NO REFUNDS!!!'' system. But, this can be useful for luring people or monsters... Wait, why did I think of people as mana...?'' I got confused for a moment before shifting my attention back to Tutorial Board. (Also, you can see your current stock of mana, or for short at the top right of the window. Next, go back to the and open the tab. We''ll discuss more when you have accessed the window.) The same as earlier, I poked the tab with my finger and a new window replaced the window. ''This is... Amazing...'' (On the window, you can see various buttons and tabs to help with designing your own dungeon. The only thing you need to note here is the size and quality looks of the dungeon. The lower the , the shabbier and smaller it is. On the other hand, the higher the , the better looking and larger it is. Also, only an additional floor is allowed every level up, so if you want more floors, you need to level up your dungeon.) ''I''ll have to experiment later kukuku..." A dirty grin crept up my face as I imagined designing the dungeon into looking like a Demon Lord''s castle, or something badass. (We''re almost at the end so bear with me for a little while more. The next tab is the tab. Please go ahead on access it.) Once more, I accessed a new tab, and another window appeared and replaced the window. (This is where the summary of the history of your dungeon can be viewed. Not much can be done here except compare your present statistics with your past, or if you just want to check how your dungeon is doing.) ''So pretty much like a tracker or something of the like. This can be useful in some ways.'' (That wraps up the explanation of the skill. For the other tab, or that we haven''t discussed yet, I''ll discuss it next time once you unlock it.) ''That''s okay... For now, I''ll have to focus on levelling up my dungeon. Speaking of which, how do I make one?'' "Excuse me, Tutorial Board..." (What the heck are you calling a tutorial board? I have a name given to me by the organizers and it is Izuma Fukroo Lipothu Hakio Incredibilis Infirmus Etiam Ah Profundis.) "Too long!!! I''ll just call you TB for convenience." (Somehow... I feel like you''re insulting me...) "No I''m not. Anyway, how do I make a dungeon?" (Hmm...? I haven''t explained it yet? First, all you have to do is speak the words . This process is irrevocable and cannot be changed, and the dungeon will stay in the place where you will put it in and will not move.) "Is that so? Seems easy enough." (Indeed it is, but managing a dungeon is something else. Now that my work here is done, I''ll leave. Oh, before I forget, the organizers have given you another skill called where you can store your belongings. They have also given you a book that will give you all the information you need about this world, as well as food and water for a week. For more supplies and shelter, you will have to get it yourself.) "A ? Sounds pretty handy." (You won''t believe how useful it is in this world. One last thing, your isn''t all that powerful. It just keeps monsters you aren''t able to beat away, and bandits to just go past you. Monsters that you can beat on the other hand, can attack you no problem.) Once I saw the last lines, my brain froze. "What do you mean?" (Well then, see you...) And with a poof, TB vanished without a trace. Silence..... Slience... Silence.. Silence. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN STILL BE ATTACKED AND KILLED!?!?" Chapter 1 I stared at the air where TB once appeared and vanished without a sound. My body froze up for an instant before rage overcame my entire being. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN STILL BE ATTACKED AND KILLED!?!?" A vein bulged around my forehead as I continued to make angry yells and shouts at the now missing TB, as well as the unseen organizers. "YOU MOTHERFUCKIN'' ORGANIZERS!!! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY FUCKING TELLING ME THAT I CAN STILL BE KILLED EVEN WITH YOUR FUCKING BULLSHIT PROTECTION!? SCREW YOU FUCKERS!!! ALL OF YOU!!!" A once in a lifetime flame and rage, as well as toxic and salty comment spew out from my mouth, with saliva spreading everywhere, painting the grass with its sticky and slimy substance. Once I reached the end of my flaming session, I threw the golden ball which I used to summon TB at the lake where I washed my hand soaked in chocolate fudge. Surprisingly, the ball landed at the center where most of the chocolate fudge gathered. "YOU FEEL THAT TB!? THAT FUCKIN'' SUITS YOU!!! SWIMMING IN A RIVER OF DOGSHIT REALLY COMPLIMENTS YOU!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!" After laughing like a madman for a few more seconds, I finally got a hold of myself. "Huu... Fuu... Calm down Drake... What if monsters appear because of my raging..." Sadly, I was a moment too late. I heard a bush that rustled behind me. I immediately focused my attention at that exact spot and tensed up. ''Shit... What will appear...? I''m not yet ready to face an enemy now, much more that I''m barehanded without learning any martial arts...'' I scanned my surroundings in a hurry and found a thick piece of stick a few meters east away from me. I slowly crept towards the stick while keeping my focus on the rustling bush. Just when I reached the stick, the unknown creature finally got out and showed itself. "Kyuu~?" "..." "..." "..." "Kyuuuuu~!!!" The monster or more precisely, a rabbit with a horn on its head charged at me after staring at each other. "Tch!" I quickly reached out towards the stick and held it with my right hand. My left flank faced the rabbit while I was picking up the stick. "Kyupi~!!" The rabbit lowered its head in order for the horn to face me. Just before the rabbit reached me, I readied my stance and swung the stick by twisting my upper body, adding more power because of the centrifugal force generated by my spin. *Pechi* "Kyao!!" The sound of a stick hitting flesh, as well as a pained scream echoed in the surroundings as the rabbit was flung away a few meters. Probably because it couldn''t see my hand holding the stick, its reaction was delayed so it was unable to dodge. "Got it!!" I basked in the feeling of fending off the rabbit by my own strength. The feeling of accomplishment was a good feeling, but this was a major mistake at the moment. "Kyuuupiiii~!!!"Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Gahh!?" Unbearable pain spread around my thigh. Blood flowed out as the horn that pierced the flesh was removed. ''ARRGHHH!!! FUCK!!! FUCK!!! SHIT!!! IT FUCKING HURTS!!!'' My body collapsed to the side because of losing my balance due to my injured right leg. I let go of the stick I was holding for an instant, before quickly gripping it again before it fell out of my hands. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!!" I swung the stick towards the rabbit, but it easily dodged, and came charging at me with its head held down. I rolled to the right and avoided the charge, but the pain in my right leg intensified because of the increased pressure. I grit my teeth and continued to watch the rabbit closely. My anger subsided once I saw the rabbit charging at me like a bull. The only feeling that replaced the anger was the will to survive. ''I will kill you, and survive! I will not die in a place like this!'' My bloodshot eyes focused on every movement the rabbit made. If it hopped to the side, my eyes followed, if it charged I either swung my stick or dodge to the side. ''Swing it down!!'' "Kyupiiiii~!" ''Dodge to the left!'' "Kyuuiiii~!!!" ''Swing it to the right!!!'' "Kyuu~!!!" Little by little, I adapted to the straightforward charges and was finally able to get another hit in the rabbit. "Kyaaoo!!!" Because of the lesser force exerted than earlier, the rabbit was only flung a fewer meters than before. But maybe because I was lucky, I was able to break the rabbit''s leg bone during that one swing. "Shit... This really hurts..." I stood up using the stick as a support and headed towards the fallen rabbit. A bone was protruding out of its hind leg as it continued to writhe on the ground. ''I don''t see any other form of wound on its body, only the hind leg. Maybe that was the reason why it only took two hits to disable...'' I raised the stick above my head to ready my swinging stance. Gripping with both my hands strongly, I gazed into the eyes of the rabbit. I swung it down, but stopped before the moment it was hit. ''Why are you hesitating now Drake? Kill it! It tried to kill you!'' ''But... This is a living creature! I don''t want to kill anything that breathes!!'' ''Are you retarded!? Kill it already!!'' ''I can''t!!'' My mind continued to argue, but my body refused to agree. My arms started trembling from the thought of it taking a life of a living being. "Shit... Fuck... What should I do..." Anxiety built up within me as I continued this unproductive action. That is, until the rabbit glared fiercely at me while hissing. ''What the fuck am I hesitating for...? This isn''t Earth¡­ This is another world where the strong eats the weak. I can''t show weakness in front of an adversary.'' My resolve was built up thanks to the dying rabbit glaring at me. Thanks to that, I was able to toss away the values I have been doing for years that might make me a dead man in this world. "I won''t hesitate. I will survive, by any means necessary." And with that, I lifted the stick overhead, and swung it down towards the head of the rabbit. *Puchi* Blood and brain matter exploded out and landed on the grasses and dirt, including my clothes. "Oh god... Huup!?" I faced backwards and puked out the contents of my stomach. Green bile flowed down from the grass and into the river, dirtying it even more. Thankfully, it was flowing downstream, so once I head upstream, the water will be safe to drink... That is, if I boil it first. "Oh fuck... This feels gross...Huk!?" I took another look back at the corpse and once again vomited out more bile. After calming down a few minutes later, I was able to face the corpse of the rabbit. For a modern man like me to encounter this scenario, it will definitely lead to vomiting. I sat down under a tree nearby while dragging the corpse, as well as my stick naturally. After ripping out a piece of my clothes and wrapped it around my wound, did I ponder about my next action. "Now... What should I do with this? I don''t know how to dismantle corpses, and I also don''t have a tool for it..." I pondered for a while before reaching a conclusion. "First, let me check the . How do I use it again?" I recalled that TB didn''t even give me the explanation to use it. ''When he returns... Actually, stop that train of thought. I don''t want to experience that again...'' My body shivered just from remembering the pain that I underwent. Maybe thanks to that, the pain around my leg feels like a breeze compared to it. "Hmm... Whatever, let''s just do it." I focused on the task at hand and made a serious face. "." A black hole appeared in front of me. It had the size of a travelling bag, and a window accompanied it on the side. * 7 days worth of food and water * Beginner''s Book ''This looks cool... But the organizers are cheap... At least make it food and water for one month, as well as shelter...'' I poked on the window where the was located and it was thrown out the next moment. ''This is... Dampening my motivation to read...'' It was an incredibly thick book! One that has at least 1000 pages or more! "I''ll read this next time once I find a place where I can settle down." I placed the book back in the and deactivated the skill. "Now then... How about I take a look at creating a dungeon?" Chapter 1.2 ¡°.¡± A crystal orb appeared out of thin air in front of me, accompanied by a window with rows of texts in blue color. (Greetings, I am an entity that was created by the God of Dungeons, Abruptum, to assist with fledgling in creating their own dungeon. ) The text blurred out, and was replaced by new lines of text. (First, in front of you is the . This is the main component of a dungeon¡¯s creation and management. To utilize the , the must supplement it with enough mana, and designate a target location for it to automatically create a .) ¡°Hmm¡­? When you say supplementing mana, do you actually mean¡­¡± (It is as you assume Drake. You must approximately kill 10 rabbits, and send their mana to the . The rabbit you killed earlier does not count as the was summoned late.) ¡°FUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!!!!¡± I yelled at the top of my lungs upon reading the new lines of text. ¡®I thought that being a let¡¯s me use the monsters I summoned as a fighting force, but I have to fight first before creating one!?¡¯ (Nothing comes without a price, Drake. Also, allow me to say this next, only the monsters that have their mana sent to the can be summoned. Basically, if you want to summon a dragon, then first, you have to kill a dragon by either using your forces, or by yourself.) ¡°Are you really serious!? Then, if only these rabbits¡¯ mana were sent, then can I only summon rabbits!?¡± (That is correct.) ¡°SCREW THAT MECHANIC!!!¡± I threw the stick I held with my hand at the holographic window. The stick just flew right through it before landing next to the river. (This rule was created by Abruptum to avoid being weaker than their summoned monsters, as most of the time, the rely on their summons too much. In such cases, the were killed quickly by the invaders and had their dungeons stolen.) Once I read the lines on TB no. 2, a cold shiver ran down my spine. ¡®So¡­ I could¡¯ve been anyone of them¡­ Damn¡­ There is nothing that can be grabbed with little effort. If I want to protect myself, I¡¯ll have to get stronger¡­¡¯ But after thinking for a little while, I was hit with a train of thought. ¡®But, why am I here in the first place¡­? I wasn¡¯t able to think like this earlier because of the pressure TB emitted, as well as the chocolate fudge and rabbit.¡¯ I thought deeply about why this chain of events is happening in my present life. ¡®I wasn¡¯t healthy back in Earth, and I doubt I am right now either. I was sleep-deprived and was always focused on the computer to meet the deadline.¡¯ I recalled my past to think of a reason why I am here. ¡®My mom died during my birth. My dad died after my college graduation because of sickness. I have no brothers or sisters. Grandpa and grandma died because of age¡­ Wait¡­¡¯ ¡°What if I was chosen to be a part of their lottery after I died because I met the requirements¡­?¡± (Hmm¡­? What did you say Drake?) I ignored the lines of texts on TB no. 2 and continued on my train of thought.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡®If that is true, then I luckily won the lottery and was given a second chance. But if not, then I was forcefully abducted by them into this world for a reason¡­¡¯ An uncontrollable urge to ask the organizers the reason I was here was burning up my body. My face twisted in discomfort as I grit my teeth to endure the uncomfortable feeling. (Umm¡­ Excuse me Drake, but if you have a problem with hunting, allow me to help you. I am after all, and entity created to help with the creation process of a dungeon.) <&aG3!@%GADG is giving you a gift. Would you like to accept? Y / N> A few seconds later after being in a state of inactivity, I was able to get a glimpse at TB no. 2¡¯s holographic window. I read what was written carefully and accepted by poking at the Y. for safekeeping.> I took out the sword from my and gazed at it. The weight of the shortsword, as well as its reflection of light turned me back into normal. ¡®It doesn¡¯t matter why I¡¯m here for now. For now, I¡¯ll get stronger and create my own dungeon to protect myself.¡¯ I picked up a nearby stick and used it as a cane, while I gripped the sword with my other hand. ¡°TB no. 2?¡± (Who is TB no. 2 Drake?) ¡°It¡¯s just what I¡¯m going to call you for now, for convenience sake.¡± (Very well, I will humbly oblige.) ¡°Can you tell me where I can find a nearby rabbit?¡± (I¡¯m sorry but all the hunting must be done by the . I am only here to offer support such as supplies and healing.) My eyes widened upon reading the word healing. ¡°Then, can you heal the wound on my thigh?¡± (Understood.) <&aG3!@%GADG is giving you a gift. Would you like to accept? Y / N> The same as earlier, I accepted the incoming gift and was automatically messaged by another window. ¡®Let¡¯s just call it the .¡¯ for safekeeping.> ¡°Just curious about one thing, what are the stars after the name of the item?¡± (It is the rank of the item. The maximum amount of stars an item can have is 10. More stars means the stronger or more effective the item.) ¡°Is that so? Anyway, thanks for this TB no. 2.¡± (My pleasure.) I took one health potion out of the and uncapped the lid. ¡°By the way, how do I use this?¡± (For external wounds, apply the liquid on said wound. For internal wounds, it is best to ingest the liquid.) Following the description, I sprinkled the whole bottle of liquid on my wound. ¡°Holy shit that hurts!!!¡± It felt like pouring 100 % alcohol on a deep and large wound. After the bottle was empty, the pain was gone and the wound healed like it was never there in the first place. ¡°If this was back on Earth, the doctors would be out of business¡­¡± (Sadly, this is only applicable for wounds. Sickness and illnesses would not be affected by the .) ¡°Ohh¡­¡± I lightly hit my head with my fist for being stupid. ¡°Well, anyways, thanks to that , I don¡¯t need that stick anymore. Eiyaa!!¡± I threw the stick into the forest with all of my strength. ¡°BUUUMOOO!?¡± A startled and angry roar came back in retaliation, next came the sound of charging. ( Drake, I think it is best if you climb a tree for now.) ¡°Good idea¡­¡± I quickly looked for a tall tree and climbed it. Thanks to monkeying around back in elementary, where I and my friends kept on climbing trees due to our fun and games, I was able to quickly scale the tall tree. A few seconds later a wild boar appeared out of the forest with an indescribable expression on its face. ¡°Pfft¡­ No wonder it¡¯s so angry.¡± Seeing the stick I threw stuck inside its butthole made me raise a laugh. The boar was able to hear my laugh and looked at me with pure rage and killing intent. ¡°BUUUUMMMOOOOO!!!!¡± It charged towards the tree I was staying on and slammed its head to the tree trunk. I nearly lost my balance but I was able to reclaim my posture due to grabbing on the branch on time. ¡°Damn¡­ Better not laugh next time¡­¡± No matter the place, laughing when you¡¯re about to exchange lives will bring about destruction. ¡°Karma is a bitch after all¡­¡± The boar moved away from the tree a few meters away before charging in once again. *Ba-dump* *Ba-Dump* ¡®I¡¯ll have to get this right¡­¡¯ My heart was beating crazily fast at the tension generated by this situation. I was scared of losing my life, but I was also determined to kill this boar for food and my protection. ¡®I¡¯ll have to get this right¡­¡¯ One more hit and the tree would probably fall down. I readied my sword and timed my unskilled jumped when the boar was about to hit the tree. *Dooon* The boar rammed the tree hard and the tree fell down as if it was hit by a truck. The boar was dazed for a moment after using its head as a ram, and that was my chance. ¡°DIIIEEE!!!!¡± With a gruesome warcry, I plunged the sword into the crown of its head. ¡°BBBBUUUUMMMMOOOO!!!¡± With a last pained cry, the boar fell down and drew its last breath. ¡°Hhhooo¡­ That¡­ Was¡­ Intense¡­¡± There wasn¡¯t much physical labor, but my mental power was at an all time low right now because of the stress. (Congratulations Drake! Now, you only need 5 more rabbits to kill before you can designate a place for your dungeon to reside!) ¡°5 more¡­? This is going to be a pain¡­¡± Chapter 1.3 ¡°Kyuu¡­¡± I stood about a dozen meters away from the nearest rabbit. After hunting nonstop for 5 hours, I was less one rabbit until the quota. ¡®Just one more¡­¡¯ With a trusty, blood-soaked blade in my right hand, I lowered my body posture and picked up a rock nearby. Gripping it with my left hand, I threw it towards the rabbit hoping for a clean hit. With my previous attempts with the other rabbits, I was able to hit 1/14 rocks thrown. Everytime a rock missed, I spent more time to try and find another rabbit to hunt. Each time I throw, my attempts started decreasing one by one until I was able to get a 50% chance to hit a rabbit with a rock. The rock flew at a speed that an average pitcher could pitch. Luckily, it precisely hit the crown of the rabbit as it raised its head when it heard something was approaching. It fell down with a plop and tried to move its body, only to be paralyzed by the concussion. I quickly dashed towards the fallen rabbit and swung my sword at its limp body. ¡°Last one!!!¡± The sword cleanly cut through the skin and flesh of the rabbit, before crushing the bone and lodging its blade inside its body. The rabbit lets out its last breath and lost the light in its eyes. Once the rabbit lost its life, the crystal orb that was floating around me began to shine a light blue hue. The aura looked mystifying and drew my mind into it¡­ That is until TB no. 2 made new rows of texts. (Congratulations Drake. The acquired mana is enough to start the process of creating the dungeon.) ¡°Finally!!!¡± After 5 hours of nonstop hunting, crawling on the ground, climbing up trees, digging up dirt and picking up rocks, I was finally able to supplement the required mana to the . I impatiently waited for the next texts to appear on TB no. 2 while I grabbed the . (Now, Drake, for the next process to start, please designate a target location for the to reside. Please remember that once the is placed, it cannot be removed for eternity.)The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Yes.¡± I gripped the tightly and felt my heartbeat beat faster every second. ¡®Calm down¡­ I already have a place worth looking into.¡¯ ¡°TB no. 2, where is the river where you first met me?¡± (Go 4 Km Northwest. After that, once you see a rock that is shaped like poop, go North 200 meters.) ¡°So far!!¡± (Because of your hectic hunting spree, we got to far from the river, Drake.) ¡°¡­¡± More suffering!! As if hunting was not suffering enough, now I have to hoof back to where the river is!!! ¡°DAMN ITTT!!!¡± After yelling my heart out, I calmed down and trudged with the direction given by TB no. 2. I took a quick glance at the shining crystal orb floating around me and had a thought. ¡®I may be easier to spot with this floating around. I need to hide it somewhere.¡¯ Luckily, I had the . I placed the inside where I stored the corpses of the animals I hunt. It was for food purposes of course. ¡°How much further¡­?¡± (3 more Km left.) ¡°¡­¡± I kept my silence to not waste my energy and continued on the rugged path TB no. 2 left me. ********* ¡°No¡­ More¡­¡± I collapsed once I reached the poop shaped rock. My legs were sore and sweat poured down my face onto the ground. (Do your best Drake!! Just 200 more meters South!!!) ¡°¡­¡± I really wanted to punch TB no. 2, but refrained from doing so. Not only does he not have a physical body, but I may worsen our relationship. I don¡¯t want to waste my tutorial¡­ ¡°I¡¯m hungry¡­¡± The sun was going down and night kept creeping closer and closer. ¡°I¡¯ll have to make a shelter around this rock for tonight¡­¡± Thankfully, the rock was in a center of the clearing, so I have no worries about starting a forest fire. I picked up dry branches around the edges of the forest and hoofed my way back to the rock. ¡°With no shelter¡­ I¡¯ll have to create one¡­ But how do I do it?¡± Without any experience in camping or survival, it was hard to live out in the wilderness. ¡°TB no. 2, can you create a shelter?¡± (Unfortunately no, Drake should be the one to create the shelter. But don¡¯t worry because I am here to help so allow me to give you some advice.) ¡°Thank you.¡± Because of my exhaustion, I could only let out a word of thanks before following his advice in creating a makeshift shelter. I picked up sturdy branches with the help of TB no. 2 pointing them out for me, picked up leaves and chopped down trees with the axe it gave me. After 2 hours of grueling work, I was finally able to create the shelter I was going to spend the night. ¡°Now that that is done, I¡¯ll cook the animals I hunted. Since the food the organizers gave me was not perishable, I don¡¯t have to worry about that rotting. On the other hand, the animal corpses may rot since the has no time stopping function.¡± I opened my only to get a shock. ¡°Uhmm¡­ TB no. 2?¡± (What is it Drake?) ¡°Why did the dungeon form inside my ?¡± (WHAT!?!?!?) Chapter 2 (This is not possible¡­ This is not possible¡­) TB no. 2 continued repeating the same lines over and over again while I entered the dungeon that just formed inside my . The inside of the dungeon looked like inside of a modern house, in contrast to the fantasy world I was teleported in. ¡°Wow... Why did it form like this¡­?¡± (This is not possible¡­ The forms in preference to the tastes of the , in this case, you, Drake. The same cannot be applied to the regular floors. Only the and any other rooms associated with the recreational activities of the can be created with the same style. This does not include or any rooms which purpose are to nurture the growth of the monsters and . This is not possible¡­) To my surprise, TB no. 2 actually responded like always, but after that, repeated the ¡®This is not possible¡­¡¯ chant. ¡°Meaning the only rooms that can have this modern feel is where I can have my comfort instead of my growth, huh?¡± I sat down on a chair provided inside the room. The living room consists of a modern flatscreen TV, a comfy couch, glass table and peach painted walls without any windows. The kitchen, as always, consists of the stove, refrigerator, sink, oven, and cabinets with eating and cooking utensils inside. The refrigerator and cabinets were empty otherwise. The dining room has a dining table good for 8 people and chairs. The next surprising part was there was even a second floor! I had 5 rooms, one master bedroom, 3 guest rooms, and a bathroom. Of course, the first floor also had one. It was located near the kitchen. ¡°This is one house¡­¡± But more shocking, there was also a basement!!! ¡°Why is there a basement here¡­?¡± Down in the basement is where I can find laundry supplies, and the washing machine. And there was also another room in this basement. I opened the door and inside was a passage 10 meters long. ¡°Is this what I think it is¡­?¡± Not long after traversing the passage, my thoughts became true, as the was situated on top of a table emitting blue light.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°And this is where I will do my duties¡­¡± My heart beat faster and faster every moment. ¡®This is very exciting!!¡± The very thought of owning a dungeon which was my inspiration when making ¡®Dungeons and Mayhem¡¯ made it heart racing. (This is not possible¡­) Of course, there was a certain object which put a damper on the mood. ¡°¡­¡± I ignored the floating board and head towards the and hovered my hand around it, next, a window appeared saying to open the . ¡°So to access this, I¡¯ll have to the ¡­? Then, I can control the dungeon wherever I am!!!¡± This revelation made me more excited. ¡®Isn¡¯t this just like ¡®Dungeons and Mayhem¡¯!?¡¯ I can bring the dungeon anywhere with my , and then control it as far as I can!! (WHAT!?!?!?!?) Not before long, another line of text indicating the surprise of TB no. 2 came out. (WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN CONTROL THE DUNGEON ANYWHERE EVEN WHEN SEPERATAED!? I KNOW THAT YOU CAN BRING THE DUNGEON ANYWHERE BECAUSE IT WAS FORMED IN YOUR , BUT HOW CAN YOU CONTROL IT FROM AFAR!?!?!!?!?) And it was all in caps too¡­ ¡°Uhmm¡­ isn¡¯t it all like this with all ?¡± (HELL NO IT ISN¡¯T!!!) ¡°¡­ Then how do the other do it¡­?¡± (NATURALLY BY ACCESSING THE NEXT TO THE !!!) Isn¡¯t this like¡­ Preferential treatment¡­? This must be the doing of those organizers. Come to think of it, why did TB go ahead and explain about the even before I was about to start creating the dungeon? A grin formed on my face as a new thought popped in my head. ¡®Then I have an advantage compared to other !!¡¯ ¡°Kukukukuku¡­¡± An evil chuckle flew out of my mouth, surprising the helpful TB no. 2. (WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT!?!?!?) ¡°What¡­ I mean, I have an advantage compared to other right?¡± (¡­) TB no. 2 became completely silent after I said those lines. Since I was already briefed about the , then TB no. 2 has nothing much more to do to explain about the fundamentals of the dungeon. (I understand¡­ Because you already know the basics of controlling the dungeon, allow me to leave you with a gift before my departure.) <&aG3!@%GADG is giving you a gift. Would you like to accept? Y / N> Without hesitation, I pressed the Y option. If someone is giving you a gift, then receive it in full! <1000 MP been obtained.> (A little gift for starting . Now then, Drake, goodbye and may you have a fulfilling life as a .) After I finished reading the lines, TB no. 2 vanished. ¡°It¡¯s going to be lonely again, not that I care anyway¡­¡± Being with the 2 TB¡¯s felt like having another conversation partner again in so long. Back on Earth, I didn¡¯t know how long it was since I spoke with another human being. ¡°Being alone again huh¡­?¡± I wiped off that lonely feeling from my chest and stared at the . ¡°Yes, even without friends, I will survive, and have my questions answered¡­¡± I breathed in to take in some air and spoke my latest favorite words. ¡°!¡± Chapter 2.2 Dungeon Master: Drake Wota Dungeon Level: 1 Type of Dungeon: Void (Automatically chosen due to designated area) [Market] [Customization] [Statistics] [Community] (Available at Dungeon Level 5) [Set Dungeon Portal] [1/2 Used] ¡°Hmm¡­ Looks like a new option was added into the . This must be from the location.¡± To make it easier to understand, I can place a portal in any area where invaders can come in, basically an entrance. ¡°But if already one is in use, it probably must have come from the .¡± A simple explanation would be an entrance was formed by using the , hence the usage of one . ¡°For now, I¡¯ll set that tab aside until I find a good spot to place a portal.¡± I ignored the tab for the moment and headed to the tab. Following that, a window appeared filled with various tools, much like the application ¡®GOMP¡¯, as well as a few more tabs unrelated to ¡®GOMP¡¯. The first one was , while the others were still locked because of the low level of my dungeon. I accessed the tab and was taken to another window showing the floors I have. Because of the level of my dungeon, I only have one floor for now. The floor had a size of about a basketball court. Tinkering with the tool, I found out that the maximum surface area of the floor could only reach 4700 feet. No matter how long or wide it is, as long as the surface area has the size of 4700 feet, it can be used to repel invaders. ¡°Then, I can make a long tunnel a meter in width and the rest for length to make it useful to burn the stamina of the invaders. Fill it up with traps and you get a long corridor deathtrap.¡± I marveled at my intellectual ability only to realize that the traps must be placed in at least an area wider than the trap itself, which is about 5 meters in size, making it impossible to use the long corridor deathtrap. ¡°These damn balance fixes¡­¡± I cursed at the God of Dungeons, Abruptum, for making these kinds of changes to the manipulation of a dungeon. ¡°What use is a dungeon if it can¡¯t repel the invaders just because a trap is wider than the area of a specific spot of a dungeon?¡± I stopped with the cursing and continued on recreating my dungeon¡¯s first floor. I placed walls and made a maze with the basketball court-shaped room. Once I was done with setting up the layout, next was the interior design. Once again, because of the low level, I could only design the inside like a damp cave. With occasionally dropping droplets of liquids from the ceiling, and a draft of wind coming from the outside, the first floor of the dungeon was completed. ¡°Too bad I can only design it like this. At least, I wanted it to look more like a haunted house. Then again, the only monsters I can summon were rabbits and wild boars. Uhmm, speaking of which what are the official names of the rabbits and wild boars in this world?¡± I went back to the and accessed the tab in hopes of seeing the listed names of the monsters I defeated. And finally¡­ Monster Species: Horned Rabbit Special Ability: Horn Tackle Threat Level: F Cost: 10 MP Influence from the Dungeon: Gains the special ability and increases agility. Raises by 2 ranks. Additional Cost: 30 MP *** Monster Species: Wild Boar Special Ability: Body Charge Threat Level: F+ Cost: 15 MP Influence from the Dungeon: Gains the special ability and increases health. Raises by two ranks. Additional Cost: 40 MP ¡°Oh, so it was a horned rabbit and a¡­ wild boar¡­ Looks like the name didn¡¯t change for the pig.¡± Next, I squinted on the details of both the monsters. ¡°Both of them are at most, the bottom rung of the ladder. Their special abilities aren¡¯t that much either.¡± [Horn Tackle] ¨C Charges towards a target with the horn in front to deal damage. Can cause bleeding.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. [Body Charge] ¨C Charges towards a specific direction without care for oneself. Deals damage to enemies in the path. Can cause fractures and concussions to the user or the enemy. But what I¡¯m more interested in is the option. Because the summoned monster gains another special ability along with its innate one, increased stats, and increased . ¡°I wonder what kind of skills are they?¡± [Phase Shift] ¨C Phases the user into another dimension, becoming immune to all incoming damage and crowd-control, gaining invisibility, and free movement for 5 seconds. Cannot deal damage while phasing. [Void Charge] ¨C Charges towards a specific direction without care for oneself. The moment the charge starts, the Void element wraps around the body, making the user immune to physical damage. Can cause fractures and concussions to enemies. ¡°These are¡­!?¡± ¡®OP ABILITIES!!!¡¯ ¡°The first one can be a repositioning and ambush tool, while the other one can be used as a tanking method!!¡± Countless of methods to use against invaders could be used with these two abilities! ¡°If these are two are good enough with the option, I wonder what will it be like with other monsters? Kukukuku¡­¡± On another note, I can still purchase the monsters without the option, making them regular monsters and invalidating the additional price. I released a chuckle and continued to think on where to place them to make the best of them. ¡°Hmm¡­?¡± That is, until I saw another option. [Automatic Dispenser] Because of curiosity, I checked the description of the option found on the tab. [Automatic Dispenser] ¨C Automatically Summons a specific monster you have chosen every day. Maximum number of each is 10. The monsters summoned by this can be placed anywhere in the dungeon and is not limited to where the was set. Requires 100 times the normal amount of MP used to create an of a specific monster. ¡°OHHHHHH!!!!¡± This option changed everything I had planned for the dungeon. Even I didn¡¯t think of this when creating ¡®Dungeons and Mayhem¡¯. ¡°But 100 times the normal amount? I don¡¯t know if it is high or small, but once I see the daily income of MP, I will know for sure.¡± Now that checking what kind of monsters to place in the dungeon is done, which hardly required any thinking at all, next is to think what kind of treasures to place to lure in some invaders. I opened the tab and was speechless on the items I found on the list. [T-bone Steak] 20 MP [Golden Bone] 10 MP [Huge Carrot] 15 MP ¡°¡­¡± A minute of silence elapsed before I was able to speak again. ¡°WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS!?!?¡± Correct that please. Make that yell again. ¡°ARE YOU LITERALLY SAYING THAT ALL MY TREASURES ARE JUST SOME KIND OF FUCKING FOOD FOR ANIMALS!?!?!?¡± My continued cursing and yelling reverberated across the small room. If there was another person in here, I doubt he would be able to withstand this kind of torture and would have fainted early on. A few minutes of curses and yelling later, I was finally able to calm down and make a rational judgment based on the items listed on the tab. ¡°Thinking about it clearly, there are no humans here, so probably these treasures are meant to lure in monsters instead of humans. Sheesh, I shouldn¡¯t be this hot-blooded.¡± Thanks to the unseen AI, or some other entity that automatically processes the situation of the , as well as the dungeon itself, proper measures could be taken properly, unless the is an idiot. ¡°I should stop cursing the God Abruptum now. Who knows when his wrath would descend onto my mortal soul.¡± Speaking like some kind of old man from the medieval ages, at least what I think it was, I bought exactly 5 Void Horned Rabbits and 5 Void Wild Boars. Since the level of my dungeon is still one, it can only handle 10 monsters. Any more than that and it will automatically be unsummoned for 100% of its price. I let them roam the dungeon by pairs, one Void Horned Rabbit, and one Void Wild Boar. After that, I bought the treasures, , , and , 3 of each, and then placing them on key locations such as the end of the floor, dead ends, and hidden passages with breakable walls. With the first floor of the dungeon done, a rift on one end of the dungeon appeared, the dead end that was the farthest away from the passageway towards the . ¡°What¡­?¡± [Attention!!! An invader has successfully entered the dungeon!!!] The next moment, another window appeared displaying real-time footage of the happenings in the dungeon. The screen was focused on the entrance of the dungeon, where a pack of wolves with pitch black fur was sniffing around. [Invader Count: 5] On the bottom-left corner of the screen displayed a line of text notifying me of the number of invaders left inside. ¡°So helpful¡­ That¡¯s not the point here!!!¡± I quickly shifted to full-alert mode and checked the map of the first floor. Close to them was a pair of my summoned monsters. I had them retreat for awhile and regroup with the others. ¡°I¡¯ll let them attack once they number more than the wolves.¡± The pair of monsters quickly backed off and took the shortest route towards the nearest pair of summoned monsters. While the pair was moving along with my commands, the pack of wolves finally made their move and advanced. With the alpha wolf in the lead, the pack trekked through the maze. They took a turn once the first fork appeared. To my relief, the pack reached a dead end with no treasure inside it. ¡°Wait, I thought wolves are supposed to have good noses and sense of direction? Why are they getting lost in this maze?¡± I looked for a reason but wasn¡¯t able to find one. They have no problems in this dark and damp cave because of their eyesight, but for them to be lost in this ordinary cave, there must be something. I racked my brain to find just one reason, and finally, the most obvious idea popped into my head. ¡°Isn¡¯t it because the cave is a dungeon? And if not, then isn¡¯t it because the dungeon is situated inside my ?¡± With those as the reason, I strengthened my belief of, ¡®Common Sense Does not Work in Dungeons and in Fantasy.¡¯ I focused back into the screen and saw that three pairs of summoned monsters have regrouped. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s time.¡± I ordered the three pairs to advance forward towards the pack of wolves still trying to find their ways inside the maze. A few minutes later, the two groups met and thus start the clash. ¡°Buuummmooooo!!!