The next day.
Early in the morning inside the dungeon, the fake sun had not yet risen, but a young man was huffing and puffing, running laps in the hidden base. The man was Isao, the Dungeon Master. He forced himself to run while sweat covered his whole body and weights of different kinds adorned him.
Using the DP catalog, he bought as much as he could and wore all the weights his body could handle. At first, it was only 2 kilograms, which was 500 grams per limb. When Isao felt his body getting accustomed to the weights, he added more, and then here we are at present, a dungeon master wearing weights from the neck down.
The only reason Isao had not collapsed right now was due to his skills overworking themselves. From the very beginning, he already had mana manipulation, mana absorption, and auto-healing working at full throttle. The method he used when extracting his blood was utilized as Isao visualized his mana traveling through his blood, healing all of the muscles he was using.
Every now and then, Isao would take a break and use Blood Magic: Create Water to summon a ball of water directly to his mouth. Since Isao had learned the skill, Blood Manipulation, ‘Might as well learn Blood Magic,’ he thought and bought the “Blood Magic” scroll to learn the skill. It was apparent that blood—mana rich blood, specifically—was the medium to cast blood magic.
And so with this training to which Isao subjected himself, he was able to raise his physical—well, not all of it—and magic-related stats. Although he had no way of confirming because his stats were forever hidden from him.
After a while of resting, Isao stood up at the bench and resumed his jogging. ‘Hopefully, I won’t turn bald with the training I force myself into…’ was the thought lingering in his mind as he remembered the bald hero in an anime he watched before. He shook his head, dispelling the thought.
***
Command Center---
“Ha～ah, I’m beat,” Isao complained, his body languidly sitting on the commander’s chair. There wasn’t a trace of physical fatigue on his body due to Auto-Heal but the mental fatigue caused by controlling multiple skills at once took a toll on his mind.
‘I’d better work…’ Opening up the D-Interface, Isao went to the D-Territory menu and checked how large the dungeon’s territory had grown. The whole of Barangay Magsasaka and parts of Isla, Banlic, Diezmo and Mamatid were now under the dungeon’s territory.
Dungeon master Isao allocated most of his Dungeon Points to increase his territory. It wouldn’t just increase his DP income and scope of the dungeon’s surveillance, it would also hinder the efforts of the dungeons’ under the opposing “alignments”—Chaos and Order—to increase their territory.
Furthermore, launching an attack on them would be easier. Even if he died in the middle of the enemy’s territory, because his Dungeon Core was in his dungeon, he could revive infinitely but he would only spawn in his territory. That is why Isao placed more importance in increasing his territory to make his spawn point nearer to his enemy’s base.
While looking at the map, Isao noticed something that made him grimace. “Tsk. They’re increasing.” The red dots, signifying hostile units, were in clusters of dozens—if not more than that—here and there on the map. All of them had the monster tag, and they increased ever since he did a brief glance at the map the other day.
The houses that the evacuees called home before the Philippines got transported to Erse now house goblins and other humanoid monsters. And instead of cars, beastly monsters roam the roads of Kabuyaw City.
As much as Isao could see, among the red dots in his map, none of them had the human tag. “Damn it.” He cursed, tears of frustration and guilt forming in his eyes.
The dungeon master was aware of his limitations so he only saved the hands he could reach. But thinking of his friends and acquaintances in the city, Isao couldn’t help but feel guilt because it felt like he left them to die while saving only his own skin. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me.” He whispered and cried, hugging his knees as he buried himself on it.
Minutes of weeping silently, Isao wiped his tears and his expression turned serious. ‘Not the time for tears.’ He thought. The evacuees—although he felt some were unhappy with their situation—and his subordinates needed him on his A-game as the dungeon master.
“Thou hath calmed down, I suppose, my master.” a voice said to him, and Isao turned his eyes to his visitor—or not. Suddenly, Isao activated Dragonization and assumed his dragonoid form. Blood oozed out as well and formed another layer of protection atop his scales.
“Who are you!?” Isao bared his fangs at the black and white haired goth lady standing near him. ‘Wait. Black and white hair?’ He thought to himself, remembering one of the monsters he synthesized yesterday, Queen of Vermin.
She was a woman whose bichrome hair hid her face, with creepy crawlies peeping and hiding in her body. His synthesized monster bore resemblance to a horror movie character so Isao decided to name her “Sayako”. However, with the exception of the hair color, this woman and his monster bore zero resemblance.
