—Alert—

* Level 8 Obtained

* +500 Energy

* +1,000 Challenge Points

* +5 Free Minions

* +20,000 System Credits for Dungeon Employee Stipend Fund

Despite Gus tricking the three men into sacrificing themselves, it felt good to Rick to level. The Energy surplus was nice and all, but the CP and Minions gained were a huge windfall as far as he was concerned.

The first thing he wanted to do was to finally hire a Broadcaster so he went back into the Dungeon Shop and searched for the Level 6 Centaur Showrunner he had found before.

* Graduated in the top 10% at the Dungeon Showrunning Institute of Valoramon

* Interned at the Level 97 Chaos Dungeon ‘Palorack’s Pandemonium’ in the Palorack System.

* Extensive knowledge of System Demographics to sell subscriptions at competitive pricing

* Broadcast abilities include ‘Pathokinesis’ which can enhance the viewer’s emotions

* Extensive dungeon layout knowledge to inform the dungeon of what would captivate viewers most based on System-wide analytics

Rick wanted to wait for Jimmy to get his input, but in this instance, he didn’t think it was a difficult decision. He selected the Hire option and a new prompt appeared:

Hire Level 6 Centaur Showrunner for 900 CP? Y/N

*Please Note* Upon hiring the Showrunner, a yearly salary of 600,000 System Credits is required unless deferred by the Employee. If the salary is deferred, a new contract must be negotiated.

“Well, shit. Guess I do have to wait for Jimmy,” Rick grumbled.

Rick decided to check in with all of his minions while he waited. Billy’s little building was looking worse than before, but he insisted that it was all going according to plan. Elza had been hard at work setting poisonous traps.

He watched her make one such trap around the lid of a treasure chest. There was a bowl next to her filled with a brownish liquid. “What’s in that bowl, Elza?” Rick asked.

She glanced at it, “It’s some of my blood. I tried to get it in a vial, but a bowl was easier. Less spillage.”

“I see. Is your blood toxic enough to kill Challengers?”

Elza flicked her tongue out playfully, “Only one way to find out.” She dipped a finger in the blood and ran it around the edges of the lid. Whoever opened it would need to touch it.

“Just touching it will hurt them?” Rick asked.

“No, but I’m counting on them to have wounded fingers,” she said.

“Damnit, Elza. I’ll bite. Why are you counting on them to have their fingers wounded?”

She pointed to a small cup by the bowl, “Because I’m going to stick those around the bottom edge of the lid too.”

Rick probed the cup and saw that a bunch of her scales were inside. “Elza, where do you get those?”

The lizardwoman stuck out her leg. It was mostly raw, but scabbing over.

“Elza! Did that hurt?” Rick asked.

She flicked her tongue out, “A bit, but they’ll grow back. If not, I’ll always respawn.”

“That sounds pretty terrible. I’ll buy you some needles or something. Anyway, will it work if your blood is dried?”

“First of all, don’t worry about the needles. My scales are sharp and less flimsy. I believe they also contain some kind of toxin, but it has been impossible to test. But, to answer your question — Yes. The poison will still work, dried or not. Of course, entering an exposed wound will have a much faster and harsher effect.”

Rick vaguely remembered Elza experimenting on bargle when the last Challengers were fighting Luca. “Alright, well don’t hurt yourself too much. You worry me.”

She waved a clawed hand dismissively and flicked her tongue out in amusement.

Rick began checking on the others. The Ceaseless Wolves were all playfully wrestling and nipping at each other. It looked fairly vicious, but they weren’t inflicting too much damage.

Finn and Stella were napping in their den. Rick probed Stella but didn’t see any new wolf cubs cooking.

Yosk was hard at work making drawings in a blueprint. Rick didn’t want to interrupt him for fear of causing the lizardman to go on a long tangent.

Finally, Rick checked on Luca, “So, how was your first taste of combat?”

“Good. Want more. Gained Level.”

“Nice, did you get any new abilities with the level?” Rick asked.

“Challenger blood heals me.”

“Hell yeah, that sounds useful. Would you like some minions to join you?”

“Yes. Must like dark,” Luca said.

“Noted. I won’t make any promises, but I’ll see what I can do,” Rick said.

Luca buzzed happily before resting once more in the middle of its mucus maze.

Penny was happily curled up next to the kaiju egg. Rick felt bad that she hadn’t been able to run around and play, but she seemed to be content taking care of the egg. He would make her bargle steaks from time to time which she scarfed down so fast he was afraid she’d choke.

Rick continued his housekeeping while he waited for Jimmy by growing Luca’s floor. Gus did come through with the dump trucks. There were also plenty of interesting items to absorb among the trash as well.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Among the trash, Rick found plenty of more food and drinks to add to his bar, including their bottles or containers. At some point, he’d work on a little menu for the Challengers. The real prize was actually the building materials he found, including bits of sheetrock and stucco.

