With Inari sleeping between Belinda and myself I don’t get any sleep, so early the next morning I decide to get up and begin making breakfast. I use my new coffee cup I got last night to drink my coffee with while making breakfast, while yawning tiredly.
After a while the girls begin to appear in the dining room, however Belinda and Inari still haven’t arrived yet.
Zoey: “Boss looks awfully tired that must have been some birthday present he got last night.”
“Yea… A daughter… Inari showed up after we were getting ready for bed…”
Sofia looks a little concerned.
“Yea I know… Needless to say it was a bit uncomfortable, so I wasn’t able to get any sleep.”
Lilah: “Lilah doesn’t like her, she said something mean to her at the party.”
“Well it was her first day… But she Is a dungeon core so don’t let your guard down around her either.”
Roxy: “She seems to really think like you and Belinda are her parents though. You really think she would do something like that?”
“I would like to think not, and I want Belinda to remain that way if we can, but you never know. I am going to keep Sofia with me to make sure, and I got Lilah as backup as well she could always send something in from the core room if things turn bad.”
Bell: “Should you leave Belinda alone with her then?”
“Well if she hurt any of you it would give away her intentions, so I don’t think we don’t have anything to worry about there. If she is going to go after someone it would have to be a surprise attack against me or the crystal.”
Scylla: “Isn’t Belinda usually up by now though, and you said Inari stayed in you room right?”
“Alright, I will go check to make sure.”
I head back up to the bedroom but find it empty… I decide to check the bathroom, and as soon as I open the door I am tackled by a soggy hug.
Inari: “Daddy!”
Belinda: “Come on Inari, you are getting Daddy all wet.”
“…”
Belinda moves over grabbing Inari and putting her in the tub. Again the situation would be far less creepy if Inari wasn’t only a head shorter then Belinda…
Belinda: “I thought you two are going to have a lot of training today so Inari could use a warm bath. You still look pretty warn out yourself, why don’t you join us?”
Inari: “Yay Daddy is going to take a bath with me and Mommy!”
“…That’s alright… I am working on breakfast I just came to make sure you guys made it up alright…”
Inari: “No fair! I want Daddy!” –She says slapping the water with her fists.-
I just shut the door and make my way back downstairs as there was just way too much wrong with that whole situation.
Scylla: “What happened to you Master? You look all wet.”
“They are fine… They are getting a bath… I don’t even know where to start with what is going on with Belinda.”
Roxy: “You said dungeon cores can’t have children right?”
Sofia: “That’s right.”
Roxy: “Well did Belinda know that when she choose you?”
“Yea she knew that before she had become my boss monster.”
Roxy: “She probably set it in her mind that she would never have kids then. Now that Inari has showed up calling you her parents her motherly instinct just kicked in high gear as she thought she would never get the chance.”
“Well we talked about it before though… Belinda checked on summoning a child. You can lower the age of a monster summoned almost down to birth, so when Belinda thought she would be ready to become a mom she was just going to summon a child.”
Roxy: “But that’s just not the same.”
“Neither is Inari… At least a baby wouldn’t be nearly adult acting like that…”
Sofia: “Well it is only a month, and then she will be on her way.”
“I think we should try to limit Belinda’s time with her when all possible though.”
Sofia: “I agree…”
I cast clean on myself drying myself off and we then sit down to breakfast. Only when breakfast is almost completely done do Belinda and Inari arrive. Inari is wearing another one of them robe like things different yet from the last two…
Lilah jumps up putting up her stuff then hugs me then heads to the core room.
“I don’t have any problem in your choice of clothes but with using your new staff in combat as well you might want to consider something you can move around in a bit more…”
Inari: “Mommy gave this to me, so it will be fine.”
“It will also probably get tore up like the one from yesterday…”
Inari: “That one was all better by this morning, so its ok.”
Belinda: “Do you want anything for breakfast Inari? You haven’t eaten before have you?”
Inari: “Can I Daddy?”
“I don’t care, but we aren’t stopping for bathroom breaks.”
Inari looks confused. “But I just had a bath…”
Belinda laughs. “You definitely your father’s daughter.” She then explains the bathroom to Inari.
