*Ding*

Nicholas: "Ugh... What time is it? What was that sound?"

Nicholas has woken up to the notification sound of the system update completion. It was early in the morning, and the sun was still currently on its way up on the horizon. he opened his tired eyes slowly and changed his sleeping position to his side to check what that notification was.

Nicholas: "..."

He opened his system panel and checked the notification he got from the system. What bombarded him is a huge wall of text and paragraphs to his tired eyes.

Nicholas: "I'm too tired to read all of this stuff in the morning. Ugh..."

He decided to look at the window, where he saw the sun wasn't still up, so he concluded that he should just sleep and worry about this later for the future Nicholas since it was not urgent and, more importantly, he was still sleepy.

[System Update Complete]

[Congratulations on completing several story quests given by the system and successfully upgrading to the newest version.] The system has provided new features and better odds on the system Gacha wishes. I hope that you have been enjoying your journey to the world of Asterik so far and in the future.

Updates:

-System Dungeon Administrator

-Improved Odds on Gacha Wishes]

---

[New System Dungeon Administrator]

Nicholas: "Dungeon Administrator?"

Nicholas had woken up a few hours after the notification rang that woke him up from his slumber. He just arrived in his office after his morning routine and completing some of his daily quest. He was curious about this new update in his system, so he decided to sit comfortably on his couch and began to check the description of the new system feature.

[Dungeon Administrator]

[Create, build, and design your very own dungeon. It will generate mana and accumulate mana at a steady rate, which in turn creates a mana core at max capacity]

Nicholas: "???" Nicholas was surprised.

Suddenly gears started turning inside his head; the monster cards given by the Gacha and rewards from his quests finally had some use. It was not that monster cards were not useful, but the mana cost of summoning each one of them costs an exuberant amount, making the trade-off not worth it in the long run.

He carefully read through the description and uses of the dungeon administrator feature and then checked the perks when using it. He realized that with this dungeon administrator skill, he will be able to bear the huge mana cost of summoning the monster with the mana generation capacity of the dungeon maker skill.

He didn't really know; he just assumed it would work since it was logically acceptable. The dungeon administrator feature from the system must be intended use of the monster cards, if you think about it.

The dungeon made by the system would serve as a mana-generating building since it would absorb and accumulate ambient mana from the environment, and the monsters are used to defend the dungeon. Each dungeon summoned by the system would gather a maximum amount of mana before completion.

Small dungeon: 50,000 mana

Small-medium dungeon: 100,000 mana

Medium dungeon: 500,000 mana

Medium-large dungeon: 1,000,000 mana

Large dungeon: 10,000,000 mana

Nicholas: "That's a lot of mana being generated by one dungeon." He couldn't help but comment.

Nicholas: "Hmmm. Are the dungeons around Asterik also generating mana? If so, who benefits from this? Maybe the goddess uses the dungeon to generate mana while helping people?"

He decided to comment again, but since the mysteries of Dungeon only deepened as he came close to a glimpse of an answer. After a while of contemplating, for a while he decided to forget about it since no matter how he thinks about it, he lacks a lot of information to give a definite conclusion, and it was quite a useless thought since it wouldn't benefit him for now he didn't dwell on the thought for too long.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He adjusted his back on the couch into a more serious position since he wanted to check the new system feature in earnest. He clicked on the new button in the main system panel, and it opened up a new window.

The window that popped up had three buttons, which took him to different panels.

- Current Monster Cards

- Create a Dungeon

- Manage the Dungeon

He first pressed the current monster cards button, which directed him to his current summoning current available for him, which he got from the Gacha wishes. Each of his Gacha monster cards was available with the indicated stats, power level, and mana cost to summon.

-Goblin Summoning Card – 500 mana

-Murloc Summoning Card – 700 mana

-Skeleton Summoning Card – 300 mana

-Troll Summoning Card – 10,000 mana

-???? Summon Card – 100,000 mana

Most of the summoning cards currently in his possession are monster cards, but the last one is different. The last card he got for completing the story quest is different from the rest, which summoned monsters. This card is a one-time use card clearly different from the rest of the card he had; it also cost a lot more mana to activate, so he first needed to get more mana before summoning for it. After he finished checking the summoning card he had, he closed the window for the current monster cards and proceeded to the next button, which is to create a Dungeon.

