As we were coming to the dungeon I had been working with the puppets.
First I examined all the tools, weapons and armor made by the puppets.
First off, I had Guardian change his long sword for a new one made during the last few days. The new one could compare to a somewhat low quality iron sword but the blade edge was even better them before.
Then came tools. I had my first farmer change his hoe for a new one. The old one had a poor edge comparable to a rock hoe. The new one formed a proper hoes head. Then I set two new puppets to care for the farm and let them loose. Eventually they will absorb enough mana to evolve officially into farmer.
Now for fighters. I looked over the weapons and found there were 3 halberds, 5 spears and 12 swords, split into 4 sabers, 4 normal sized long swords and 4 katana.
With the remaining 7 puppets I have two new puppets separated for beast and walk on all fours. Then I have the only level 3 take a halberd as a type of commander figure, the level 2 took spear and have a level 1 puppet take a long sword while the other takes the katana.
Then I bring out the armor. 1 wooden helmets, 7 small chest plates made in two parts to put them on easier, 7 pairs of armor to cover the arms to the shoulder, 7 leg armor, 7 wooden boots and 7 gloves.
It all looked simple and very much like plate armor. Strangely though, helmets seem to be hard to produce for them but that may be due to skill since it has to possess an opening mechanism where the parts slide open to allow for them to remove the helmet if needed.
I had the harberd puppet put on full armor including the helmet. The others just got normal armor without it.
For those marked for beast I tried something different. I know they won't be able to use weapons later on so before the weapons and armor finished growing, I counted each piece and modified three gloves into gauntlets with claws. I had the future beasts put those and the normal armor on finally armor all my attack units. Similar to the guardian the runes on the puppets body flashed on the armor but not nearly as numerous and only those exposed. This included the seal on the chest.
I checked the evolutionary table just out of curiosity towards what each set did.
Evolutionary Table
Low Grade Guardian Puppet
None Currently Available or known
Common Grade Common Wooden Puppet
Farmer
Warrior
???
???
???
???
???
I had expected something like commander but I guess that is a title and not a rank up. Also spearmen should be their but then again it is a subcategory of warrior.
After confirming my choices and having them fully armored I set them, with the guardian, loose at the entrance of the second floor where goblin guards were placed.
As soon as the guardian appeared the puppets followed.
I had set them to follow his orders and I told him to train them without having them destroyed. As of now he had begun to give out orders while goblins slowly flooded out of the second floor.
"So how are things at the entrance?" Charlotte asked with a worried tone.
Her question breaks my concentration as I was messing with the dungeons.
We were already inside dungeon 1 and flipping to the other page I saw all the invaders and 'ally'.
"Seems they indeed enter, want me to activate the traps or let them come this way for us to personally kill?" I asked.
"Do manual activation of the traps. Leave them very scared of returning." Misaki said.
"Terror induction it is then." I said and pressed on one trap just below a scout.
It was a spring trap that shot to a spike trap. He was flung and after careful timing I activate the trap on his leg pinning him.
A few moments later we heard his echoing yell.
"That sounds painful." I said with a grin.
"Your enjoying his pain aren't you?" Charlotte asked shocked.
"Well I injured him only, I wouldn't get much mana anyway since only the boss guy is anything good... wait there are three mage so they may give me something but they still seem newbieish so I doubt any of them could be beyond E rank adventurers." I said.
"Shut up blockhead and guide us to the first wolf den." Misaki said.
"I am, I am." I said as I write 'Fire Sword Harden' on my blade and activate it to be at full power when the time comes.
I still actively watched the men moving slowly probing the ground. They do find several traps and avoid them. After all, they aren't that deep underground. That said, I have arrow traps and wall spike traps for a reason you know.
Unlike animals who seem to have a rather uniform mana gain from death, humans vary and unsurprisingly this showed up in the invaders section once I labeled them enemies. I singled out grunts from the heads by mana I gain. Mage gave twice what the boss guy gives and the head mage gave five times. There were four fighters just a bit below the boss while the rest are grunts.
One was a scout or assassin class maybe and was in the lead mapping the dungeon while killing the monsters.
Obviously how could I let him easily map my dungeon. If there is one thing I learned recently is that I can modify corridors when they are empty.
As he moves on I slowly cut off several paths sealing off a section of the dungeon and moved it around a bit and connected it back. It’s like a shuffling dungeon. A cruel joke of a dungeon that totally screws with the scouts.
"We are here, the next corridor has 3 wolf sentry and the rest inside the room." I said.
The girls nod and Misaki grabs her sword and her body starts glowing.
"Katana art: Iai Slash"
She said and stepped out before her body flashed and she appeared in front of a wolf before he sword exits the sheath and enters in a breath.
The head of the wolf falls soon after.
"Fencing art: Lunging Thrust"
Charlotte was similar and bend forward and lunged out before her Epee dug into the neck of another wolf puncturing the organs.