¡± To kick the fight off, the Void Wild Boars charged using their special ability . The wolves nimbly dodged charging boars and tried to counter-attack, but was unable to pierce through the defense of the boars while they were charging. ¡°Ruuaaghhhhh!!!¡± Because of the recoil from the failed counter-attack, the wolves were vulnerable to looming attacks, and the Void Horned Rabbits didn¡¯t let this opportunity slip away. ¡°Kyuuuiii!!!¡± The Void Horned Rabbits quickly stabbed the defenseless wolves with their horns. Because of the low damage output and tenacity of the wolves, they were unable to finish them off. ¡°Grrruoooohhh!!!¡± The injured wolves swiped their claws towards the rabbits whose horns were still stuck inside their body, only to hit thin air. ¡°Grruuu?¡± The wolves went speechless for a moment, and after 5 seconds, they were assaulted again with another batch of intense pain. ¡°GYAAAAOOOO!!!¡± The Void Horned Rabbits, after having used the ability , quickly relocated themselves and once the duration ran out, stabbed their horns once more into the injured wolves. While the wolves were being terrorized one by one by rabbits, the alpha wolf, as well as the other unharmed wolf, was desperately battling against the monstrosities known as the Void Wild Boars. ¡°Grrooooo!!!¡± Every time a claw is swung, it bounces off from the mighty charge of the boar. Every time sharp teeth collided with fur and skin, the teeth broke and flew into the air. ¡°BUUUMMOOO!!!¡± The cry of the mighty hogs, Void Wild Boars, sounded as if they were having fun. Chapter 2.3 ¡°This is incredible¡­¡± I stared at the screen in awe. The scene where rabbits and boars trampled on their predators, the wolves, was breathtaking. My jaw was wide agape the whole time since they first clashed. ¡°OP monsters¡­ Thank goodness God Abruptum didn¡¯t nerf this¡­¡± I made a joke in the spur of the moment to relish in aftermath of the fight. The scene that was displayed on the screen now was the celebrating rabbits and boars after defeating the wolves. [Successful Defense!! Spoils MP: Night Wolf x 5 = 50 MP First Time Defense: 500 MP Flawless Defense: 50 MP Total: 600 MP Items: Night Wolf Claw* x 2 Night Wolf Fang* x 3 Alpha Night Wolf Fur***] A few moments later, a new window appeared displaying the rewards I get after successfully defending my dungeon. ¡°¡­¡± And one look at the MP reward made me upset. ¡°¡­ Looks like saving up for the will take awhile¡­¡± I let out a sigh and took a look at the items next. [Night Wolf Claw*] ¨C Sturdy claw taken from a Night Wolf. Can be used for alchemy. [Night Wolf Fang*] ¨C Sharp fang taken from a Night Wolf. Can be used for blacksmithing weapons. [Alpha Night Wolf Fur***] ¨C Thick fur taken from an Alpha Night Wolf. Can be tailored into high class winter clothing. ¡°Ohh¡­ This¡­ Still has no use at the moment¡­¡± Since the items were delivered into my by default, I only had to exit the window to be done with observing and keeping them. I closed the as my work was now done. The first floor of the dungeon was secured with tight security, even though the bodyguards were only rabbits and boars, and the treasures I set up were still untouched. ¡°Anyway, since I can open the anywhere, I don¡¯t have to be in this room every time I need to open it.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. I turned around and headed back to the passage where I first went through to get to the core room. I went up the stairs leading to the living room from the basement and then went straight to the second floor. Looking for the room where I can get comfortable with, I set up my sleeping space on one of the guest rooms. The master bedroom had a huge bed good for about 4 people, so I had to give up on it. I can¡¯t sleep properly with that kind of bed. I went towards the bathroom to freshen up and after the refreshing shower I headed back to the guest room and lied down on the bed. ¡°Fuwwaaahhh¡­ So comfortable¡­¡± *Grumbling Sounds* ¡°¡­¡± It looks like because of the tension earlier, I forgot to eat. I went to the kitchen to whip up some food from the corpses of the animals I hunted. I took a Horned Rabbit corpse out of the and laid it out on a tray, but¡­ ¡°¡­¡± ¡®I forgot¡­ I don¡¯t know how to dismantle them¡­ I don¡¯t even know which part is edible or poisonous¡­¡¯ ¡°¡­ Shit¡­¡± A curse naturally flew out of my mouth at the regret of letting TB no. 2 leave earlier. ¡°I should¡¯ve asked it first how to dismantle the corpses¡­¡± I sent the corpse I took back and instead, took out one of the foods that the organizers left with me after my transfer. ¡°¡­¡± But for some reason, the food that they left me with was something that was very familiar to me. [A Variety of Instant Noodles (Cup Included)] [A Variety of Canned Food] ¡°¡­¡± After a few seconds of shock and nostalgia, I smacked myself in the head with my right hand. ¡®What the heck are you getting surprised about? Don¡¯t mix up common sense with fantasy damn it!!¡¯ Once again, I reinforced the ¡®Common Sense Does not Work in Dungeons and in Fantasy¡¯ belief in my head to the extreme. Since there was running water in this house, as shown back when I was showering, it wasn¡¯t that hard to get clean water. Pouring in water to the kettle, I placed the kettle on the stove and opened the gas. After waiting a brief moment for the water to boil, I poured the boiling water into the cup where the instant noodles was waiting for its demise. A few minutes later¡­ ¡°Fuuuhhh¡­¡± After having my fill of cup noodles, I threw the cup into the trash. Surprisingly, the trash can here instantly disintegrate anything thrown inside. ¡°¡­I¡¯ll have to be careful next to this trash can¡­¡± I went back up the stairs and to the guest room where I will stay for the night. I lie down on the bed to get comfortable and feel drowsiness overcome me¡­ not. ¡°I can¡¯t sleep¡­¡± Maybe because all of the tension from earlier still didn¡¯t disappear, I felt lively enough to not drift into slumber. ¡°What to do¡­¡± Contemplating on what to do to relieve the tension, I remembered something very important to my livelihood. ¡°The book¡­ I forgot the book¡­¡± I quickly opened up the and took out the book that was given to me by the organizers to learn about the world. By the way, picking out items from my inside my was pretty weird, but whatever¡­ Seeing the book once more made my mood worsen. ¡°Oh god¡­ This is very thick¡­¡± I flipped open the book and into the first page. And thus starts my grueling activity of reading myself to sleep. *** ~ Third Person POV ~ Long, long ago, in the distant past, there exists a singularity within the empty void. This singularity had the power to fabricate the very existence of worlds itself. During the period when the singularity had started to generate an ego for itself, it had a thought. ¡®This place is so dark.¡¯ Thus let there be light!!! With a single will of its thoughts, the light took place in the form of a sun. The void lightened up that day, making the singularity full of joy. Time passed then the singularity had another thought. ¡®There is nothing here¡­¡¯ Thus the creation of the world!!! In but a moment, a huge land of mass was created in the lonely void. Various beings came into existence here, such as trees, grass, etc. The singularity enjoyed itself creating all these things into existence and as such, more time passed. ¡®It is very lonely¡­¡¯ The singularity had developed emotions. After eons of creating and more creating, the previously empty void was now filled with various huge lands of masses, each ranging in different sizes and shapes. But one thing in common could be seen on each of the lands of masses, there was no life. In reality, there was life, but the life that the singularity sought was one where they could communicate with each other. Thus started the day where humans were fabricated into existence. Chapter 2.4 During the early stages of the world development, only two humans were created. From the soil of the earth and water from the sea, the human body was created with these two main components, though up to this day, the people has no idea how their bodies came to be with only soil and water. The first human created was a male with a name known as Principal. He was gifted with unnatural strength, being able to subdue an elephant with only his right hand. He had a slim body, in contrast to his strength, and a face that was said to harbor the face of an angel. The second human was a female with the name Femin. She was gifted with intelligence harboring that of a god¡¯s, with wit that could be said to make a single country flourish for millenniums, even with her not present. They were the firstborn of the many humans that would populate the world. The two of them spent a year with only the two of them. During that time, Femin was able to conceive more than a hundred children. It wasn¡¯t strange for Femin to give birth everyday due to the singularity giving Femin the Fruit of Copulation. The fruit, when eaten by Femin, allowed her to conceive everyday even after giving birth. It also negated the sense of pain when giving childbirth, as well as prevented the death of the female. There was also another feature of the fruit, and that was speed up the process of growing in children. In just one month, the children already looked like 15 year olds. With the children working everyday, they were able to create an environment where shelter, food, and water were abundant. Even clothing and weaponry was no problem once the children learned from the knowledge given to them by their only mother, Femin. And so, 5 decades passed, and the population neared 1,000,000. Because of the females eating the Fruit of Copulation given to them by the singularity, the population of the world entered a high-speed influx of humans. That is, until an organization called ¡°The Black Hand¡± was created. The members of this organization all believed that the singularity was just their support in creating the world, and that the humans were the true rulers of the world. They waged war against Femin and Principal, dyeing the world in red blood. During this time, cities, as well as kingdoms with their own kings were reigning supreme. Femin and Principal were nearing their limits as humans. And after a gruesome decade of wars, Femin and Principal were slain by the hands of ¡°The Black Hand¡¯s¡± carefully cultivated battle puppets. Today, the remnants of those battle puppets were known as the ¡®Demon Race.¡¯ The Demon Race looked human, save for the horns growing on their head. They had extraordinary magic aptitude compared to the humans, making the humans bend to their knees in battle. The singularity had no idea of the horrors of human greed at that time, but made amends instantly when it had known that Femin and Principal had fallen. He raised the two from the dead and placed both of them next to him, thus Femin and Principal gaining the status of Gods. It was then humanity made a comeback against ¡°The Black Hand.¡± Humans capable of fighting against the Demons appeared by the help of Principal, the God of Strength, and intellectual humans capable of creating tactics and strategies against ¡°The Black Hand¡± arisen by the help of Femis, the Goddess of Wisdom.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. After another 30 years, did the war come to an end. During the middle state of the comeback from the side of humanity, ¡°The Black Hand¡± created another type of battle puppet, known as the ¡°Beastman Race¡± in the present. With strength surpassing that of the Demons and Humans, humanity was once again at an impasse with the rise of the Beastmen. It didn¡¯t take too long though, with the Gods Principal and Femin by the side of humanity, crushed the oncoming wave of terrorism after a few years of strife. Once the opposition was crushed, the latter years of the war was only hunting the remnants of ¡°The Black Hand¡±. After more than a decade of rooting out the hiding members, peace one returned to the world. The remnants of the battle puppets, known as the Beastman and Demons, were forgiven by the singularity and Gods as they were once human whose bodies were experimented on by the deranged members of ¡°The Black Hand,¡± although humanity had other thoughts. Thus entered the years of peace where humans prospered and the other races were discriminated against. During the span of time when peace reigned, the singularity which made Principal and Femin Gods, created more Gods whose tasks were to govern the flow of the world. They were the Gods of the Elements. They were the 8 Gods governing over the flow order of the world namely, Ignis of Fire, Aqua of Water, Terra of Earth, Ventus of Wind, Lux of Light, Tenebris of Dark, Tonotirua of Thunder, and Inanis of Void. Each of them makes up the world, and if one of them disappears, the world is thrown into chaos because of the loss of balance. And only the singularity can fix it, but for some reason, the singularity disappeared, along with the God of Strength and Goddess of Wisdom. This is the history of the creation of the world Andeght. *** ~ First Person POV ~ ¡°Fuuwaaaahhh~~~¡± I yawned as I finished the world¡¯s creation part. This was just a fourth of the total history part written in the book. I spent at least 3 hours reading a fourth of the history part of the book, not to mention there were still more after the history part. ¡°I¡¯ll read the next part next time.¡± For now, there was still no sign of who the organizers were, as well when the God of Dungeons Abruptum appeared. Even though right now I was enjoying my time here, I was still trying to gather information about those who brought me here. If by some chance this was no coincidence, then what was the purpose of bringing me here, and if not, will I be able to go back to Earth? But some part of me keeps on saying, ¡®Stay here. Even if you go back to Earth, will you just repeat the same old boring life?¡¯ Back on Earth, I was just doing the same job everyday, now knowing when it will end. Back then, it was just me and my computer, slaving away all day, just to get another day to live. Heck some days, I was even thinking of sleeping it all away. I wanted to run away from reality. Being here now makes my heart feel light, as if a burden on my shoulders was lifted up. Here, I can live my life as I please, create my own story without any boringness. I can even say, ¡°This was a fun life¡± when I grow old and actually meaning it. Even now, just thinking of going back made me shudder. If I went back now, I¡¯ll no doubt repeat the same process of programming just to make a living. Without a doubt, I would be living like a hermit everyday, waiting for the day when my heart would stop so that I could be free from the daily work. ¡°Rather, I would give anything just to come back here¡­¡± My true thoughts leaked out of my mouth. Every relative I knew were dead. My friends? None. Just friends through a company, a work buddy if you may. Don¡¯t get me started with a girlfriend. My age is equal to the days without a girlfriend. ¡°Hahaha¡­ I wonder what my past self would think if he knew that his future self would be in a fantasy world managing a dungeon and having an adventure.¡± He would no doubt throw away everything he had on his person and come flying naked, just to get away from reality. Such is the fate of a work-driven person striving for only oneself. ¡°Sometimes, loneliness can be lethal¡­¡± I cleared my mind and rolled on my bed for a few seconds, before proceeding to sleep the night. Chapter 3 ¡°Om nom nom nom¡­¡± After getting a good¡¯s night rest, I went to the kitchen and had breakfast, and the food I was eating was bread and canned food. ¡°I¡¯ll need to learn how to dismantle animals if I want to get by with enough food¡­ Nom¡­ Nom¡­¡± I gulped down the food and took a glass of water. ¡°Dungheohn Hmenhu. ( ) ¡± I opened up the while a toothpick was cleaning the inside of my mouth. MP: 990 ¡®No problems here¡­¡¯ By the way, the computation for the total expended MP was this: Void Horned Rabbits = 40 x 5 = 200 Void Wild Boars = 55 x 5 = 275 T-Bone Steak = 20 x 3 = 60 Golden Bone = 10 x 3 = 30 Huge Carrot = 15 x 3 = 45 Total: 610 Subtracting it from my current MP reserve which was 1000 MP left me with 390 MP, which then went up to 990 MP after the defense last night. Ever since the raid of the wolves from yesterday, there was no attack that came next. By the way, I had a new summon option in the tab. Monster Species: Night Wolf Special Ability: Shadow Bite Threat Level: F+ (E in packs) Cost: 15 MP Influence from the Dungeon: Gains the special ability and increases agility. Raises by 2 ranks. Additional Cost: 40 MP [Shadow Bite] ¨C Bites a target dealing physical damage. Darkness attribute is imbued in the bite, dealing bonus damage. [Dimension Dive] ¨C Dives inside another dimension becoming unable to attack and immune to all incoming damage and crowd control. Inside the dimension, the user will have increased speed for 5 seconds. Moving leaves a trail of light. The monster that was defeated last night was now can now be summoned. What¡¯s more, the ability the wolves have was an offensive tool that deals attribute and physical damage! Moreover, the option granted a new ability that allows them to have increased speed while being immune to attacks, another repositioning tool. Too bad it didn¡¯t have complete invisibility unlike the Void Horned Rabbits have.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°But the sad part about this is the .¡± Because of the that didn¡¯t go up from the fight last night, I was unable to summon a single Night Wolf inside my dungeon. Of course, I could always unsummon a Void Horned Rabbit, but doing so will just lower my MP once I summon a Night Wolf. For now, I left the alone and exited my dungeon, by going through the entrance that I left behind beside my poor construction of a temporary shelter. I went through the ominous-looking portal and arrived at my destination, the huge rock was still here, but my shelter was torn down. ¡°Looks like the wolves crashed this place huh¡­?¡± There were footprints here and there which indicated the wolves roaming around here, probably encircling the portal due to curiosity. ¡°Now, where was I supposed to head again?¡± Ahah!! I remembered my conversation with TB. No 2 and headed towards the river. 200 meters South was it? I walked through the trees and grassy ground and after a few minutes of walking, I arrived at a flowing river. ¡°Now then, next is to head upstream and set up a base at a good location.¡± By the way, the base that I am talking about is an entrance to my dungeon for monsters to enter. That way, even if I am not inside my dungeon, monsters can come to and fro, making it possible to farm MP while I am going on my travels. Thankfully, because of the protection the organizers gave me, I am still stuck on easy mode for about 28 more days. Once that duration ends, well, I hope that my dungeon is strong enough to repel hell mode monsters. I walked along upstream for about 2 hours until I encountered a waterfall with a height of 15 meters. Along the way to the waterfall, I encountered a bunch of Horned Rabbits and a single Wild Boar. I could do with the Horned Rabbits one on one or one on two, but spare me from the encountering with two Wild Boars. I¡¯d definitely die if I fought with two of them. The Horned Rabbits, after getting used to their attack patterns, was I able to kill them swiftly after dodging them once. Of course, I sustained injuries along the way to get used against the attacks of the rabbits, but thanks to the that was given to me by TB no. 2, the wounds were of no worries. The problem lied with the Wild Boar. To kill that bastard, I had to climb another tree which took up my stamina and lunged at it the moment it crashed its head on the trunk with my sword held towards its crown. Afterwards, I had to take a break because of the physical and mental fatigue of the fight for 20 minutes, and went back to walking. And now, at present, a majestic and beautiful waterfall enveloped my sight. With its graceful water flowing down the cliff, and the rigorous splashing of water at the bottom, it was as if only the waterfall was the center of the world. ¡°I never did go sightseeing back on Earth¡­ Perhaps I should¡¯ve done it once¡­¡± My life back on Earth flashed before my eyes, before I dismissed them without question. ¡°Anyway, this is a good spot to place the entrance of my dungeon, and what place none other than the cave at the back of the waterfall would make sense.¡± Actually, scratch that, I¡¯ll just place it on one of the trees here. As if there is a hidden cave behind that waterfall, this isn¡¯t some kind of clich¨¦ fantasy story. ¡°How do I place it anyway?¡± Do I just place my hand on the tree while saying, ¡°Create Dungeon Entrance!¡± or something? ¡°!¡± After I said that, the tree morphed into something that was not a tree, at the same time, it was a tree. Actually, it just looked like a big tree with a huge trunk and a hole at the middle of it leading down. I entered the dungeon just for the sake of testing it and it brought me to a dark place with a holographic window in front of me prompting for my choice. [Where would you like to go Drake?] [First Floor] [Dungeon Master Quarters] [Dungeon Core Room] ¡°Ohh¡­ So this is like administrator privileges when logging in.¡± Unlike for beings who are sent to the with no questions asked, a in charge of the dungeon can freely teleport anywhere in the dungeon. While on the topic, the reason why this didn¡¯t appear the first time I went inside the dungeon was because it was the ¡®first time¡¯ so I was immediately sent to the and was supposed to explore, and also, because there was still no . I went back outside and made a satisfied look. ¡°Well with this, one of my bases is completed. Now then, where shall I head next?¡± Just as I said that, my eyes picked up something shining from behind the waterfall. ¡°D-Don¡¯t tell me¡­?¡± Chapter 3.2 Behind the waterfall, I was able to enter an underground tunnel, a cave if you insist. Before entering the cave though, there was sign that read, ¡°For the glory of hell and fire reside within these chambers, may no foolish soul trespass within.¡± For me, that was absolutely idiotic. For crying out loud, that sign was a clich¨¦ that meant, ¡°There is treasure inside!!!¡± Believe me, making a game using dungeons as a base, I¡¯ve encountered signs like that a lot of times. But the next thing was what surprised me the most. ¡°This is not a cave!!!¡± Instead of the usual spooky cavern with a tinge of spooky ambience, what greeted me inside was a long hall filled with expensive decorations. Suit of armors lined up beside the passageway and paintings were plastered on every column. The walls were painted white, with a bit of pure gold mixed within. If anything, this was a passageway going towards the throne room of a rich country¡¯s castle instead of a cave. I moved forward cautiously, aware of my surroundings at all times. I don¡¯t want to get jump-scared like the famous FN*F series did to me in my childhood days. With sword in hand, I moved along the red carpet guiding me deeper into the gorgeous hall filled with suits of irons. It only took me one tiny mistake (accident) to actually set them all off, and most of all, it was the most embarrassing one to boot. ¡°Ahh-choo!!¡± With a single sneeze, the lined up suits of iron twitched and their helmets all focused on me. ¡°Oh shit¡­¡± Cold sweat poured from my forehead down to my chin, then dropped towards the carpet, which signaled the sign for the assault. ¡°FUCKKK MEEE!!!¡± I made a mad dash back towards where I entered. Good thing it still wasn¡¯t that far. ¡°!?¡± A blade brushed upon my cheek, and blood started flowing down. I put my hand over it and applied pressure to it while fending off the suit of armor in front of me with my sword. But because of my clumsiness in wielding a sword, it didn¡¯t do much but buy time because of their ruggedness.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Shit, shit, shit!!!¡± I luckily dodged its downward swing and swung my blade towards it head. Because of lady luck, the blade went through the thin part of the armor and easily cut off the helmet away from its body. The suit of iron crumpled down to the ground, never to move again. But that didn¡¯t give me the time to celebrate. More suits of armor were rushing towards my location at insane speeds. Hell, there was even more in front of me. ¡°This is bad, really fucking bad!!¡± What do I do¡­ What the hell do I fucking do!?!? Just then, a thought came to my mind. ¡®If I lure them into my dungeon, there¡¯s a chance I can get away!!¡¯ Without hesitation, I opened up a portal heading towards my dungeon. A black rift formed behind me, and while it was still forming, I quickly jumped in. While jumping in though, a suit of armor was able to land an attack on my foot with a mace, breaking my right foot. ¡°FUUU---!!!¡± I endured the pain and was able to get inside my dungeon. ¡°To the [Dungeon Core Room]!¡± Without waiting for the prompt from the system, I immediately gave my answer to not waste more time and prepare my defense. I then appeared in front of the [Dungeon Core] mid-air, only to crash to the ground because of my broken foot. ¡°DAMN IT!!!¡± I cursed once just to get rid of the stress from being in pain, as well as forget the feeling of pain for a moment to get my bearings back. I pulled myself onto a chair situated near the [Dungeon Core] and quickly opened the [Dungeon Menu]. ¡°All monsters, prepare for the invasion of intruders!!¡± Just as I said that the warning message appeared. [Attention!!! An invader has successfully entered the dungeon!!!] [Invader Count: 29] ¡­ If I wasn¡¯t able to get away from there, I might have died. But I thought I had protection against some events that will actually kill me, so can this crisis be passed? ¡°But still, 10 vs. 29 is just too much¡­¡± Based on history, human wars were mostly won because of numbers. Mind you, most of them only, some were exceptions. By the way, movies aren¡¯t real, except for those based on true stories, but are probably exaggerated, so one person isn¡¯t enough to fight against hundreds. But since I¡¯m stuck with that, I¡¯ll just have to summon more with my remaining MP if any one of my monsters dies. ¡°But damn¡­ this hurts like hell¡­ Where¡¯s the potion.¡± I took another health potion from my [Dimension Pocket] and chugged it down. Because the bone was the victim this time, not my flesh or skin, ingesting the potion was the best bet. ¡°GUHH!!! Gulp¡­ Gulp¡­ Puahh¡­¡± The pain from the recovering bone was worse than recovering from leg impalement. I had to bite the bottle tip just to endure the pain. ¡°Now then, let¡¯s see what I can do to help my monsters win this unfavorable fight¡­¡± I viewed the battle by shifting my attention to the screen that popped up when the suits of armor went inside my dungeon. In front of the rushing armor, were the 5 Void Wild Boars charging towards the suits of armor with their [Void Charge]. ¡°Looks like it had already started¡­¡± Chapter 3.3 ~ Third Person POV ~ ¡°Tch¡­ Where am I¡­?¡± A lone monster stood inside an empty cave. It had horns on the side of its head, a pitch black mane flowing down to its back, and fangs jutting out of its mouth. It walked on two hind legs that were thick as logs, and its upper body was full of testosterone that will shame any human bodybuilder. Its skin was, pitch black, while its eyes were tinted red. It was a minotaur which was three meters tall. Born from the depths of a labyrinth, and was able to come out due to unforeseen circumstances, though in the world of Andeght, just that sentence about ¡®being born in a labyrinth¡¯ was complete bull. A minotaur was a monster that strikes fear into the hearts of all its adversaries, except for dragons and other more powerful creatures of course, but the minotaur was one of the most feared monster in Andeght. It alone could destroy a single battalion full of veteran human soldiers or adventurers, and still have room to escape. And that was the weakest of the minotaurs. As it was powerful, it was also rare. An average human worker would not encounter a minotaur in his entire lifetime, or even children generations after his death. Its power differed from its color, and the length of its mane. A pitch black, long mane, with pitch black skin was already considered a threat to the entire country, much more if it brought an army of monsters, since a minotaur could also lead because of its high intelligence. ¡°That damn human¡­¡± Before it appeared in this cave, it was battling an army of humans, but because of its strength, the minotaur came out unscathed. ¡°Once I see him again¡­!¡± The minotaur stomped on the ground furiously as it bellowed down from the depths of its stomach. ¡°I¡¯LL CRUSH YOU!!!!¡± Its roar shook the cave, and a mini-earthquake shook the land for a few seconds before vanishing as if it was a lie. During its outburst however, a strange object caught its eye. It was indented into the wall and was oozing a blue mist. It had the shape of a sphere, and was glowing brightly, illuminating the area it was in. The minotaur slowly crept near it, and suddenly, the sphere latched onto its right arm. ¡°!?¡± The minotaur shook furiously, trying to get it off immediately, but to no avail, moments later, the sphere transformed into a tattoo on its arm glowing brightly.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°What is this¡­?¡± (That¡¯s a dungeon core, Dungeon Master Karo.) ********* -- 156 years later ¨C ¡°Oho¡­ a human came in¡­¡± On the screen, it displayed a black-haired and black-eyed man cautiously entering the dungeon. He held a sword on hand and traversed the dungeon carefully, as if there were traps everywhere. ¡°His head is good, but his stance is trash¡­¡± Karo was a strong warrior since birth. Although during that time, all he knew was how to throw his muscle around instead of using techniques, during his time as a [Dungeon Master], as well as roaming about the world, he was able to incorporate countless of techniques into his body. Karo stood up from his seat as if he saw something interesting and stretched his arms, then picked up his huge weapon leaning on the wall. ¡°But something is strange about him¡­¡± Because of his curiosity, he decided to check up on the human personally. ********* The battle raged on inside the dungeon of Drake. A charge from a Void Wild Boar smashed an Iron Golem then another Iron Golem took its place then slashed at the Void Wild Boar. Because of the difference of rank and strength, the Void Wild Boar died instantly as its head hit the floor. Following that, another Void Wild Boar took its place then smashed into the Iron Golem. Behind it, another Void Wild Boar appeared out of thin air to join the battle. But that was not the only one fighting. The Void Horned Rabbits joined in on the fun and started using its horn as a weapon. Because of its ability , it wasn¡¯t easily killed, but the moment it was killed, not another rabbit replaced it, but a wolf. It had violet fur and its eyes glowed purple. It was twice as strong then the rabbit earlier and twice as fast. What¡¯s more, its bite crumpled the armor into pieces when it attacked. With its skill, it was nearly impossible for the Iron Golem to hit it. Once all the rabbits died, wolves replaced them and joined the battle, making it a living hell for the Iron Golems. They were the Void Night Wolves summoned by Drake to counterattack the attacking Iron Golems. The fight was raging on and on, until finally, only one more Iron Golem was left. But that did not mean it was Drake¡¯s victory yet. There was one more, more terrifying then the Iron Golems combined approaching him. With a rumble, the portal disfigured then stretched open. Inside it, a huge, three meter shadow was approaching. ¡°Where are you human¡­?¡± Karo smiled as if he was having fun after a long time. ******** ~ First Person POV ~ ¡°Damn¡­ I am losing a lot of points because of the dying Void Wild Boars.¡± Every time a Void Wild Boar charged, it took one suit of iron down, but then it was killed next instantly. ¡°But thanks to the help of the Void Night Wolves, the casualties lessened.¡± With the help of the Void Night Wolves, dying Void Wild Boars lessened because of their offense. But that didn¡¯t mean that the cost was low, no it was the opposite. 10 Void Wild Boars died during the battle. After that, I summoned 5 Void Night Wolves, and surprisingly, not one of them died, and one even leveled up! My remaining MP was 165. I hope that the rewards of this battle will be large. But sadly, that might not come into fruition. The portal disfigured, and within, a huge shadow came out. It had pitch black skin and a pitch black mane with two horns on the sides of its head. On its hand, it held a huge bastard sword that not even a professional weightlifter could lift with two hands. The terrifying monster made a scary grin as it said one sentence. ¡°Where are you human¡­?¡± Chapter 3.4 ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Probably the only suitable word for this situation. I quietly stared at the screen displaying the black monster destroying each and every one of my monsters. With just a single swipe of its weapon, 3 of my rabbits easily slept with the fishes because they were not fast enough to register the incoming attack. Next, it stomped its hoof on the incoming barrage of attacks from the Void Night Wolves, claiming two more lives. With that, it was five monsters down. Only five remained and since I was still not rewarded with the MP points from the previous battle with the suits of iron, I did not have enough MP to summon more than three monsters, which I know won¡¯t make a difference because of its absurd strength. ¡°What the fuck am I supposed to do¡­?¡± I quickly simulated countless of situations where I try to escape, fight back, and negotiate. But none of those options will work against that mass of absurdity. Escape is out of the option because it can easily destroy the , and by the way, if this wasn¡¯t mentioned before, once it is destroyed, the Dungeon Master¡¯s life is forfeit. Fighting back will just inevitably result in defeat, and will probably break down any chance of negotiating with it. While negotiation sounds like a good choice, I doubt I have anything worth my life in this dungeon, or even with my life, I doubt that monster would actually listen to me, seeing as it rampages among my defending monsters. While I was busy contemplating on what to do in overdrive mode, I failed to notice that the monster was already done killing all of my monsters and was heading to where my location is with ease, as if the maze wasn¡¯t there at all. ¡°Oh fuck¡­ I¡¯m screwed!!!¡± When I just realized that the monster was close to my doorstep, I quickly tried to find anything I could do to actually get out of this predicament. I grabbed my sword lying beside my chair, stood up and hurriedly got out of the . Next, I scanned my whole house in hopes of finding a hidden mechanic, but to no avail. A few moments later, the door leading to outside was blown away heading inside as if an explosion occurred right next to it. Behind the doorway was the huge monster. ¡°Shit, shit, shit, shit¡­¡± With my mind full of adrenaline and panic, I wasn¡¯t able to calm myself and actually peed myself. The smell of ammonia tickled my nose, but that wasn¡¯t the pressing matter of the moment. ¡°Human¡­ The smell of fear is strong!!!¡± With a cheerful but deadly yell, the monster wielded its huge weapon and destroyed the wall so it could get inside. The rubble burst upon contact and flung my way. Some debris hit me and bruised some areas around my body. Blood also trickled down from cuts made by sharp debris and rubble. Luckily, none hit my head, if it did, then I would be dead by now. ¡°How long has it been¡­? Since I found a new human to play with¡­¡± A grin floated up its horrifying face as it stared at me like it was looking at prey. It took a step forward, like most arrogant predators would before dicing up their prey for food.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I took a step back in response to the monster¡¯s action. ¡°Tell me human¡­ How long has it been since the races living in the surface feared the name of Karo¡­?¡± Because of the state I was in, I was unable to process the information given to me by the monster. If I was however, that statement alone could give me a hint on what to do next. With trembling legs, I tripped back and landed on my butt while raising the tip of my sword towards the monster. The fear of death is strong, but this time, it was stronger. This wasn¡¯t the fear of death¡­ It was the fear of the monster itself¡­ The monster looked at me as if it lost interest when I stumbled back, and its grin turned into a frown. ¡°Pathetic human¡­ Giving in to fear that easily¡­ I guess there is probably no use to toying with you now¡­¡± With a snort, the monster turned its back on me and took a step forward. Just when I thought that the monster was leaving and I could get my breath back, the monster spoke once more while glaring at me. ¡°But¡­ Somehow, something is strange with you, and I don¡¯t like strange things¡­ So you can die today¡­¡± ¡°Ehh¡­?¡± In a flash, my field of view shot up and met with the eyes of the monster. I couldn¡¯t move my neck, nor give out a scream. A moment later, I realized what had happened. In my view, was my body, blood gushing out where my head once stayed before I lost all of my vision to the darkness. *********** ~ Third Person POV ~ ¡°That damned minotaur. There it goes again, killing one of my .¡± Inside a white space was a man in his 20¡¯s glaring at the screen with a look full of rage. He swiped his hand, causing the screen to distort and vanish. ¡°What was the God of War thinking? Granting his blessing on a minotaur that could potentially destroy humanity? If I didn¡¯t turn it into a , then the world could say goodbye to humans as well as all his followers.¡± With a look full of displeasure, the man stared at another screen he summoned, and its contents were the data of the otherworld human who died to Karo. ¡°Because of that blessing, the protection was ineffective. And those damned geezers at the top, doing things as they please because they have power. It¡¯s a miracle that the universe hasn¡¯t collapsed by now.¡± The man continued his monologue as he summoned different screens, before dispersing each one after doing something to it. ¡°I pray that this young man may do his duty properly with the second chance I give him.¡± With a snap of his fingers, all of the screens dispersed and in front of him, a body of a young boy appeared. He had silver hair, and had red eyes, skin as white as snow, as well as a malnourished body. ¡°Even with my support, this is the only body I could get. Those geezers are at fault, not me so if you find out the truth, blame them.¡± A blue orb formed around the hand of the man, and moved towards the body of the boy, before getting sucked up into his body. And with another snap of his fingers, the body disappeared, leaving only the man behind in the white space. ¡°Do not waste your second chance.¡± The man repeated what he said before, in hopes of transmitting it to the soul of the human that dies to Karo inside his dungeon. Chapter 4 ¡°Hey get back here!!!¡± A furious huge man chased a little boy the age of a sixth grader between the alleyways of the city. Along with the man were his colleagues right behind him, wielding knives unskillfully, but they were still dangerous. The one being chased was a silver haired boy with red eyes. He weaved through the alleyways as if it was his garden. After a few or more so turns, the boy succeeded on losing the chasing men. ¡°You little brat!! Just wait until we get our hands on you!!¡± Before he was able to escape though, the leading man shouted a threat towards the boy while holding his weapon high. ¡®Pfffttt¡­ What the heck is that pose?