The small secret room was similar to the first room one would get when unlocking a floor. Ariel felt restricted inside the dark room but soon, Five spawned a few Firestones; these were special ores which could be used instead of a fireplace. Due to their low grades, the Firestones summoned by Five would only glow in the dark; they did not generate a lot of heat, resulting in their low cost.
With a swift movement of his hand, Five quickly filled the room with a few items. He first scattered a few gold coins, the currency used by adventurers and players, and spawned a few cheap Grade 1 weapons. However, the location of the main treasure was left empty. It was not that Five was lacking in DP but rather because of his own pride. Since he started learning to craft, he hoped that one day, only the items produced by the dungeon would appear in secret rooms. It would naturally take some time before he would succeed in making a decent item but the secret room was not that easy to find either. Besides, there was no guarantee that the adventurers would obtain the treasures, especially after he summoned the guardian of this room.
He was not planning to unlock a new monster; instead, he wanted to use one of the first monsters he unlocked: Liches. At the time he accepted Dreidus as his monster, Five did not immediately realize that liches were actually unlocked too. They were essential dark mages who were biased toward necromancy and as a result, their body slowly decayed into their current state. While Dreidus was able to continuously level up since his original body was at high level, the liches summoned by the dungeon were stuck at level 30 and also did not have access to higher level spells but still, they were a powerful threat since they could summon other undead monsters.
At the cost of 40000 DP, 2 liches were summoned. Compared to Dreidus, the newly summoned liches had a more repulsive appearance and were only wearing rags as clothes. One of them had a deformed jaw while the other was missing an arm. Their eyes were completely red, devoid of any human expression. They motionlessly stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do.
"Dreidus, you take over from here," said Five.
"Yes, I know what to do. I will properly instruct them, don't worry, master!" politely answered Dreidus.
...
Five and Ariel eventually left the secret room and returned to the common room, leaving behind Dreidus to instruct the newly summoned liches.
After a few moments of silence, Five decided to break the ice: "So, Ariel, what is it that annoyed you?"
"Nothing. It really is nothing," answered Ariel. Having calmed down a little bit, she now realized that her reaction had been excessive. Sooner or later, Five would build a floor for the harpies. She just needed to be patient, after all, in the future, she would be the one never stepping on those plains.
"Really? You were really frustrated though. If there is anything you need from the dungeon shop, feel free to buy it. I know that everyone is quite busy recently; Angela is learning from the Shaman and Alice is looking after Ivan. But don't worry, soon, you will have a floor for yourselves. At the rate at which we are gaining DP, it should not take very long for me to make something like the Avian Cavern or at least its general shape... Making a village will probably need a lot more time though..."
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"I know... Don't worry about that master," answered Ariel. She lowered her head, afraid to look into Five's eyes.
"But, you should continue to train hard! Soon, I'll summon more harpies and at that time, as the eldest one, it will be your duty to look after them! So don't start getting lazy!" declared Five.
The harpy's wings trembled slightly. She was about to answer when suddenly, the door of the common room was flung open. Lyra stepped into the room, her face clearly displaying her nervousness.
"What is it?"
"Master, I would just like to report that the bones of the skeletons, who were used for the test, have grown back. Dreidus told me to inform you when that would happen..." From the moment she entered the room, Lyra kept her head down, with her body slightly shifted in Ariel's direction.
"Oh? Really? That's good news... Wait for Dreidus to come back. He should know what to do. Thanks for the info." At the same time, Five was internally rejoicing, Lyra's news simply meant that they had found another way to acquire materials and DP. Even if it only represented a small amount of DP, it was still better than nothing.
Lyra nodded and clumsily stayed silent for a moment. Only when she realized it did she speak, "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave now."
Five smiled to the Banshee Queen and stood up. "Sure. I have to go too. It's time for me to return to the forge. Ariel, continue to train for now. As soon as the trial ends, you will have a lot of new sisters and I'll be counting on you to look after them."
Watching Five's disappearing back, Ariel quietly went back to her own room. Her heart was heavy. Although she knew that Five was trying to comfort her, she could not help but interpret his words differently. She felt like she was the only one who was useless in the dungeon as she did nothing apart from training. It was true that she was far from her peak and her level was even lower than the average harpy being summoned at a fixed level. However, it still felt like the training was just an excuse to allow her to do nothing in the meanwhile.
Angela was already contributing to the dungeon and Alice was at the very least looking after Ivan. But her, what was she doing? She did not have any talent and could not even do the one thing she could do: killing.
Unbeknown to Ariel, Five was having the exact same thoughts! Just like Ariel, what did he do since the foundation of the dungeon? All he did was to take decisions but what was his active contribution to the dungeon?
It recently occurred to him that the greatest parasite of the dungeon was none other than himself. It was the concept of the dungeon where the dungeon master would be the weakest and most protected member. But that was something he was not content with. Just like in the real world, CEOs and directors looked to others like they spend their day doing nothing apart from signing documents; it was not very different from what Five was currently doing. However, the truth was that some of these executive figures did not limit themselves to decision making and would often do all they can to contribute to their company and what Five wanted to do was no different.
He could become stronger but that would consume a significant amount of DP. Increasing his own personal power was equivalent to weakening the overall strength of the dungeon. It was why he needed to look for other ways to help the dungeon and he came up with crafting.
The dungeon was similar to a production line. Increasing the volume would naturally increase the profits but in the end, there would be a limit to that. The real way to increase profits would be to improve the efficiency of the line. In terms of the dungeon, that would amount to strengthening all his monsters. Unfortunately, their levels were fixed but at the same time, many monsters could use weapons!
If he could not improve the monsters themselves, what about improving their weapons? Purchasing stronger weapons was no different from spending a lot of DP but what if he could craft them? The essential part of crafting was precisely that it allowed him to bypass the high cost of the dungeon shop!
However, it was easier said than done. It was a beautiful dream but after a few days of research and attempts, Five still had yet to succeed. There was no doubt that it would take a while before he could be considered as a blacksmith but at the moment, time was the only thing he had.
Five slowly made his way to his small forge. The room was small and messy; different schematics, notes, and even materials were scattered all over the place. In the corner of the room, an anvil, a bucket of oil and a fireplace could be seen. Aside from a set of tools hanging on the wall, the room was devoid of any decoration.
All the items in this room were naturally only rudimentary equipment. They were the basics of the basics but for his current level, they were more than enough. Before he would succeed in crafting even one item, Five did not plan on improving his equipment.
With a serious face, he swiftly tossed a few middle-grade Firestones in the fireplace and grabbed his basic hammer. It was time for his 56th attempt.