“Well if you are going to eat, you need to hurry we need to start.”
Inari: “It’s ok Mommy maybe tomorrow…”
Belinda: “Ok… Be careful with Daddy today ok?”
Inari nods, and Belinda kisses her on the forehead. Belinda then walks over to me and kisses me. It is actually quite a good kiss. I could actually get used to that, but after what was sacrificed last night it isn’t worth it.
Sofia, Inari, and I then transfer to the dungeon. We are on the same platform in the dimly lit pit room. The golems patrolling the platform both head to each door and stop moving.
I pull her staff from storage handing it to her, she then takes her stance and without further warning I begin summoning monsters again. I switch out one of the two young kobolds for a young kobold mage.
It doesn’t seem to surprise Inari this time however. It takes her a bit more work, but she manages to defeat them both. After 3 breaks and 7 more waves of the young kobolds and young kobold mages Inari hits level 5.
I give her a short break to look over her status page and then when she is ready I summon two more monsters this time increasing the difficulty to hobgoblins.
Reaching level 5 however seemed to change the entire ballgame however, because the balls summoned by Inari grow quite a bit brighter and when they hit the hobgoblins there is little they can do to protect themselves.
I increase the count to 3 for the next batch of monsters summoned. This time the hobgoglins at least have a chance to blink before she wipes them out as it takes her two castings of her 6 balls. On the third summoning she targets just 2 of the hobgoblins with the balls taking them out, then hits the other with a fireball before using her staff to finish it off.
This time however she doesn’t make it out of the battle unscathed. She however quickly resumes her battle stance ready for another round. After three more rounds of 3 hobgoblins however she drops to her knees.
She is quite battered now, and breathing heavily, but as I stand up to heal her she holds her hand out signaling me to stop. After she catches her breath she then casts a healing spell on herself. I guess she must have learned that spell as well…
After resting for a bit I begin again, after 6 more waves, and one more break she has already hit level 6, and she is now officially 24 hours old…
Sofia: “Her progress is at an insane level. The benefits of a dungeon cores abilities but leveling like a normal monster is truly amazing.”
Inari: “Is Daddy proud of me?”
“Very much so, but once you catch your breath we will increase the difficulty again.”
There was an advantage for me by summoning all those hobgoblins. The hobgoblin brute has become available for me to summon now. Although that is probably too much to throw at her so I will switch back to kobolds for a while.
I summon 1 normal kobold and 1 kobold mage to see how she fairs, but as they are only a small amount tougher then the hobgoblin, she easily eliminates the kobolds, but has to put a little effort forth with her staff to finish the mage.
The battle gets much more evenly matched when I add a second normal kobold in the mix along with a normal kobold mage. 3 against 1 is evenly matched in itself is rather promising… She ends up wasting too much magic though and has to cast a healing spell during battle as well.
I switch back to 1 normal kobold and 1 kobold mage, but due to the extra spells during the last wave she has to rest after defeating them.
Inari: “I could handle the 3 why did you summon less this last time.”
“You managed to defeat them, but you used too much magic. If you use too much magic during each fight we will have to take far more breaks, so it is more effective to do the 2 kobolds.”
Inari: “But… Ok… If Daddy says so.
We cut it back to 1 kobold and 1 mage and it takes quite a while and several more breaks but about over a dozen more waves she finally reaches level 7. Inari is started to appear to become tired though even after resting up.
Thought the observation window I seen Dyson check us out during one of Inari’s breaks. He seemed to check us out for quite a bit longer then yesterday. Eventually I receive a message.
Dyson: “I am at a loss to understand quite what you are doing. I put quite a bit of faith in you allowing you to train one of the new cores. I hope you don’t plan to disappoint me.”
“Far from it, I would even be willing to wager my new core will be the strongest of the 10.”
Dyson: “That is some confidence coming from the fact it is almost the end of the second day and you still haven’t giving your training core access to her dungeon yet.”
“You said train her the way I saw fit, so continue to trust in me and I promise not to let you down.”
The observation window fades and I don’t receive another message.
“Well Dyson is starting to wonder about what we are up to, so I don’t know how much longer they are going to let us keep this up. You might not be able to reach another level today, but let’s do all we can while we can.”