¡¯ The boy stifled a chuckle before jumping inside a portal which he generated. ******** ~ First Person POV ~ Few days earlier¡­ ¡°Gah!?¡± When I came to, I wasn¡¯t inside my dungeon house with the terrifying minotaur, but in a dark alleyway. Judging from the light coming from the ends of the alleys, it was close to dusk. ¡°What happened?¡± I searched my memories, only to realize that after I met the minotaur, all that was left was fuzzy memories. I tried harder, but then something strange happened. ¡°What the¡­ Whose memories is this¡­?¡± My name is Drake Wota¡­ No¡­ It is Gren¡­ I lived on Earth¡­ No¡­ I lived on Andeght¡­ ¡°What the hell¡­?¡± My mind was in a jumble of confusion. Memories of two different people were merging inside my head. I held my head, reeling in the non-existent pain of this phenomenon. ¡°Wait¡­ Didn¡¯t I die¡­?¡± Finally, probably after the merge was completed, both the memories of the two people became clear. Drake died after getting his head chopped off from a ghastly strike from a minotaur. Just remembering the feeling of getting my head chopped off gives me shivers. Next was Gren¡¯s memories. A child who lived in the slums of a frontier city named Garjo. Gren died of starvation inside this very alley after running away from a local gang that terrorized the slums. ¡°But then¡­ Why is this happening¡­?¡± When I looked down, what I saw was a kid¡¯s body. Skinny arms, small hands, and ribs were clear through the skin. A perfect sign of malnourishment. *Grumble*Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°¡­¡± First things first, if I don¡¯t settle my hunger, I might just die another time¡­ ¡°[Dungeon Portal]¡± Recalling my memories as Drake, I tried creating a [Dungeon Portal] inside this inconspicuous alley. After a moment, a portal really did form, making my eyes bulge out. Because of the memories from Drake, I didn¡¯t feel all that surprised, but Greg¡¯s memories served as a reason for me to be surprised. Without hesitation, I head inside and was brought to a house where Drake used to live. Well, Drake was only able to sleep a night here, so this place probably doesn¡¯t count. What¡¯s more, because the dungeon can still be used, the minotaur didn¡¯t destroy the core. But because of hunger, I didn¡¯t mind the state of the house, nor the dungeon. ¡°[Dungeon Menu]¡± Calling the [Dungeon Menu] which Drake familiarized, I was greeted by the same holographic screen Drake saw in his memories. When I checked the top right screen, the value of MP was 1035. Judging from Drake¡¯s memory, the defense failed, but the MP increased due to the killed enemy monsters inside the dungeon. ¡°Well then¡­¡± Eating spree¡­ Here I come¡­ ******* After an hour of eating my heart out, I was finally full. It took a full 100 MP just to satisfy my body. After eating, my troubled mind became calm, and now, the more I think about this situation, the more I find it confusing. ¡°Why is this happening¡­?¡± My earlier question still goes unanswered, and will probably be for a long, long, time. ¡°Firstly, in the memories of the two people, both of them died. But then, why am I here¡­? What¡¯s more, in the body of the boy¡­?¡± There maybe many reasons, but first is why I was in the boy¡¯s body instead of the man is maybe because of the condition. The man¡¯s head was lopped off, while the boy¡¯s body stopped functioning because of the lack of nutrients so cross that one out. Next is who I am. I have no memories except for the two, so I can deduce that I am either of the two who dies, but why does it matter? Since I am living in the body of the boy, I¡¯ll just call myself Gren. Drake lives within me so I can say that both of them is living within this body. Last is why I was brought back. Because of some unknown circumstances, I am alive and kicking right now. I also have the ability to manipulate a dungeon because of Drake. Is there something going on in which I do not know about¡­? After pondering for quite a while, I shelved the questions for later and went out back into the alley. I don¡¯t want people learning about me having this kind of ability. Because of Gren¡¯s memories, I know what kind of people live here in the slums. Also, the reason why Gren died from starvation was because of the gang members. They stole his money and food worth 5 days, while saying things like ¡°Useless brat!!¡± ¡°But Mari¡­¡± In Gren¡¯s memories, there was a girl who always accompanied Gren. Both of them went their separate ways earlier this morning because of a job given to them by the local gang. Mari was supposed to serve as a prostitute for the brothel this evening, by the way, Gren¡¯s age is 12 while Mari¡¯s was 11. While Gren was to stay in this alley and watch if any suspicious people pass and report them to the official gang members. Although Gren didn¡¯t want to because of the stealing of food and money, he had no choice lest he dies right then and there. Regarding child prostitution in this day and age, where Drake came from, this was uncommon, but it was still done, but not so much by the children who had no choice but to. While here, in the world of Andeght, just to survive the slums, you have to be prepared to do anything. Mari already resolved herself 3 years ago. Gren didn¡¯t forgive the bastard who took her virginity. He was one of the official gang members. Thanks to that, Gren and Mari had no problem about food for a week, but after that, you can guess. ¡°I will get you out of here, I promise¡­¡± A promise made 4 years ago by Gren. ¡°I will make them pay¡­ And then, probably, we could start a new life together¡­¡± The love Gren had for Mari still didn¡¯t fade¡­ Chapter 4.2 ¡°Well then¡­¡± After stuffing myself with food and going back to the alley, my next task if to create a plan that can destroy the gang. Once I destroy it, I don¡¯t care about the slums. From Drake¡¯s memory reading too much light novels, normally, the gang controls the slums, and once it is gone, the order collapses leaving the slums in a chaotic state, but I don¡¯t care. My main goal is to get Mari out of here and elope with her, well, that was Gren¡¯s plan anyway, but so what? Since what I am using is Gren¡¯s body, why not fulfill his wish. With Drake¡¯s memory of his experiences, and Gren¡¯s life of living in the slums, it could be possible to create a solid plan for destroying the gang. And thanks to the ability to manipulate a dungeon, this could be possibly easier than normal. ¡°First things first¡­ Create a map¡­¡± Now to create a solid plan in an area, first thing is to have a map to plan out routes for escape. By the way, my strategy is guerilla warfare after getting Mari inside my dungeon, which I can do tomorrow once Mari gets her share of money and comes back to me. ¡°But really¡­¡± For a gang like that, I thought prostitutes would be holed up inside the brothels day and night, but for some reason, the prostitutes get free time during the morning and have their shifts 5 times a week. But for Mari, it was different. She only had free time in the morning and work all night. There are really sick bastards in this area. While criticizing the state of people in this town, using Gren¡¯s knowledge and experience of the slums, it took me about 2 hours to complete a map. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I had the [Dungeon Menu] help me. Creating a map by hand is incredibly hard for the amateur me. Thankfully, because the moon was out, I had no problem of being unseen. I just had to cover my silver hair with a garbage bag and put more dirt onto my body to make it not stand out in the dark. ¡°Ah¡­ damn it¡­¡± But well¡­ The problem of stepping on chocolate fudge was still problematic¡­ ******** Now that the map was done, next was to plan out routes where I can attack and then escape once it gets rough easily. Thankfully, the gang members are mostly stupid and lazy thinking that no one would go against them so I can reassure myself on getting caught. Gren¡¯s body was unusually swift, acrobatic, and flexible in contrast to his malnourished state. Thanks to his memories of weaving up and down in the slums after stealing food from a vendor in the market area, he developed this kind of body. ¡°So I have no problem of running, endurance and stamina¡­ How about strength?¡± Now here comes the problem. Because of his body, the most he could do was run for extended periods of time, but when it comes to a fight, his body is weak as hell.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°The most I could do in a fight using a stick against a Horned Rabbit is bashing it numerous times while dodging its attacks.¡± Not very efficient I might say. ¡°Oh yeah! Why don¡¯t I just use the monsters in my dungeon.¡± I completely forgot about my dungeon for a moment. But then, a realization came to mind. ¡°But, if it gets out monsters are in the slum area, the town guards just might come crashing down on us.¡± There is a saying in the slums, ¡°Do not enrage the guards.¡± In this town, the commoners discriminates against us homeless. Well, there are a few exceptions, but most of them have the mindset of, ¡°Why don¡¯t they just die? They¡¯re just a waste of people.¡± Pretty extreme don¡¯t you think? Now what¡¯s worse are the guards, just them getting annoyed at us warrants a death sentence. I don¡¯t know how many men, women, and children from the slums died because of getting on their bad side. Gren once saw a girl aged about 12 getting raped by a guard in the slums. After doing it, the guard wielded his sword and slit her throat. Some commoners saw that scene, but left as if it had nothing to do with them. Actually, they had ridiculing smiles at the corpse of the girl. ¡°Sick fucks¡­ all of them¡­¡± If this was in Drake¡¯s world, forget the FBI, the army would come crashing down on them and give them hell. ¡°This is a flammenwerfer, it werfs flammen.¡± I recited something from Drake¡¯s world that used a huge cylinder that spews out fire. If that existed in here, the whole slum area could be devastated in just a night. Enough of that. So the usage of monsters is prohibited, then how about attacking their stockpiles of food and gold? I don¡¯t care about the other homeless here, all I care about is Mari¡¯s safety. This could be a good alternative. Sabotaging their food storage and their gold hoard. Instead of dealing with the thugs, how about dealing with their internal workings, like their rations, their salary and whatnot? ¡°Okay, I decided.¡± With this, my targets are the stockpiles of food and gold, as well as other items used in the black market dealings. ¡°Now last thing to do is to find where they are¡­¡± ********** ~ Third Person POV ~ Inside a brothel in the slums, a fat man could be seen mounting a little girl. ¡°Fuhh¡­ I¡¯m done¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The girl had tears in her eyes. The past year, all of her usual customers began getting rough with her. All of her holes were plugged, sometimes it ripped and blood came out, you can just imagine the pain and torture the girl lived through. ¡°Hey! The next one is coming up. You better do your best to satisfy all of us, hihihihihi!¡± The laughter of the fat man had the girl crying in tears, but she could do anything to them but watch as they rip her up more. ¡®Gren¡­¡¯ Her thought during this whole time was the boy who accompanied her during times of hardships. Chapter 4.3 ~ First Person POV ~ ¡°Shit, shit, shit¡­ FUCKING HELL!!!!¡± My scream reverberated along the alleyway. I punched the wall next to me with all of my strength, but the wall didn¡¯t budge a bit. My hand bled because of my skin getting cut by the rough body of the wall. ¡°FUCK!!! FUCK!!! FUCKK!!!!!¡± My fury didn¡¯t stop there. I continued pounding the wall with no regards to my hands getting wounded. ¡°Those fucking bastards!!! I¡¯ll murder every one of them!!!¡± Earlier morning, after the shift of Mari¡¯s night duty, she came to our hideout, weeping. When I asked what was wrong with her, she just kept silent and cried while closing her palms with strength. The life in her eyes was dimming greater than before. Then it hit me. Whatever those sick fucks did last night, it was enough to completely damage Mari¡¯s emotional and mental state. Hell, even her physical state was no less better than mine when Gren died. For now, seeing that she had cried herself to sleep, I laid her down on a makeshift bed to let her be even just a little more comfortable. The dungeon can wait after I finish cleaning up the mess inside, as well as the dead body of Drake that was sitting lifeless on the floor in the living room. Hell, even his head was still on the floor wearing a shocked expression on his face. It sent a shiver down my spine knowing that I had once been him. Seeing your own dead body really wasn¡¯t a pleasant sight. After I laid her down, I went out the door and looked back at the abandoned, sorry excuse of a shack. ¡°Mari, I will let you taste happiness, I promise¡­¡± Which then led to the present situation, with me pounding the solid wall with my skinny as fuck frail hands. Just remembering the sight of her trembling in depression made my head boil over. ¡°I will fucking kill you all¡­!¡± ******** After settling my angry fit, I went back to business, finding their stash of supplies. Who cares for the other slum dwellers, my only goal is Mari¡¯s happiness and safety. Fuck them, if they don¡¯t have the will to resist or the wits to supply themselves, then suck my ass and kiss my booty goodbye, you won¡¯t be seeing your food situation get any better. And for those who are at the top of the gang, syndicate or whatnot, I¡¯ll fuckin¡¯ destroy every one of their outposts, but the problem was how to do that. I can¡¯t use monsters. I can¡¯t risk getting my dungeon discovered by the guards unless I want one of their strongest hot on my tail. ¡°Whatever, I¡¯ll get there when I get there.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I stowed away that thought in my head for the future and continued finding one of their stashes. After about an hour search, I found two stashes, one with food and the other with gold. Their gold stash is more heavily guarded than the other stash obviously. Thanks to Gren¡¯s memory, it didn¡¯t take that long. According to his memory, the most amount of gold stashed would be in their HQ, but since all of it won¡¯t fit since most of the items in their HQ were materials and items for trading, they had to find another place to stash their gold. Same goes for their food. Since it was morning, perhaps shouting in that alleyway wasn¡¯t a good idea. As lo and behold, one of my kin (slum dweller) has been apprehended and has been put to the sword by a patrolling guard. There was about three of them that were wearing partial armor that covered their chest, back, arms and legs. I was about to go back to our hideout only to find this scene in my eyes. The person that died was a boy in his mid teens looking skinny as hell. He wore rags and his ribs could be seen under his skin. But right now, all I could see was his head rolling down on the ground with an anguished expression. My bad dude, but tough luck, such is the life of a slum dweller. ¡®Note to self, never yell inside the slum.¡¯ I made a mental note as I saw them head back towards their duty while spitting on the corpse of the boy, damned sick bastards. After seeing them off, I quickly head towards the hideout hidden between two buildings. Inside was Mari still sleeping like a log with her face sometimes scrunching up. This is a clear case of having nightmares. I approached her and carried her in my arms. She was light, very light, so light that even Gren¡¯s body had no problem lifting her. Carrying her in my arms probably calmed her down as her previously scrunching face has disappeared into something more normal. I float a smile up on my face as I created a [Dungeon Portal] next to me and head inside with Mari in toe. Probably recognizing Mari as a friendly, the dungeon sent me and her directly to the partially destroyed modern house. I had a change in heart because of what I observed during the past hour. During my scouting, I noticed that unrest had been spreading around the slums. Apparently, the guards have been sighted more and more moving around the slums in the past month, and the local gang didn¡¯t like this. There has been an influx of recruits (against their will) of slum dwellers joining the gang for military strength. It seems that the gang plans to revolt against the current head of Garjo. But actually, the revolt is meaningless against the town guards who are physically fit against the slum dwellers who were not. Just even the concept of it was plain ridiculous. So their goal lay elsewhere. Thinking for a bit while walking towards the bedroom made me realize that the revolt was a diversion. There is no way for them to win so why bother, unless the higher ups planned to escape from the beginning by using the revolt as a distraction for the town guards to move. And during that, since the town gates would have been left undermanned, they could probably break through and escape the town and live the lives of bandits. Not that good of an idea, but nonetheless, something a gang lord would actually think about seeing that his head was probably on the bounty list. After coming up with a possible theory, I arrived at the bedroom and laid Mari down on the soft bed. Seeing her dirty the clean bed with her dirty body made me stifle a chuckle. ¡®Looks like I¡¯ll have to clean this bed sheet after she wakes up.¡¯ I head back downstairs in order to complete one of my other objectives, cleaning the damned house. Well, with the help of DP as well as the dungeon, it wasn¡¯t that hard, except I left my body, Drake¡¯s body to be precise right as it was. I wasn¡¯t going to confide my own body into oblivion, that¡¯s just plain wrong, but I couldn¡¯t just leave it here, so I decided to bury it under the backyard. Oh right, the house had a front lawn and backyard if I ever didn¡¯t bring it up. It took me about two hours to complete the funeral. The sword Drake used still by my side as it was still useful. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Drake, you are still alive¡­¡± I muttered unconsciously as I prayed for my plan to work once night falls. Chapter 4.4 ~ Third Person POV ~ ¡°Damn those arrogant pricks.¡± A man in rugged clothing sat atop a chair as he scribbled something on a piece of paper. After scribbling on it for a moment, he then passed it over to another man wearing a hood, obscuring his face, and gave him orders. ¡°Tell everyone on the list about the plan. Those who aren¡¯t, I presume you know what to do.¡± The man gave a toothy grin as the hooded man nodded and vanished into darkness. A few moments later the smile faded and returned to his usual irritated expression. ¡°Those bastards¡­ If they didn¡¯t tighten security in the slums, we wouldn¡¯t have had to do this and continued with our business. This business he was talking about was slave trafficking. Slavery in the world of Andeght was no rare occurrence. In fact, you could say that slaves were common in each country, be they beastmen countries, human countries, demon countries, or even the demihuman countries. Of course, slaves varied by each country, for example, human countries. They put all of the races, including theirs, into slavery for profit or for punishment. For the beastman countries however, they only enslave other races excluding theirs. For the beastmen that have sinned, they are either exiled, imprisoned, or executed. The man looked to the corner of the room. In this corner was a human girl in her mid teens wearing rags and a collar on her neck, she had lifeless eyes and only gazed emptily towards the man. The man grinned and approached her filled with nothing but impure motives. ¡°Since this will be your last night, I¡¯ll let you taste something you¡¯ve never tasted before.¡± The girl did nothing but nod in acceptance to her fate. ******** ¡°Are the men ready?¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Two men could be seen walking down the corridor. One of them wore high quality clothes over his incredibly fat body. It could be said that the man was a walking inflated balloon. Beside him was a man clad in full body armor and on his back, a giant metal sword. The man clad in armor gave a salute by placing his right fist on his left breast and stood straight as he answered towards the fat man, he also did not make eye contact. This was the salute taught to the soldiers of the Gaizeff Kingdom. Placing the right fist on the left breast gave respect to the King and standing straight gave respect to the person he was speaking to. Not making eye contact meant full subordination. ¡°Good, then tonight, we set the slum on fire! We¡¯ll teach those bastards kidnapping my citizens is a crime punishable by death!¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± With another salute, the soldier bowed down before running back towards his post. The soldier, or more accurately, the Army Commander of the Garjo Army Troops, Lenon Quincy, disregarded what could be called treason towards the well dressed fat man known as Princio Gaizeff Herma because of knowing what the aftermath would be. For the record, Gaizeff, the Kingdom¡¯s name is given to all barons and above as an indication of high standing. ¡®That stuck up noble! Don¡¯t you dare treat the citizens as objects!!¡¯ Little did he know that he too had the same mindset, but not towards the citizens, but towards the slum dwellers. A few minutes later, he arrived at the courtyard where dozens upon dozens of soldiers stood about, awaiting orders from the head. ¡°The lord has spoken! Tonight, we burn all those miserable trash living in the slums to the ground!Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°¡°¡°OHHHHH!!!¡±¡±¡± The soldiers gave an enthusiastic yell towards the command given to them by the lord. ********** Somewhere around the city Garjo, there were two individuals strolling about wearing hoods. The two had contrasting stature as one of them was tall as a grown man while the other was as short as a child. Judging by the shape of their bodies, both were female. ¡°Hey Pressia, what do you think about the feudal lord in this city?¡± ¡°¡­ Trash¡­ Pervert¡­ Arrogant¡­ Coward¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, isn¡¯t it?¡± The tall woman asked a question first before the short girl replied. Prior to this conversation, the two of them met with the feudal lord Princio Gaizeff Herma and their impressions could be cut down into one word. Garbage. Human filth that requires cleaning in the pit of fire. ¡°So, we carry out the mission?¡± ¡°¡­ Affirmative¡­¡± The short girl waved the cane in her hands, summoning a magic circle in mid-air. Thankfully, as the moon was out, and the commoners were evacuated beforehand due to the coming revolt, no one was around to see it, even the guards as it was also in a desolate area. From the magic circle, came out a giant suit of iron, a Giga Iron Golem, wielding a huge sword unfit for a normal human. ¡°¡­ Annihilate¡­¡± With just a single command from the short girl, the Giga Iron Golem marched through the desolate street towards the mansion where the feudal lord lived. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s observe from a far place. After all, the client said not to be discovered when carrying out the task.¡± ¡°¡­ Roger¡­¡± The short girl gave a nod as she created another magic circle below their feet this time. The circle glowed for a moment and soon after, the two vanished into thin air. ********* ~ First Person POV ~ Before the fight started, I went out of the dungeon and into the town. There was a problem though. The portal didn¡¯t close when I tried to close it. This must have something to do with Mari sleeping inside. Maybe because the dungeon doesn¡¯t recognize her as a part of my body (my summoned monsters though were alright, they were probably recognized as a part of me), the portal didn¡¯t close. So my next order of business was to find a safer spot for my dungeon portal. I also want it where it was incredibly hard to spot during the confusion of the fight. So I had to find somewhere high enough and also a place where people would not pass through during the fight. This led me to the bell tower in the middle of the city. I could not trust the streets as it would soon be crowded with swarms of people fighting, and also to make it more hidden, I placed the portal under the bell. Thank goodness it worked so now I have no problem with the safety of the dungeon, as well as Mari. It wasn¡¯t that hard to reach the bell tower. All I had to do was move under the cover of the night. Thanks to the guards holding torches, it was hard for them to see past the light made from the fire. While I was resting atop the bell tower waiting for the start of the battle, a horn sounded throughout the town. ¡°Idiots¡­ If I was the commander, I would rather assassinate each and every one of the enemy to keep allied losses at the minimum.¡± A major problem in this era, soldiers and knights believe in honor and chivalry in battle. If they lived back in Drake¡¯s world, then they would be the first to die in the battlefield, as well as the people slandered for also bringing their companions to death. The next thing that happened was the sound of marching moving through the dark streets. The vanguard dragging shields bigger than their bodies while a light sphere was roaming about their vicinity moved through the pathways unhindered. ¡°What the¡­ Their flanks are completely open!¡± ¡®Professional soldiers my ass! They aren¡¯t even taking into consideration ambushes from the enemy!¡¯ This probably stemmed from their arrogance as well as their prejudice against the slum dwellers for being nothing but stupid pieces of garbage. A prejudice they would soon forget. Moments later after crossing a block, a scream was heard. The soldiers were alerted to the scream and tensed up, holding up their weapons in vigilance. The soldier who screamed was one located near an alleyway. A blade pierced his chest, clearly dealing a fatal wound. The soldier slumped down to the ground, never to move again. Then it started. Shadows from the rooftops swooned down upon the soldiers. Amidst the confusion, dozens of soldiers were killed by the blades of the slum dwellers. Even though each of them were malnourished, give them a chance for revenge and a fulfilling life, then they won¡¯t hesitate to grab on. Once the soldiers realized they were attacked, they retaliated and the tides turned. Of course, in a direct fight, a slum dweller could never beat a soldier who was trained for battle. Once the soldiers reorganized themselves, the slum dwellers continued suffering losses way more than the initial deaths of the soldiers during their ambush. ¡°It has started¡­¡± This battle was the cue for me to move. The bastards who made Mari¡¯s and my life miserable will pay tenfold in blood and pain. I ran down the bell tower towards the streets and hid myself from any potential eyes. ¡®I¡¯m coming for you all¡­¡¯ A murderous aura encompassed my entire being as I moved through the shadows towards their HQ. Chapter 5 ~ Third Person POV ~ In the middle of the night, a town was engulfed in the tides of battle. This was none other than Garjo, the frontier city of the Gaizeff Kingdom. Sounds of clashing blades and enraged yelling reverberated through one district. The slums. Although soldiers and slum dwellers were killing each other, the main HQ of the soldiers, or the Feudal Lord¡¯s manor was strictly guarded by dozens of guards, not to mention they were the elite, the cream of the crop. But why were they situated not in battle, but on standby? The reason was very simple. ¡®Why do we need to spend our time killing those lowlifes?¡¯ This single thought was present in each of the elite soldiers¡¯ mind. But this thought brought upon their demise. ¡°Help!!¡± ¡°Destroy that golem!!¡± ¡°Protect the Feudal Lord!¡± Screams and heavy tremors engulfed the manor. Elite soldiers they may be, it was still hard to fight against a Giga Iron Golem, a B Class. This is a brief explanation of monster classification from weakest to strongest. G ~ F ~ E ~ D ~ C ~ B ~ A ~ S ~ SS ~ SSS ~ World G class monsters are where even a child who doesn¡¯t know how to fight can kill. An example would be a Weak Slime. Although the slimes are a monster type that can reach up to SS class, a Weak Slime is pretty much, the weakest monster and can be killed by just on stepping on its core. F class monsters needs combat experience, albeit only little to kill. An example would be Horned Rabbits. E class monsters can be killed by an experienced individual, or a group of non-combatants. An example of this would be Goblins. Although Goblins are weak individually, they are well versed in hunting and fighting, and always band together with other Goblins, so technically, a team of experienced fighters may be better at hunting them than non-combatants. D class monsters are monsters that can threaten a small village individually. An example would be a Charger. Chargers look like a cow but with huge, thick horns on their forehead. Their skin can repel an unskilled blade with ease. But because they are mostly alone, only a few villages have been trampled to the ground because of this monster. C class monsters need veteran fighters to kill. They are extremely tough to kill individually, as well as can ransack multiple villages with ease. An example of this would be Marpions. They look like mammoths, but with a huge scorpion tail that secretes poison. Fortunately, they share the same habit with the Charger. They tend to be alone rather than with other Marpions.Stolen story; please report. B class monsters are monsters that can raze a city to the ground if ignored. An example is the Giga Iron Golem fighting the soldiers right now. A class monsters can destroy several cities with ease. An example of this would be Mid-Dragons. Though they are called dragons, they are not considered dragons by the True-Dragons because of the lack of intelligence. S class monsters can destroy a country. An example of this would be the True-Dragons. Because of that, countries made a law declaring that no one is to venture into True-Dragons territory, much less just come close to it. SS class monster can destroy several countries. There was once a monster that destroyed several countries in two days, but then vanished like air the following day. Nothing is known about it except for the fact that it had spikes growing all over its body and towered 30 meters into the air. It was given the name Havoc because of the destruction it spread. SSS class monsters can devastate an entire continent. One such being is living under the depths of the deepest ocean. Its name was Leviathan, and it spanned 150 meters in length, and 25 meters in height. Not much is known except for the fact of its body length thanks to unknown reasons, and this was proven by using a lie detector skill. World class monsters can practically destroy the world. One such monster was known as the Demon King. Thanks to the Hero who was summoned to slay the beast, the Demon Lord was vanquished along with the Hero. The Hero¡¯s teammates will never forget the valor and courage the Hero had when facing the Demon Lord. Those were the monster classes, and Giga Iron Golem had a B class rating, thus making it next to impossible to repel by the elite soldiers. The reason why it was next to impossible was because the elite soldiers were only graduates who barely passed the Academy and was sent over to this frontier city. The ¡®Elite¡¯ was only a title given to them for passing the course. For the regular soldiers, they were trained in a barracks or were drafted by the Feudal Lord, and all of them were sent to fight against the slum dwellers. ¡°Damn it!!!¡± Princio cursed as he continued running through a hidden passageway along with his trusted confidants. The guards employed with them were the strongest of the graduates stationed in the frontier city, although they were still weak compared to a real knight. ¡°That damn golem!!! Why would it attack at this timing!? Or rather, who the fuck summoned that piece of trash!?¡± Princio kept on speaking with a raised voice while saliva kept on spilling out. The guards as well as the confidants just kept silent about the matter as they knew what would happen if one of them uttered even a single word. ********* ¡°How much longer!?¡± ¡°I¡¯m ready!¡± Two men who were in a hurry gathering their prized items could be seen inside a room filled with nothing but items and objects. Those two are the head of the gang ruling the entire slum district. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Once they were done packing up the things they deemed valuable, they got out of the room and along with 5 other people, quickly ran out of the building. The slum was on the south side of the city. Their destination was the East gate. They lead the slum dwellers towards the Western side of the slum district, as well as made a commotion, so the soldiers had no other choice but to suppress the commotion in that area, thus the fight was ongoing in the West area. But just as they were about to reach the street after running through an alley, it happened. ¡°I¡¯ve found you!¡± A happy voice echoed through the alley as if it was truly glad that it had found them. The next thing that happened was bizarre, as well as mysterious, and dreadful. They found themselves inside a cave. But inside the cave were dozens of monsters with a dreadful aura. ¡°You will all die here today!¡± The voice was filled with pleasure as if it was enjoying itself. Chapter 5.2 Inside the dim cave lied dozens of monsters. The group of gang members found themselves stuck inside a Monster House. Much to their dismay, the exit was nowhere in sight. ¡°What the fuck happened¡­?¡± The gang leader voiced out his question while feeling the fear rising up his throat. Seeing the unordinary monsters surrounding them made him leak out a curse as he reached for his sword sheathed on his waist. As unruly as he is, he is still well versed in the art of combat, though not to the point where he can fight head-on against a veteran knight. ¡°How the hell should I know?¡± One of his lackeys also voiced out a complaint as he grabbed the two daggers strapped to his thighs. He held them in a combat-ready stance as he carefully analyzed the monsters surrounding them. ¡°Boss, this ain¡¯t normal monsters surrounding us.¡± His voice full of vigilance as well as nervousness captivated the other gang members who were spacing out due to the sudden shift of locations. ¡°Wha---¡± ¡°Shit¡­¡± Swears and curses were heard from each of the members, although one had yet to speak anything and only silently drew his sword strapped to his back. The sword¡¯s length reached two meters and its huge blade made it hard enough for even professional bodybuilders to lift into the air. The man wore a hood over his face and a jacket over his body. Judging by the jacket¡¯s bulkiness, he was also wearing armor beneath it. Without a doubt he was the strongest of the bunch here. ¡°Bardo, you best try to keep up with me if you want to live¡­¡± Hearing that his silent friend had spoken up during this crisis, the gang leader, Bardo twisted his neck and stared straight at him. He nodded once after a moment and yelled at a high voice. ¡°ALL OF YOU!!! GET TOGETHER AND FOLLOW HADO!!! ANY ONE OF YOU BITCHES THAT FALL BEHIND WILL BE BAIT FOR THE MONSTERS!!!¡± As if his yell was the signal, the gang members quickly stuck together and headed towards Hado while keeping an eye on the monsters. At the same time, the monsters, or more technically, Void Wild Boars, Void Iron Golems, Void Night Wolves, and Void Horned Rabbits leapt at the invaders with great speed. The first to arrive were the Void Wild Boars. With their [Void Charge] aura surrounding them, all attacks against them during the charge were ineffective. One gang member unlucky enough to be in its path tried to swing his sword towards the crown of the boar, only to get knocked back and trampled by its trotters. The other gang members who saw this sight realized that attacking the boar while charging was a death wish and so relayed it to other members in hopes of even boosting up their survival rate. ¡°Do not attack the charging boars!!!¡± But all it took was one attack after the boar charged to realize that it was not invincible. The sword slid through the boar and created a huge gash wound on its body. The boar screamed in pain as it charged madly towards the gang member that wounded it, but it was not able to due to another sword piercing its head. The boar slumped down on the ground and bathed in its own blood.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°GO GO GO!!! JUST GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!!!¡± The two of them nodded at each other as they ran towards where the others were after they heard the gang leader¡¯s yell. Hado, the man acting as the spear for the charge towards the exit effortlessly killed the monsters in his path. Using his giant sword, he swung it horizontally and killed 3 Void Iron Golems at once. That was what he thought he did. ¡°¡­ So you really aren¡¯t normal monsters huh¡­?¡± The golems that were sliced through picked their selves up and went back to their combat-ready stance. ¡°Tch¡­ Oi Bardo!! I can only give you a slim margin for escape.¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Bardo nodded as he followed Hado¡¯s movements. ********** While the gang members were trying to escape the monster house, the feudal lord Princio was fleeing from the Giga Iron Golem following him. ¡°Shit!!! Shit!!! SHIIITTT!!!¡± No matter where he went, the golem would always find him and wreak havoc on the surrounding area. Because of the continuous appearance of the golem during their escape, only few guards alive remained. Princio once again attempted to flee from the Iron Golem that encountered them for the nth time in the town. He was trying to reach the western gate, only to go around in circles because of the golem. ¡°My Lord!!! Fall back to the estate for now!¡± ¡°What the fuck do you mean!? Can¡¯t you see that golem will keep on following me until I die!? The only chance for my survival is my escape!¡± ¡°But at this rate, you may not make it out alive! My subordinates have found a way to disable the golem. You can make your escape tomorrow after we quell the uprising and destroy that golem.¡± As cowardly and arrogant he is, Princio was still a feudal lord governing a city, so he was equipped with knowledge a commoner could not hope to match. ¡°¡­ I take it you found that thing¡­?¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°Very well, Commander Lou, escort me back to the estate.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± The commanding soldier, as well as Princio left the other soldiers to buy time for their escape. The soldiers left behind also knew their fates, so all they could do was fight until the bitter end. *********** ¡°Hmm¡­? Something¡¯s going on at the gang¡¯s side? Pressia, do you see it?¡± ¡°Negative¡­ Rodella¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Must be my imagination then¡­¡± Rodella slumped back down on the tree branch as she looked over the town with a crystal orb. A few minutes later, she then saw another thing that caught her eye. ¡°Hey Pressia, check under that bell in the bell tower.¡± ¡°Why¡­?¡± ¡°I think I saw something drop down from under that bell.¡± ¡°Roger¡­¡± The crystal orb zoomed in the bell tower, or more precisely, the bell of the bell tower. Much to their surprise, the thing that fell down was not a thing, but a living person, and not one, but three. One carried a huge sword, the other a regular sword, while the other a mace. But all three of them had one thing in common, that was they were all smothered in blood and exhausted. They are also well known in the Gaizeff Kingdom. ¡°Hado the Strong-arm, Gardo the Swift, and Lemann the Crusher¡­¡± The three people who were known to cause mass mayhem whenever an opposing fighter fought them. ¡°Are they the cause of this revolt? Pretty interesting, but why won¡¯t they take the frontlines? They can pretty much take over this town with its weak guards.