I came last with a jump.
"Sword art: Heavy Slash"
The flaming blade shines bright and it crashes on the wolves body burning him and cut into the body like a hot knife through butter. Well the hot knife is a fact though I expected the grey wolves to be stronger. Maybe the blade is just that much sharper with magic.
With the three dead so quickly the others weren’t alarmed but that didn't last as we entered the room and a fight broke out. This time it was harder as the wolves were alert and dodged but they had a simple attack method of jumping on us so with our speed we could dodge and injure them before killing.
I just injure them and let Charlotte kill them off since I won't gain exp from killing them myself but it’s a more efficient fighting style to weaken and let others kill.
In a few minutes the wolves were eventually killed with the pups as well. I had no use for them and didn't know how to make minions out of living creatures and since we needed to kill them off it is best to deal with them at the root.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Charlotte was against it telling us to sell them to monster tamers but we don't have a way to keep them safe and they grow fast inside the dungeon.
She resigned herself to that fact. Though I did do something to brighten her expression.
"The last room we can take the pups, since we will leave soon after." I tell her.
Even I didn't especially like killing puppies but we can't transport that many either.
While we walked I checked on my puppets and saw they were fighting on the first floor stairway. It was easier to manage them and the guardian took the brunt of their attention while letting the puppets slowly attack and kill. About a third of their numbers were dead already and on the ground.
I look and see a large mana surge in the back room where the hobgoblin was. There were two others with several times more mana than him. As mana gathered they had other goblins move the infants into the room.
"Seems the hobgoblin got himself some mages and is trying to escape some how." I said.
"There are many magics to evacuate from a dungeon, dungeon monster invading another dungeon may have a similar method." Charlotte said.
"That’s not good." I said and grinned.
At once all the wooden puppets vanished and appeared above the mages. With my orders they can spring out from below and that is what they did and killed the mage and vanished back before the hobgoblin could react.
"Done, no more escape route." I said and turned to look at the humans in this dungeon.
They were moving in five groups of four.
They were quite far back compared to us since we don't need to fear the traps.
I look at what is available near each party and find a grunt party drawing near an arrow trade. To my surprise they had gotten very close to the mana drop flower point.
On closer inspection the group had a mage. Since the guardian was occupied, I definitely had to kill them off.
With them cautious though it will be hard for the trap to actually hit since they have a large meat shield with a tower shield in the front.
"Put on spring trap here and make arrow trap activate with the heavy impact in this area." I say.
Pressure plates are an innate resource dungeons have and don't need to develop. As such I can put them in different sizes shapes and formats with different settings.
I watch as the group neared the spring and finish. The meat shield was sprung back heavily almost crashing on the mage and smashed into the plate. Next moment arrows flew out making the warrior, archer and mage become pin cushion. For extra effect against the persistent roach variety that don't die I added a poison as a finishing touch.
Dead, the three fall over and their mana instantly go to me.
The knight guy who fell soon stood up and look at them before running but soon stepped on a trap I made for heavily armored people. A thick spike sprang out diagonally into his gut piercing his armor.
Sure enough he died soon after as he tried to get it out but that made him bleed out faster.
I had some tests in mind so I send a farmer and gather their equipment and take it inside the farm through the puppet then leave the naked corpses.
Magic staff, robe, leather armor etc. All these will make good examples for stuff they can grow. But my experiment comes from my thought on the guardians strange armor.
Back to my group we reach the next wolf den and clear it out before moving on.
***
What the fuck kind of dungeon is this. We pass several safe areas of traps but as we backtrack new traps suddenly spring out. Its is pretty much pushing us deeper in. Its forcing us but at least I can thank the gods the traps we can spot are easy to avoid.
There are also only animals while monsters are lacking. Those brats must have already passed through.
"Boss, maybe we should teleport out. This place is really fucked up." My second in command says.
"Let’s move slowly for now. We can't be sure how many men are dead and we have no way of calling them anymore." I say.
Without a wind or space magic, talking long range is hard. Space mages are too rare and wouldn't be found dead in an adventurers party.
As we make a turn we find a room with blood all over.
On the walls outside was written 'You fools better leave somehow or you will all die miserably.'
I swallow and my men turn pale. The mage says the blood is grey wolves blood and the room is filled with dead wolves. It takes a short while for monsters or victims to be absorbed by any dungeon especially when near intruders.
"Let’s get out, this dungeon is beyond our level." I said pale and take out a scroll and inject mana into it which makes me vanish into space.
The others follow me.
We all appear in front of the dungeon. Those scrolls are dungeon escape scrolls. An expensive tool that comes exclusively from the elf nation due to their rune knowledge.
"Fuck, we underestimate the fuckers skills." I shouted.
"Boss look!" One of my mates said.
What he pointed at was the magic formation.
"What the fuck! Where is that formation!" I shout.
In front of us is an underbrush that forms a pitch black tunnel that looks like the mouth of a beast.