Inari: “Ok Daddy…”
I summon another kobold mage but instead of another normal kobold I summon a red slime. Inari takes out the mage almost right off and tries to save her magic by attacking the red slime with her staff. It proves to be a rather bad move though.
She ends up panicking after the slime starts to “eat?” her like they do to the adventurers. She casts quite a few wasted spells barely managing to defeat it, but we have to take a break afterwards, and have to make a trip back to the house as her robe has all but completely dissolved…
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
When we arrive at the house we bump into Zoey who has a weird smirk on her face. Inari blushes covered in slime and practically naked telling Zoey.
Inari: “Daddy is a pervert!”
Zoey busts out laughing and Roxy comes to check on the commotion. Roxy leads Inari to the bedroom to get more clothes, but not before casting a clean spell on Inari. Zoey wipes tears from her eyes after laughing so hard asking what happened so I tell her.
Zoey then says something out loud while thinking but I don’t think it was directed at me… At least I hope it wasn’t
Zoey: “…Them red slimes might be too much, but if we were to use a blue slime or two…”
“I am not sure where you are going with that…But I am putting my foot down with Bo, you can’t borrow any more monsters…”
Zoey: “But Boss! Bo is to help Roxy, what about me?”
“…”
Luckily Roxy returns with Inari. Inari is wearing the robe she was wearing during training yesterday. It really is all back together. I still haven’t seen clothes and armor repair themselves. Maybe it doesn’t happen if you watch it.
“We still got a few more hours to go, are you ready to get back to it?”
Inari: “I think so…”
As Inari and I teleport back to the dungeon to Sofia I can hear Zoey begin telling Roxy of her great idea while Roxy looks on with a confused if not concerned expression.
Inari: “Daddy… Are you going to use more of those slimes?”
“I think the crimson kobolds and hobgoblin brutes are still too much. It would take hundreds of hundreds more kobolds for you to gain a level. I think we need to start thinking of begin giving you some help.”
Inari: “Daddy doesn’t think I am good enough?”
“That has nothing to do with it. Surrounding yourself with allies is always a good idea. Especially for a mage. Now they are going to be your allies, so I will let you choose.”
Inari: “A dragon!”
“I can’t summon a dragon, but even if I could I don’t have a clue how much xp they would cost, but I am sure it is more then we have”
Inari: “More of me!”
“That is another no go. I can’t summon more divine beastkin because the cost is way to high, besides I don’t know what is going to happen after the month is up so it would be best if it’s a non-sentient monster just in case.”
Inari: “Daddy said it was my choice, but won’t let me summon what I want…”
“Well let’s start with one of the Golems here in the room, because we need to check if you can even gain xp fighting monsters in my dungeon with other monsters in my dungeon.”
Inari sighs then nods. I have her check how much xp she has, and then with her and one of the two golems have her attack another one of the red slimes by itself, but after the battle her xp hasn’t moved.
“I guess we could get you some help from the adventurers in town, but I feel they will slow you down going at their pace.”
Sofia: “What if you summon a monster use an ultimate command to follow Inari, and then unbind it from the dungeon.”
“Well that might work…But then it would have to be a sentient monster right?”
Sofia: “But not being bound by the dungeon, it surely won’t disappear at the end of the month either, she might even be able to take it with her when she gets her own dungeon.”
“We would have to start training it from level 1 as well though.”
Sofia: “You can summon it at a higher level for an extra xp cost though can’t you?”
“The only ones I have that option for human battle maidens and up to level 10 on feral beastkin. It cost quite a bit of xp though…”
Sofia: “Well just start with one for now and see if it even works.”
“Alright… Inari, you want a human to help you or a feral beastkin. A beastkin could be a dog, rabbit, I don’t know if I can do it at the increased level but I can try if you want a salamander, or you can take your chances with a random one.”
InarI: “No rabbit!”
“Ok… So what would you like?”
Inari: “If I choose random what are my chances of getting a rabbit anyway?”
“I am not sure how it works, but I think the odds are increased in producing a subspecies I already know. If it is 50% chance of known to unknown then probably 25% it will be rabbit,25% chance a dog, and 50% chance something else.”