¡± ¡°Orders¡­ Probably¡­¡± Rodella then looked back to the orb and voiced her most wanted question. ¡°But what were they doing under that bell?¡± ¡°Do not¡­ mind that¡­ Focus on¡­ the mission¡­¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re probably right¡­¡± Thanks to Pressia¡¯s focus on the mission, the dungeon was safe. Chapter 5.3 The bloody night passed then dawn arrived. Due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the failed escape of the gang leaders, as well as the sudden retreat of soldiers, a temporary peace has been created inside the city, though this peace wasn¡¯t peaceful at all for the gang leaders. ¡°Damn it¡­ Because of our failed escape, the slum dwellers won¡¯t listen to my orders anymore.¡± Bardo smacked the desk inside his messy office. Behind him was a naked body of a teenage girl, sitting lifeless on the floor. Dry white liquid coated the ground where she lay and her tongue hanged outside of her mouth. Dry tears and hand imprints on her neck, as well as no breathing indicated that she died a horrible death. ¡°Your bad habits still haven¡¯t changed Bardo.¡± ¡°Says the one who tortures little girls like a lunatic¡­¡± Both of them, Bardo and Hado, were lunatics. They find joy in the suffering of others, much more if it was a young girl. ¡°Hey, where did that brat go¡­?¡± ¡°What brat? You mean that white-haired kid?¡± ¡°Yeah him. He had a girl with him right? The little prostitute in our brothel?¡± ¡°He did, yes¡­¡± ¡°Bring her to me.¡± These two people, whose natures were truly among the worst, plotted their plan once more after their little side conversation. <><><><><><><><><> Meanwhile, in an alleyway, a white-haired child could be seen running away from a group of armed men. ¡°Hey get back here!!¡± A thug wielding a knife, along with his goons continued to chase the kid through the alleyways. But due to the movements of the child, as well as his chosen paths, they were unable to chase him further and lost him, ¡°You little brat!! Just wait until we get our hands on you!!¡± The little kid, while chuckling to himself, opened a portal then jumped inside unseen from the eyes of the public. A little further from where the group was chasing the child, a building on fire could be seen. Around it where dozens of slum dwellers kneeling on the ground while having their mouths agape. It was no wonder why they were at a loss or actually grieving. The building that was on fire was a shack full of food for the slum dwellers. The food was supposed to be given on a day-to-day basis based on their contributed work to the slums, or specifically, the gang running the underworld of the city. There was also a gang member yelling at the top of his lungs with veins popping out of his neck curses and profanities. ¡°YOU DAMN SON OF A BITCH!!¡± With a thwack, the gang member did a hook to the subordinate gang member¡¯s chin. With the force he used, the gang member was rendered unconscious. ¡°I WANT EVERY PART OF THIS SLUM TURNED UPSIDE DOWN UNTIL WE FIND THE BASTARD WHO DID THIS!!¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. With a shout, the man commanded all of the people around, including the slum dwellers. The surrounding slum dwellers with hate in their eyes followed the command and literally turned the slum upside down to find the white-haired kid who destroyed their food supply. <><><><><><><><><> While chaos was ongoing in the slums, the Feudal Lord¡¯s manor however was eerily quiet. Quiet, except for one area that was full of knights. ¡°Damn that golem¡­ But for once, you knights did your job properly.¡± Princio, the Feudal Lord of this city, complemented the knight, Commander Lou, in finding the relic hidden within the walls of the manor. ¡°Thank you sir. But for me to accept this praise instead of the late Commander who did his best to repel the charging rebels and the golem, as well as the reason why the relic was found is disrespectful to the main person who contributed to the finding. ¡° With a bow, the knight saluted to Princio. Princio then clapped, and his sharp gaze head towards the relic on the table. ¡°You may be correct. But now is not the time to grieve the loss of our knights and commander.¡± During escape to the Feudal Lord¡¯s manor, the main Commander of the Garjo Army Troops died fighting against the Giga Iron Golem to dying breath. This was the result of an order from the cowardly Princio. ¡®Damned Feudal Lord! You will pay for your misdeeds once this uprising is over!!¡¯ While the new Commander, Lou Pishnick the former Vice-Commander, was having bloodthirsty thoughts, Princio picked up the relic and held it in his hands as if it was the most precious jewel in the world. ¡°Now!! With this, I can finally destroy that damned golem!!¡± The relic Princio was holding was something back from the ancient times, where instead of magic, nature held all of the power in the world. There was also another term for nature of the ancient times, and that was ¡®Science¡¯. But with the appearance of magic, Science degraded, and as a result of an immense war, Science was forever lost to the turning of time. The relic Princio held in his hand had the form of a small sphere, with a red button on its top. This was hidden within the manor of the Feudal Lord by a person who was able to sneak in and out without being caught a few days earlier. There was even a note left behind stating some things that was not allowed to spread. It stated that there was a relic hidden within these walls, for thousands of years, hidden from the eyes of the world. With the typical greed of a noble, Princio quickly organized a search troop to find the item hidden within his manor. What¡¯s more, it was also categorized as a weapon that can kill at most an S-rank monster. ¡°But sir, how do you use this relic¡­?¡± ¡°That is not of your concern. Now, leave me be and go monitor the sleeping golem!¡± With a swift gesture of the hand, Commander Lou immediately took a hint, saluted, then quickly left the room. <><><><><><><><><> On the other hand, a huge golem could be seen unmoving on the ground. Around it, countless of knights fully armed to the bone were stationed. The golem from last night was able to be put down by a handful of sacrifices, as well as the blood and sweat of some magicians. Far away from that place however, were two robed people hiding within the trees. ¡°Pressia, when can you get that golem moving again? It¡¯s boring just sitting here waiting for it to do the deed.¡± ¡°¡­ Patience¡­¡± Rodella slumped back on the tree and gazed at the sleeping golem. ¡°Move already you hunk of junk.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Not minding the bored Rodella, Pressia continued to chant some lines to restart the Giga Iron Golem. ¡°Hmm¡­? Hey Pressia, I think I found something.¡± With a seriousness tone in her voice, she quickly got up from her sitting position and scanned the area where she found something with magic. ¡°¡­Fire¡­?¡± The area she was scanning was an area where a building was burning, while slum dwellers were busy yelling and moving trying to find something it seems. ¡°The knights aren¡¯t moving, and no way in hell would those slum dwellers burn their only food supply.¡± Rodella was able to notice what was inside the burning building, but now, turned charcoal. Pressia too found it weird. ¡°¡­ Someone¡­ Must¡­ Be¡­ Moving¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Do you think it must have something to do with the three who fell from under the bell of the bell tower¡­?¡± ¡°¡­ Probably¡­¡± While the two were trying to confirm their suspicions, Rodella found something more bizarre. ¡°A white-haired kid¡­? Wait, is that a portal¡­?¡± A white-haired kid could be seen jumping inside a portal while chuckling. ¡°Pressia, give me permission to check¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Granted¡­¡± Once permission was given, Rodella quickly moved and landed in the slums. ¡°Who was that kid¡­?¡± The robed figure moved stealthily, in hopes of finding some clues. Chapter 6 ~ First Person POV ~ I arrived back at the after running from the group of thugs. After burning their food supply, the leaders will have no choice but to proactively find a new line of food supplies in this time of war because of their failed escape last night. ¡°It won¡¯t be long now until I can kill them all¡­¡± Just then, I heard a rattle coming from upstairs. Since I was brought to the living room instead of the bedroom where Mari laid, I had a hunch that she awoke after getting some rest. I walked up the stairs and checked the corridors just to see that there was nobody within, so all I could think was that she was still inside the room confused. I walked up to the door then knocked on it. ¡°Mari, are you awake?¡± After I said those words, the sound of rustling could be heard from the other side of the door. ¡°I¡¯m coming in.¡± With a click and a push, the door opened and I entered through the doorway. Inside, I could see a messy Mari trying to get down from the bed, only to come crashing down. ¡°Mari, please stop moving. You¡¯re probably exhausted from work right?¡± I tried to put up a relaxing smile, only for it to turn into a frown, just looking at her current appearance made me feel a pain in my heart. I walked up to her then carried her back to the bed and gently lay her down. During the time she was lifted up into my arms and gently placed on the bed, she just stared at me with shocked eyes, but then returned to her normal worrying eyes. ¡°Gren, where are we?¡± With her usual childish but mature voice, she questioned me with a question I expected to come at me once she wakes up. ¡°We are in a dungeon.¡± Once I said that, Mari had an expression of shock and horror. Regarding the dungeons that were taught to the common populace, it was said to be a place of riches, where only the brave dare venture forward. These brave people were known as Adventurers. Although Adventurers also did some jobs on the field, most of the time, you could see them diving into dungeons to earn income.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. But even though dungeons are a land of riches, these lands come at an exceptional price, the price of hard work, passion, teamwork, and most of all, time and blood. When a record was made in the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, it was publicly announced that Adventurers that dives inside a dungeon must be prepared for the worst lest they be among those who died inside a dungeon. Of course, all of these came from the knowledge of Gren when he tried to gather information during a job given by his superiors so I don¡¯t know if this is reliable or not, but judging from the expression on Mari¡¯s face, there is some kind of truth in it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Mari.¡± I tried to calm the panicked Mari by patting my hand on her head just as usual. Whenever she was worried, or panicked at a situation, Gren always patted her head gently to calm her down. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I am the owner of this dungeon.¡± Once I said those words, Mari froze up. I promised myself that when she wakes up, I won¡¯t lie to her when talking about the dungeon, although I will lie about my past life as Drake Wota since this isn¡¯t something I should be talking about, just things related to the dungeon is fine to talk about with Mari since we will be living our lives mostly in this place. ¡°Will they not¡­ Try to kill you¡­?¡± In this world, are at the top of the wanted list. When one is known to be a , they are immediately chased and put to the sword by one of the most influential religion in the world, be they a normal person, or a king of a nation. The religion is known as the , where the believers worship the Goddess of Light, Lux. This is because in the doctrine of the , Gods apart from the Gods of the Elements, as well as the Father God(Singularity) and the God of Strength and Goddess of Wisdom were Evil Gods. With that as a belief, creatures that were created, or worshipped those Gods, were persecuted and brought to death. One such creature was a , which was created or managed by the God of Dungeons, Abruptum. ¡°They will, but they will not kill me.¡± I brought my other hand to her hand resting on the bed. I tightly clenched it, and so did she. ¡°I will not leave you alone again¡­ I will make you happy¡­¡± ¡°Gren¡­¡± Even though to others we were just kids, inside, both of us were already adults. The way of life we lived, how we tried everything just to survive, how we suffered, and how we brought it with us. I hugged Mari close to my chest, and she did so as she tightly grabbed my back. After hugging for a bit, we separated and I saw tears coming from the corner of her eyes. ¡°Mari, are you hungry¡­?¡± ¡°¡­ Yes.¡± I got up then quickly brought the . Although I didn¡¯t say it out loud, just the fact that I was waving my arms in mid-air made Mari confused. After a few selections here and there, a bowl of soup appeared on my hands. ¡°Here Mari.¡± I gave the bowl of soup to the Mari who was hungry. I also didn¡¯t forget to give her a spoon. She gave me a smile after her confused face disappeared. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡¯Worth the 30 MP¡­¡¯ Just seeing her smile makes my heart flutter. ¡°Once you¡¯re done with that, if it¡¯s not too much to your body, you can go and take a bath.¡± ¡°A bath¡­?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Just when I was going to talk about where the bathroom was, an alarm went off. [Attention!!! An intruder has successfully entered the dungeon!!!] [Invader Count: 1] ¡°What the¡­?¡± On the screen only I can see, I spotted a robed person going through the dungeon at lightning speed. Chapter 6.2 Seeing my expression, Mari had confused look on her face. Because of that, the food that I gave her stopped going inside her mouth. ¡°An intruder has entered.¡± Once she heard what I said, she stiffened up and let go of the spoon she was holding. She was probably thinking it was someone from the church. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s not something you should worry about. I can take care of it no problem.¡± I reassured her that there would be no problems once I took care of it. ¡°Just wait for me here, and when I get back, you better have finished that soup alright.¡± I gave her a smile as I headed outside the door. Once I got outside, the smile on my disappeared and I quickly frowned. ¡°¡­Shit¡­¡± Almost half of the monsters deployed in my dungeon have been wiped out. Whoever the intruder was this time, he wasn¡¯t an ordinary one. ¡°At this rate, it won¡¯t be long before she reaches this place¡­¡± I quickly headed back down and outside of the house. With the sword strapped to my back, since it was still too large for the 12 year old me, I quickly dashed towards the first floor. ¡®I should not let her see this house whatever means necessary¡­¡¯ If the intruder found out that there was a house inside the dungeon with technology beyond their time, who knows what would happen once information got out. Perhaps, if I was able to repel him, once his friends or even the person he is working for knew what was inside, then I won¡¯t be able to live without fearing for my life, or even Mari¡¯s everyday... ¡®I should kill him here and now¡­¡¯ But the problem was how¡­ The intruder was no stranger to battle, and seeing him how he handles the monsters skillfully as if they were children made me guess that I am no match for him with my current capabilities. Even my Void Iron Golems, with their special skill [Parts Configuration] did not stand a chance against him. ¡°Damn it¡­¡± Realizing that I had no choice left, I let out a curse as I hovered my hand over the . ¡°Shit¡­ I hope the MP this guy gives me is high¡­¡± If it didn¡¯t, then I will literally go mad. The strategy I came up was simple, advantage in numbers. No matter how skillful a person is, one can never beat thousands without getting tired sooner or later. Once they get exhausted, even small fries can defeat them with their puny strength. ¡°This is the only way for the weak me and my weak monsters to overcome strength.¡± Once I had my mind made up, I quickly replaced all of my dead monsters with new ones.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. My previously 1145 MP (935 ¨C some MP after replenishing the monsters slain from trying gto trap and kill the gang members + 100 for each killed gang member) quickly dwindled down as I replaced all of the dead monsters. Seeing that even the special monsters stood no chance, how would regular ones do? So I had no other choice but to opt for the in hopes of getting her exhausted more easily. Once I did that, the monsters continued their onslaught towards the robed figure while I continued heading up the stairs towards the just in case she was able to bypass the horde of monsters. I headed up towards the boss room I made during one of my breaks when I was busy scouting the slums in hopes of not letting the same mistake happen as when Drake died. This time, instead of leaving the defenseless once the was breached, I made a final defense line, a.k.a. the common where a stronger than most monsters appeared. And this time, I will be that monster. Thanks to the special skill of the Void Iron Golem [Parts Configuration], I was able to make a discovery while tinkering with it. By the way, here is the description. Parts Configuration ¨C Parts that are damaged or lost can be replaced by other parts. Additionally, it can also be used to upgrade present parts. In a nutshell, it means that any damaged parts can be replaced, and it can also be used to upgrade parts to make it stronger. The plan I had to make a good boss monster was combining several Void Iron Golems then making a cockpit in the center like those in the movies Drake watched before coming here for better handling. Putting my plan into action, using the free slots of monsters that can occupy the dungeon made by the intruder by killing some of my monsters, I quickly bought some Void Iron Golems. Next, I had them use the [Parts Configuration] skill to mesh together. The sound of metal rubbing against metal was painful to the ears, but the result was extremely pleasant. Since Void Iron Golems were like puppets, if the puppet master wished for them to do something then they will do it. And in this situation, I as the puppet master commanded the puppets to combine and create a mobile suit. The sword the Void Iron Golems had even combined together to make a huge sword fitting the hands of the huge mobile suit. [New Monster Created! Bonus EXP Rewarded to the Dungeon and Dungeon Master!!] Monster Species: Giga Void Iron Golem (Suit Type) Special Ability(s): 1. Lightweight Body
  1. Durable Body
  2. Phasing Blade
  3. Manned Golem
Threat Level: B (A When Manned) Cost: 1500 MP Lightweight Body ¨C Passive Ability. Makes the user lighter, thus rendering them more agile. Durable Body ¨C Passive Ability. Makes the user harder, thus making their physical defense higher. Phasing Blade ¨C The weapon of the user can phase to another dimension mid swing and materialize before hitting the intended target. Manned Golem ¨C This specific type of Golem can be manned by living organisms. Body specifications increases based on the skill of handling by the living organism. ¡°What the¡­?¡± Once I saw the new window that appeared before me, my jaws dropped to the floor. ¡°Didn¡¯t I create a cheat monster¡­?¡± I unconsciously mumbled what Drake would have said when he saw something just unfair. ¡°It¡¯s abilities are just too much. I can understand and , as well as , but ?¡± If I had to pick one of the most cheat abilities I have ever seen, it was this. Paired with the two abilities, and , it could practically be a weapon that could ignore defense and focus on offense while ignoring the enemies weapon. Just when I was mesmerized by the monster I had created that stood more than 2 meters tall, I realized that the intruder was near the door of the . ¡°I¡¯ll worry about this next time. I need to repel this intruder first.¡± ¡®I need to protect my home, as well as Mari¡­¡¯ I quickly got inside the cockpit. It was quite comfortable so I had no problems sitting on the chair provided, even though I have no idea where the cushion came from, from the metal materials. Once I got settled in, the door opened and through the doorway, stood a lone figure draped in a robe. ¡°¡­ Oh shit¡­¡± The one to curse wasn¡¯t me, but the intruder. Chapter 6.3 ~ Third Person POV ~ Rodella continued on moving through the dungeon floor as she kept on killing the endless horde of monsters. Her breathing turning ragged after minutes of intense battle without rest, she willed herself to keep on moving in order to survive. ¡°Haa¡­ This was¡­ Haa¡­ Probably a¡­ Haaaaa¡­ Bad idea¡­¡± She was already completely exhausted when she arrived at the huge double doors with intricate engraving on it, as designed by a certain deceased game designer. ¡°Never in my life had I experienced a dungeon like this¡­¡± When she arrived, no more monsters tried to attack her, instead, some of the remaining ones backed out once she was a few feet near the door. ¡°I can probably catch my breath right here for the time being¡­¡± Although she said that she would rest, she didn¡¯t lower her guard. She continued to monitor the surroundings in case if any dangerous situation arises. After a few minutes of rest, she finally got back up and proceeded with her goal, to find the white-haired kid that jumped inside the portal. Before she entered this dungeon, she was at a loss on how to approach this bizarre situation. A kid suddenly jumped into a portal while chuckling, how is that not bizarre? She scoured through the slums in hopes of searching for some clues, only to turn up without results. That was until she remembered the events last night with the three people with bounties on their heads. She quickly climbed up the bell tower where the three fell down, and after a few searches, she found something underneath the bell. It was a portal, the same color as the white-haired kid jumped into, which then led to the current situation. ¡°If I don¡¯t find any clues after all this, I¡¯m leaving¡­¡± ¡®After all, I¡¯m not getting paid to do this anyways¡­¡¯ She was just doing this out of curiosity. If Pressia was known to be the reserved and focused type, the Rodella would be the loud and curious type. Heaven only knows how these two were able to get along even with their opposite natures. ¡°I was even able to find some treasure, so I can actually leave this place while getting some profit, especially that golden bone¡­¡± Her eyes turned into money signs for a moment before returning to her serious state. Once she was done with her internal soliloquy, she opened the door towards another room. Once she saw what was on the other side, she frowned then uttered a curse. ¡°¡­ Oh shit¡­¡± She was at a loss on how to approach this situation. So without delay, she quickly turned back then ran for her life. ¡°No way in hell am I gonna throw my life away for the sake of some curiosity!!!¡± While leaving those as her leaving remarks, she quickly left through the way she came through by following the marks left behind and exited through the dark passageway, in turn, falling under the bell of the bell tower. After that, she quickly reunited with Pressia who was waiting for her to return. ¡°What took¡­ you so¡­ long¡­?¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Pressia looked at the ragged Rodella while still having her expressionless face. ¡°There¡¯s another Giga Iron Golem¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Sensing that something was wrong with her partner, Pressia looked towards the bell tower where Rodella came from. ¡°We should¡­ report that¡­ to HQ¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Yes, we should¡­¡± Finally concluding their extra mission, they finally set their sights back to the fallen Giga Iron Golem back on the city. <><><><><><><><><><><><> ~ First Person POV ~ ¡°No way in hell am I gonna throw my life away for the sake of some curiosity!!!¡± ¡°¡­ Fuuu~¡­¡± Once I saw the intruder leaving while saying his remarks made me breathe a sigh of relief. After that, the window appeared indicating my victory appeared [Successful Defense!! Spoils: Repelled C-rank Beastwoman x 1 = 500 MP Total: 500 MP] I had one thought when I saw the spoils window. ¡®So little!!¡¯ My total expense at this defense was a total of 820 MP, minus that to my total MP and all I have left is 325 MP. Now plus that to the 500 MP I got from the defense and I have a total of 825 MP left. ¡°I¡¯ll need to save some more and get that ¡­¡± Thankfully, the Giga Void Iron Golem only counted as one to the total monster count of my dungeon. Come to think of it, what is the status of my dungeon now? Dungeon Master: Gren --- Drake Wota Dungeon Level: 4 Type of Dungeon: Void [Market] [Customization] [Statistics] [Community] (Available at Dungeon Level 5) ¡®Just one more level and I can meet with TB again, if I count Drake¡¯s memories correctly¡­¡¯ Now that this dangerous occurrence was over, I got out of the suit and let the Giga Void Iron Golem stay put inside the as the boss of the . It also won¡¯t be long before I put another floor to my dungeon because I was now able to place more monsters. ¡°But first, Mari¡­¡± Once I put all of those thoughts aside, I headed back to the so that I can tell Mari the news. I was also of thinking about a decision that could change our lives once I went with it. After a few minutes of walking, I arrived back at the house, only to be greeted by a Mari fresh out of the bath, with a bath towel wrapped around her body. On her body, countless of scars, big and small, decorated her small stature. Seeing the scars made me flinch in anger. Another reason to add to making the lives of the gang leaders hell¡­ ¡°Welcome back.¡± ¡°¡­!¡± But when I heard her sweet voice, those thoughts of murder quickly went away, and instead, the thoughts of love quickly filled up in my mind. I couldn¡¯t help but form a smile on my face I greeted her back. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± <><><><><><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ While Gren was busy celebrating with Mari back in the dungeon, the Gang¡¯s HQ however, was in a tense atmosphere. ¡°Who was the bastard who set fire to our food supply¡­?¡± Bardo threateningly looked at his subordinate that was having cold sweat as he reported the events that happened. ¡°So a white-haired brat set fire to the shack, and of all things, you failed to capture or kill him¡­?¡± Bardo¡¯s low voice made the subordinate flinch in terror as he nodded weakly. ¡°¡­ Useless bastard¡­¡± With once quick movement, the head of the subordinate separated from his body, blood splattering on the floor. ¡°Hey! Somebody clean this mess up!!¡± A few moments later, some slaves went in and cleaned the spot where the now dead subordinate laid, as well as the splattered blood. The knife in Bardo¡¯s hand was spotless, indicating how skilled he was. ¡°As expected from The Swift¡­¡± Behind him, another Gang leader approached him. ¡°Hado, you found that brat yet?¡± ¡°Nope, he went missing after setting that place on fire.¡± ¡°Tch¡­ I wanted to have some fun before leaving¡­ Anyway, with the food supply gone, the slum dwellers won¡¯t have any other option but to steal some from the knights side.¡± ¡°You are correct. With this, another chance will be created for our escape.¡± ¡°But now that the others knew of our escape, some will be trying to go with us.¡± ¡°Then we kill them when we get out. After all, the head wanted only those in the list to go to their hideout after escaping this soon to be destroyed city.¡± ¡°By the way, since you were close to HQ, how do you think will they destroy this city?¡± Hado rubbed his chin before grinning and responding to Bardo¡¯s question. ¡°A relic will do that job, and that will be triggered by the Feudal Lord himself.¡± ¡°Oh how nice¡­¡± Bardo sneered in response to Hado¡¯s answer. ¡°You are right. Kukuku¡­¡± Chapter 6.4 ~ First Person POV ~ ¡°Mari, I¡¯m thinking of leaving this city.¡± Once Mari heard my decision, she just stayed the same as usual while nodding her head in agreement. ¡°Yes, we should. We do not want to waste more time in this place. I overheard a Gang leader say that the city is going to blow up while I was working¡­¡± I frowned at her words. What surprised me the most was not that the city was going to blow up, but the fact that she was able to gather information while doing ¡®that¡¯ job that was too much for children¡­ Since I heard something that was important to our survival, I resolved myself to escape with haste after killing the Gang leaders. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m gonna do just that. Just stay put in here Mari, once I kill those bastards, I¡¯ll leave the city. Of course, you are coming with me.¡± I said that with a smile but Mari had a frown on her face instead. ¡°I know that you want to kill the people who made our lives so miserable, but I can¡¯t take it to see you getting hurt.¡± Realizing that she had no problems with me killing people, well the bad ones, I made a relieved sigh mentally. Of course, I also took her words to heart since just her being sad makes me hurt. ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ I have a plan that will let me kill them without harming my body.¡± With that as the end of our conversation, I turned my back towards her then left through a portal I made. ¡°Come back safely¡­¡± ¡°¡­ You sound like a worried wife, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll come back.¡± I turned around once and gave her a smile before disappearing through the portal. <><><><><><><><><><> ¡®Time to put my plan into action¡­¡¯ Once I got out of the dungeon, I quickly traversed the slums while being aware of the surroundings. I wouldn¡¯t want to run into a slum dweller by accident when they were busy looking for the arsonist which was me. Since it was about noon, the sun was shining overhead brightly, making it harder to move without being noticed. And more than that, there were the frantically searching slum dwellers lurking around every corner, so just moving for a few meters was more stressful than trying to repel the intruder earlier. I ducked and weaved across the alleys, and through their blind spots, while hoping to not get spotted. Luckily, I was able to arrive at my destination without any incidents. There was a building a few buildings away that looked bigger than the surrounding buildings. That was where the Gang¡¯s HQ was. ¡®And now, I just need to get inside...¡¯ While I was contemplating on how to get inside, I saw a punk get dragged inside while getting beaten up. A few minutes later, I saw something fly outside then crash landed at the ground. When I got a closer look after stealthily traversing the block, I saw that it was the same punk that was dragged inside, except that he was already dead. ¡®Looks like I found my way inside¡­¡¯ When I looked to the place where he was thrown from, I saw a hole as large as the waist of an adult man. ¡®Looks like a chute to discard some dead bodies¡­¡¯ If you look closely around where the body was thrown, there were a lot of bags, particularly, bags filled with waste and bodies. ¡®¡­ I¡¯ll have to take a bath later¡­¡¯ Resolving myself to my disgusting fate, I looked for some ledges where I can use to climb to get to the chute since it was above the first floor. Once I was able to reach the hole, the rotten smell of deceased, as well as the smell of natural waste permeated through my nose.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡®GODDAMN THIS SMELLS HORIBBLE!!!¡¯ Resisting the urge to shout and vomit, I quickly covered my nose with my hands, and a thick cloth I got from my person, and slowly, just slowly instead of quickly, crawled through the hole or chute. ¡®THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH!!!¡¯ While trying to stop myself from fainting there and then, I found the end of the hole. ¡®FINALLY!!! TIME TO KILL THEM ALL!!!¡¯ Probably, because of the stress from coming all the way from the bell tower to here, as well as the smell coming from my surroundings, my head was already in a heap of rage. I quickly opened a portal then brought a monster outside. Since they were able to escape, even though they were exhausted, from my dungeon because they were able to defeat my monsters, it made me realize that the surviving Gang leaders were no joke, so I quickly called upon my current strongest monster. ¡°TIME TO DIE YOU BASTARDS!!!¡± I let out a shout as I quickly got inside the cockpit of the Giga Void Iron Golem and rampaged through the building. <><><><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ ¡°What the!?¡± While Bardo was busy trying to figure out a plan to quickly get the slum dwellers to follow his command again and rush towards the passive knights, a loud rumbling sound came from all around him. ¡°!!! Shit!!¡± Once he noticed what had happened, he quickly sprung into action. ¡°Hado!! Evacuate!!! Evacuate right now!! ¡°TIME TO DIE YOU BASTARDS!!!¡± While he shouted at the top of his lungs to warn Hado, he heard a high-pitched shriek coming from downstairs where they disposed of the bodies. ¡°Shit! I didn¡¯t think anyone would go through there!!¡± He quickly ran towards the window where he could escape from the crumbling building, but just as he was about to reach, a huge iron hand painted violet sprung up from the floor boards of the second floor and targeted him. ¡°Oh fuc---¡° Bardo wasn¡¯t able to dodge the hand in time and was caught in its grip. Below the floor boards where the hand sprung up, two red dots appeared and stared at him, and once again, he heard the high-pitched voice. ¡°Did you think you would escape? NO!!! BECAUSE YOU WILL DIE HERE TODAY!!!¡± With a voice quaking in pleasure, ecstasy and madness, the two red dots suddenly brightened and the grip of the hand holding him quickly tightened. ¡°GAAAAHHHHH!!!!¡± Bardo could feel his body getting squashed by the pressure, but even in this situation, he remained calm and tried to find a way to escape, only to fail and have his eyeballs pop out of his head and his body crushed. ¡°DAMN ITT!! I SHOULDN¡¯T HAVE KILLED HIM THAT EASILY!!!¡± The lifeless body of Bardo crashed to the ground, never to move again. On the other hand, Hado, who had witnessed all of these as he hid, had a cold sweat drip down from his chin. ¡®Fuck this!! I need to leave right now!¡¯ If only he had made his decision earlier, he could have probably lived with a missing leg or arm. Another hand caught him, who was hiding above the ceiling and under the roof. It tightened around him like a vise, refusing to let him go. ¡°AAAHHHH!!!¡± The pain, as well as fear of death overcame his body as he trembled inside the clenched hand. ¡°YOU!!! YOU WERE THAT BASTARD!!!!¡± Hado, who had been in fear and pain, finally recognized the voice that was coming from the two red dots, no, the helmet housing the two red dots. Under the helmet, a huge suit of metal could be seen towering below. The once pristine building, was now a pile of rubble underneath the feet of this giant suit of armor. ¡°Y- YOU FUCKING BRAAATT!! GAAAAAAHHHHH!!!¡± The hand tightened around him once more, but this time, with more pressure. If a normal person were to be in Hado¡¯s situation right now, he would have already died from the shock, but as Hado was a combat veteran, he was used to painful situations. But that experience, proved to be a detriment to Hado right now. ¡°YOU WILL NOT DIE A PEACEFUL DEATH!!! YOU HEAR ME!!??¡± The free hand of the golem closed in to the body of Hado was getting crushed. Once near, the pressure on Hado¡¯s body disappeared for a moment, only to be followed by an intense pain afterward. ¡°AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!¡± Hado¡¯s right hand was crushed to pieces, his bones turned to powder while the skin ruptured. After that, he felt another intense pain, but this time, on his left leg. ¡°FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCC-----------¡° His left leg, in contrast to his crushed right arm, was dismembered by a sharp object from the base. A large amount of blood poured out from the area where his leg was dismembered. ¡°AND NEXT IS THIS!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!¡± The voice that was laughing was as if he was currently on cloud nine. But for Hado, all he heard was the laugh of the devil. A few moments later, he felt another sharp pain close to his leg. ¡°MMMOOTTTHHEERRFFFUUUUUCCCCCC----!!!!¡± His once healthy groin, was now turned to pancake. The intense pain Hado felt at losing his manhood drove him to insanity, and finally, maybe because of blood loss or of shock, his breathing stopped, as well as his heart. Once this happened, his body was flung away a great distance. ¡°AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!¡± The voice, laughing like a madman at the current situation, scared the hell of all of the slum dwellers, as well as the remaining gang members. But in the next moment, the huge golem vanished into thin air, as well as the voice. No one knew what had happened, but one thing was for sure, everybody inside the HQ was dead, whether they were crushed by the building, or by the giant. <><><><><><><><><><><> ¡°We really need to report that Pressia¡­¡± ¡°Agreed¡­ Too dangerous¡­¡± The two robed figures were shocked at the display of cruelty and mercilessness of the giant against the Gang leaders. On the other hand, Princio was arriving at the site where the golem was restrained. ¡°Fufufufu¡­ It won¡¯t be long now¡­¡± The light shining in the eyes of Princio glowed dangerously as he looked towards the relic in his hands. Chapter 7 Princio arrived at the site where the Giga Iron Golem was restrained, with him was the sphere-shaped relic. ¡°Sir!¡± The currently highest-ranked soldier, Commander Lou Pishnick, greeted him with a salute. With his right hand on his left breast, Commander Lou stood straight and awaited for further instructions. The knights around him as well did the same, except for the currently working knights¡¯. ¡°The golem hasn¡¯t moved since its restraint. We believe that it would move a few minutes or hours later.¡± ¡°Good. All of the knights and soldiers, command them to retreat and leave the golem alone.¡± Before Commander Lou could respond, Princio talked once more. ¡°And I mean right this instant.¡± ¡°¡­ Yes sir¡­¡± Without questioning the ridiculous command, Commander Lou turned around and raised his voice for all of the knights and soldiers to hear. ¡°EVERYBODY LISTEN UP!!!¡± All of the knights, as well as those who were working or in standby, turned their necks towards the direction of where Commander Lou, as well as Princio stood. ¡°ALL OF YOU ARE TO RETREAT AT THIS MOMENT AS PER THE FEUDAL LORD¡¯S, PRINCIO GAIZEFF HERMA¡¯S, INSTRUCTION!!!¡± After that, the whole area was filled with the sounds of heavy footsteps. The soldiers, who were slow on the uptake, quickly moved as well, following behind the knights who were already far ahead of them. Moments later, the area that was once filled with people, was as desolate as the area where the fight for supremacy last night happened, leaving behind the fallen golem on the ground, restrained with giant chains and magic. Once all of that was done, Princio stepped ahead of Commander Lou and turned around. ¡°ALL OF YOU LISTEN!!!