When he pressed the button, another transparent panel appeared.

[Summon a dungeon at the current location]

Available:

Small dungeon – 5,000 base mana

Not Available:

[Small-medium dungeon – 10,000 base mana]

[Medium dungeon – 50,000 base mana]

[Medium-large dungeon – 100,000 base mana]

Nicholas: "Huh... It would cost 5,000 mana to summon a single small dungeon. That would mean I could use most of my mana to summon a single small dungeon. If I summoned a monster after that, I could only manage to summon a few more before running out of mana."

He then thought maybe he could summon multiple small dungeons if he is alone; maybe he could go alone to the forest for a couple of hours to summon a dungeon and wait for my mana to recover and do it all over again. But how would he do that? Some people might find it suspicious if I went alone to the forest multiple times a week, and how do I even get myself some alone time when Maria and Clarice are always with him along the day?

Nicholas: "Maybe I should wake up early in the morning in guise of doing paperwork; that would free me a couple of hours when I use my phantom phoenix to disguise myself to sneak to the forest alone." Not bad of a plan, he thought. The plan needed more polishing, but it sounded quite good.

After thinking of plans to get some alone time in the forest, he then checked the other not-available dungeon, which is the small-medium to medium-large dungeon.

Nicholas: "10,000 to 100,000 base mana... I guess I'm not summoning that kind of dungeon anytime soon. ?!?"

*knock* *knock*

A sudden knock on the door was heard, which slightly startled Nicholas since he was quite focused on the system panel.

Maria: "Master, I brought some tea and snacks. Can I come in?"

Nicholas: "Sure, Maria, come in; the door is not locked."

Maria came in the door with a tray of cookies, a pot of tea, and some teacups. She walked in and placed the tray on the table in front of the couch Nicholas was sitting on. She also noticed that Nicholas was thinking about something; she was curious about it, so she asked.

Maria: "Master, your expression seemed weird. Is something bothering your mind?"

Nicholas: "Nothing much; I was thinking about something nothing important. hahaha..." He scratched the back of his head since he really cannot answer her question directly.

Maria: "Do you need any help?"

Nicholas: "Hmmm..." Nicholas thought about it; maybe he could rope Maria into his plan since he could trust him.

Nicholas: "Well, I wanted to explore the forest," he said after contemplating for a bit.

Maria: "Should I get the carriage and assist you?" She replied to Nicholas. But Nicholas shook his head.

Nicholas: "Not that, I want to explore the forest alone. It would be helpful if you covered for me for some time." He looked at Maria with a slight smile.

Maria: "Would you be doing something dangerous, Master? Please be honest with me."

Nicholas: "Nothing dangerous, just a bit of exploration and scouting around the area. Don't worry about my safety. So, can you cover for me for a few hours?"

Maria: "Yes, it would be my pleasure, Master." She smiled at Nicholas. Nicholas then smiled and replied.

Nicholas: "Thanks Maria! I knew I could count on you. By the way, how is your condition? Are you in condition to do dungeon exploration for today?"

Maria: "Don't worry about me, Master; I have fully recovered from yesterday. Thanks again for taking care of me." She bowed to Nicholas, showing her gratitude to her master.

Nicholas: "Is that so..." Nicholas then stood up from the couch and went to his desk to grab something from one of the drawers. He took out a stack of papers and brought it back to the couch.

Maria: "... Ummm." Maria suddenly wants to change her decision.

Nicholas: "Here. This document needs to be done by today. There will be no dungeon exploration for today; please relay the message to Clarice for me. You can go now."

Maria: "Okay, Master, I will go now."

She was stunned as she left Nicholas's office with a bunch of documents. Now she has some paperwork to do since she was not expecting it. Nicholas also went to do his task for the day since he still hasn't started any of it because he had been staring at the new system panel and thinking about making a dungeon ever since he got inside his office.

Nicholas: "This would be a long day." He picked up the teapot and poured some tea for himself, then he got up with a plate of cookies in his other hand and went to his desk to start his work for the day.