Inari: “25% chance is a lot…”
“Does it really matter if it turns out as a rabbit?”
Inari: “I don’t like rabbits…”
“…Fine if it turns out as a rabbit I will then summon a dog as well and you can use it.”
Inari: “You will send the rabbit away?”
“I don’t know about sending it away…but I won’t make you use it if you don’t want…”
Inari looks to be thinking about it really hard… I wonder what her grudge is against rabbits. Lilah did say she told her something really rude last night, but she hugged her and called her big sister…
Inari: “Ok I will try it, but if it’s a rabbit you got to keep it away from me.”
It’s all her xp anyway, but after checking it out to summon a sentient feral beastkin already at level 10 is 4900xp, if it turns out as a rabbit this is really going to take a toll on her training, but I guess we don’t have much choice. As I select the random option I focus on a beastkin to help Inari’s training and hope for Anything but a rabbit.
Inari made such a point about not wanting a rabbit I forgot to ask her if she had any other preferences so I forgot about it leaving it blank… I don’t know what the odds were that it happened… Maybe because I was focusing on Inari, or if it was just chance.
A very buff young man roughly Inari’s age with very large canine like ears, on top his head of red hair, with a large bushy red tail that looks like it was dipped in white paint at the end. He has a patch of white fur on his chest, but the fur that is on his shoulders running down his back is all red matching the ears, tail, and hair on his head.
Inari runs up to the young fox feral beastkin sizing him up. Rubbing her hands across him as he just stands there watching her, but after she grabs his manhood however he jumps a little, and I decide it’s time to equip him in some clothes.
Inari: “He will do nicely. Thanks Daddy!” –She hugs me.-
After he is dressed he kneels to me and says.
Fox: “I understand you wishes master, and I promise to protect your daughter with my life!”
“Then you understand I will have to unbind you from the dungeon for this to work?”
Fox: “If that is what it takes Master. I would be glad to make that sacrifice to be allowed this great honor.”
I screwed up last time I used an ultimate command, but I take another shot at it.
“After I unbind you, you are to protect Inari. You are to not divulge any secrets of my dungeon without my consent, or any of Inari’s without hers. Until Inari’s dungeon core training is complete you are to follow all her instructions within reason. Unless they include instructions to harm me, any of the sentient monsters of my dungeon, Inari herself, or cause unnecessary harm to you. After Inari’s training is complete you are no longer obligated to protect or follow her instructions, but the other commands still apply. As long as you follow them instructions you are free to act according to your own will.”
Inari: “But Daddy!”
Fox: “Yes Master!”
I notice the message about the fox subspecies added to the skill defensive swordsmanship is available for 2500xp.
“What kind of equipment would you like?”
Fox: “A one or two-handed sword and a set of medium armor will suffice, Master.”
I decide to look for some equipment for him in [Menu]. The only Medium armor available to me is the most basic of chainmail, the battle dress, or archer’s armor. I guess I could do the archer’s armor, it is focused more for an archer but it would be better than basic chainmail.
Belinda told me about selecting region during summoning and it changed normal formal wear into what Inari wears, so since he is going to help Inari I decide to try it out selecting Shima when I summon an archer’s armor.
I am not quite sure how much different a normal archer’s armor looks compared to Zoey’s armor, and even if it’s the same I don’t know how much difference selecting Shima as region will affect its look so I can’t really focus on finer details.
The resulting armor looks quite a bit different then Zoey’s armor, but you can tell they are from same type of equipment, it however the dark steel plates on the armor are red in color. I decide to go ahead and summon an archer’s helm as well using the same options.
Other than being red in color the only other difference in the helmet compared to Zoey’s is that it has a decretive crescent shape sticking up like a pair of horns. When I summon the sword I decide to go with a one-handed sword as the best I can make of a two-handed is steel.
The selection of Shima region for the sword causes quite a bit of change to the sword. Although it is a bit longer than a standard sword it is also quite a bit thinner and only edged on one side. The hilt as well is of quite different design.