¡± His loud voice reverberated through the area. He pointed his huge arm that was full of fat at the restrained golem and raised his voice once more. ¡°YOU SEE THAT GOLEM, THAT GOLEM THAT HAD RUINED OUR PLANS TO DESTROY THE ONLY TUMOR IN THIS WONDERFUL CITY OF GARJO, THE SLUMS!?¡± He then raised his other hand up high and let the object within his grasp show. It had the shape of a sphere with a red button at the top. ¡°THIS OBJECT, THIS RELIC OF THE PAST! THIS WILL BRING AN END TO THAT HINDRANCE!!¡± He raised it up high, as high as he could, to make everybody see it. Even though he wasn¡¯t at a stage or an elevated platform, not everyone was able to see it. ¡°THIS RELIC THAT HAS THE POWER TO DESTROY AN A-RANK MONSTER WILL NOW SHOW ITS STRENGTH TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE ABLE TO WITNESS ITS SPLENDOR!!¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The soldiers who were able to see the relic Princio was raising, could not help but question the object. How can one small thing be able to destroy an A-rank monster? But since it wasn¡¯t their place to ask questions, they just kept it to themselves. Once Princio was done talking, he set his gaze to Commander Lou and gave it to him. ¡°Commander Lou, I trust that you will do this task with utmost discipline.¡± ¡°¡­Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Good, now plant it where the golem lays. Once that is done, press the red button. What I am giving you, is a bomb, so once you press the button, run for your life, do you understand? I can¡¯t bear it if another one of my trusted subordinates dies, am I correct?¡± Princio¡¯s face was smiling like a villain. Commander Lou, who had no other choice but to comply, sunk his shoulders and then responded. ¡°Yes, sir¡­¡¯ With hopelessness in his eyes, he set his gazes on the golem. ¡®Jessica¡­ Please take care of our daughter for us¡­¡¯ With that in his thoughts, he resigned himself to his fate. Even if he wanted to rebel, be it with the slum dwellers, what was waiting for him and his family was nothing but persecution from the crown himself, so all he could do was hope that his wife and daughter would live a better life once all of this blows over. ¡°As the one in charge, should it not be you who handle this matter?¡± While still smiling, Princio made a gesture to go on with his task. ¡®This damn feudal lord!!¡¯ While pressuring Commander Lou, Princio was making a smile mentally. ¡®If this person dies, then the faction trying to remove me from my position will lose another one of their leaders.¡¯ If that happens, then the faction will lose another one of their influential members. The faction trying to get rid of Princio was one that wanted to get rid of corruption in this city, but because of Princio¡¯s influence, even if he dies, another one from his faction would just manage the city, thus continuing the continued corruption. By the way, the leader of the faction against Princio was another noble with the same political strength as Princio. Since the frontier city of Garjo elected its Feudal Lord, a.k.a. Mayor, a lot of nobles were vying for the position as well. ¡®Justice will be served, just wait, you shit of a Feudal Lord!¡¯ While screaming in his mind, Commander Lou broke into a run towards the golem. Once he arrived, he turned back, only to see the Feudal Lord trying to leave the area along with the other knights and soldiers. ¡®Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck¡­¡¯ Knowing that this was the place he was to die, all he could do was curse mentally. ¡®No, I will not die, I will survive, and then¡­¡¯ He made a vow to survive this seemingly impossible to survive situation. Sadly, it was not meant to be. Once he planted the bomb and pressed the button, it beeped then started a countdown. [10] He suddenly heard unfamiliar words, but judging from how it was ticking, he realized that it was a timer. [9] Since there was no way to know how much time he had left, all he did was just run, run as fast as he could. [5] By the time the countdown reached 5, he was already a few dozens of meters away from the bomb. As expected from a knight from another world where monsters roam, without sufficient strength, even world renowned athletes would be killed in an instant against monsters that defied common sense. [3] When 3 seconds remained, he was already 100 meters away from the bomb. Although he was completely exhausted from sprinting with all of his strength, the will to survive drove him beyond his limits. [1] ¡®I will survive!! I will survive and kill that fat bastard!!¡¯ With those thoughts repeating in his head to push him through, he found a good spot to hide where he could try and avoid the blast. ¡®And once this is over, I¡¯ll live a life as a farmer or adventurer with my family.¡¯ Those were his last thoughts before he was sent to oblivion. [0] A blinding light encompassed the area, as well the areas beyond it. Naturally, this reached where Commander Lou was hiding, as well as the running away Feudal Lord. It even reached up to the slums. It encompassed the entire city as if God had descended onto it, and suddenly¡­ BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!! Everything vanished. After a loud explosion, the entire city of Garjo as well as the area around it turned to rubble and powder. Except a completely unscathed bell that was blown away by the explosion. Chapter 7.2 ~ First Person POV ~ Once I finished killing the Gang leaders, as well as destroying their HQ, I quickly hopped back inside my dungeon along with the Giga Void Iron Golem, and closed the portal immediately. I don¡¯t want any people to learn about portals appearing out of nowhere where giant monsters can pop out. ¡°Hoooohh¡­ That was refreshing.¡± The burden on my mind was now completely gone. But suddenly, a pain surged in my head, bringing me to my knees. ¡°What¡­ the¡­¡± Since I was in the , there was nobody around me to help. The pain was not that of physical origins, but one of mental. [Warning¡­ Main Dungeon Portal had been damaged¡­ Looking for other Dungeon Portals to change priorities¡­ Dungeon Portals not found¡­ Destruction imminent¡­Would you like to remove foreign entity inside dungeon outside to avoid destruction¡­? Y/N] ¡°What¡­ The¡­ Fuck¡­ Are you¡­ Talking about¡­ Arrrghhh¡­!!!¡± The pain in my head did not stop. But somehow, I was able to understand what it meant by removing foreign entity inside, it was probably Mari. ¡°Hell¡­ No¡­ Am I kicking her¡­ Out of here¡­ Gaaahhhh!!!¡± [Looking for other available options¡­ Options found¡­ Accessing¡­ Access Denied¡­ Requesting permission to use MP to buy skill [Invulnerability]¡­ Y/N] When I read the text, I had a migraine¡­ ¡®What the hell is that kind of skill!? That looks expensive!! And judging by the earlier text, it said that destruction was imminent, so if I fail to do this, then I might die¡­¡¯ ¡°¡­Yes¡­¡± [Access granted¡­ Buying skill [Invulnerability]¡­Deducting 1000 MP from total balance of 1225 MP¡­ Purchase success¡­ Granting skill to Gren --- Drake Wota¡­ Success¡­] I endured the pain of having my head feel like being split open. Actually, it was already spreading to my whole body. It felt like I was being crushed by an invisible force. There was even blood oozing out of my pores. [Accessing skill¡­ Access Denied¡­ Requesting permission to use skill [Invulnerability]¡­ Y/N] ¡°Yes, yes, yes¡­!! GAAAAHHHHH!!!!¡± The pain was just too much to bear so I screamed. The feeling of having your body being pressured like this, but having the strong will to live, was incredibly painful¡­ [Access granted¡­Initiating skill [Invulnerability] to Main Dungeon Portal¡­ Initialization success¡­]This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Once that was done, I felt the pressure no longer affected me, but the pain of my open wounds still hurt as hell, so I had no choice but to collapse right there and then. ¡°GREN!!¡± ¡°¡­Mari¡­¡± Thankfully, I saw my savior coming to rescue me as soon as possible when she saw me in this state. While I was smiling like an idiot, I lost consciousness. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ ¡°¡­ Pressia, if it wasn¡¯t for your barrier, we would¡¯ve died¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Pressia¡­?¡± Around where the city of Garjo once stood, two robed figures could be seen standing on top of a pile of rubble. ¡°¡­ We¡¯ve been¡­ had¡­¡± ¡°Hm? What do you mean?¡± ¡°¡­ We need¡­ to report¡­ this right¡­ now¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Is it about the clients?¡± ¡°¡­ Yes¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Damn it, I knew those people were fishy!¡± Rodella kicked a piece of stone beneath her as she vented her anger on it. ¡°We need to move now. Pressia, teleport us, it seems like ¡®that¡¯ is coming back.¡± ¡°¡­ Agreed¡­¡± The two robed figures vanished after the small one chanted and a magic circle beneath their feet shined and disappeared. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Same time, in another place far away from the destroyed Garjo. ¡°Lemann, good work on escaping.¡± ¡°Thank you, my liege¡­¡± Two men could be seen talking with each other. One of them was sitting on the throne, dressed in only the finest jewels and embroidered clothes. He wore a gold crown on his head, and his face had no wrinkles, indicating that he was still young. ¡°Now tell me, what did you find in Garjo that needed my personal judgment?¡± ¡°A kid, my liege, A white-haired kid¡­¡± ¡°A kid, huh? Then what about him¡­?¡± The man seated upon the throne crossed his legs as he beckoned the man with his arm to continue. ¡°I think he is a .¡± ¡°A that is still a child? Interesting, but that¡¯s not all right?¡± ¡°You are correct, my liege. He commanded a giant, one that was probably and A-rank monster.¡± ¡°Hoh? He controls an A-rank monster? A child did¡­?¡± ¡°Not just control like giving orders or such, he literally did take control.¡± ¡°¡­ That is interesting¡­¡± The man on the throne brought his hand to his chin in contemplation. After a few moments, he turned his gaze back to the kneeling man and beckoned him to leave. Once the man left, only the man on the throne was left in the room. ¡°Abruptum, are you finally moving¡­?¡± The man on the throne could not help but chuckle at the entertaining view that was about to happen in the future. <><><><><><><><><><><> At also the same time¡­ ¡°Oh Heroes! Please save this world from the Demon King!!¡± Countless of young people could be seen scattered inside a spacious hall. Majority of them had black hair and black eyes. They numbered more than 1000. ¡°What are we supposed to do¡­?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ Isn¡¯t this what was trending on the internet? The so called isekai?¡± ¡°Then, should we leave? There are tropes such as the one who summoned us had bad intentions¡­? ¡°Maybe we should¡­¡± Various conversations between the people with the title of [Otakus] happened during the summon. They were the most eye-catching of all because most of them were incredibly skinny or fat, but were also the most calm of the group. ¡°If it¡¯s for helping the people of this world for a brighter tomorrow, then count me in!¡± Just then, a lone person stood at the front. He had a handsome appearance, with a tall and slightly muscular physique. He was known as Kawasaki Koujirou to the other people who were summoned along with him. ¡°And there it is¡­ The template Hero of Justice¡­¡± ¡°As expected of the Student Council President.¡± ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t it bad if we get caught up in this mood?¡± ¡°Maybe, but we don¡¯t have a choice for now¡­ See those people wearing armor and wielding swords? Those are real, so I¡¯d rather clam up for the time being so I don¡¯t get the short end of the stick.¡± ¡°¡­ You may be right¡­¡± As usual, Otakus, were indeed Otakus¡­ Chapter 8 ~ First Person POV ~ ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I opened my eyes slowly while groaning because of the acute pain I felt when slowly regaining my consciousness. ¡°¡­ What happened¡­?¡± Since I just woke up, everything in my head was fuzzy. I let a few seconds pass in order to get used to the pain in my body as well as my head. ¡°Now I remember¡­¡± After killing the Gang leaders, I was assaulted by a terrible pain, followed by intense bleeding. When I took a look at my body, I saw that I was bandaged all around. My clothes that were once bloodied, as well as smelly, were nowhere to be seen. ¡°After that¡­¡± I saw Mari running towards me with a horrified expression. That was the last thing I saw. ¡°¡­ Damn it¡­¡± I worried her once again¡­ Just when I vowed to make her live her life in happiness, here I am, adding more to her worries¡­ ¡°Change¡­ I need to change¡­¡± In my heart, I vowed for myself to change. Since the revenge I had in my mind was already done, nothing was left in my path for change. ¡®No¡­ There is still one more¡­¡¯ ¡°Karo¡­ Why am I remembering that Minotaur now¡­?¡± I trembled at the memory of Drake being filled with nothing but dread and fear, as he had no other choice but be beheaded by Karo¡¯s blade. ¡®We must find him¡­ And then, kill him¡­¡¯ ¡°¡­ What do you mean by ¡®We¡¯¡­?¡± A voice in my head kept appearing. It all had the same tone, the same feel, and all of it felt very familiar. ¡°Drake¡­¡± Ever since I awoke in Gren¡¯s body, I wasn¡¯t really sure of who was in control. Was it Gren, or was it Drake? But now, it felt like I was able to get to the truth closer than ever before. ¡°Gren was the one who was in control during the time I spent in Garjo¡­¡± I did not notice, but most of the things I did when stalking through the alleys, caring for Mari, or even killing those Gang leaders, were the things that Gren would do. If Drake was the one to do it, then instead of caring deeply for Mari like he would a lover, he would just treat her as his daughter or niece. And instead of killing the Gang leaders while yelling like a psychopath, he instead kill them in one swift go, then confirm whether they were really dead and leave. ¡®Two personalities cannot live in the same body¡­¡¯ ¡°¡­ Only one must remain¡­¡± Where have I heard this before¡­? It sounded so strange, yet so familiar¡­ This line wasn¡¯t in any of the memories Gren and Drake had before their deaths, and this was most likely one that had not been forgotten by either. ¡®Devour, and consume the other¡­¡¯ ¡°Or combine and meld together¡­¡± ¡°¡®Only then, will you find the answer¡­¡¯¡± I trembled in fright at the words that I and the voice were saying in unison. Just then, I heard the voice speak the same line it said to me before once more before vanishing. ¡®We must find him¡­ And then, kill him¡­¡¯If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°¡­ What the fuck is happening¡­?¡± I was confused, lost, and terrified at what was just happening. I shivered ever so slightly at the thought of losing my own being. My breathing got disturbed as I gasped for air, maybe because of paranoia. ¡°Gren¡­?¡± Just then, I heard a voice from the other side of the door. The door clicked and open, and behind it, a worried Mari appeared holding a bucket full of water. ¡°Are you alright¡­?¡± Her beady eyes looked at me closely, as if trying to find the reason why I was in so much mental pain. Even though I was already physically hurt, to be mentally injured as swell was not a good sign for me. ¡°¡­ Huu¡­ Fuu¡­¡± I breathed in a large amount of air, and let out a huge sigh. After that, I grabbed Mari and drew her close to my embrace. ¡°Huh!?¡± Feeling the warmth of her body in mine helped me calmed down. After a few seconds of cuddling the stiff Mari, I let her go and then gave her a smile. ¡°I¡¯m alright now.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You know, thank you¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Why are you thanking me¡­?¡± ¡°¡­ Just¡­ Thank you¡­ For being here¡­ And taking care of me¡­¡± ¡°¡­ I¡¯m the one who should be thankful.¡± She placed the bucket full of water on the floor and took a cloth out. She then slowly proceeded to take off the bandages that were wrapped around my body while checking if there were still any wounds. ¡°If not for you, then I would¡¯ve already died in the slums.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the same for me too.¡± Once she was done taking off the bandages, dipped the cloth in the water then squeezed it, then wiped it on my body. ¡°When I saw this place for the first time, and when I learned that you were a , I had a thought that we could live here forever without being chased by the Gang leaders.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She gently wiped the cloth on my body in order to make sure that I won¡¯t get hurt. ¡°But when I saw you bleeding on the ground after running up there when I heard a scream, I thought that it was over¡­¡± Tears were gathering in the corner of her eyes as she wiped the cloth on my body. She then stopped and tightly clenched the cloth that she was using to wipe my back. ¡°I thought that you might die¡­ I don¡¯t want that to happen¡­¡± She was crying. Mari, the person Gren owed, I owed my life to, was heartbroken. My heart experienced a sharp pain, making me clench the bedsheets. ¡°¡­ You know Mari¡­¡± I turned my gaze to her teary eyes and then opened my mouth. ¡°If you weren¡¯t there, if you weren¡¯t by my side when we were in the slums, I didn¡¯t know how I could continue¡­¡± I brought my hand on top of her free hand that was resting on the bed. She settled her gaze on that hand for a moment before returning it back to my eyes. ¡°The reason why I could continue, was because of you¡­ If you weren¡¯t there, I might¡¯ve already died in a corner of the slums a long time ago.¡± My voice that was completely fine just a moment ago was now shaking. It was as if something was clogging up my throat as I continued to speak. ¡°That¡¯s why please, don¡¯t leave me¡­¡± I hung my head down and felt the corner of my eyes heat up. There were even droplets of liquid falling down. ¡°Gren¡­¡± When she called my name, I flinched. I then slowly brought my head back up and stared at her eyes. Her face, that was full of worry and fright awhile ago, was now full of joy. ¡°Mari¡­¡± I had also realized just now, but my voice that was clogging up a moment ago, was now very clear. ¡°I love you¡­ Will you please, stay by my side, forever¡­?¡± Mari¡¯s eyes teared up once more. She then slowly brought her face close to mine. The next moment, out foreheads touched. ¡°Yes¡­¡± In the perspective of adults, a couple of kids doing this might be cute to watch, since to them, children still didn¡¯t know about love. But for us, for Mari, who lived in the slums, she who had to do anything she can just to survive, she was already mature than most children her age. The same could said about Gren. Even if he didn¡¯t die and the memories of Drake didn¡¯t go inside his mind, he could already be called an adult. That was why, the moment I and Mari had¡­ Everything here, our feelings, our hearts, even our entire beings, was connected. ¡°I won¡¯t let you go¡­¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll do the same¡­¡± We both broke into a hug. Even if both of us were children on the outside, on the inside, adults that have experienced hardships and sometimes, even hell, lived. ¡°¡­ But as expected, we can¡¯t kiss yet¡­ Let¡¯s do it when we¡¯re older¡­¡± ¡°¡­ You may be right¡­¡± The both of us, still realizing that we were still kids at heart, broke the hug with an awkward expression. The room was silent for a few seconds before I decided to break the ice. ¡°Ahem¡­ So, how were you not attacked by the monster next to me in the .¡± Once I said that, a frown appeared on her face. Realizing that I dropped a bombshell out of nowhere, I quickly shut myself up. But one could not help but question if it was regarding the safety of one¡¯s loved one. ¡°¡­ It¡¯s okay¡­¡± Seeing that she also knew the reason why I asked her that question made me sigh in relief. ¡°I went into the basement because I wanted to explore the place. Once I got there though, I saw a pathway going to another room with a blue crystal on it. I touched the crystal because of how it looked and suddenly¡­¡± I was tense because of how she was relaying what she experienced. ¡®Jelly donut¡­?¡¯ I recalled a food back in Drake¡¯s homeworld where the outside was just bread while the inside was filling, and you had to eat from the outside just to get to the filling, that¡¯s what I was experiencing right now. ¡°A voice in my head appeared, saying that I met the criteria.¡± ¡°Hm? Criteria for what?¡± ¡°Criteria for a .¡± ¡°¡­ What¡­?¡± Chapter 8.2 ¡°?¡± I was curious about this new feature that can be implemented at the dungeon. If this is what I think it is, then it would probably be something that can determine friendlies from enemies. I might even be able to give them certain permissions that may be able for them to utilize some of the dungeon¡¯s mechanics, like for instance, me giving Mari the permission to use the [Dungeon Portal] to teleport to anywhere in the dungeon. Or, instead, I can give her control on where to place [Dungeon Portals] so that she can freely move in and out of the dungeon if she wanted to. ¡°Yes, but I don¡¯t know what that means. I only know that after that voice told me that I met the criteria, I was already designated as a .¡± ¡°¡­ Hmm¡­¡± So if it was like that, then it meant that the was the one responsible for designating . If that theory is correct, then the , or me in this situation, cannot designate them himself. If so, then I need to find out what criteria is needed in order for me to use this mechanic. I opened the and saw that it wasn¡¯t all that different¡­ ¡®Hey wait a second¡­¡¯ ¡°Mari, where did you get those bandages you used to dress my wounds¡­?¡± ¡°I got it from the blue crystal in the basement.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡®Does the have a mind of its own¡­?¡¯ If that also proved correct, then can I hope for autonomous control over the dungeon while I am out exploring? ¡°But after I got the bandages, it never gave out anything else, even until now.¡± ¡°Wait, you said until now right? How long was I out¡­?¡± ¡°¡­ About one week.¡± ¡°!?¡± That literally hit me right in the back of the head. If I was out for one week, how many times was the dungeon raided by monsters during that time? Also, and most important of all, where did Mari get the food for both of us? ¡°Mari, where did you get your food?¡± ¡°From the blue crystal too.¡± ¡°But you said that it didn¡¯t give you anything after giving you those bandages¡­¡± ¡°Ah that, it gave it to me before giving me the bandages.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡®Seriously? Is she teasing me right now¡­?¡¯ I face-palmed myself for trying to ask Mari about where she got the food. Come to think of it, she was mischievous back in the slums as well. ¡°This is a bad time for jokes, you know that Mari¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Sorry¡­¡± Feeling the coldness in my voice, Mari quickly apologized. ¡°Sheesh¡­ During times like these, please, just be reasonable with the jokes alright?¡± ¡°¡­ Yes¡­¡± She hung her head down while reflecting on her behavior.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡®She really is still just a child¡­¡¯ This made me want to protect her more and more. ¡°Setting those questions aside, did anything try and attack my dungeon?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± If she really didn¡¯t know, then it means that she has no access to my dungeon related abilities. If I want her to know about dangerous situations in real time, this is an indispensible ability Mari should have. ¡®Now then, how should I grant it to her¡­?¡¯ I checked the once more and found out that there was another tab I missed. Dungeon Master: Gren --- Drake Wota Dungeon Level: 4 Type of Dungeon: Void [Market] [Customization] [Statistics] [Community] (Available at Dungeon Level 5) [Set Dungeon Portal] [1/3 Used] [Residents] ¡®The tab must be associated with Mari¡­¡¯ So without further ado, I opened the tab and a window with a list appeared. Since there was only one in the list, which was Mari, the list was mostly empty. I also realized that focusing on Mari¡¯s name allowed me to open another tab displaying some information about Mari, as well as some commands. Resident Name: Mari Gender: Female Age: 11 Race: Human Class: None Titles: None Skills: [Service Lv 4] [Pain Nullification Lv 3] Permissions: None MP Generation: 5 + 10 (First Resident Bonus) = 15 / day Once I saw the skills part of Mari, I unconsciously clenched my fist. ¡®¡­ Shit¡­¡¯ It once again reminded me of how tough Mari¡¯s life had been in the slums. ¡°Hm¡­? Gren?¡± ¡°¡­ No, it¡¯s nothing¡­¡± I calmed myself down and looked down further. By the way, this was the first time I was seeing a column. Since I bought and learned (forcibly) the skill [Invulnerability], I could actually use it during tough situations. I also wanted to see where I can see my own, but for now I had to focus on this for the moment. Below the column were the Column. If I¡¯m not mistaken, this is where I can probably give them specific controls of the dungeon. Further below that was . I ignored that part since it was pretty much self-explanatory. In a nutshell, generate MP everyday for my dungeon, which is in my case, a well brought benefit, thus, making me want to crave more and more . ¡°So for now, set of Mari to being able to use the exclusively for travel only, exclusively for food and daily life items, as well as during an invasion¡­ And voila.¡± ¡°Huh, what?¡± Not minding the confused Mari, I finished up setting the Mari will have in my dungeon. ¡°Mari, I gave you, as a of my dungeon, some benefits to make your life easier inside. First of all, is the ¡­¡± After a few minutes of teaching her how to use the I gave her, I laid back down on the bed. ¡°Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯m tired¡­ My body is still fatigued from the blood loss¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Hey Gren¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± Just when I opened my mouth to ask her why she called out to me, I tasted something sweet entered my mouth. ¡°I bought something using the MP you have to but something that looked delicious in the .¡± I chewed and swallowed the sweet tasting treat in my mouth. Later did I realize that she bought a butter cake from the . ¡°Mari, thanks for the food. I was feeling a bit hungry, but please don¡¯t go spending all of my MP, I might need it during an invasion.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Seeing that she was glad that I was able to relieve some of my hunger, I floated a smile up on my face before lying down once more to rest. <><><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ ¡°Uhhh¡­ What the heck is a bell doing in this forest?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it looks good. How about bringing it to town for some quick cash?¡± ¡°Wait, don¡¯t you two see something underneath that bell?¡± Three men could be seen wandering around the forest where beginner adventurers usually start in the city of Frenia. Frenia was the city that was next after Garjo. These three were, without a doubt, beginners, seeing as their lack of awareness in their surroundings, as well as their equipment gave them away. ¡°¡­ Yeah, I see it¡­¡± ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡± ¡°¡­ Dungeon¡­¡± ¡°Should we go in?¡± ¡°Since this wasn¡¯t here before, this must be a new dungeon. There might me untouched treasure inside!¡± ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ Aren¡¯t dungeons dangerous places?¡± ¡°Pfff¡­ As if a difficult dungeon would appear in a beginner forest full of rabbits and boars.¡± ¡°Think about the riches we could gain inside this dungeon!¡± The two adventurers were blinded by greed, while the other one was cautious. But, being the guy he is, as someone who was easily swept by the flow, he was brought in by the mood of the two adventurers. ¡°¡­ Fine, but only surface, okay?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°Treasure, here we come!¡± Those three adventurers were never seen again after entering the dungeon¡­ Chapter 9 Chapter 9: New City, Bad Omen ~ First Person POV ~ ¡°Well, I¡¯m off!¡± ¡°Come back safe!¡± The sweet voice of Mari seeing me off was like music to my ears. After having recuperated my injuries, I decided to gather information. Because if it¡¯s one thing I know, it¡¯s that information can be a lifesaver. So here I am, with my trusty sword strapped to my back, along with the feeling of adventure and youth¡­ Not¡­ ¡°Where the hell am I¡­?¡± When I got out of the dungeon, what greeted me was a dense patch of green scenery. There were vines here and there, some shrubs, and trees, a lot of trees. ¡°What happened to Garjo¡­?¡± I did a full 360 degree spin to check whether I was in some place familiar, but none of the places here ringed a bell. Heck, it was so random that none of the things here could be used as a landmark. The only thing that was familiar was the bell I used to cover up my . It was even in a condition where you wouldn¡¯t think that it has been in this place for long. Just then, I remembered what had happened to me just when I got back from killing the Gang leaders. ¡®Does that have anything to do with what I am experiencing right now¡­?¡¯ I gave it a thought, before shelving it on the back side of my mind. Thinking too much will not make any progress towards my goal and instead, it might just cause a migraine. So with that out of the way, trekked through the grass with no path. Of course, I made some landmarks in case I get lost, but with , even if I get lost, I can just go back to the beginning, but what I am chasing after is time. ¡®I need to get some information for the day at least¡­¡¯ Because there might come a day where not having information will get me and Mari killed. After all, I¡¯m a , one of those who were on the top of the wanted list of all countries, or specifically, the religion of . So with that in mind, making a mental map of the surroundings, as well as trying to find my way out of this dense forest, I continued on walking until I came upon a dirt path. ¡®Yes!! Finally, some signs of civilization!¡¯ The path was maintained regularly since it was as wide as a highway. There were even some tracks that looked like there were wheels moving through here. ¡®Now the problem is where to go from here¡­¡¯The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I could take a left or a right, although I can take both of them, I wanted my first try to be a success. But then, I heard something coming from the right. ¡°¡­ Are you kidding me¡­?¡± There was a carriage, with soldiers surrounding it as they were guarding it, and some people in robes assaulting said carriage. ¡°You won¡¯t kill the princess!!¡± ¡°Kill these lowlives!!!¡± ¡°Bah! Knights of the kingdom my ass, you can¡¯t even fight with the weakest among out group!¡± ¡°¡­¡± First of all, what I did after seeing that was did a 360, rubbed my eyeballs, and pinched my cheeks. ¡°¡­ It¡¯s really real¡­¡± Once I recognized that I wasn¡¯t dreaming, I stood stock still and didn¡¯t move a muscle, except for my lips. ¡°The template of isekai¡­¡± What I was reciting was from Drake¡¯s homeworld. Since there was also a situation where a person was transported to another world in books or fictions (it happened to Drake though), there were also overused situations to make the protagonist stronger, make him look cooler, or even just for comedic effect. This situation where a carriage was assaulted by bandits, while soldiers were protecting royalty, was one such situation. ¡®Should I go help or not¡­?¡¯ The problem of this was if the protagonist should go help. Because it was in novels, as well as the protagonist were hella OP, there was no problem even if they were to fight 1000 bandits. I on the other hand, was still a child, a malnourished one at that. But¡­ ¡®¡­ What¡¯s the harm in it? Anyway, I need to gather information, so maybe doing this might lead me to creating some connections¡­¡¯ I opened the and called out the monster standing by in the . Once it was fully out of the portal, I got in the cockpit and rushed towards the battlefield. I don¡¯t plan on talking while fighting because for some reason, I kept on getting flashbacks to when I killed the Gang leaders. If I¡­ If Gren started screaming like a psycho, then there might be misunderstandings when I want to talk. The tall golem reached the battlefield in no time, and once I arrived, the people fighting stopped and looked at me, or more specifically, the golem. ¡°SHIT!! PROTECT THE PRINCESS!!¡± ¡°SOMEONE DRIVE THE CARRIAGE!! WE CAN¡¯T LET HER DIE HERE!!¡± ¡°OI!! RETREAT!!¡± All of them shouted in fear. There were even some bandits who fell in place from the fear, and were beheaded by a soldier next to them. The same could be applied to the soldiers too. The bandits quickly pulled out, while a soldier quickly got on the coach to pilot the carriage. The horses were also restless seeing that there was a looming threat coming on their heads right behind them. The horses quickly galloped, as if there was a predator chasing after them from behind, bringing the carriage with them. The soldiers that were left behind all looked towards me and brought their blades down on the violet iron. ¡°WE MUST NOT LET THIS MONSTER CATCH UP TO THE PRINCESS!!¡± ¡°YAAAAA!!!¡± Everything happened just so suddenly while I blankly stood there like a statue. ¡°What the ---¡° ¡®What the fuck just happened?¡¯ <><><><><><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ Inside the carriage that was speeding on the dirt highway, a girl in her late teens could be seen shivering on the seat. ¡°T-that monster¡­¡± ¡°Princess, are you okay!?¡± An old man wearing a butler outfit closed in on the shivering princess while bringing her a towel to wipe her cold sweat. ¡°I- I¡¯ve heard from the Adventurers Guild¡­ T- That a monster that looked exactly like that one rampaged in the city of Garjo before its destruction¡­¡± ¡°¡­!!!¡± ¡°I- If that¡¯s true¡­¡± ¡°Princess, please calm down. We do not know the cause of destruction of the city of Garjo since the Adventurers Guild is so tight-lipped. But if the cause was that golem, then it will be a huge problem.¡± What the butler said didn¡¯t calm the shivering princess one bit. ¡°Rest assured princess. The summoned heroes will take on that monster.¡± ¡°¡­ Will they be able to¡­?¡± ¡°¡­ I¡¯ll make sure that happens, this old bag of bones still got a lot of kick left in him.¡± The butler had a wild smile on his face as he gently calmed down the princess by serving her treats. Chapter 9.2 ~ First Person POV ~ I got out of there as fast as I could, although in the process, I did knock some of the soldiers out cold, but not all of them so they can have a chance to survive. If they saw me as a monster, then I must play the role of a monster, otherwise, they might have some suspicions. As it is now, even if I got out of the golem claiming I was trying to save them, what instead might happen was a sword to my head. ¡®In the first place, why did I think I could build a relationship with them when I was inside the huge golem that could be seen as a life-threatening monster¡­?¡¯ If that was the case, then I needed to create something more human-like instead of this huge golem. ¡®How about a powered-suit?¡¯ Back in Drake¡¯s homeworld, there weren¡¯t any powered-suits in reality, but in novels, games, animes, and movies, there were. Using that as a reference, I could probably create one using the Void Iron Golems [Parts Configuration] skill. ¡®But for now, that¡¯s on hold until I can find a city¡­¡¯ The main goal of this outing was still information gathering, and I haven¡¯t gathered even an ounce of information¡­ What kind of information I was trying to find was simple. ¡®What are dungeons considered to adventurers, and what is the basis of ranking dungeons¡­?¡¯ That way, I can check whether my dungeon looks appetizing to adventurers so that I can lure in to get more MP, find some people that are willing to be , and also know how my dungeon is seen by other people. The last one is important because if my dungeon is seen as extremely dangerous, then probably, strong adventurers that could easily destroy that Giga Void Iron Golem would enter. Once that happens, I¡¯m screwed, so I need a way to calibrate my dungeon in order for the common populace to think that my dungeon is harmless. For now, I got out of the golem and sent it back to the . Once I did that, I went back on the dirt path where the soldiers were, although I didn¡¯t try to meet them. I went around them quickly since they were still in the same place tending to the wounded. I also saw some of the bandits lurking around, but seeing that there target wasn¡¯t anywhere near them, they left. They probably weren¡¯t bandits, since if they were they wouldn¡¯t pass on this opportunity to steal the weapons and armors of the exhausted soldiers. But I didn¡¯t pay too much attention to that. What I needed was to get to a city, so without causing much noise, I stealthily moved around and got far enough where the soldiers wouldn¡¯t see me. ¡°Now if I follow this road, I can probably reach a city, or even a village would be good¡­¡± This was the road where the carriage speedily ran through. So with that, I summoned a Void Night Wolf to make my travel faster. With my small and light body, there wouldn¡¯t be any problems with it carrying me. ¡°Come to think of it, you¡¯re larger than the other wolves¡­¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. When I said that, the wolf nudged its head on my body and licked my hand. ¡°¡­ Are you an Alpha?¡± The wolf wagged its tail intensely and happily nudged its head on my body. Before, I was confused since I wasn¡¯t able to buy Alpha Night Wolves in the , but if it was something that a wolf earned, then it was understandable. The wolf lowered its back as if to say, ¡®Get on¡¯. I happily obliged, and got on its back, and boy do I regret it. ¡®AT LEAST WARN ME!!!!¡± When the Void Alpha Night Wolf ran, it was bearable, but when it used [Dimension Dive], that was another story. It¡¯s speed tripled¡­ No, quintupled and when I took a look at my surroundings, everything was violet. The trees, the path, even the grass turned violet¡­ What¡¯s more, the trees were moving back and forth quickly, indicating the speed we were going. Thankfully, there was no wind here, as in the wind your body is going through when riding a motorcycle, something like that. Also, I wasn¡¯t sure, but I was able to breathe properly, even though there wasn¡¯t any wind or air. But since my situation deemed it unnecessary to be thinking of stuff like that, I had no choice but to tightly grip the fur on the Void Alpha Night Wolf¡¯s back. <><><><><><><><><><><> A few minutes later¡­ When we stopped, I felt as if my heart skipped a bit. ¡®FINALLY!!!¡¯ I wasn¡¯t able to yell that out loud, since I didn¡¯t want to hurt this wolf¡¯s feelings, but what I was feeling right now was extreme relief and joy that we stopped. I patted the wolf on the head while saying, ¡°Good job,¡± and sent it back to the dungeon. The wolf happily went into the portal while wagging its tail after it nudged its head on me and licked my hands. In front of me was a huge wall. It was as tall as that of a two story building. A ways from here was a huge iron gate. Thankfully, it was still noon, so it wasn¡¯t that late, but I was hungry. ¡®Time to get some lunch.¡¯ I told the wolf to find a secluded area, and this is where it took me. I found a nice tree, one where you wouldn¡¯t suspect a dungeon to pop up and placed a . I entered the portal, and of course, didn¡¯t erase the portal since if I did, I¡¯ll have to start from zero again. ¡°Welcome back.¡± When I got back into the dungeon or more specifically, the house in the dungeon, I saw a Mari with a blooming smile on her face welcoming me back from my not so long travel. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± The both of us hugged and separated, then proceeded to the dining area. We ate the food she prepared, which looked like food from Drake¡¯s homeworld. She probably used MP, but since it was delicious, I had no problem with it, but if I want to save, I¡¯ll have to teach her how to cook, but¡­ ¡°Mari, do you want to learn how to cook?¡± When I said that, her eyes beamed open and looked at me as if I was a saint, but then turned dejected. ¡°Yes I do¡­ But where can I learn how to cook? I mean, you don¡¯t even know how to cook.¡± Yes, that was the problem. In Drake¡¯s memories he always ordered fast food, and also, he only knew how to cook rice, instant noodles, hotdogs, eggs, basically anything that could be cooked under 3 minutes, except for the rice. While Gren on the other hand, had no experience with cooking food, much less touching a cooking tool. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The two of us went silent, but then I had an idea. ¡°Mari, I found a city earlier, so there might be a school that teaches cooking to their students, or even if it wasn¡¯t a school but just a person who are taking students, would you like to learn from them?¡± ¡°Really!?¡± When she heard what I said, her dejected look vanished from her face and was replaced by joyful one, but then turned dejected once more. ¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t have any money¡­¡± ¡°Nah, don¡¯t worry about that.¡± I stood up then opened the portal leading outside. ¡°Just sit tight in here. I¡¯ll come back loaded and then you can use that money for cooking lessons.¡± ¡°¡­ But, isn¡¯t that your money.¡± ¡°Mari, what¡¯s mine is yours, so don¡¯t worry. Even if you get some money, it¡¯s also mine, so aren¡¯t we even?¡± ¡°¡­ Yes, probably¡­¡± ¡°Okay, then see you later. I¡¯m off!¡± ¡°Come back safe.¡± With our usual seeing off skit, I jumped in the portal and arrived at the forest where I had the wolf bring me. ¡°Now then, the gate was over there right¡­?¡± Chapter 9.3 ¡°Identification please.¡± When I arrived at the gate, there was a line of people forming just outside. Just to get inside, one, you needed anything that can serve as an identification tool, and two, a fee for entering the city. The fee wasn¡¯t that high. Thanks to picking up (stealing) some money back in Garjo, I had just enough to pay the fee. The problem was my identification. I had nothing to serve as identification, even if I begged and groveled on the ground, they still wouldn¡¯t let me in. ¡®What am I supposed to do¡­?¡¯ Just when I was at a standstill, I saw a person, a black-haired, black-eyed person. No, it wasn¡¯t just one, it was a group, and a lot of them at that. When I got closer to listen my jaw dropped to the ground. ¡°Hey Kawasaki-san, what kind of skill did you use back there¡­?¡± ¡°Oh that, it was a skill called [Infinite Holy Blade]. As you saw for yourself, it created countless of swords made of light and attacked the enemies in an area. ¡°Awesome¡­¡± ¡®Kawasaki-san¡­? And that language, don¡¯t tell me¡­?¡¯ Japanese people¡­ There were literal Japanese people around here. Of course, there were people that matched their appearance in the east, but they don¡¯t speak Japanese language. ¡°Holy fuck¡­¡± Why were there Japanese people here, no, what were they doing here? This is no common occurrence in the world of Andeght. In fact, this hasn¡¯t happened in thousands of years after a hero defeated the demon lord. But then, I had plan. ¡®If I use them¡­ Maybe I can enter the city¡­¡¯ If the template is correct, the hero is probably one that is filled with justice, and can¡¯t deny a request from a child. Much more if that child was struggling to survive in the outside world. That is, if the template is correct, but if it isn¡¯t, then bad luck, I¡¯ll have to look for another opportunity. With that plan in my mind, I mustered up my courage and approached the group numbering 40 or more. ¡°E-excuse me¡­¡± I made my voice sound as weak and innocent as possible. ¡°Hmm, a child¡­?¡± ¡°What the¡­ An albino¡­?¡± ¡°Gosh!! He¡¯s so cute!!!¡± Ignoring a female Japanese person squealing in delight upon seeing me, I approached the man called Kawasaki and pleaded. ¡°Please, let me come with you¡­ All I need is to enter the city¡­ They won¡¯t let me in because I have nothing to prove who I am¡­¡± I sounded pathetic, but that¡¯s just the way I was acting. I needed to be sympathized by this person then maybe, I can enter the city without problems, and then, place a portal inside the slums where it can be hidden.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Sure you can!¡± ¡°Eh!? Kawasaki-san!?¡± The person who I called out to agreed, but the other person beside him exclaimed in shock. This was probably the type that didn¡¯t trust anyone they meet, even if it was still just a child. ¡°Seriously Yanahiro-san? He¡¯s just a child. If all he wants is to enter the city, then I¡¯ll gladly help. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re bringing in some wanted criminal into the city.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Enough Yanahiro-san.¡± When Kawasaki silenced him with his cold gaze, the rest of the group behind him started getting loud. ¡°There it is! The cold gaze of the President!!¡± ¡°¡­ Scary¡­¡± ¡°Please glare at me like that! Please!!¡± ¡°Yo girl what the fuck!? You an M!?¡± I ignored the noisy group, but I will probably not forget the last one, that was just gold. I happily gazed at Kawasaki who was bringing me to the gate. After a few minutes of waiting in line, it was out turn. ¡°Identifica--- Ah, Hero, back from hunting?¡± ¡°Yeah Stewart, we needed the experience.¡± ¡°I see, and the child, is he with you¡­?¡± ¡°Yes, he is. What was your name again?¡± When he asked, I nodded then spoke out the truth. ¡°My name is Gren.¡± That was it, nothing more, nothing less. I¡¯m scared that if I speak out where I was from, then I would probably be brought to somewhere troublesome. ¡°Gren, is that right¡­? Alright, you may pass, but still, you have to pay the toll fee.¡± ¡°Ah that¡¯s no problem, it¡¯s your salary after all.¡± ¡°Ahahaha, you got me there. So that would be 2 copper coins for each of you, then in total it would be 9 silver coins and 4 copper coins.¡± ¡°Okay, here you go.¡± With the transaction of money completed, we were granted access to the city. ¡°Okay Gren, do you have anywhere to stay?¡± When asked that, there were some girls as well as some girlish boys behind him who nodded their heads in agreement. ¡®¡­ Oh hell no¡­¡¯ ¡°Sorry, but I already have somewhere in mind.¡± ¡°I see, well then, we¡¯ll get going now. If we see each other again, I¡¯ll treat you to some delicious food.¡± With a smile, Kawasaki left with his group. Although within that group, there were dejected faces, but why bother. I¡¯m not letting myself be subjected to that kind of treatment. ¡®Just thinking of it creeps me out¡­ Ughhh¡­¡¯ I shook that thought off of my head, and made a quick run down of my list. ¡®First, go to Adventurer¡¯s Guild, second, register, third, gather information, fourth, do some jobs for money, optional, raise rank.¡¯ With that as my priorities, I set my walking towards the nearest person. Why? It was because I don¡¯t know where the Adventurer¡¯s Guild was. And also, I didn¡¯t want to ask this from the Japanese, they might suspect something because of their education, as well as their lack of common sense of the world of Andeght. ¡°Umm, excuse me mister?¡± ¡°Hm, what do you want child?¡± ¡°I would like to know where the Adventurer¡¯s Guild is.¡± ¡°Okay, just follow this road¡­¡± Once I got my directions, I followed it, and if I ever got lost again, I asked another passerby. Time flew just like that, and finally, I arrived at the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. The building looked like it was made for war, with the sturdy, stone walls, and the glass windows with something like iron bards hidden on the sides. The double doors were also huge and there were numerous amount of people from various races going in and out. ¡®Cat ears¡­ Rabbit ears¡­ Dog ears¡­ Fox tails¡­ Ahhh a man¡¯s romance¡­¡¯ If this was Drake¡¯s homeworld, then they would probably worshipped by the netizens. I know Drake would too¡­ ¡®But for now, let¡¯s focus on my goal¡­¡¯ I entered the building and what greeted my sight inside were a bunch of people sitting on tables, chatting with each other, forming plans, having drinks, and forming lines on the counter. But when I entered, a bunch of eyes peeked towards me before losing interest after a quick second. Well, except for some thug-like adventurers¡­ ¡°What¡¯s a kid doing in here, huh¡­?¡± ¡°What a good looking sword too, don¡¯t you agree¡­?¡± ¡°That looks wasted on you brat, come here and donate it to us¡­¡± ¡®¡­ Another fucking template¡­¡¯ In Drake¡¯s homeworld, this was also common in novels and movies, the part where an MC walks into an establishment for doing work, gets underestimated by the high-rankers, then gets beaten up mercilessly by said MC. But that does not apply to me, I¡¯m not strong, I¡¯m weak as hell. So now the problem is this, what should I do to avoid this? ¡®Easy, just run away¡­¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± I turned back and quickly left through the door. ¡°Oi you brat!! Come back here!!¡± I didn¡¯t pay heed to the shouts of the thugs, but instead, continued to run as fast as I can. Once I lost them, I found a secluded area inside a broken building and created a . ¡®I need to make a powered-suit fast¡­¡¯ Otherwise, I won¡¯t be able to register because of those thugs¡­ Chapter 10 ¡°Hmm¡­? Why are you back so early, Gren?¡± When I got back to the dungeon, I saw Mari with an odd expression on her face, it was red, and she was breathing hea--- ¡®Okay stop it right there¡­ If I think any further, then I might go haywire¡­¡¯ I shook my head and tried not to notice the common characteristics Mari had. While ignoring the look Mari had, I briefly explained the reason why I came back. Of course, she didn¡¯t understand one bit about what I was talking about, so I brought her along with me to the , not minding her walking posture. When we arrived at the , I purchased some Void Iron Golems since there was still room for monsters in my dungeon. ¡°Look Mari, you see those golems?¡± ¡°Those violet ones?¡± ¡°Yes, now, can you see that huge golem?¡± ¡°That huge violet one?¡± ¡°¡­ Yes¡­¡± I coughed for a bit before continuing on. ¡°Those small golems are used to make that big one, so what I am going to do is to use some parts of the golems and create a suit I can wear.¡± ¡°¡­ I can understand the big one, but why do you need several golems to make one suit¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about their abilities. Using parts of others, or their own parts, they can upgrade or create a new one.¡± ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t understand¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Okay, just watch me do it. Maybe next time, you can do it yourself to make your own suit.¡± This was the goal why I had brought Mari here. I wanted to show her the procedure to use the [Parts Configuration] so that in the future, she can use it to create her own powered-suit. If you¡¯re asking why I¡¯m not doing it myself, well, try imagining a man trying to create a tight suit for a young girl, so you¡¯ll need to take measures, some more measures if you want to know how big it should be for when they get bigger, and you have to do it bare since it is a skin-tight suit, so now way for me. The reason why I¡¯m making the skin-tight suit for the moment is because I want to hide it under my clothes. If I made exoskeletons, or something like a mecha fir for my body, who knows how much attention it will bring me. I¡¯d rather use a skin-tight powered-suit that boosts your physical capabilities tremendously, but can still make an excuse when seen, but for something like exoskeletons that has no choice but to be seen (even if it is hidden under clothes, it is still visible because of its size), I cannot make an excuse if they surmised that my power comes from the exoskeleton itself. So the next thing I do was to change the type of parts used. I don¡¯t how it is done even though it is against the laws of chemistry since changing an element to a different element without any reactions in nigh impossible. So in short, it¡¯s like alchemy, only that it does not need an equivalent exchange. The violet metal turned soft, then flattened itself and turned into fabric. I was a bit doubtful whether this fabric could repel iron, so when I tried to cut it with my sword, surprise surprise, the sword bounced back while the fabric gets of unscathed. ¡®So with this, I can protect myself from bladed weapons¡­¡¯ The only problem was that I had no countermeasures for blunt weapons, since blunt weapons rely on the impact and force. Of course, bladed weapons can still deal damage to me, only that it wouldn¡¯t be able to cut my skin, but instead break my bones if hit in the right place. I wove the fabric using the unknown power the skill kept releasing into the shape my body, everything from the head, to my feet. Since this was prototype 1, I wanted to try to see if I could get a feature where the suit can be invisible, but still be present. It would be like wearing a full body costume, but not at the same time. If that worked, then I can say goodbye to my worries of having the reason my physical power is high exposed. Once the fabric shaped into my body hardened but retained its elasticity, the unknown power flew away into the void and the fabric fell lifeless on the ground. [New Monster Created! Bonus EXP Rewarded to the Dungeon and Dungeon Master!!] This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Monster Species: Void Iron Golem (Skin-Tight Suit Type) Special Ability(s): 1. Lightweight Body
  1. Durable Body
  2. Enhance Physical Performance
  3. Opacity Adjustment
  4. Manned Golem
Threat Level: F- (B When Manned) Cost: 350 MP Enhance Physical Performance ¨C Passive Ability. Enhances the wearer¡¯s physical capabilities to B-rank monster standard. No side-effects will occur to the wearer because of this ability. Opacity Adjustment ¨C User can adjust itself whether to be hidden to the visual senses of other organisms or not. ¡°¡­ I did it¡­¡± ¡°Hm, Gren? Are you okay?¡± When I directed my gaze towards Mari, I saw a worried expression on the surface. ¡°¡­Nah, it¡¯s just that I¡¯m thankful for this suit to be born¡­.¡± No kidding, I really was grateful. The two special abilities that I wanted the most appeared. [Enhance Physical Performance] and [Opacity Adjustment], these two had a synergy that was perfect for making people underestimate you because of your body. And because of that gratefulness, excitement coursed through my whole body. I quickly brought the fabric to a secluded space in the for Mari not to see the scene of me changing then proceeded to undress. Once I was naked, save for my underpants, which for some reason had the same appearance and material used back in Drake¡¯s homeworld, I put on the skin-tight suit. Although it was skin-tight, it actually felt rather comfortable and not constricting at all. Since my whole body was covered, even my face, there is merit in using this for stealth operations. I set the opacity to 100% then let Mari see how I look, and that was a very bad idea¡­ ¡°¡­!?¡± Mari quickly turned red and turned around while having coarse breathing. When I saw how she reacted, I pondered for a bit, then looked down, and saw my ding-ding-dong through the skin-tight suit. ¡°I¡¯M SORRY!!!!¡± When I shouted my apology, I quickly ran back to the place where I undressed then wore my clothes over the suit. Next, I set the opacity to 0%, and voila, the suit disappeared as if it wasn¡¯t there, even the texture of my skin felt real. But when I tried to poke my finger with the sword blade, my skin didn¡¯t get cut. At first I did it lightly, but then I tried for it to go harder, result, even B rank monster strength at full force couldn¡¯t puncture the suit, although it might be a problem of the weapon instead of the strength, since I saw some cracks forming along here and there¡­ ¡®Time to get a new weapon¡­¡¯ I walked back to where Mari was after finishing my experiments then asked her to look at me again to check if there were any irregularities. Of course, I checked whether my ding-ding-dong was in full view again before coming here, so no worries about that part. When Mari turned around and saw my usual appearance, she had a slightly(?) dejected look, but then turned back to her happy expression. ¡®¡­ Please tell me what I saw was a lie¡­¡¯ Too bad, I wasn¡¯t going to get any closure on this any time soon. ¡°So Mari, it¡¯s like that. If you do the same thing I did, then you could probably create another suit just for you.¡± ¡°Really!?¡± She quickly leaped right in front of me exclaimed in a loud voice. I saw her eyes sparkling with desire¡­ No that looks wrong¡­ Please, let it be a lie¡­ I averted my gaze then nodded once to make her know that she can do the same thing. After that, I went back to create a weapon this time out of golems. Because it said parts, then basically, it can be parts of weapons, armors, and heck, even buildings or statues. The only thing is, everything is iron, not regular iron though, violet colored iron so it is very eye-catching. Even my skin-tight suit was violet. With the same procedure, but this time imagining a weapon instead of a suit, what appeared was something I had always wanted to use as a weapon when I was a kid. ¡°Shovel¡­¡± What appeared was not a sword, a hammer, nor a spear, but a shovel. In actuality, not a digging type shovel, but a type of shovel used in wars, one that can be used to stab, slice, smack enemies, and even dig. When Mari saw what I was holding, she blurted out a confused statement. ¡°Are you going to dig somewhere¡­?¡± ¡°No, this is a weapon.¡± ¡°A weapon? A shovel is¡­?¡± If you knew that a shovel could win against a sword then you would probably take back that statement, though coming from her, a pure resident of this world, I can understand where she¡¯s coming from since I am one myself, well, partly for that matter. ¡°You¡¯ll understand when you see me fight with it.¡± The problem was how do I fight with it? Thankfully, this was not a pure weapon, but a monster weapons. [New Monster Created! Bonus EXP Rewarded to the Dungeon and Dungeon Master!!] Monster Species: Void Iron Golem (Weapon Type ¨C Shovel Series) Special Ability(s): 1. Lightweight Body
  1. Durable Body
  2. Phasing Blade
  3. Weapon Knowledge ¨C Shovel Intermediate
  4. Weapon Monster
Threat Level: G- (B- When Wielded) Cost: 200 MP Weapon Knowledge ¨C Passive Ability. Grants the wielder knowledge how to use a weapon type. Degree of skill depends on rank. Weapon Knowledge can be imparted to the wielder once a long time of training is done. Weapon Monster ¨C Passive Ability. Monster which is not in the form of a living organism, but of an inanimate weapon. Cannot move by itself and requires a wielder for it to be useful. Stronger than ordinary weapons. But thanks to the skill that is with the weapon (monster), there are probably no problems with fighting skill. To demonstrate, I picked up the shovel then readied my stance. Although it was that of an amateur stance, I was gripping the shovel with a clear image in my mind. No, it really was a clear image, once I held the shovel images appeared inside of my head. It showed some poses, how to stab, slice, deflect, etc. By following this steps, I could well by myself. ¡°Well then Mari, I¡¯ll be off again. I¡¯ll return a little later.¡± ¡°¡­ Un¡­¡± When I looked into her eyes, she was still having that burning desire¡­ I¡¯ll leave her alone for a while¡­ ¡°I¡¯m off!¡± ¡°Come back safe!¡± Although since she was responding properly, she was probably fine. Chapter 10.2 Once I was outside of the dungeon, I was back at the secluded place where I hid my . It was in an alley as dark as night even in the daytime. Inside the alley, there was a huge box, and when I took a look inside, it was empty. So with my decision, I used this as one of the spots where I place my , well, until it gets noticed. I removed the in order to hide the fact that there was something here and left hurriedly. One reason was because I was excited to use my new power (gear) on the idiot templates. And then it hit me¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t know where I am¡­¡± Since I was running around, trying to lose the templates, I didn¡¯t pay attention to where I was going. I also found this spot by coincidence, so I had no idea where I was. ¡°Meh, I¡¯ll just ask again.¡± And with that, it took me about half an hour to reach the Adventurer¡¯s Guild while walking. The reason for the long time was because I got lost here and then because of the walkways and etc. Now here I am, standing in front of the double doors which lead towards the first floor of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. And inside, there is a 50-50 chance of me encountering the templates or not since I spent some time inside my dungeon. If they are in, then I beat them up, if not, then just register like nothing ever happened. But if I do encounter them, I need to give an excuse why I ran, otherwise, they might make fun of me, and underestimate me¡­ Or rather, isn¡¯t that good? ¡®But my pride won¡¯t allow it¡­¡¯ There is something called a man¡¯s pride for where he won¡¯t stand it when some people makes fun of him based on some idiotic reasons. Much more if it was based on their hostile intentions. ¡®So first, declare why I left, then beat them up, it will be even worse since what I am beating them up with is a shovel that is mainly used for digging in this world, and that might lead to embarrassing them.¡¯ Without further ado, I walked up to the door then opened it like last time. And that 50-50 chance became 100-0 chance once I saw the same person trying to mug me the first time I came here. ¡°Oh, the brat¡¯s back!¡± Once I saw him, the man looked back at me and flashed a grin, and so did his cronies. ¡°Came back, after running away? Must be playing hero! Ahaha!¡± ¡°Aww, you want to get revenge? Too bad, you just walked right back in, hero. Hihi¡­¡± The three of them stood up and walked towards me while grinning. Then I flashed a ridiculing smirk at them before questioning the other adventurers in the place. ¡°Hey, can I beat these guys up? I just avoided them earlier since it seems like a pain, but now, they¡¯re downright annoying¡­¡± Once I said that, the three thugs had a vein pop in each of their foreheads. The other adventurers in the place laughed and one responded while spectating the situation. ¡°Oh sure¡­ There¡¯s no laws to being an adventurer, if you came here to register then get beat up by adventurers, then you¡¯re not fit to be one. Rather, if you beat them up, then you¡¯re just making yourself seem useful, a good trade for an adventurer if you might ask.¡± So there¡¯s no adventurer policies that restricts adventurers from fighting each other. ¡°Of course, killing is out of the question, and so is distracting some people for doing their jobs, but in this building, fight all you want, just make sure you don¡¯t inconvenience the others.¡± And once he was done, he went back to drinking some more alcohol and watching us with a grin on his face. ¡®Yep, most of the people here are scumbags¡­¡¯ Since they had no problems about seeing a child getting beat up, then they are either scumbags or this was just normal in the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. ¡°Now then, since you heard him, what¡¯ll be? Get beat up by me, or go back, sit and drink quietly?¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I flashed another smirk at them while shaking my head with my hand on my forehead. ¡°Tch! You brat, come here!!¡± The frontmost thug came lunging at me after receiving the humiliation. Of course, the other two also came in tow. He wielded the sword in his waist and made a thrust towards me. ¡®I though no killing¡­?¡¯ Well, if that happened, then those three might go to lockup, but then, even if they tried to kill me, I guess they wouldn¡¯t go all the way. ¡°Yep, now then get beat up!¡± I grabbed the shovel strapped to my back and held it like an axe. Once the thug saw it, he laughed then poked fun at me. ¡°What the hell!? You fightin¡¯ with a damn shovel!? You an idiot!?¡± Well, if he was calm, then he would¡¯ve noticed the violet color, but since he was extremely enraged, I doubt he could notice it. The three thugs seem the same. With their weapons in hand, all of them attacked me simultaneously. One had a sword, the other and axe, and the last a spear. Since three were attacking me all at once, it won¡¯t be easy to block them all, but dodging them is doable thanks to the powered-suit I am wearing. I blocked the sword since it looked the easiest one to block but hardest one to dodge. I dodged the axe and spear by tilting my body a little to the side and duck forward, and once I did that, the spear went past me, while the axe swung past and hit the wooden shaft of the spear. And with the law of nature and physics, wood cannot beat metal, much more if the metal was sharp, so all the wooden shaft could do was be cut where the axe landed. The spear tip fell to the ground, making a loud thud. ¡°What the fuck you doin¡¯ to my spear!¡± ¡°It ain¡¯t my fault you prick!¡± The two thugs argued, but the thug holding the sword was the one in shock, the reason being that his sword was blocked by the shovel¡¯s shaft. Only then did he realize that the shovel I was holding was one made with metal on its whole body. ¡°You! Where did you get that!?¡± And once he realized the shovel was made of metal, the light of greed in his eyes shone intensely and stared at me. ¡°You¡¯re giving that shovel to me!¡± ¡°Pweh, as if.¡± Without breaking a sweat, I repelled the sword using the force generated from my body, or more precisely, the powered-suit. The sword bounced back and was lifted high into the air. The next thing I did was smack his head with the flat surface of the shovel since when I pushed with strength the shovel was also lifted in the air. ¡°Gah!?¡± ¡°¡­ Oops¡­¡± When I smacked him though, I put in about 50% of my strength (powered-suit generated) into the swing, and the result wasn¡¯t pretty. His head did not crack open, but instead, he was bleeding all around. ¡°Oi! Leader!¡± ¡°Ah shit! You brat! What the fuck did you do!?¡± ¡®Well even if you ask me, weren¡¯t you at fault for assaulting me first¡­?¡¯ ¡°Healer! Get a fucking healer right now!¡± ¡°Sheesh, you three still causing problems huh¡­?¡± Once a new voice interjected the two¡¯s shouting, the two thugs froze stiff. Beyond the two, was a flight of stairs, and on the stairs, was a woman in her 30¡¯s walking down with a smile plastered on her face. ¡®HOLY SHIT!!! TOO SCARY!!!¡¯ Even I froze stiff at the aura this smiling woman was emanating. Hell, the whole place froze stiff. ¡°G- Guildmaster¡­ It was the brat¡¯s fault---¡° ¡°Shut up will you?¡± Once the woman, or Guildmaster directed her gaze at the man, he froze in place, no, he literally froze in place inside a gigantic ice cube. ¡°Now for the other one¡­¡± ¡°H-Hiii!!!¡± What happened to the other thug was different in contrast to the other one. He was encased in stone, no more appropriately, he was turned to stone, his face full of fear still visible on the stone statue¡¯s face. ¡°For the bleeding one¡­¡± ¡°GGAAAAHHHH!!!!¡± The wound on his head was burned and then the bleeding stopped. Next after that, he was laid in a bed of thorns and then silenced, literally¡­ ¡°¡­! ¡­!!!¡± Even his shouting for mercy was inaudible as I looked on the torture going on in front of me. ¡°As for you¡­¡± Once she was done on the three thugs, next she set her gaze on me. I froze up instinctively from the pressure she was generating from her smile alone. Coupled with the actions she did on the three thugs, it made it even harder to breathe. ¡°¡­ Well done.¡± ¡°¡­ What?¡± I uttered confused question at her gentle reaction towards mine instead of the violent reaction towards the thugs. ¡°For a child, you were able to hold out against three middle-ranked adventurers. In fact, if that continued, then you could easily subdue all of them. But since you did fatal damage on one of them, I had to step in.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless at the praise the Guildmaster was giving to me. She even had her scary smile still plastered on her face so it made it even scarier. But she was watching the fight the whole time¡­? ¡°We could use a couple of guys like you. Feel free to join the Adventurer¡¯s Guild if you want.¡± Once she was done talking to the speechless me, she called on one of the adventurers on the side. ¡°Hey you, yeah, you in that ridiculous outfit.¡± ¡°M- Me¡­?¡± ¡°Who do you think I¡¯m pointing to? Yes you, blind idiot. Go get a healer and heal this disgrace of an adventurer¡¯s wound. The other two will return to normal after a day. And also, do not take that adventurer off the bed of thorns, do you understand?¡± ¡°Y-YES!!¡± The adventurer wearing spiked armor all over his body quickly dashed outside, while his party helped with moving the three thugs. The Guildmaster left them and headed back upstairs. Once she was gone, it felt like I was able to breathe again. ¡°Hey kid, piece of advice, you might want to register now. You don¡¯t want the Guildmaster to hunt you down alright?¡± I nodded my head in agreement to the adventurer who responded to my question earlier. ¡°But damn¡­ This is their second offense, one more then its goodbye to them. Don¡¯t know why they still do it¡­¡± ¡°Meh, maybe because they were let off light before, it probably got into their heads. But now, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll repeat their mistake.¡± ¡°Even I wouldn¡¯t after experiencing that¡­¡± The other adventurers were busy murmuring about what had happened to the three thugs. ¡°Kid, get a move on right now. If she notices that you ran away from this building, I dunno what¡¯s going to happen to you.¡± I quickly moved towards the counter once I heard that my livelihood was at stake. Chapter 11.1 Once I arrived at the counter, I was greeted by a beautiful receptionist. She had bunny ears at the top of her head with silver hair flowing down her back. She also had red eyes, and skin as white as snow, an albino just like me. Although, when I approached her, she was all business, nothing else. ¡°Welcome to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, what would you for me to offer?¡± ¡°I would like to register please.¡± And I quickly cut to the chase. I don¡¯t want to delay myself from being an adventurer for the main reason being time is money, and also fear of the guildmaster. ¡°Very well, please touch this orb over here.¡± She points to the glass orb sitting on the desk. It had nothing worth of notice, except for its white hue. Of course, I asked about it first in case something might happen. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry, it will just glow blue if you have the aptitude for an adventurer, and red if you have no aptitude. This is obvious, but if it glows red, then you aren¡¯t fit to register, but judging from your fight earlier, I doubt this would glow red.¡± What she said made sense, so I moved my hand towards the orb. When I touched the orb with my hand, it glowed blue. ¡°Okay, next is signing this contract .¡± She placed a parchment on the table with some clauses about being an adventurer, and a dagger. ¡°Please use your blood and thumb as a stamp and stamp it on the box at the bottom of the parchment.¡± And now, I just ran into trouble¡­ Because of my suit, I can¡¯t wound myself with the dagger, and I definitely don¡¯t want to use the shovel to cut my finger instead. So I had to use some other options. ¡°Um¡­ Is there another way for me to sign this contract other than blood?¡± ¡°No.¡± And immediate shutdown¡­ Now that it has come to this, I¡¯ll really need to take of my suit, and if I do that, I¡¯ll be vulnerable for a while¡­ But I can¡¯t think of any other solution to this, so steeled my determination. ¡°Uhm¡­ Please excuse me for a bit, is there a place where I can¡­ take a leak?¡± ¡°Restroom is over there.¡± The receptionist pointed towards one of the doors at the side of the establishment. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll come back in a bit.¡± And with that, I entered the restroom (If I can call it that, sadly, it¡¯s just a hole on the floor with some slimes inside it.) ¡°¡­ Slimes are good plumbers huh...¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I wielded my shovel and picked up one. It jiggled on the shovel blade and without hesitation, brought it towards the corner and killed it. And that is now one more monster I can summon inside the dungeon. ¡®Well then, time to do it¡­¡¯ Next, I undressed and set the opacity of the suit to 100, then took that off too, and got dressed back while putting the suit into my [Dimension Pocket]. After I was done with that, I went back to the counter and grabbed the dagger still lying on the counter. I poked it to my thumb, and my thumb started bleeding, and quickly stamped it on the box. The receptionist grabbed the contract and then pushed it inside one of the drawers behind her. And once that was done, I was given a bronze plate with a code written on it. ¡°FG-117780? What does this mean?¡± I asked the receptionist the meaning of the code. ¡°Instead of asking the adventurers for their name, we instead use a code because of a lot of cases of similar names and professions. And since it would take a while for a painting to be done, the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Grandmaster decided that we use unique codes for each adventurer. That way, we can easily know who is who, and there is also a safety mechanism where the code will only be visible if the one wearing it was the person who signed the contract using his own blood.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ That is a good idea¡­ But what does FG stand for?¡± ¡°FG¡­ F for Frenia, and G for Gaizeff. Basically, it tells where you where registered with the first letter indicating the town and the last letter indicating the kingdom. The number is self explanatory in which you are the 117780th adventurer to register in this town.¡± ¡°That is really precise¡­¡± ¡°And there is more, that plate actually records the user¡¯s status. You can view it by thinking up ¡®Status¡¯ and it can only be visible to you, unless you want it to be visible.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ I have a status?¡± ¡°Well¡­ The common populace wouldn¡¯t know their status since only adventurers have this privilege. They are measured into numbers so that adventurers can have an easier time to roughly disseminate your limit. But know that status isn¡¯t absolute in a battle.¡± ¡°¡­ Thanks for the advice.¡± ¡°Well then, now that you are a registered adventurer, would you like me to explain the rankings?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± I just listened to her while standing in place. ¡°First of all, here are the ranks of an adventurer. F ¨C E ¨C D ¨C C ¨C B ¨C A ¨C S ¨C SS ¨C SSS ¨C Hero, from lowest to highest in that order. Obviously, new registrants start at the rank of F. Each rank has a specific metal to it as indicated by your plate. F = Bronze, E = Copper, D = Silver, C = Gold, B = Platinum, A = Diamond, S = Mithril, SS = Adamantite, SSS = Orichalcum, Hero = Black Adamantite.¡± I nodded indicating that I was listening attentively. ¡°Next is climbing up the ranks. Each rank has a specific milestone before you can rank-up. Completing quests gives RP or Rank Points. Attaining a specific number of RP allows you to rank up, though that is only applicable to ranks F to B. Ranking up to A requires not only RP, but a test. The same could be said for the S, SS, and SSS ranks. For the Hero rank, you need to do something that is worth giving you that title.¡± So I can only rank up to B quickly, before reaching a stop. But that is enough. I am here just to gather information after all. ¡°And last are the quest types, there are four, which are Subjugation, Gathering, Escorting, and Emergency. I don¡¯t need to explain the first three, but for the Emergency Quest, if you are selected, you cannot refuse, otherwise, you risk having your adventurer¡¯s license revoked and banning you from registering again. And that is all, any questions?¡± ¡°No, thank you for taking the time to explain all of this to me.¡± ¡°No problem, it¡¯s my job after all.¡± And once I was done, I walked away, before returning back. ¡°How do I accept quests again?¡± ¡°Oh right, I haven¡¯t told you yet, just rip the parchments located on the quest board and bring it here. Of course, you can only accept a quest that is equal to your rank or below. If you are in a party, you can accept a quest one rank higher than your party¡¯s rank. A party¡¯s rank is determined by the most number of members of the same rank in the party. In case of ties, the higher rank will be chosen. ¡± ¡°Okay, thanks for the information.¡± Once I thanked her, she bowed and smile at me before wishing me a nice day. ¡®Now that is what I call customer service¡­¡¯ Now then, are there any quests that may lead to dungeons? Chapter 11.2 As the receptionist said earlier, to accept a quest, all I need is to rip down a parchment from the quest board located at the wall. So without further ado, I walked to it and looked for a quest suitable for my rank, of course, with the criteria that the quest might have a high relation to a dungeon. But before that, I went inside the restroom again and equipped my suit back on in case anything happens. ¡®Now then, are there any quests here that suit my needs?¡¯ After my short dressing period, I went back to the quest board. I scanned the board and found some quests that I can take based on my rank, but all of them have a low possibility of relation to a dungeon. The only quest I can see that I have a chance to take with my current rank that has a possibility of a relation with a dungeon was an E-ranked quest to subjugate a nest of goblins. Now, to explain why I have a chance at an E-rank quest when I am only F-rank is because I can join a party. And since I am still an F-ranked adventurer, I have a high chance to join an E-ranked party. For those above, I¡¯ll have to hope that some adventurer who saw my fight earlier recruit me to theirs. So with that as my next goal, I asked around for any parties that were recruiting. And once I did that, I was called out again by the receptionist. ¡°If you¡¯re looking for a party, I suggest you head to the other room. Over there are a bunch of adventurers loitering while waiting for a potential recruit and a board where adventurers post their recruit notice. And if they saw your fight earlier, then I think that you can get yourself in a high-ranked party easy.¡± ¡°Once again, thank you for the information.¡± I bowed my head in response to her advice and headed towards said room. Although it would be good to join a high-rank party quickly, I need to learn the ropes first by starting at the bottom, that, and ascertaining the strength of E-rank adventurers, as well as my own limits. Once I entered the room, I was greeted by the sight of numerous adventurers sitting on tables and some standing while looking at lone adventurers. Well, it was easy to say that they were trying to recruit them into their party. And once they saw me enter, some people quickly flocked around me. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re that kid who beat up the three idiots right?¡± ¡°Hey pal, me first!¡± ¡°Beauty before ugly! Let me take him!