“A-Are you Sayako?” Doubt in his heart, Isao stuttered in asking the question. “Indeed. 'tis i, thy humble servant. Sayako, the Queen of Vermin.” Answered Sayako in her peculiar old English way of speaking.
‘Come to think of it, I gave them access to D-Interface since according to the guide: monsters bought with DP or created through synthesis were automatically bound by an oath of servitude,’ Isao thought, looking at Sayako’s extreme makeover from horror character-like to the female lead of a gothic shoujo manga. Yesterday, after giving them their first order, he went and gave them limited access to the interface and gave them appropriate budgets to use for themselves. ‘Girls and appearances, I guess…’
“Whatever it is thou art thinking, mine master, thou art deluded. This is just the issue of buying apparel according to mine tastes, a simple make-up, and a haircut” she stated likely having read his mind or his doubtful eyes just gave him away. “Thy humble servant wouldn’t dare misappropriate funds”
“Er, sorry about that. I’m just kinda surprised about your change, that’s all.” Isao answered in response, flustered at Sayako’s intensity.
“Ahem. Since you're here already, sit wherever you want, it doesn’t matter.” Changing the subject, Isao gestured to the many chairs in the room. Aside from his first order of studying of governance and other fields of study, he also gave some of them other set of orders. Nodding in response, the gothic lady strode the large room, ignored the other chairs and went to the seat nearest to the commander’s seat—where Isao was sitting—and sat there.
Not even bothering to look at the wallflower near him, Isao’s eyes turned serious as he opened up the D-Interior Management interface. “The files I had written up are about the persons of interest—whom I suspect to be planning to cause unrest in the evacuation area, are atop the table over there.” Pointing in the table behind him with his thumb. “I want you to connect your familiars' senses with the dungeon’s monitoring functions and observe those individuals. If they’re innocent then good, but if not… We’ll show no mercy. By the way, while you’re at it, Sayako, send some of your familiars outside and have them decrease the Fog of War in my map, yeah?.”
“Understood, mine Master” Sayako replied with a bow. She quickly summoned her familiars and linked their senses to the dungeon's monitoring functions, keeping a close eye on the suspicious individuals. As they began their surveillance, Sayako also sent a few familiars outside to scout and reduce the Fog of War on her master's map, ensuring better visibility in the area.
***
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‘My dungeon finally looks like one, at last.’ Isao thought while looking at the 3D holographic display of his dungeon. Until yesterday his dungeon only consisted of one floor, which could be divided into three sections: The hidden base, the evacuation center, and the area outside of it.
Now, however, it already has 6 floors, with the base at the bottom most floor and the evacuation area at the floor above it. Floor 1 to Floor 4 would be, for the time being, the breeding ground for the dungeon’s cannon fodders—the Goblins, Skeletons, Slimes, and Fluff Balls.
Isao peppered the floor with many Monster Houses with the DNA of his synthesized monsters to spawn hundreds of them per floor. These Monster Houses were set to be powered by Mana instead of DP due to the DP insufficiency problem. All of those floors would be one giant poison jar where monsters afflicted with “Berserk” status ailment would be made to fight each other and force them to Rank Up. The last monster standing for each day would be transported to the base and trained to become soldiers of the dungeon. That’s one of the many plans Isao had in mind to increase the dungeon’s war potential.
Onto the next one, Floor 5. One of the solutions Isao had thought to solve the problem of DP insufficiency and also to give the evacuees livelihoods—and at the same time, increasing their passive DP output—was to create something like a “Beginner’s Area”. The area has: trash mob spawn points via Monster Houses, a forest with abundant resources like wildlife and medicinal herbs, mines, and other resource nodes.
Isao’s plan was to convert willing individuals to “Players” and introduce the profession of “Adventurers” to the residents sometime this week. Many among the evacuees wanted to go back to their homes, he was sure. But because of the monsters aboveground, he couldn’t let them go back since they had no way to defend themselves.
And so, Isao would, as the dungeon master, propose to them that those who wanted to go back had to train for at least 3 months in the area he created. For those who would rather stay, on the other hand, he would create various other livelihoods such as farms, orchards, ranches, fisheries, smithies, apothecaries, bars, and other places of work.