After equipping the [Master Quality Archer’s Armor] [Master Quality Archer’s Helmet], and [Master Quality Dark Steel Sword] on the fox I unbind him from the dungeon.
Fox: “Thank you Master, I will not fail you.”
“Now that you are not bound to the dungeon so you can call me Two-Twelve.”
Fox: “I must apologize, for I can’t do that Master.”
“…”
“That was quite a chunk of xp, but it was for Inari’s training so I guess it was necessary.”
Inari: “Can I choose his name?”
“He isn’t bound to the dungeon any longer, so I guess that it his decision.”
Fox: “I would be honored if Inari would grace me with a name.”
Inari: “Mommy gave me a Shima name and clothing. Daddy gave you some Shima equipment as well, I guess I will think up another Shima name.”
Inari looks to think hard about it. She looks him over again then takes hold both of his cheeks turning his head side to side.
Inari: “You will be a fierce warrior keeping me safe, so how about Takeshi?”
Takeshi: “I promise to give honor to the name you have chosen for me.”
“Well if we bump into some adventurers in the dungeon and they find out in town that he is in the dungeon without and adventurer’s ID the other adventurers will throw a fit so during your next break we will run down to the guild and get him one.”
Takeshi is already level 10, so with his addition I decide to crank up the difficulty another notch. I haven’t seen what a hobgoblin brute is capable of since it was just unlocked earlier, so I summon one of them and a crimson kobold that has the same cost to compare the two.
Inari seems to breathe a sigh of relief when she sees there isn’t another slime, but she quickly regains herself and begins the battle. Takashi pulls his sword slashing the crimson kobold in a single fluid motion.
The crimson kobold actually takes a massive amount of damage between Takashi’s level and the exceptional quality of the sword, but it isn’t quite out of the fight. The crimson kobold tries to hit Takashi with a large great-axe, but even with such a thin blade Takashi manages to parry the blow.
Inari leaves the kobold to Takashi and focuses all 6 balls of her attack at the hobgoblin brute. He too appears to take substantial damage but doesn’t stop his charge at Inari. Takashi however doesn’t allow the hobgoblin pass him stepping away from the kobold to prevent the hobgoblin’s charge.
Takashi trips up the hobgoblin but is simply decides to change targets using its momentum against Takashi instead. Takashi effortlessly deflects the charge with his sword and decapitates it. Stepping away from the kobold makes the kobold change targets as well.
Inari prepares her staff, but doesn’t get a chance to use it as Takashi stops the kobold shoving his sword though its back pushing with enough strength that at least a foot and a half of the blade protrudes though the kobold’s chest.
“Well this might have been some well spent xp, if we can increase the difficulty yet again.”
He managed to hold off 2 monsters at once but surely if I add a 3rd it should even things up a bit. Takashi begins to take quite a bit of damage against three monsters, but he still tries to prevent them from getting close to Inari.
I find out she can even use one of the balls to heal after one of the light balls hits Takeshi. I am unsure to call what Takeshi is doing as a wise move or not, because I would feel that focusing on one target at a time would be more effective, but the symmetry between him and Inari seems good so I hold my comments for now.
I alternate between 2 hobgoblin brutes and 1 crimson kobold and 2 crimson kobolds and 1 hobgoblin brute to see if there is any difference. After 5 waves Inari and Takeshi appear in good shape although Inari has to rest.
“It is starting to get late, but I would like Inari to at least hit level 8 before we stop this evening, so let’s hurry to the guild before Belinda closes it down, and then return quickly.”
I transfer all of us to the house, I tell Sofia she can relax a bit till we return and Inari, Takeshi, and I make our way for the adventurer’s guild.
Receptionist: “Another one so soon? He looks to be quite experienced already though. His gear is quite unusual however.”
“Inari and Takeshi here came together, but he was delayed yesterday so was unable to make it.”
Receptionist: “So does he already have his ID then?”
“Like you said he has some experience, but no he hasn’t gotten an ID.”
Receptionist: “Alright, Takeshi you said? If you come with me a minute I will take care of it.”
Takeshi should be straight forward so nothing to worry about so I let the receptionist handle getting him his ID while Inari and I take a seat. I don’t see Belinda anywhere, but after a few moments of sitting she exits from the back.