¡± And it quickly turned into a bloodbath, with me as the prize. ¡®¡­ I¡¯ll just rise in the ranks as a solo adventurer¡­ This is probably a better approach¡­¡¯Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. I slowly and stealthily exited the venue while the adventurers were busy pulling at each others¡¯ hair roughly, literally. There was even a patch of hair on the floor. ¡°Ahh!!! My beautiful hair!!¡± ¡®Sorry¡­ I¡¯m out¡­¡¯ And my getaway was complete. So what I did next was just ripped down a quest parchment that has the highest possibility amongst all the other suitable for my rank. It even paid a good amount of coins too. Quest: Investigate Forest Description: Some weird marks were sighted at a forest a few hours walk from the town. Three adventurers were also reported missing after moving through that area as taken from the testimonies from their friends. They were F-ranked. Please investigate the area and report any suspicious activity, objects, tracks, or phenomena. Reward: 2 Silver, 8 Copper, 15 RP Next I handed it to the bunny-girl receptionist at the counter. ¡°Are you sure you want to do this quest? Even though this is ranked as an F-ranked quest, 3 F-rankers went missing in the area you know? I suggest doing it in a party.¡± ¡°Nah, that¡¯s okay. If it really is dangerous, then I¡¯ll just run. If you saw me earlier running from those 3 idiots, then you could already grasp my power to run away.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I suppose so, but still, you never know what might happen.¡± This girl, isn¡¯t she unexpectedly kind? Even though she probably focuses more on work, she probably worries about the adventurers. ¡°After all, if you die, then I die because of the Guildmaster.¡± Okay, I take it back, she isn¡¯t that kind, but judging from her situation alone, she is also trying to survive. ¡°Do not worry, I have a trump card for that.¡± ¡°¡­ All right. Just remember, that if you die, I will haunt you, even in your death.¡± ¡°Fair enough¡­¡± Once our conversation was over, she stamped on the parchment and gave it to me. ¡°This serves as your permit to do the quest, as well as the proof that you are the one who accepted the quest. If you lose this, then you will not be able to accept a reward.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± Once I was done, I left the guild and headed towards the gate closest to the forest. Shockingly enough, I was able to encounter the hero troupe. ¡°Yo, Gren, you finally found the place you were looking for?¡± ¡°Yes, thank you very much for assisting me back there.¡± ¡°For a kid your age, you don¡¯t seem like one. You¡¯re polite too¡­¡± ¡°Living in the slums makes you subservient to those in power. It also makes you grow faster.¡± Since I had nothing to hide about his particular questions, I answered them honestly. ¡°¡­ I see¡­ You must¡¯ve had it rough huh¡­?¡± ¡°*sniff* What a tragic past, and with those cute looks¡­ My heart can¡¯t take it!!! I must bring him with us!¡± ¡°Woah! Calm down you shotacon!¡± And as seen from before, the usual banter of the hero¡¯s colleagues were manifesting with me as the epicenter. ¡°By the way, where are you going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m off to do a quest.¡± ¡°So you registered as an adventurer huh?¡± ¡°Yes, I did.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I looked at him who was obviously contemplating about something. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth once again. ¡°Do you care if we tag along?¡± ¡°Wait, Kawasaki-san what do you mean? Are you saying that we should follow a brat like him!?¡± ¡°Shush Yanahiro-san. You have to fix that attitude of yours. You are too suspicious of anybody.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I care for my and your life!¡± And just when the hero suggested coming with me, his colleague flared up at him while glaring daggers at me. I mean he¡¯s not wrong, but¡­ ¡®With that mindset, you just might become paranoid¡­¡¯ I just continue looking at them while waiting for something to happen. I don¡¯t want to antagonize them just by leaving one-sidedly. After a couple of arguments back and forth, they finally came up on a decision. ¡°We¡¯ll come with you.¡± And thus, my journey with the hero troupe started, and wow¡­ Do I really regret this decision¡­ Chapter 11.3 The journey started off clean and neat, with everybody having some chats here and there, none of them breaking in to any fights, which is a good thing for me. The only bad thing I can think of happening to me is that one of them might make a move on me, either the one hostile to me, or those with that kind of fetish. Only when we first encountered a monster did the group become alert. Not bad if I might have a say, even looking at the hero made me think that he had the qualifications of being a good leader. The monster in question was a pack of goblins, which I haven¡¯t seen yet. ¡®I need one, maybe something good will come out of it when I put the influence of my dungeon onto them.¡¯ ¡°Yanahiro-san, take the front with some warriors and tanks, healers and mages at the back with one tank and two warriors, archers, thieves and assassins support the group!¡± With swift commands, the hero gave everybody their roles. Though in the eyes of the bystander (me), just doing this was overkill, I mean, seriously, 5-6 goblins versus a hero party numbering 46¡­ Yup, anyway you put it, it is overkill, not that I mind though. I brandished my shovel and rushed into the battle, not. Instead what I did was kill steal a dying goblin with my shovel. I made an act like putting in a lot of force to hit the goblin, only to slow down at the last moment. I don¡¯t want to be giving the heroes any information about my real strength right now. As a result, the goblin died from blood loss and with blunt trauma at the head as the finishing blow. The other heroes who were fighting (slaughtering) the goblin gave me a thumb up. ¡®Huh, weird¡­¡¯ I didn¡¯t think that they would give me a thumb up¡­ I thought they would either worry about me being in a fight, or get angry for stealing their kill. Just then, I heard a sound in my head, something like a bell ringing, and a holographic window appeared in front of me. [Gren Has Levelled up!] Adventurer License # FG-117780 Name: Gren Age: 12 Gender: Male Level: 1 ¨¤ 2 Str: 12 (127) ¨¤ 13 (128) Vit: 9 (124) ¨¤ 10 (125) Agi: 18 (133) ¨¤ 20 (135)You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Dex: 15 (130) ¨¤ 17 (132) Int: 11 ¨¤ 12 Wis: 10 ¨¤ 11 Luc: 24 Titles: N/A -- Skills -- Passive: [Lightweight Body], [Durable Body], [Enhance Physical Performance], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Shovel Intermediate], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Sword Beginner] [Invulnerability] Active: [Phasing Blade] On the window, I saw my own status. Come to think of it, I recalled that the receptionist told me to think about status and this will show up. I think I forgot about it because I had other important matters to attend to, anyways¡­ When I looked at my status, I saw some numbers, as well as my brief description, the numbers being my stats and my adventurer license code. Taking a closer look, some numbers were inside parenthesis. This was probably the doing of the skill [Enhance Physical Performance] from my suit, too bad it didn¡¯t influence Int, Wis, and Luc. I¡¯ll investigate more of my status once this quest is over, right now, there is a battle (slaughter) happening. I prompted it for the window to go away and focused my attention to the fight. There was only one goblin left, so I went to the side of the leading hero and asked him a question. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a little bit overkill¡­?¡± ¡°Yes, yes it is¡­¡± Once I got my answer, I went back to silent mode. Once the last goblin was killed, the heroes quickly cut off the right ears of the goblins, probably for proof, or materials. ¡°Anyway, should we continue?¡± The leading hero looked to me with a smile, and I nodded back. ¡®I guess I can let them tag along¡­ But in the long term, I need to get away from them as far as possible¡­¡¯ I don¡¯t want to be a sacrificial pawn of a kingdom when they say ¡®Die for the heroes!¡¯ or even be the heroes¡¯ target as a dungeon master. For now, I¡¯ll let them tag along since I cannot get on their bad side. After walking for a few hours, we came across a group of wounded soldiers. And surprise surprise, they were the soldiers that were attacked by the bandits, and saved by me but got scared of my golem. When the heroes saw them, they quickly entered into serious mode. ¡°Hey! Are you all alright!? ¡° The leading hero¡­ Let¡¯s just call him Kawasaki¡­ Kawasaki quickly ran to the group of soldiers. The other heroes did as well. I followed along behind them. The healers quickly went and did their jobs, healing the soldiers while the others maintained their high alert to the surroundings. ¡°What happened here?¡± ¡°Hero, is that you? This is bad, really, really bad. You need to run!¡± ¡°Run? But why?¡± ¡°A golem, a huge golem that could destroy a town¡­ It¡¯s roaming around here, I don¡¯t know why, but you still aren¡¯t a match for it, not yet.¡± ¡°A golem¡­?¡± ¡°¡­¡± I stayed silent ultimately because that golem was me, but I won¡¯t tell them¡­ After Kawasaki had his conversation with the soldiers, he split the group into two. Half will go with the soldiers back to the town to report the situation, while the other half will accompany me to my destination, or... ¡°Gren, if you would please follow the others back to town. I feel like something here is very dangerous. I don¡¯t want you to risk your life in this quest where we don¡¯t know what might happen.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right brat! Go back to the city or something. we don¡¯t have time to babysit the likes of you!¡± ¡°Yanahiro-san!¡± ¡°¡­¡± I went silent for a bit, before stating my course of action. ¡°Nope, my quest, my responsibility. Whatever you say, I won¡¯t abandon my quest.¡± ¡°¡­ Fine, just be careful. We might not be able to protect you if worse comes to worst.¡± And with that, we continued on with half of the group. As we got closer to the area, a sense of uneasiness comes across my being. ¡®Why is this place familiar¡­?¡¯ Just then, my memory clicked in. Wounded soldiers, bandit attack, golem, and a somehow familiar scenery¡­ ¡®Oh fuck¡­ Oh fuck shit fuck¡­ I¡¯ve done goofed¡­¡¯ A few more minutes later, we arrived at a pretty familiar bell. ¡®WHY THE HELL DID LET THE HEROES COME TO MY DUNGEON!?¡¯ Chapter 11.4 When I saw the familiar bell, I quickly decided on a course of action. That is, to lead the focus of the heroes to another point. ¡°Umm¡­ Excuse me, hero¡­¡± ¡°Call me Kawasaki--- no, call me Koujirou instead, Gren.¡± ¡°¡­ Okay, Koujirou, there is a ---¡± While I was trying to come up with an excuse to shift their attention while not minding the gaze of some heroes here and there glaring at me with daggers, I found a path just behind the bell. ¡®Okay¡­ Why didn¡¯t I notice that before¡­ Anyway, I found an excuse, now to implement it¡­¡¯ ¡°A path just behind that bell¡­ I don¡¯t know what lies beyond it.¡± ¡°A path¡­?¡± When Koujirou took a peek behind the bell, and thankfully not under it, he found a path just big enough to fit a person. He signaled the other heroes to come closer and examine it, after moving the bell aside of course. Although, when I saw them move the bell, my heart nearly stopped, but nevermind that. ¡°Where do you think this leads to Kawasaki-san?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ No idea¡­¡± ¡®¡­ Are they idiots¡­?¡¯ Well of course they wouldn¡¯t know where it would lead. They haven¡¯t even explored it yet! Setting aside my mental retorts towards the hero party that lacked IQ, I followed behind them with my shovel in hand. ¡°Come to think of it Gren¡­ Why are you using a shovel as a weapon? Even more than that, it¡¯s made of some kind of metal.¡± While they were examining the path with their skills if it is safe to traverse, Koujirou came close to me and asked me a question I have an answer to. ¡°It¡¯s because I am used to using a shovel as a weapon. After all, I am a farmer¡¯s son.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I can agree with that¡­¡± Even though it was one big fat lie, Koujirou accepted it like there was no problem. Just as we finished our conversation, the other heroes came up with the conclusion that the path is not under any traps that can be harmful to our party. ¡°Well then, shall we go¡­?¡± Koujirou led the heroes onwards through the path. Even though they may lack IQ in some situations, their decisions are actually proper when taking their lives in account. We moved through the path in a single line format, all of us alert as can be. I was with Koujirou at the middle. The backmost hero was a tank and the frontmost hero was a scout. If this was a formation where there was no other option but to proceed forward, then this formation is good. But if everything went south and we had to retreat, the tank at the back might spell our doom because of the lack of mobility.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. While the entire party was silent, I was furiously coming up with a plan to make them retreat while forgetting about the bell. And a few minutes of walking and we came upon a clearing. Just then, an idea popped up in my head. ¡®If it¡¯s this place¡­ Yeah, it just might work¡­¡¯ ¡°All of you spread out and examine the clearing. If you find anything suspicious, quickly report to me.¡± Koujirou quickly gave out some orders and the other heroes went into action. ¡®Well then, time to put my plan into action.¡¯ ¡°Koujirou, I¡¯ll search that part over there.¡± I pointed towards an area where there was nobody investigating. ¡°¡­ All right, this is your quest after all.¡± He hesitated for a bit, but then agreed. Even though he might be overprotective to kids, this was just plain unsettling to me who has the mind of an adult mixed in. Also, this over-protectiveness just might be his doom. I quickly moved towards the area nobody was bothering to investigate. Why? It was because it was just a huge rock and dirt wall. It stood about 5 meters tall. It is understandable since there is a mountain or hill just behind this wall. Anyway, because of that, the other heroes were first investigating the most suspicious spots first like a tree that was withered, a bush that was mangled, or even a puddle of water where there was no bodies of water near here. ¡®Well then, let¡¯s start¡­¡¯ <><><><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ Kawasaki Koujirou, an honor student back in Japan, a child born with a diamond spoon in his mouth, was summoned to be a hero in another world. At first, it was hard, but now with his newfound strength after days of training, he had grown conceited, thinking that there was nobody to match him¡­ Until now¡­ It all happened in an instant. It stood more than 2 meters tall, with a violet luster to its body. The blade in its hands looked big enough to slice a huge tree in half. Every step it took shook the earth. And once it swung its sword, there was no stopping it. A child known as Gren had first investigated the mountain base wall. Then suddenly, this huge thing emerged from inside. The child quickly retreated and the other heroes did as well, forming around Kawasaki with their usual formation. Big mistake. If they were experienced, they would¡¯ve run at the first sight, but their conceit as heroes has cost them dearly. One hero in particular prided his defense as the strongest among the entire summoned heroes. And now, his shield, as well as his body laid on the ground, sliced cleanly in half. The other heroes shrieked at this sight, and this caused more destruction. One hero was beheaded, another was crushed underneath its foot, and another was sliced in half. Blood and innards spread evenly across the ground, painting it a bright red underneath the bright sun. ¡°We need to run now!¡± Gren, the child who probably has the most experience with death right now, screamed out loud and ushered the heroes to escape, but sadly, the minds of the heroes undergoing puberty witnessing their very companions dying a gruesome death led them to shock. Only one was able to escape from shock, and that was Kawasaki¡¯s close friend, Yanahiro. ¡°Kawasaki-san! Get a grip!!¡± Yanahiro gripped the shoulders of the stunned Kawasaki and shook him left and right. ¡°You are the only one who can command the shocked students!! Quickly!¡± At that time, Kawasaki recovered, and mustered all of his strength to his voice. ¡°EVERYONE RETREAT!!!¡± With that as the impetus, everybody recovered and quickly ran for their lives while trying to hold back the approaching enemy, the Giga Void Iron Golem. They did everything they could, but lost more heroes on their way to escape. Once they were able to retreat, 12 died, only 10 remained. This incident was known as when the Gravedigger first made its appearance. Chapter 12.1 ~ First Person POV ~ After we escaped from the golem, my golem in fact, we returned to the city with downed spirits. That only applied to the heroes though, although I feel guilty for killing some people from the same planet where Drake lived, I had no regrets. It was the only way for me to completely divert their attention from my dungeon. When we arrived at the gate where the other heroes were waiting, they were shocked to see only half of us returned. When they asked what happened to the other heroes, Koujirou just averted his gaze and wept silently. The other heroes who experienced that horror firsthand too, broke down crying. It seemed they never thought that people they knew would die. Quite na?ve if they were to ask me, but who I am to judge them. I don¡¯t even know when they arrived here anyway. Back to the main topic, when they realized that some of them will never return, some heroes quickly tried to run towards from where we retreated. Of course they were stopped then restrained. It seems that among those that died, there were those with special someone¡¯s, either from a blood relative, or a lover¡¯s relationship. Again, I felt guilty, but I still had no regrets. Of course, I made sure to make it not visible on my face. ¡°Gren¡­ If it is alright with you, let us¡­ Part ways here for now¡­¡± While I was looking at the grim party of heroes, Koujirou approached me and with low spirits, said that we part ways for now. I agreed naturally, as if I want to stay with them when I was the main culprit of their friends¡¯ death. After a quick and incredibly sad chat, the party of heroes went their own way. ¡®Well then¡­ That¡¯s one problem solved.¡¯ Now that their target is the golem, I can rest assured that my dungeon is safe for now. But who¡¯s to say that it is safe indefinitely? ¡®I need to think of some countermeasures¡­¡¯ Before I tackle the difficulty adjustment of my dungeon, right now I need set up my dungeon so that no one can find it, and if there was a discoverer, making sure that they don¡¯t make it out alive. ¡®Difficulty adjustment for later, right now I need to safeguard my dungeon.¡¯ But before that, I headed back to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. By the way, for those wondering why I am trying to tune the difficulty of my dungeon is so that I can farm MP. On how to do it though is a bit tricky since I can only get MP through killing, but a feature that can be bought in the fixes this problem. It is called [Dungeon Mana Siphon]. Its function is too slowly suck up Mana from the intruders inside the dungeon. And by slow, I mean really slow, so slow that it doesn¡¯t let the intruders notice that they are being siphoned from.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. And the stronger the intruder, the higher Mana I get. For example, using this feature, I can get 5 MP/hour from a F-ranked Adventurer, and 500 MP/hour from an A-rank Adventurer, it¡¯s like that. Anyway, enough of that, I entered the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and gave my report to the receptionist. ¡°A Giga Iron Golem roaming around the woods? And it is also violet colored?¡± She went into contemplation for a while and glanced at my shovel. Of course, I quickly told her the origins of my shovel. ¡°This shovel I found inside a dungeon.¡± ¡°¡­ Thank you for the report, here is your reward.¡± She handed me a bag with 5 Silvers inside. ¡°Also your RP has increased by 25.¡± When I heard my reward, I fell silent. ¡°I thought the reward was only 2 Silver and 8 Coppers, with 15 RP?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bonus from the Guild, also for the high threat than normal.¡± Once she said that, I had no other choice but to accept, but that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t like it, I like it actually. ¡°Well then, I¡¯m leaving, I need to rest¡­¡± ¡°Come again!¡± With her usual business smile, she saw me off. With that, my business in the Adventurer¡¯s Guild was done, now my dungeon business is next. <><><><><><><><><><><> ¡°I¡¯m back!¡± ¡°Welcome back Gren!¡± Once I arrived back in the dungeon after going through the dark alley portal, I was greeted by Mari in the middle of eating. ¡°I made you dinner.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Although the dinner was bought with MP, I wouldn¡¯t want to spoil her mood, so I just thanked her instead. After all, her actions hit me directly in the heart. Once I finished dinner, I quickly went out of the dungeon towards the bell. The golem I had it enter inside the dungeon through the bell once I and the party of heroes got far away. The next thing I did was go towards the clearing where most of the heroes died. There was even some on the path. The reason why I was going there was to loot the corpses. Furthermore, I have to do it fast. I can¡¯t let anyone see me doing this kind of thing. By summoning the Golem, I had it gather the corpses into one spot, but while I gathered the corpses, I marked the area where they were. Next, I separated each of them. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s loot.¡± <><><><><><><><><><> One Hour Later¡­ ¡°Alright, I¡¯m done with looting, time to erase the evidences.¡± Once I was done with looting the corpses, I summoned some wolves and asked them to mangle to bodies as gruesome as possible, of course after putting the corpses back to where they died using the markers that I placed. And once the wolves were done, the corpses were no longer recognizable. Although this puts a dent to my mind, I still have no regrets since I am doing this to survive. ¡°Now to move the dungeon.¡± I have to change the location of the main portal of my dungeon. For now, I removed the portal under the bell. Next, I moved as far away as possible from this area. After a two hour walk, the sun was about to set so I had to stop my spot finding for tomorrow. I found a huge rock and placed a portal between the gaps, and then entered back inside my dungeon. Once I entered my dungeon, I began preparing for my dungeon¡¯s defenses. Chapter 12.2 ¡°Now, what should I do to make mu dungeon impossibly hard to clear?¡± Currently, I am inside the trying to figure out the best way to protect my dungeon from intruders. For those wondering why I am in here instead of anywhere since I can open up the anywhere is because in here, I can work without being disturbed. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I¡¯m struggling to find a way since just putting in monsters willy nilly isn¡¯t going to fortify my dungeon to its best. I have to find a good combination of monsters to put, also some traps that complements with the monsters. There is also a need to add more floors and maximize the number of monsters that I can summon. Dungeon Master: Gren --- Drake Wota Dungeon Level: 4 Type of Dungeon: Void [Market] [Customization] [Statistics] [Community] (Available at Dungeon Level 5) [Set Dungeon Portal] [1/3 Used] [Residents] I opened the earlier, but I am still having trouble finding the correct combination of monsters, as well as finding the best way to customize the floors complementing the monsters and traps. ¡°But what¡¯s more troubling is this¡­¡± MP: 315 (1225 ¨C 1000 + 120 ¨C 30) [1000 ¨C Invulnerability; 120 ¨C 3 F-ranked Adventurers; 30 ¨C food Mari Bought] With this low amount of MP, I can¡¯t get any significant work done. All I can do is make one more floor and put it with monsters filled to the brim. Since there is only one floor in my dungeon, I was planning to add one more, and it looks like now is a good time. ¡°The only problem is the MP, I don¡¯t know if I can handle the MP cost of creating a new floor.¡± [Add Floor] ¨C 100 MP ¡®Yeah¡­ This is going to put a dent in my MP reserves¡­¡¯ Without further ado, I added one more floor, deducting 100 MP from my total MP. Since my monsters are all still intact, all of them numbering 40, I split them into two groups equally, and had the other group move to the second floor of the dungeon. By the way, here are monsters inhabiting my dungeon. Void Horned Rabbits: 10 Void Horned Boars: 10 Void Night Wolves: 9 Alpha Void Night Wolf: 1 Void Iron Golem: 8 Giga Void Iron Golem: 1 Void Iron Golem (Skin-Tight Suit): 1 Total: 40/40 Since the Void Iron Golem (Skin-Tight Suit) is still a monster summoned using the dungeon, I guess it is included in the total number of monsters. And since the dungeon is still level 4, I can only have maximum of 40 monsters. ¡°Let me check the new monsters I can summon¡­¡± Monster Species: Goblin Special Ability: Handiwork (Low)This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Threat Level: F (E-C in groups) Cost: 10 MP Influence from the Dungeon: Gains the special ability and increases agility and intelligence. Raises by 3 ranks. Additional Cost: 40 MP <><><><><><><><><><><> Monster Species: Slime Special Ability: Dissolve Threat Level: G Cost: 5 MP Influence from the Dungeon: Gains the special ability and increases resilience. Raises by 4 ranks. Additional Cost: 50 MP When I saw the option, my jaw dropped. Void Handiwork ¨C grants the user to create items with the void element. Dimension Dissolve ¨C grants the user to dissolve a target including its dimension. For void handiwork, it means that I can create weapons that has skills like [Phasing Blade] or others, but for the [Dimension Dissolve] skill, it allows them to attack an enemy who is also in another dimension. For instance, say that a person hides within his own dimension using a barrier. This skill allows a person to attack him while ignoring the dimension difference. It¡¯s like attacking the Heavens while still being in Earth. ¡°This slime¡­ I¡¯ll take advantage of it right away once I level up my dungeon.¡± With this, if a person has a [Dimension Barrier] skill (I found out about it in the market), if there are any, I have a countermeasure against it. For the [Void Handiwork] though, I can create a workshop using the goblins to create weapons and armor to equip my other monsters. I can equip the Void Iron Golems with weapons that have the [Phasing Blade] skill, and equip them and some other monsters with armor that has a skill which has the [Dimension Barrier] skill to negate certain attacks. With this, my dungeon will be leagues higher than my current dungeon. ¡°I don¡¯t want to recall my current monsters, so I guess I¡¯ll have to level up my dungeon¡­¡± With that, my next goal was made, and it was to hunt monsters, or lure them into my dungeon so the monsters can get kill them in my stead. If I¡¯m talking about MP efficiency, it¡¯s best to kill monsters that are within my dungeon, so luring monsters is my best bet. ¡°But for now¡­ I need to rest¡­¡± It¡¯s been a long day, registering, my first quest, indirectly killing heroes, and coming up with countermeasures. ¡°I hope one day I can take it easy and let my dungeon handle the rest¡­¡± While wishing for a day that may never come, I went back upstairs and slept with Mari, of course by slept, I mean literally slept, nothing happened so don¡¯t get any ideas. <><><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ Back at the castle far West of Frenia, Kawasaki was meeting with the whole student body that was summoned to this other world known as Andeght. The meeting was held right after he parted ways with a mysterious youth known as Gren. By using a skill known as [Teleportation], all of them were able to meet back at short¡¯s moment notice. Kawasaki brought the news about the death of some of the students, as well as their helplessness against their enemy. Of course, not all of them were shocked, but most of the students who heard about it had their jaws dropped to the floor. There was slander about the hero not being able to protect them, or even some saying that Kawasaki was not fir to be the leader, the students saying this were only able to say it since they weren¡¯t subjected to the strength of the golem. Others were sympathizing with Kawasaki and trying to cheer him up, while others just didn¡¯t care. ¡°This is all my fault¡­¡± The guilt Kawasaki had about not being able to protect his friends hit him hard. A being who had a diamond spoon in his mouth, faced his very crisis in his life, and it led to his defeat. It¡¯s safe to say that this is the first time this ever happened to him in his lifetime. ¡°No, it¡¯s not your fault Kawasaki-san¡­¡± ¡°No, it is all my fault¡­ If I just had more strength¡­ If I was just stronger¡­¡± Yanahiro was trying his best to cheer Kawasaki up, but it only led to Kawasaki berating himself more and more. Yanahiro was at a loss on what to do, so there was only one method left. In all of his life, Yanahiro was known to be a close friend of Kawasaki. He was overprotective, and when Kawasaki was about to do something bad, Yanahiro was there to put him back. Now is not any different. *Slap* Kawasaki went wide-eyed at the action of Yanahiro. ¡°Y-Yanahiro-san¡­?¡± ¡°You, do you know why I slapped you?¡± With a hint of rage in his voice, Yanahiro glared at Kawasaki. ¡°Pathetic¡­ do you know you are incredibly pathetic right now?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Kawasaki just speechlessly stared at Yanahiro. The other students as well did the same as Kawasaki. ¡°Listen here¡­ You failed to protect because you are weak¡­ You failed to save them because you are weak¡­ But that does not mean you should give up¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°You should know better than everyone here why you are our leader. It is because you are weak and the type that does not give up.¡± Yanahiro recalled the days back in Japan. ¡°When there was low-budget during a festival, who was the person that made it possible to hold a grandiose festival? You¡­ When there were students who were suffering from low grades, who made it possible for them to climb back up? You¡­ Do not show your back to the dangers ahead.¡± Even though it was just trivial problems compared to now, the concept was the same. ¡°You are our leader who can guide us back. So don¡¯t show weakness now.¡± ¡°¡­ You¡¯re right¡­¡± Everyone was stunned speechless. That speech was whacky as hell, but it helped bring Kawasaki back. ¡°Sorry for showing you this sight, everyone.¡± Kawasaki resolved himself for the future that has yet to come. Be it deaths of his companions, or a loss of his limb, he would press on and try his best to bring everyone back home to Japan. ¡°For now, let¡¯s start with a serious discussion¡­¡± This marked the day when the heroes were reminded of reality and the start of their serious endeavors in subjugating the Demon King. Chapter 12.3 ~ First Person POV ~ After getting a good¡¯s night rest, I found myself being tightly hugged by a sleeping Mari. I lightly patted her head and slowly and carefully got out from the bed in order not to wake her up. Once I was able to escape her iron clutches, I went downstairs and bought some food using MP, two servings naturally. I ate mine and put Mari¡¯s share on the table. Before I got out the dungeon however, I didn¡¯t forget to put a note on the table inside the bedroom saying that her food was on the table. I also gave her a kiss on the forehead before heading out. ¡°See you later Mari¡­¡± I bid the sleeping Mari goodbye and went out the dungeon to continue finding a spot where I can place my main . ¡°It¡¯s bright¡­¡± The shining sun greeted my eyes as I set foot on the grassy ground. A huge rock was located just behind me, with a just between the gaps. I closed the and headed on my way. ¡°By noon, I¡¯ll have to find a place, since later I¡¯ll need to show my face back at the Guild¡­¡± I quickened my pace. Judging by the position of the sun (Gren¡¯s standard) it is about 8:00 AM. So I have 4 hours just to find a spot. ¡°This might not be so hard¡­¡± An endless sea of trees, nature everywhere with monsters roaming around, finding a secluded place in this area might not be so hard. I deluded myself with that way thinking. It was a huge mistake. ¡°Damn it!¡± An hour later of walking through the dense forest, I was assaulted for the umpteenth time by a pack of goblins. Although they do not warrant my attention too much since they do not pose a threat to my life, they are incredibly annoying, delaying my search for a good spot for my . ¡°Go to hell!!¡± I swung my shovel towards the closest goblin wielding a rusty club. It broke its skull and brain matter flew out. Its goblin companions became shocked for moment, resulting in them also losing their lives. After a quick massacre of a couple of goblins, I cut of their right ears for proof of subjugation. ¡°Sheesh¡­ If this keeps up, I might not be able to find a good spot before noon¡­¡± Right now, finding a good spot is more important than leveling my dungeon. It is because the spot I am looking for is a place where no humans might venture into, and monsters are overflowing so they might stumble upon my dungeon. Doing so can allow me to farm Dungeon Exp and MP while I am not there to supervise it. ¡°Gaaahhhh¡­¡± ¡°What, you¡¯re still alive?¡± I brought my shovel high and slammed it onto the near-dead goblin.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Gren Has Levelled up!] Adventurer License # FG-117780 Name: Gren Age: 12 Gender: Male Level: 2 -> 3 Str: 13 (128) -> 15 (130) Vit: 10 (125) -> 11 (126) Agi: 20 (135) -> 23 (138) Dex: 17 (132) -> 19 (134) Int: 12 -> 13 Wis: 11 -> 12 Luc: 24 Titles: N/A -- Skills -- Passive: [Lightweight Body], [Durable Body], [Enhance Physical Performance], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Shovel Intermediate], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Sword Beginner] [Invulnerability] Active: [Phasing Blade] Just then, I heard a familiar sound of a bell ringing and a holographic window appeared in front of me. ¡°I leveled up?¡± When I checked the changes, nothing major changed so I just closed the status window. After I did that, I continued on trying to find a suitable place where I can place my . After about two hours of fighting and searching I finally found a good spot. In the process of doing so, I leveled up 2 more times from killing goblins, wolves, and rabbits. [Gren Has Levelled up!] Adventurer License # FG-117780 Name: Gren Age: 12 Gender: Male Level: 3 -> 5 Str: 15 (130) -> 18 (133) Vit: 11 (126) -> 13 (128) Agi: 23 (138) -> 28 (143) Dex: 19 (134) -> 23 (138) Int: 13 -> 15 Wis: 12 -> 14 Luc: 24 Titles: N/A -- Skills -- Passive: [Lightweight Body], [Durable Body], [Enhance Physical Performance], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Shovel Intermediate], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Sword Beginner] [Invulnerability] Active: [Phasing Blade] Again, since there were no major changes, I just closed the status window after getting good peek. Although I can feel minute changes in my strength, right now I can¡¯t seem to think that it might have a major impact against an enemy. Maybe if my stats go higher, but right now, all I can see is me before having the strength to pulverize a cement block with my fist, but now having the strength to pulverize a 5% bigger cement block with my fist. My speed is no different. Anyway, I should be focusing on the prize I have before my eyes. It was a lake spanning about 500 meters in width and 700 meters in length. Basically, it was a huge lake. ¡°Maybe this spot can attract more monsters¡­¡± Since monsters require water to live like living organisms, all of them need water to survive. And this place is filled to the brim with water. ¡°Now if some monsters just get sidetracked and get drawn in to my dungeon¡­¡± I can have an auto farming dungeon. ¡°Hahaha!¡± I stifled up a laugh and proceeded to place a nearby. I placed it by a huge rock next to the lake. And now, that rock looks like a goddamned cave¡­ ¡°¡­ Is there any way to make it look less conspicuous?¡± Just then, I remembered one of the tabs in the . ¡°That¡¯s right! If I use the tab, then---¡± Right after I was about to exclaim my realizations, the earth shook. When I looked behind me for a moment, I saw a huge bear spanning about 3 meters in height, but the 3 meters isn¡¯t when the bear was standing, it was when it was still crawling. ¡°Holy fu---¡± ¡°GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAARRRRRRRR!!!!¡± When it saw me, it roared an intense roar! The surroundings shook while the trees close to the bear swayed left and right due to the vibration. Some even fell down and landed on an unlucky Horned Rabbit. ¡°... I¡¯m out¡­¡± I quickly escaped into my dungeon through the by the rock. And not surprising enough, the bear followed me into the portal. ¡°¡­ It really did follow me¡­¡± But too bad for it, I was immediately sent to the boss room, while it was sent to the first floor of my dungeon. ¡°Well, looks like a main course of EXP is heading my way. My gratitude to the chef!¡± Another Dungeon Defense was about to start! Chapter 12.4 A huge bear laid waste to the monsters dwelling inside the dungeon, be they made of meat or metal. With a swipe of its claws, fresh meats were scattered. With a tackle using its huge body, metal were blown into pieces. Nothing was able to stop the bear from rampaging inside the dungeon. ¡°GRUOOOOOAAAA!!!¡± ¡°¡­ This is one strong bear¡­¡± The bear dodged an attack coming from a Void Iron Golem and used its claws to shred it to pieces. A Void Wild Boar charged at it with but ended up not dealing any damage. Instead, what happened next was that the Void Wild Boar was smashed to pieces, blood and meat splattered across the ground. This was enough to instill fear onto an onlooker, much more if he was the target of the bear in question, but not me. Why? ¡°Good thing that judging by its strength, this Giga Void Iron Golem is leagues stronger than that bear.¡± The reason was simple. My Giga Void Iron Golem was leagues stronger than that bear. Even if a hundred of those bears were to simultaneously attack my Giga Void Iron Golem, it would not leave a scratch on its body. ¡°Strength really is everything in this world, huh¡­?¡± While I was just about to get inside the cockpit of the Giga Void Iron Golem, Mari came running up to me with worried eyes. ¡°Gren, will you be okay?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Mari. I¡¯ll beat up that bear up faster than you can say my name.¡± ¡°¡­ Gren¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Okay, good one. Anyway, it won¡¯t take too long so just sit tight. Once I return, I¡¯ll give you some pointers on how to create those skin-tight suits.¡± ¡°Really!?¡± Okay, now I know that something about those suits sparked a flame within Mari, but all I can do is support her in what she is going to do. ¡°Yes, I will. Hurry and go back in house now. The bear will reach here any minute.¡± ¡°Yes Gren! Remember what you said!¡± With fluttering steps, Mari joyfully returned to the house while skipping like a child. It brought a smile to my lips, seeing that the depressed Mari from before can now smile like that. ¡°¡­ Don¡¯t worry Mari.