"Boss, maybe we were imagining things when we entered, they probably did something." Another man said.
"Let’s leave while we can, we will wait for then men in town. I don't want to imagine how badly things are." I say and retreat pale faced.
***
"To bad, the leader suddenly left somehow." I complain.
"They probably had dungeon escape scrolls. It’s an elven produce that uses runes to form a rift in the dungeon and allow the user to escape the dungeons dimension." Charlotte said.
A moment later a scroll appeared in my hand.
"So this is what that scroll those mages had were. Quite useful study material." I said and opened it to see a magic circle formation.
"This will definitely occupy my time for a while." I said slowly reading and spotting the directional runes plus all the element runes but there were around 15 to 20 other runes I had no knowledge of.
"Focus." Misaki says.
I store the scroll and we get back to hunting. In about two hours we finished the last den while the humans were all killed off.
The total mana gathered already reached 30k+ the other dungeon was even cleared completely.
The hobgoblin had been infuriated but had died miserably to the guardians blade. The rest tried to run but died by the blades or claws of my puppets or my traps.
We leave the dungeon and I wonder if I should close it.
"Hey let me try something." I say as we exit.
"Absorb dungeon mana." I say.
All of mana floating over the dungeon magic hole quivers and a large chunk splits off and flies into the cover of my book.
The next moment a new ball appeared next to the first one and condensed into crystals.
Checking the mana I found that thirty three thousand mana points were given and the dungeon stayed with roughly two thousand.
"So I can absorb mana without getting exp. Interesting." I say.
"Let’s go to the goblin dungeon." Misaki says.
We head there and close it so I can level. I was already behind the girls who were level 15 each.
Dungeon still possesses living creatures inside. If dungeon is closed they will be thrown out at the position equivalent to their position from the magic hole formation.
Corpses present will be absorbed
Do you wish to proceed
"Yes." I say.
From the hole a massive number of small white lights shootout eventually landing and showing the rats that escaped the grasp of the puppets or insects.
Dungeon Results until closure
Invaders
1 Hobgoblin x 200 mana
2 Goblin mage x 400 mana
472 Goblins x 45 mana
97 Grey wolves x 25 mana
32 grey wolf pups x 10 mana
276 Insect monsters: 10 mana
594 Rats: 5 mana
1652 Insects x 2 mana
Death Count
1 Hobgoblin x 200 mana
2 Goblin mage x 800 mana
472 Goblins x 21240 mana
97 Grey wolves x 2425 mana
32 grey wolf pups x 320 mana
276 Insect monsters: 2760 mana
1652 Insects x 3304 mana
Mana generated: 3425
Total MP gathered= 31,049
Equipment dropped
Steel Sword
69 wooden clubs
Dungeon success 91%
Reward to dungeon maker = 1/8 of mana is converted into Exp = 3,881 exp earned
Seeing the result made me happy since I got 1 level and more than halfway to the next one. If I travelled to the demon land borders, wouldn't I be able to spam my growth with all the dungeons.
Damage to Dungeon 0%
Requires first floor traps to rearm.
10% of remaining mana used for rearming = 2716
24452 mana remaining, Splitting 4452 mana and sending into Book of the Dungeon maker. 20000 mana crystallizing.
Dungeon Maker Low Grade Exp Crystals formed
The crystal descends into my hand and look at my book as I thought about putting it in the cover as a place holding. In the end I put it and the crystal is sucked into place.
You have over 60000 mana, do you wish to combine 3 Low grade Exp crystals into a Medium grade Exp crystal
“No.” I decline since I would lose the ability to distribute this exp.
I open up a the minion page next to see their levels.
Common Wooden Puppet: Level 8
Common Wooden Puppet: Level 8
Common Wooden Puppet: Level 7
Common Wooden Puppet: Level 7
Common Wooden Puppet (Beast): Level 5
Common Wooden Puppet (Beast): Level 5
Common Wooden Puppet (Beast): Level 5
Common Wooden Farmer Puppet: Level 1
Common Wooden Farmer Puppet: Level 1
Common Wooden Farmer Puppet: Level 1
With the Halberd and spear user were in the lead and it seems the ones I want as beasts had the most trouble due to the posture but still got kills in. I should probably make an obstacle course for them to train in. The next few puppets I will definitely need to dedicate to craftsmen. I need tool makers and those I can set up to build new types of rooms.
It also seems the farmers finally officially evolved into farmers. Was it the new hoe? Maybe it was, maybe not but since it requirements were met their Planting Root skill rose and they automatically gained the skills, Farming which gives them access to my knowledge of farming and it seems they are now producing fertilizer and spread it as well as tilling the fields while they grow the crops and herbs.
In all, I had a good day work. The last thing we do is turn towards the river and head to the goblin encampment where we find less than 50 goblins remaining and easily kill them off, place a dungeon dump them and get a bit more exp.