Belinda: “Are you guys done for today already? I thought you would be pushing on for at least a few more hours.”
“We had a new addition so we took a break and stopped by to get his ID.”
Belinda: “I see, you even kept the Shima theme going.”
“After you telling me about it, I thought I would give it a shot when I made his gear. Inari named him Takashi.”
Belinda: “So is he hers? Or?”
“Well I had to summon him, but to help with Inari’s training I had to unbind him. I used a command for him to stick around till Inari’s training is over, but he is free to do as he pleases afterwards.”
Takeshi appears be done collecting his ID and he makes his way to the table. I introduce him to Belinda.
Takeshi: “Worry not, I promise on my life I will keep your daughter from harm.” –He says while kneeling, taking off his helmet, and bowing his head to Belinda.-
Belinda scratches him behind the ears and says. “That is good to hear, I am glad to have someone sincere as you looking after my Inari.”
“Well we got a few more hours of training to go, so we better get back to it.”
I grab one of the dungeon commissions for Takeshi and then head back to the house. After collecting Sofia we resume Inari’s training.
The hobgoblin brutes and crimson kobolds seem to be evenly matched, but since I already have the kobold’s evolution I decide to stick with straight hobgoblin brutes now. After one more wave it pays off unlocking the Hobgoblin Elder so I switch it in the place of one of brutes.
We do 4 more waves taking another break in-between, but Inari finally hits level 8. I still want to go further but Belinda has sent me two messages already, and without being bound to the dungeon Takeshi’s stomach is making quite a racket as he hasn’t eaten anything since he has been summoned.
The house is already dark when we return, and we make our way to the dining room to get something for Takeshi, after getting him something to eat I run into a dilemma when we prepare for bed, and Inari tries dragging Takashi to her room.
“That’s not going to work… Belinda would skin me alive. Takeshi can stay in one of these rooms.”
Inari: “But Daddy! He has to protect me!”
“There isn’t anything he needs to protect you from here in the house.”
Takeshi: “Do not worry Master, I would never even dream of deflowering your daughter.”
“…”
I shake my head.
“I am not worried about you.”
Inari: “Daddy!”
“Actually it’s not you either. You are a dungeon core, so I couldn’t careless as long as you didn’t take advantage of him. Belinda on the other hand would kill me and that is what I am worried about.”
Inari & Takeshi: “…”
“You are the one that laid the Mommy and Daddy thing extra thick, so deal with the consequences, and at least wait till your training is over.”
Inari: “But Daddy!”
“No buts! To bed young lady!... I can’t believe I just said that…”
Inari enters her room slamming the door. I look over at Takeshi he has a weird expression on his face, I motion to one of the other guest bedrooms and he retreats inside. I start to walk off when I hear Inari’s door creak.
“I am setting [Menu] to warn me if you set 1 foot out of that room, or someone else sets 1 foot in it!”
The door swings open just to slam closed again. I was prepared for quite a few scenarios concerning training a new dungeon core, but this wasn’t even close to one of them. For peace of mind I set [Menu] like I said and head up to bed.
When I reach the bedroom Belinda is already in bed. I get ready for bed and crawl in rubbing up next to Belinda kissing the back of her neck. She rolls over smiling at me. I give her a deep kiss while taking ahold of one of her legs wrapping it around me.
I receive a notice about Inari leaving her room…
You know what… Forget it, I don’t care…. I shake my head and then bury my face into Belinda’s chest…. *Knock Knock Knock*
“Awww!”
The door creeps open…
Inari: “Mommy…”
Belinda giggles brushing my cheek with her hand and says. “What’s the matter Inari?”
Inari: “I can’t sleep…”
Belinda: “Ok baby come here, but this is the last night alright?”
Inari: “Ok!” –She runs though the room jumping onto the bed.-
Second night in a row… I didn’t get any sleep last night… I don’t even care she is a dungeon core anymore. I let out a deep sigh as Inari snuggles up to Belinda and me. Maybe she will kill me in my sleep and I won’t have to suffer no more… Well not really, but I am tired enough that I have no problem drifting off to sleep tonight.