¡± I entered the cockpit of the Giga Void Iron Golem and entered my battle mode. Just like it was planned, the bear burst through the huge double doors. It wasn¡¯t covered in wounds nor was it exhausted, it just looked annoyed at the small fries that tried to attack it earlier. That¡¯s why after about 5-10 monsters died fighting it, I ordered the other monsters to hide and avoid the rampaging bear. ¡°You better give me lots of MP for summoning new monsters!!¡± To start the fight, I quickly dashed towards the bear. Its imposing body was less threatening when I was riding the Void Giga Iron Golem, but that didn¡¯t mean it didn¡¯t daunt me. I am a little scared, but should I be scared and cower in fear for the rest of my life when fighting against strong opponents? ¡°You are just an ant compared to Karo!!¡± ¡°GRUOOOOOHHHHH!!!¡± I slammed the golem shoulder against the bear. The cave shook and we arrived at a standstill. The bear caught the charge using its front paws. The next thing I did was swing the blade upward to break the deadlock after leaning the golem backwards to make the bear lose balance from the force it was using to push me.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The bear reacted quickly from my action, but was a little bit slow in its execution. The result, my sword swing cut off one of its paws. ¡°GRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!¡± It howled in pain and glared at me with intense hate and rage. It stood up on its two hind legs and its height reached about 6 meters. ¡°Holy fuck¡­¡± I was shocked at the huge body of the bear, but that didn¡¯t mean I could stop. While cursing, I continued to move while dodging the attacks of the bear. For a bear, its attacks were humanlike. There was a kick, a paw punch, there was even a body slam after connecting it from a failed paw slam. ¡°Is this fucking Tek**n!?¡± That is not a character within a game, that is a real live bear, and it is doing martial arts! But it wasn¡¯t a reason to stop and be mesmerized at the sight. I quickly counterattacked once I saw an opening and sliced with my blade, but it did not deal much damage since the way I handle a blade sucks. ¡°A chance!! Die!!!¡± While I was at a loss on how to break this stalemate, a chance occurred. The bear slowed down because of the blood loss from the cumulative damage, and taking that gap in defense as cue, I quickly closed in and thrust the blade towards the neck of the bear. It tried to block using its remaining paw, but my sword was mightier than the paw, and pierced through the whole arm and even its neck. I drew the sword from the flesh of the bear and stuck it in the ground. With that as a signal, the bear toppled down never to move again. ¡°¡­ Done¡­ I did it¡­¡± [Successful Defense!! Spoils: Giant Martial Bear x 1 = 1500 MP Personal Kill: 250 MP Total: 1600 MP Items: Giant Martial Bear Claw**** x 3 Giant Martial Bear Hide***** x4 Giant Martial Bear Tooth*** x7 Giant Martial Bear Eye******** x 1] ¡°Woah!! So much MP, the items are numerous as well!!¡± This was probably the highest amount of MP I had ever gotten from a defense. But the excitement didn¡¯t only stop there. [Gren Has Levelled up!] Adventurer License # FG-117780 Name: Gren Age: 12 Gender: Male Level: 5 ¨¤ 10 Str: 18 (133) ¨¤ 26 (141 + 21) Vit: 13 (128) ¨¤ 19 (134 + 20) Agi: 28 (143) ¨¤ 40 (155 + 23) Dex: 23 (138) ¨¤ 33 (148 + 22) Int: 15 ¨¤ 20 Wis: 14 ¨¤ 19 Luc: 24 ¨¤ 27 Titles: N/A -- Skills -- Passive: [Lightweight Body], [Durable Body], [Enhance Physical Performance], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Shovel Intermediate], [Weapon Knowledge ¨C Sword Beginner] [Pilot Capabilities ¨C Low] Active: [Phasing Blade] [Invulnerability] When I heard the familiar bell ringing, a holographic window appeared. And when I saw the changes, new writings had been added. Combat Pilot Capabilities ¨C When riding a combat vehicle, increases status of the vehicle and handling of the user. ¡°Aside from the massive increase in stats, I get a new skill huh¡­¡± When I read the skill description, my heart fluttered to cloud-9. ¡°With this, I¡¯m even stronger now! But¡­ this applies to my skin-tight suit too?¡± Since my status showed a 15% increase in my physical abilities, I guess it applies to the skin-tight suit too. When I tested my current strength, I concluded that I was at least 30% stronger than earlier. ¡°Such a huge jump in strength¡­ Not that I dislike it.¡± Of course, the stronger I am, the better it is, so no worries about it. ¡°Now then, how about the new monster I can summon?¡± Monster Species: Giant Martial Bear Special Ability: Bear Martial Arts Threat Level: C+ Cost: 150 MP Influence from the Dungeon: Gains the special ability and increases strength, agility and dexterity. Raises by 3 ranks. Additional Cost: 100 MP ¡°It really is a bear from Tek**n!!!¡± I retorted at the sudden realization that the bear I defeated was not a normal monster. ¡°But with this, I can now summon an even stronger monster to protect my dungeon!¡± The usage of this monster can break the balance of my dungeon so this is very, very welcome for me. But still, the excitement still didn¡¯t stop here¡­ (Congratulations for reaching Drake/Gren.) The familiar and nostalgic message board, TB no. 2 returned. Chapter 13.1 (I see that you have been diligently securing your dungeon since the time I left.) Just like the old days, the text blurred before being replaced by new lines of texts. ¡°I guess that since you are back, does it mean that I reached level 5?¡± (Isn¡¯t that obvious? By the way, who am I communicating with? Is it Drake or Gren?) ¡°¡­ Uhhh¡­ Both¡­?¡± I was left speechless at the question of TB no. 2. Since I didn¡¯t have an answer to that, or more like I was caught of guard by that question, I had saucers for eyes. (Anyway, that isn¡¯t important. Since I am already here, allow me to show you the ropes of the [Dungeon Community].) I subconsciously erased the earlier question by TB no. 2 and focused more on his explanation. (First of all, open your [Dungeon Menu]. You¡¯ll notice that the [Dungeon Community] tab is now accessible. To continue with the explanation, please go ahead and open it.) As always with the formal tone, I did as it instructed and followed the instructions down to the last letter, although it wasn¡¯t that hard since I just had to open two windows. Once I opened the [Dungeon Community] tab, I was rendered speechless once again. (Once you have accessed the [Dungeon Community] tab, you will be greeted by a new window different from the others.) TB no. 2 was right, it really was different from the others. ¡®Is this fa*ebo*k?¡¯ That was the only conclusion I could come up with. There were photos of other dungeon masters, some text sharing, and even memes¡­ (What you are seeing now is just one of many windows that you can access. At the top left of the window, you will notice a blue button. Click it.) I did as I was told and the next thing, a drop down panel appeared. Listed in the drop down panel were various text lines, such as [Dungeon Auction], [Dungeon Forums], [Dungeon Casino], etc. (There are dozens of options you can choose. As stated by the rule 35 in our [Dungeon Community] house rules, if it exists, then there is an option for it.) ¡°¡­¡± Somehow, it was familiar¡­ No, very familiar¡­ The digit was just off by one, but it feels like it had the same concept. (Now then, off to the main part of the [Dungeon Community] explanation.) I erased the earlier thought in my mind and paid attention towards the next lines that were about to greet me. (The [Dungeon Community] was made to make communication with [Dungeon Masters] easy and without bloodshed. We here in the [Dungeon Community] strive to create a place where [Dungeon Masters] don¡¯t have to necessarily kill each other off and help each other in times of crisis, thus the creation of the [Dungeon Community].)This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I can see where this is going. Since [Dungeon Masters] have limited communication areas because of them not being able to leave their dungeon unattended like I can do, or sometimes when [Dungeon Masters] get off on the wrong foot and kill each other, the [Dungeon Community] was made to reduce the number of deaths of [Dungeon Masters]. (But do note that if a war occurs between two [Dungeon Masters], the [Dungeon Community] will temporarily ban them from access during the course of the war. This is to ensure that information about the other party cannot be easily gathered.) ¡°Wait¡­ War¡­?¡± (Correct. Although it is called war, it is like a war game where two [Dungeon Masters] will go toe to toe with each other using their dungeons. Death is not an option in this war, and the loser has to abide by the winner¡¯s demand that was stated in a contract before agreeing to go to war.) ¡°Oh¡­ I thought that war will inevitably lead to some deaths¡­ I guess not¡­¡± Just before I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, TB no. 2 poured cold water down my spine. (Oh there are deaths involving cases with wars between [Dungeon Masters]. It is when the loser refuses to uphold the contract. In a case of that incident, the loser is stripped of 75% of his total current MP and a 15-year ban from the [Dungeon Community]. They are also subjected to 50% lower MP income for the duration of the ban. It is technically a death sentence for a [Dungeon Master] since lower income means intruders can easily conquer his dungeon.) ¡°¡­¡± I take it back, war is scary after all¡­ (Although there are some minor cases of genocide between [Dungeon Masters], like yours, Drake, there is nothing the [Dungeon Community] can do since there was no contract previously stated.) ¡°¡­¡± (And sometimes because of that, they are shunned by other [Dungeon Masters] in the [Dungeon Community] once they have had wind on it.) ¡°¡­ But since Drake¡­ I died to Karo without reaching level 5¡­¡± (The incident will remain hidden unless you have proof that you died to Karo, which is unbelievable since you only have one life.) I was shocked speechless at the information dump given to me by TB no. 2. If that really was true, then Karo was just doing as he please knowing that he killed me without any consequences. ¡°That damned minotaur¡­¡± I was enraged by the fact that I died and no one knew about it. Various emotions coursed through my veins, but one was evident. Rage. ¡°I swear Karo, next time, I will kill you.¡± While engraving in my heart the prospect of revenge, I cooled myself down and read more of TB no. 2¡¯s explanation. (Anyway, we have strayed too far from the original explanation. As I have stated earlier, the [Dungeon Community] was made to be a tool for communication across [Dungeon Masters], in the option menu where you pressed the blue button, look for [Dungeon Thread].) ¡°¡­ Wow¡­ It even had a thread of its own¡­¡± While still dazed by the fact that the [Dungeon Community] was so modern, I did as it instructed and found myself with various of threads I can join, ranging from [Information about the country of Gaizeff] to [How to handle your dungeon with care and kill all intruders]. (This option allows you to view various sorts of information as long as it is composed by other [Dungeon Masters] and publicly shared through this medium. So go ahead and experiment.) My jaws dropped to the floor when I saw a thread containing the information about the country I am currently in, as well as a thread about the summoned heroes. There was even a thread about the city of Frenia. ¡°This is¡­ a very good tab¡­¡± (That is all of the information I am allowed to give you for this meeting, if you reach [Dungeon Level 20], I will return and give you a new announcement.) And once I was able to finish reading the text on the window, TB no. 2 vanished like before while saying goodbye and telling me to level up to 20 for me to meet it again. ¡°¡­ Thank you again for your help, TB no. 2¡± I gave my thanks towards the non-visible TB no. 2 and closed the [Dungeon Menu]. ¡°I¡¯ll access this later, for now, I¡¯ll go eat and show my face to the guild after I eat.¡± I went back to the house where Mari and food were waiting for me. Chapter 13.2 Right after having lunch and saying goodbye to Mari, I found myself in front of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. With the same imposing double doors as well as the heavily reinforced iron bar windows which looked like it was a fortress ready for war, I entered the establishment. When I entered, I was greeted by the usual sight, adventurers here and there grabbing a drink or discussing about their tactics for their next quest, as well a line forming in front of the receptionist¡¯s desk. When they noticed me however, all of them set their sights on me as if I was a rare animal on parade. ¡°Uhhmm¡­ Hello¡­?¡± When I greeted them hello, they just continued to stare at me. A few moments later, a woman in her 30¡¯s approached me with a smile plastered on my face. ¡°Well, good afternoon adventurer FG-117780.¡± She came up to me and grabbed both of my shoulders with her hands. ¡°Let¡¯s have a private talk in my office, yes?¡± Little did I know, hell was waiting for me in that same office. <><><><><><><><><><> Once we entered the office of the Guildmaster, she quickly made me sit down on a couch. The couch was made like it was for royalty, with the intricate design and the comfortable cushion. ¡°Now then, adventurer FG-117780, before we start, shall we introduce ourselves to each other?¡± The Guildmaster said this in a seductive tone before sitting down on a couch opposite to mine with her legs crossed. She wore a mantle, with a light-green one-piece dress underneath. The skirt only reached above of her thighs and below it, black stockings covered her meaty legs. I gulped at her voluptuous appearance. Although I already have a girl I love, no man would be able to avert their eyes when a true beauty comes heading their way. ¡°I¡¯ll start. My name is Penelo Pii, Guildmaster of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, Frenia Branch.¡± After she briefly introduced herself as well as her title, she looked at me as if she was waiting for my respone. ¡°¡­ My name is Gren, Guildmaster Penelo Pii.¡± After I gave my name, she smiled and clapped her hands. ¡°Nice to meet you, Gren. Well then, as for why I brought you here¡­¡± As if her seductive self vanished, her eyes looked at me as if I was a prisoner on death row. ¡°Care to tell me where you got that shovel?¡± Her eyes landed on the shovel strapped to my back. ¡°I found it in a dungeon.¡± As with my earlier answer to the receptionist, I gave the same response to Penelo. But deep down, I know that this answer will not be enough for this Guildmaster. ¡°Yes, yes, in a dungeon. But what dungeon¡­? No, let me rephrase that question, where did you find that dungeon?¡± And here it is, the question I feared the most, much worse since the one asking the question was someone higher up in the social ladder, as well as someone with immense strength which I have no hopes of overcoming in my current state. ¡®Shit, I should¡¯ve just gone alone¡­¡¯ ¡°Why do you need such information¡­?¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Why, it¡¯s the color of your shovel. It matches perfectly with the Giga Iron Golem that assaulted you and the heroes. And since that Giga Iron Golem vanished overnight, we concluded that the Giga Iron Golem that assaulted you was a Rogue Dungeon Monster.¡± ¡°Rogue Dungeon Monster?¡± ¡°Well, since you are a new adventurer, it seems that you are lacking in our adventurer¡¯s dictionary. A Rogue Dungeon Monster is a type of monster that has either escaped the dungeon or was commanded by a [Dungeon Master] to head outside the dungeon and do some tasks for him.¡± ¡°¡­ Alright.¡± ¡°And¡­ I hope you will not disclose this information to anyone because if you do, we will have no choice but to dispose of you.¡± She said that with her whole face completely serious. It was super damned scary! ¡°Y-Yes¡­¡± ¡°Good. That Giga Iron Golem was sighted rampaging in the town Garjo before its destruction. So we surmised that whatever the cause of behind Garjo¡¯s destruction, it has to do with the Giga Iron Golem. And now that Giga Iron Golem is being linked to a dungeon, then we also have conclusion that this Giga Iron Golem was tasked by a [Dungeon Master] to do something in that town.¡± Well, she wasn¡¯t wrong. Everything she said was true, except for the destruction of Garjo¡¯s part, I had no part with its destruction, even if I wanted to. ¡°So, now that I have given you our part, would you care to give me yours?¡± ¡®Damn it! She left me no escape options in this conversation!¡¯ I¡¯ll have to wriggle my way out of this one, but how¡­? ¡°¡­ Well, you see.---¡± ¡°Just for the record, the information you are going to give us may determine the fate of this city, if not, the entire country. That is why, if you will not cooperate, we have¡­ Other means to extract it out of you¡­¡± And with that exchange, my escape was no longer viable. She even waved her arm, causing magic particles to float in between us. ¡°¡­¡± She had her smile on, but her eyes were piercing right through me. If it was like this, I would have no other option but to say where my dungeon is. ¡®What should I do¡­? What should I do¡­?¡± I was in a dilemma, trying to figure out the best way to avoid this confrontation and leakage of information about my dungeon. ¡®¡­ I have no choice, I¡¯ll have to disclose about the entrance.¡¯ ¡°¡­ All right, but promise me this. Once I give you the location, I will not, under any circumstance go with you or any other adventurers to that dungeon. I would also like some kind of reward for the information.¡± ¡°¡­ Hmmm¡­ All right, you have a deal, Adventurer Gren.¡± Of course, even though I¡¯ll have to give away my dungeon, there are still measures I can take to avoid destruction. There is still the relocation of the [Dungeon Portal], and the increase of defenses. Also, while doing this, I¡¯ll get some money or items since they don¡¯t know that I own the dungeon, and I¡¯m the only one with the knowledge of where the dungeon is. I don¡¯t one to be the loser in this exchange, even if just a little bit, let me take a bite out of her, not in the indecent way mind you. ¡°But if I may ask, what is the reason for you not going to that dungeon?¡± ¡°Because I value my life¡­¡± I gave her a 100% truth about my reason not going with her, or any other adventurer into that dungeon. Just think about it, a group of adventurers raiding a dungeon, only to find out that one of their party members was a [Dungeon Master]. Not a very pleasant thing to happen. ¡°¡­ All right¡­¡± It seems that she was under a misconception, so it looks like I¡¯ll have to further increase my dungeon¡¯s defense tonight. I gave her a rough location of where my dungeon is. Of course, everything I told her was true, but I left me being a [Dungeon Master] out. Once that was done, she left for a brief moment after telling me to stay put for a few minutes. When she returned, she put down a bag of coins on the table, as well as some crystals of some sort. ¡°These are Mana Crystals of the [High] grade. With these, you might be able to ask a skilled [Enchanter] to enchant that shovel you are wielding.¡± When I heard what those crystals are for, my eyes grew wide in shock. ¡®Mana Crystals? Wait, if these crystals are made up of mana, then¡­!¡¯ I can increase my MP. If it works, then I have another method to gain MP. ¡®But wait, I remember that using Mana Crystals can increase my dungeon¡¯s level. Then I can hit two birds with one stone!¡¯ ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No no, we should be thanking you. After all, you may have a hand in protecting this city and country.¡± She gave me a smile that no longer looked like a smile to me. It was like a viper¡¯s smile before devouring its cowering prey. ¡°With this, our business is finished. You may now leave, also, have a wonderful day.¡± Once she said that, a guild personnel opened the door to the office and guided me back downstairs. When the other adventurers saw me head down without any mark on my body, their jaws dropped to the ground. ¡°I-Impossible¡­¡± ¡°That Penelo¡­¡± I guess I can relate to them. I can still remember the three idiots yesterday that were subjected to her punishments. ¡°¡­ I¡¯m exhausted¡­¡± Without going to the receptionist or the Quest board, I exited the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and went to the nearest inn. When I reached the counter of the inn, I opened the bag and counted more than 50 gold coins inside. When the owner of the inn saw the contents of the bag, her jaws dropped to the ground like the adventurers earlier. Why am I doing this? It is because right now, I have to be cautious of stalkers. Right now, I have caught the eye of the Guildmaster. And with our chat earlier, I looked suspicious as heck, so I can¡¯t rule out the possibility of being stalked. ¡°I¡¯ll have to create a doppelganger¡­¡± I opened a [Dungeon Portal] and went inside. My next objective, fortifying the defenses of my dungeon before a raid comes crashing down. Chapter 13.3 Currently, I am inside the [Dungeon Core Room] trying to figure out the best way to repel the incoming raid. Putting in stronger monsters is a given, but seeing that there is a high possibility that the Guildmaster might just come along with the raid party, my current set of monsters aren¡¯t enough to repel them. ¡°At least these Mana Crystals will help me.¡± The only saving grace are the Mana Crystals that the Guildmaster gave me for compensation about the information I gave her. I fed the [Dungeon Core] the [High] grade Mana Crystals and each of the Mana Crystals gave me 2,500 MP, as well as some EXP for the dungeon. I had 4 Mana Crystals in total, and in turn raised my MP by 10,000 and raised the dungeon level by one. ¡°Wow, 10,000 MP but only one dungeon level¡­ Looks like I¡¯ll have a problem raising this to 20.¡± MP: 12,045 (315 + 130 {Killed Goblins} + 1600 {Martial Bear} + 10,000 {Mana Crystals}) While sullen at the fact that it might take me a long time to reunite with TB no. 2, I quickly replenished the dead monsters from the attack of the Giant Martial Bear using the MP I have. Here is the current breakdown of my forces¡­ Old: Void Horned Rabbits: 7 Void Horned Boars: 8 Void Night Wolves: 1 Alpha Void Night Wolf: 1 Void Iron Golem: 6 Giga Void Iron Golem: 1 Void Iron Golem (Skin-Tight Suit): 1 Total: 32/60 New: Void Horned Rabbits: 10 Void Horned Boars: 10 Void Night Wolves: 9 Alpha Void Night Wolf: 1 Void Iron Golem: 8 Giga Void Iron Golem: 1 Void Iron Golem (Skin-Tight Suit): 1 Void Goblins: 10 Void Slimes: 5 Void Giant Martial Bear: 5 Total: 60/60 All in all, my total MP consumption for replenishment of the monsters is 2,430, deduct that from my current MP and this here is my current remaining MP. MP: 9615 Even though this looks like a lot, it will probably dwindle by a lot during the incoming raid. Next, I added two more floors, deducting 200 MP from my current, and spread all of my monsters among them. Now if you¡¯re wondering why I just won¡¯t let all of my monsters gang up on the raid party, there is a reason. Inside the dungeon, the space is limited, and although I can expand it, the monsters attacking the raid party simultaneously won¡¯t. It¡¯s like 100 people fighting against one person where only about 4-5 can attack at the same time. Although this tactic could be used to make them lose energy at a faster pace, it requires a lot of MP, and with my reserves, I doubt that I could last against that Guildmaster. The only way I can think is using guerilla warfare, keep on dwindling their energy with constant harassments while they continue deeper towards the boss room. The higher floors had the weakest monsters ranging from the Void Horned Rabbits and the Void Wild Boars. When you go deeper, Void Goblins and Void Night Wolves will greet you and maul you to death with their teamwork, I hope¡­ Deeper than those floors, Void Iron Golems are stationed, waiting for the intruders, along with the Void Giant Martial Bears. To make it harder, I equipped the Void Martial Bears with the Void Iron Golems using [Parts Configuration], making the Void Giant Martial Bears to be a moving tank.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Surprisingly, when I came up with these monster combinations, all of them pretty much worked out well in the end. The higher floors, I can understand since the Void Horned Rabbits and the Void Wild Boar already had great synergy in battle before, but the Void Goblins and Void Night Wolves were a little bit surprising. They made a cavalry unit. Although back in Drake¡¯s world, there were novels and shows portraying that Goblins can tame and ride other animals into battle, but this type of combination was deadly. With the [Dimension Dive] skill of the Void Night Wolves, the Void Goblins can weave in and out of combat while riding them. Now take that [Void Handiwork] skill from the Goblins that could create weapons and items that has the void element, and we have another OP force to add to my dungeon. If you¡¯re wondering why it is OP, a weapon or item enchanted with the void element can ignore dimension when attacking an enemy. Basically, the drawback of the [Dimension Dive] skill of the Void Night Wolves being unable to attack was ignored, making them being able to attack while being relatively unharmed. As for the Void Slimes, I made them stick with the Giga Void Iron Golem in the boss room. Why? It is because of their skill [Dimension Dissolve]. After experimenting with it for a couple of minutes, I found out one thing. And it is that my skill [Invulnerability] doesn¡¯t defend against it. If I assume that my skill [Invulnerability] is a skill like a high class barrier, then it means that no barrier is safe from the Void Slimes. I was thinking of coating the sword of the Giga Void Iron Golem with the Void Slimes so that just in case that they have a barrier, with the [Phasing Blade] skill, I can ignore their blocks and barriers and deal damage to them whether they are prepared or not, making their defenders completely useless. If this was against a normal party of adventurers, then it would be completely overkill. I doubt they could even move past the 3rd floor where the Void Goblins and Void Night Wolves where stationed. ¡°But against that Guildmaster¡­¡± But somewhere deep down, I knew, against that Guildmaster, it still isn¡¯t enough. And if she brings a party of adventurers that has the same skill as her, then I am screwed. ¡°I need to think of some more countermeasures, but what¡­?¡± Just then, I remembered about the [Dungeon Community]. More likely, the rule 35 TB no. 2 said. ¡°If it exists, then there is an option for it.¡± With that sentence in my mind, I quickly opened up the [Dungeon Community] tab. <><><><><><><><> ~ Third Person POV ~ ¡°Nice to meet you again, Penelo.¡± ¡°Oi, you still single? Well, it¡¯s normal for the one known as the Tyrant--- Ack!?¡± ¡°Keep that up and you will never see the light of day again, Megres.¡± Inside the office of the Guildmaster, Penelo Pii, she was meeting with two close friends she hadn¡¯t met in a few years. One was a woman with pointed ears who looked like she was in her mid-teens, while the other was a dwarf with a stout build and long beard. While they were exchanging their greetings, the dwarf Megres, said something he shouldn¡¯t have and was sent flying across the room. ¡°As always, the type that never thinks before he speaks¡­ Hey, dumb barrel get up.¡± ¡°Gahh¡­ Still quick to temper I see. Still, you haven¡¯t rusted in these past few years, and you, don¡¯t go calling me a dumb barrel, flat old hag.¡± ¡°I AM NOT A FLAT OLD HAG!!¡± The elf made an outburst and conjured two giant fireballs the size of a truck¡¯s tire and made them hover over her hands. Just before she could throw them towards Megres, Penelo stepped in and stopped her with something she hadn¡¯t done for a while. *Slurp* ¡°!? Hii!?¡± And in just a second, the balls were extinguished and vanished from plain sight. ¡°Ah right, I forgot, you had different tastes¡­¡± The elf quickly retreated in horror and disgust. ¡°Stop Penelo! You know I don¡¯t swing that way!¡± ¡°Oh really, says the one who I slept with a few years back.¡± ¡°AND DON¡¯T BRING THAT MEMORY BACK AGAIN!!¡± ¡°¡­ How many girls has she brought to bed already¡­?¡± While Penelo and the elf were having a somewhat indecent talk, Megres was just muttering to himself about something he shouldn¡¯t say out loud. <><><><><> A few minutes later, the atmosphere within the room calmed down and they finally returned to business. ¡°You two know about the destruction of Garjo right?¡± ¡°You mean that town that got destroyed by a Golem?¡± ¡°Yes, that one. How come you¡¯ve never remembered the name of the town?¡± ¡°Because of their feudal lord, you two already know how I fare with corrupt lords.¡± ¡°Ah right. Anyway, I found a lead to the cause of its destruction.¡± When Penelo said this, the two went silent and signaled her with their eyes to go on. ¡°Apparently, there is a 90 percent chance that that Golem was instructed by a Dungeon Master to do something in that town. For what purpose, we don¡¯t know, and that is why I¡¯ve called you two here, as fellow Guildmasters and former companions.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I get the gist of it, but if that is true then this is a serious problem.¡± ¡°Aye, not just this town, or any other town, but also the entire country, if the Dungeon Master¡¯s purpose was the literally the destruction of Garjo, then this country is at risk of collapse.¡± ¡°I agree with that.¡± ¡°¡­ Looks like we are on the same page, anyway, through a¡­ special contact I have, we¡¯ve learned the location of the dungeon. And after verifying the location, the dungeon is indeed, in that place.¡± ¡°Hmm, that contact must¡¯ve had an extensive line of information.¡± ¡°Care to tell us who it is¡­?¡± ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve wondered the same as well. I thought he was just someone who was trained to be a strong adventurer when he got here and registered just the other day, but after having a conversation with him, I¡¯ve been suspicious of him.¡± ¡°Hm¡­? He¡¯s an adventurer that just registered?¡± ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be helped. There are dozens of old adventurers that just registered here and there.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not the surprising part. The surprising part is that he¡¯s just a little kid. Even more than that, he¡¯s a minor.¡± ¡°¡­ What?¡± ¡°Are you serious woman?¡± The three went completely silent for a while, before Penelo continued. ¡°Yes, dead serious.¡± ¡°¡­ Have you sent anyone with to check up on him?¡± ¡°Already did. The report says that he¡¯s resting inside an inn not too far from here.¡± ¡°¡­ Should we go pay him a visit?¡± ¡°No, not now, now is not a good time to spook the child. I¡¯ve seen his strength. Although he wouldn¡¯t be a match to me or you two, he is capable of fighting against most adventurers, as well as running away like a rabbit.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s leave him for now. Let¡¯s just do it after we raid the dungeon, that¡¯s what you brought us here for right?¡± ¡°Well said Kailee.¡± Penelo smiled for a moment before nodding at their words. ¡°Good thing you understand the reason why I brought you two here.¡± ¡°I am not stupid, woman.¡± ¡°Yes, we aren¡¯t idiots.¡± ¡°Okay, looking forward to working with you two again.¡± This was the moment in history, after a few years of their disbandment, the A-rank party, ¡®Lords¡¯ has united once again. Chapter 13.4 ~ First Person POV ~ After opening the [Dungeon Community] tab and doing everything I can just to add more defense to my dungeon, I finally found a method to further fortify my dungeon. And currently, I am facing towards the entity that will fortify my dungeon against the incoming raid. ¡°Nice to meet you, [Dungeon Master] Gren, my name is Sylf, an A-rank monster mercenary.¡± Yes, she was a mercenary. In all of the options in the [Dungeon Community] tab, a mercenary was the cheapest. If you¡¯re wondering why they¡¯re cheap, it is because they are the cheapest option I can afford, even though they are crazy expensive. Sylf here is one such mercenary. She seems to be a Shadow Folk, and looks completely like a human, save for her completely black eyes and skin. For those who don¡¯t know what a Shadow Folk is in this world, they are a race like the humans that specialized in assassinations and guerilla warfare, but were categorized as a monster due to their hostile nature towards other races. As for why they are hostile to other races, this stems from the history dating back to the Black Hand¡¯ and it has been that way ever since. It happened when the freed Shadow Folk Queen that was once under the ¡®Black Hand¡¯ was killed by the hands of the other races under the pretense of ¡®purging the remaining Black Hand members.¡¯ But the truth of the matter was that she was about to be enslaved by the other races, and during her intense struggle, she was killed. And that¡¯s how the Shadow Folks came to regard other races to be enemies, but for some reason, they aren¡¯t hostile to [Dungeon Masters]. The reason being the Shadow Folk Queen entered a contract with the God of Dungeons, Abruptum before her death, stating her and the entire race¡¯s subordination towards Abruptum in exchange for the safety of their entire race. And now, back to the present. ¡°Nice to meet you too Sylf, anyway, shall we get to business?¡± ¡°As you wish [Dungeon Master] Gren...¡± Sylf made her lips arch slightly upward while bowing her head slightly. ¡®Although I know why she moves like this¡­¡¯ Since they are subordinates of Abruptum, they are also subordinates of the [Dungeon Masters], although they come at a price. But if you don¡¯t have the funds, their personalities quickly make a 180 degree spin. ¡°As you saw in my profile, my services cost 5,000 MP per raid defense. Add in 1,000 more MP for a three-man party to defend your dungeon.¡± ¡°Well then, the three-man party it is.¡± And using my reservoir of MP, 6000 MP was quickly deducted, leaving me with¡­ MP: 9615 ¨¤3415 Yes, that¡¯s my remaining MP left. Also, once my monsters all dwindle down, I¡¯ll create more Giga Void Iron Golems that are unmanned. And as for how the transaction goes, it¡¯s like a debit card type of thing. Instead, it goes through the [Dungeon Core]. ¡°I have received the payment in advance. We shall do as you order, [Dungeon Master] Gren.¡± And suddenly, just after she accepted my request, a portal appeared behind her and two more Shadow Folk arrived. ¡°My name is Karen.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Palim, nice to meet you, [Dungeon Master] Gren.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Likewise.¡± And with that, I have found the solution to my worries, although it cost a hefty sum¡­ Oh, and just for the record, all of them were women. Right after our conversation on what to do during the raid, the three of them immediately went exploring the dungeon just to be sure about its structure. During their scan of my dungeon, they asked me to remodel the floors to become like labyrinths. It was to better use their strengths inside my dungeon. They also made me add some traps. They left it up to me to decide which traps to put since they¡¯ll adjust themselves on how to use the traps against the raid group. They marked some places where they can make strategic attacks and retreats depending on the situation. Since the dungeon floors are made into labyrinths by making rooms adjacent to each other, there are many points where surprise attacks can be made. And also, on a specific floor, I made an incredibly long corridor ranging about 10 Kilometers with a width of only about 3-grown men since that is the minimum size a pathway can be made. Along the corridor, there were numerous traps such as pitfall traps, arrow traps, and at the end, a dreadful teleportation trap that if the group of enemies were unable to notice the trap, they would be sent back to the beginning of the floor. I wanted to make it send them back to the beginning of the dungeon, but doing that costs a lot of MP depending on how many floors it is from the 1st floor. And because of these adjustments, my MP took a huge beating. MP: 3415 ¨¤1255 I was left with less than half of my remaining MP, but I treated it as a necessary sacrifice. But then, I had a thought. I had the three Shadow Folk gather to the boss room. Since I won¡¯t pull my punches in defending the dungeon this time, I¡¯ll try to strike a deal with the Shadow Folk to stay with me for a long time. ¡°Well then Sylf, what do you think of this?¡± I showed them one of my secrets, and that was my Giga Void Iron Golem pilot mechanism. And just to be safe, I had them make an oath to never disclose this information to anybody, otherwise their lives are forfeit. Well, they agreed since monster mercenaries have a code that states that information about a [Dungeon Master] must not be disclosed otherwise their value as a mercenary drops to the lowest grade, and those are the loudmouth mercenaries. When they saw it firsthand, their jaws dropped to the floor. In all their time living as a monster mercenary, they have never seen a [Dungeon Master] control a Golem from within, much more since it was a Giga Iron Golem. And the next thing that I showed them was my skin-tight Golem suit. And guess what, they were totally flabbergasted. And now to bring them in¡­ ¡°If you work under me, you can get equipment like these free of charge. You will also be given a salary, and if you work hard, your salary may increase.¡± Then the next thing that happens, they accepted my proposal¡­ It seems that my equipment were so unique that it has never been seen in history. Well, there were some attempts, but most of it failed because of lack of information, lack of materials, or even lack of innovation. And I did it with just golems and pure luck¡­ ¡®As expected, in a way, I¡¯m kind of a cheater, huh¡­?¡¯ While having those thoughts, I had the three of them sign a contract stating the conditions below¡­
  1. The Shadow Folk will have free reign over themselves inside the dungeon, but may not do any actions that may cause harm to the dungeon, dungeon monsters, and [Dungeon Master].
  2. The Shadow Folk will be given a place to stay, food, water, and other necessities by the [Dungeon Master].
  3. The Shadow Folk will be given a salary based on their performance.
  4. The Shadow Folk will be given a skin-tight suit golem each.
  5. The Shadow Folk will be given a Void Giga Iron Golem if they were deemed worthy by the [Dungeon Master].
  6. In case of clause 4 being fulfilled, the related Shadow Folk will be bound by the dungeon, making them a permanent resident.
  7. The [Dungeon Master] can give out orders to the Shadow Folk and it must be followed.
  8. Failure to comply with the clauses will result in a curse, making the ¡®Status¡¯ of the violator fall to G-rank for 1 year.
When they saw the contract, they were uneasy about clauses 7 and 5. I thought they would be uneasy about clause 6, but it seems that in their line of profession, either they fulfill the request, or they die trying. After giving it some thought, the three Shadow Folks signed the contract. Apparently, they didn¡¯t care whether they were bound or not, they just wanted to live and survive, so I guess equipment like the ones I will be giving them are a godsend to them. ¡®I wonder how strong they¡¯ll be when they wear it¡­?¡¯ ¡°Well then, please wait for a moment while I go make your own Golem Suits.¡± The three of them nodded and I made them the suits using some Void Iron Golems that were already summoned. ¡°I¡¯m all prepared. I just hope this amount of preparation is enough to stop the raid group¡­¡± I head back to the house along with the three new residents of my dungeon, Sylf, Karen, and Palim as I worry about the future.