In truth, Isao was reluctant about converting the residents into “Players”. If all of them would, through a miracle of some sort, receive a system similar to M***craft or job-simulator systems that have resource cheats, such as crop growth increase or infinite water resources, for example, then he was all for it. However, what he dreaded the most was on the off chance that someone receives a “Gal game” like system, that has the highest likelihood of having a mind control cheat.
Isao, as someone who blames himself for everything bad that happens, couldn’t bear the thought if someone became a victim of rape near his reach. And since he would be one of the reasons why they would be converted into “Players”, he thought he had the responsibility for their actions.
When Isao would give his proposal to the residents, he plans to warn the ladies, specifically, about this and allocate “Charm Resistance” items to every female individual, young and old, in the evacuation center.
Going back on topic, onto the last floor, Floor 6. Because Isao had already built the base, the only thing he needed to do was increase their staff. To do that, he built monster houses with mana and installed them with the DNA of most of his synthesized monsters, fluffballs not included.
These Monster Houses weren’t set to automatically spawn monsters. Spawners with his Apostles’ DNA were set to produce monsters with inferior stats and to only spawn a dozen of them only when he needed to. The spawned monsters would be trained by his Apostles so it wasn’t favorable to spawn too many of them. After they were trained, they would be assigned to positions that suit them most.
On the other hand, the spawners with the DNA of synthesized mobs were set to spawn fifty monsters when prompted to. These monsters would be assigned menial tasks after their training. While the Lesser Gob-Drake Monster Houses would be trained as mounts, aerial units, and scouts.
‘That’s all for now, I guess’ Satisfied with his work, Isao finally closed the holographic display after hours of work.
Noticing the time displayed on his menu, Isao stood up and called out to his subordinate. “Dinnertime, Sayako. You could leave your duties for later. The dungeon has a recording function, so you could watch it later."
Sayako, who had been diligently working beside Isao, looked up from her own holographic display and nodded gratefully. "I appreciate it, mine master. I shall ensure to take a break and watch the recording tomorrow. Dinner sounds great right now."
Isao noticed that Sayako seemed tired. "Sorry about this; once the new monsters are finished training, your workload will surely decrease. But in the meantime, please bear with it for now."
Sayako smiled and reassured Isao, "No need to apologize, mine master. Doing all's thou bid us for was the pride and joy of us monsters. Thou don’t hast to feel restrained, use us however thou see fit."
'Ugh. All of my monsters, Sayako, are all too gung-ho to follow my orders,' Isao thought to himself, his head aching from his monsters' unwavering enthusiasm. Just a few days ago, he was just an ordinary Filipino young man living a simple life in the province. He never imagined that he would become a dungeon master, leading a group of overenthusiastic monsters, each too eager to carry out his every command. 'My stomach hurts...' As he clutched his stomach in pain, Isao couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the sudden responsibility thrust upon him.
"It seems thou art famished, yourself, mine master. Join, allow us to go to the mess hall, and indulge in a hearty meal." Perhaps mistaking his stomachache for hunger, Sayako offered, her voice filled with concern.
***
Night at the Mess Hall, Barracks—
As the newly spawned monsters were still in the middle of training, only Isao's 13 Dungeon Apostles that he synthesized yesterday were present in the mess hall. 'It seems most of them have preserved their original looks,' Isao observed, noting the variety of appearances among his apostles.
The majority of them had only changed their clothes and hairstyles according to their personal preferences.
Starting from the ones near the head of the table, on the right side, there was the leader of the Dungeon Apostles, Ava, wearing nothing but a tank top and army pants. Beside her sat the bipedal Griffin, Castriel, who had opted for more formal attire, donning a sleek black suit. Next to Castriel was Ammon, the demon who still looked like a thug despite his attempt at dressing up in a leather jacket and ripped jeans.
Farthest from the head of the table was Gravadian, the Cecaelia, who bore a resemblance to Chtulu himself. Surprisingly, despite his menacing appearance, he was dressed in a tailored three-piece suit, exuding an air of sophistication. In the middle of them all sat Aegis the Armored Slime and Gardur the Shotajiji Warlock, who didn't even change.
Across from them, Isao noticed the diminutive Capybara beastman, aptly named Levi, now looked like a fiery pirate captain and had even added a small tricorn hat to complete his look. Next to him at the table was Fox Beastwoman Tsubaki, still in her kimono; Seraph Raquel was adorned in a flowing white gown; and Dryad Daphne was draped in a vibrant floral dress, her hair adorned with fresh flowers.
Fel, the Cunning Brownie, who looked like a Cat Sith in maid uniform, was busy serving drinks and delicately arranging plates of food on the table. While Sayako, the Queen of Vermin had, entered the mess hall with him and sat with the girls on the left side, she joined the group of elegant ladies.
"Huh? Where's Lily?" asked Isao, scanning the room for any sign of her. "Nya? You see that box over there, nya?" replied Fel, pointing to a cardboard box in the corner of the room. Isao followed Fel's gaze and noticed the box in the corner.
"Is she inside?" Isao asked, his attention drawn. Fel shrugged and replied, "Yes, nya. After you gave us the DP for our necessities, the ladies decided to give Lily a makeover, nya."
"Hey, ladies, don't play pranks on your friend," Isao called out, a hint of concern in his voice. "She might not appreciate it." Fel chuckled and reassured him, "Don't worry, nya. They didn't bully her or anything, nya."
"Then why is she hiding?" Prompting Fel and the ladies to blush. Fel looked away from Isao's gaze and hesitated before answering, "Well, nya, Lily is a Succubus, right?"
Isao nodded, then realized something from the ladies' group reaction. "Ah, got it." Succubus are known for their seductive nature and ability to manipulate others through their charm. What most likely happened was that Lily unconsciously charmed them by accident.
'If so, I just had to buy a charm-sealing accessory for her.' Opening his DP catalog, Isao quickly searched for a charm-sealing accessory that would help Lily control her seductive powers.
"Hey, Lily." Crouching down next to the cardboard box she was hiding in, Isao called out to her. "This is a Charm Sealing Glasses that I bought for you. It's supposed to help you control your seductive powers and keep them in check." Isao gently placed the glasses on the ground next to Lily, hoping that she would accept his gift. A small hand reached out from the box and grabbed the glasses.
The next moment, the box shook as Lily emerged, wearing the Charm Sealing Glasses. Her eyes sparkled with gratitude as she looked up at Isao. "T-T-Thank you... so much, master," she whispered, her voice filled with relief.
'Oh shit,' Isao thought; his face was on fire looking at the glasses-wearing, buxom loli with freckles on her face. He quickly averted his gaze, feeling a mix of embarrassment and confusion. 'Succubi were scary, even with a charm-sealing accessory like these glasses,' he thought to himself. Isao took a deep breath, trying to compose himself, and replied, "Y-Y-You're welcome, Lily. I'm glad I could help. Is there anything—"
"Yeowch!" Isao yelped as he felt a sharp pain in his side and realized someone had just pinched him. Turning around, he saw Joanne standing there with a cold smile on her face. "It's time to eat. You could flirt with your monsters later," she said, her tone dripping with contempt.
"Come, Lily, leave your good-for-nothing master behind," Joanne ordered, grabbing Lily's arm and pulling her away. Once they were out of earshot, Joanne whispered to Lily, "So is he happy that I showed that I'm jealous, Lily?" The cold facade disappeared, replaced by the face of a lady in love."
"Yes, Mistress Joanne. It seems our plan to show your possessiveness is working," Lily replied, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. "Master Isao is an insecure man, and seeing your jealousy only confirms his belief that you care deeply for him. I might have been born yesterday, but trust a succubus to understand human emotions and desires."
"Although," Lily continued, her tone turning serious, "Master Isao seems too preoccupied with his work as Dungeon Master to fully return your affections, Mistress Joanne."
Both girls sighed in unison, knowing that Isao's work was important as many lives depended on his role as Dungeon Master. They also understood that he loved Joanne deeply, but his dedication to his responsibilities often took precedence over their relationship. If Isao didn't prioritize his work, the consequences could be dire for the entire dungeon, its inhabitants, and the evacuees seeking refuge within its walls.
By the way, the dinner that night was a feast fit for royalty, with an array of mouthwatering dishes that delighted the senses. The ambiance was warm and inviting, with soft candlelight flickering across the room, creating a cozy atmosphere for everyone to enjoy.
All of them gathered around the table, savoring each bite and engaging in lively conversation. Isao couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt for not being fully present; his mind was still preoccupied with the responsibilities awaiting him in the dungeon.
'I... have to protect everyone,' he thought to himself, his determination fueling his desire to fulfill his duty as the Dungeon Master. As laughter and chatter filled the air, Isao made a silent promise to himself that none of his new comrades would suffer harm or meet their demise under his watch.