Finally, Jimmy came in, sweaty and short of breath.

“What’s with you?” Rick asked.

Jimmy wiped his shirt on his forehead, getting rid of some sweat. “This place has become a beacon for civilization. People from all over are flocking over here, but there’s no room,” he wheezed. “But it presented a nice opportunity for us.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Rick asked.

In Jimmy’s hand, there was an odd-looking piece of paper, if you could call it that. It was a standard letter-sized page, but it was thicker and had a nearly liquid quality to it. “Gus had a crowd of people shouting at him for help. It was the first time I saw panic in his eyes. The crowd flooded in faster than he could react, so when he saw me, he waved me over for help. I started organizing people in lines, to form a little bit of order, but as I did, I bought a contract,” Jimmy said almost gleefully.

“And he signed it?” Rick asked.

“Yeah, well I told him it was a standard contract to ensure our safety and whatnot. All the stuff that we talked about was on there. He just skimmed it and signed it, but he did give a minor warning, which means fuckall now that he signed it,” Jimmy explained.

“What exactly did he say?”

“He told me that if I hadn’t helped him, he’d have killed me on the spot,” Jimmy laughed. “But, he also said it was reasonable enough and wanted me to get out of his face and help with the crowd, which I did.”

“What do all these people want?” Rick asked.

Jimmy threw his hands up in the air, “You name it. Between your broadcasts and word spreading about Gus’ power, people want to be here. Most just want protection from the Eagle Empire. Others want to get rich in here.”

“I see. Well, I’ll need to level up more and get busy on the Aux Room. Could have a whole city there,” Rick said. “By the way, did you find the kid and his brother?”

Jimmy nodded, “They’re not here yet? I told them to head over. The brother is pretty sick. He had some nasty wounds that Danny healed, but I think he got infected and it spread. I’m not sure, I’m not a doctor.”

“Okay, let’s try and get someone to bring them here. Maybe Penny can help,” Rick said. It didn’t sit right with him that the kid was out there taking care of a sick brother all by himself.

“Sure thing. The Spell & Sword are lingering by the booth ready to make a quick escape to the Aux Room if they need to. Let me just ask them real quick and bribe them with a free night’s stay,” Jimmy said and quickly opened the door and shouted a few things.

It was odd, when Jimmy opened the door and spoke, all the words became muted or garbled.

Jimmy came back in and shut the door, “They’re in.”

“That was easy. Thanks,” Rick said. “By the way, weren’t you mad that I didn’t include you in the last negotiations, and now you went around and did the same thing?”

“I saw an opportunity and jumped at it. I think it was the right move,” Jimmy said with his cheeks turning a little red.

“Yeah, I get it. Are you sure you got everything in there?”

“Yeah, yeah. Read it yourself, man,” Jimmy said and presented the odd paper.

Rick went over it and didn’t see anything missing right away. “Alrighty, here goes.” Summoning a pen, he scribbled his name on the paper. The paper then melted and became part of his registry.

Jimmy laughed, “That was weird. Got a notification too with the contract. Hope Gus isn’t too pissed.”

Rick had a feeling that the narcissist wouldn’t be too happy, but nothing could be done about it at the moment. “I’ve actually been waiting for you to pull the trigger on something,” Rick said.

“Oh, I’m all ears,” Jimmy said, perking up even more.

“I’m thinking of hiring a broadcaster to help with the broadcasts. It’s supposed to be a huge source of income for me.

“You definitely should,” Jimmy said. “Shit man, I’m really sorry. I’ve totally dropped the ball on this Dungeon Attendant thing. I should have told you to hire one a lot sooner.”

“Jimmy, you’ve been busy. Don’t sweat it, but let me know if there’s anything else I should be doing,” Rick said.

“Nah, there are things I need to be doing for you that I just haven’t had the time for,” Jimmy said. “I’ll get better at it, sorry man. Anyway, who do you have in mind for the broadcaster gig?”

“No need to apologize,” Rick said. “There’s this centaur that has a pretty glowing resume,” Rick explained and repeated everything he knew.

“Shit, that’s a lot of credits to keep them around, but you get what you pay for. Maybe we can haggle them down a bit,” Jimmy suggested. “Fuck it, let’s meet this thing.”

Rick chuckled and selected Y to hire the centaur. For a moment nothing happened. Then a holographic image flickered into existence in their old shop-turned Treasure Room. It wasn’t one of those old-school blue or translucent holograms, but full color. The hologram was that of a man with a horse’s body and a human torso and head. The centaur had a bright orange mohawk that started from the top of his head and traveled all the way down his spine, continuing through the horse portion of his body and ending at his tail which was dyed a bright purple.

The centaur looked around excitedly. “What dungeon is this? I have never seen anything so strange. Is this even a dungeon? Ah, a Challenge Dungeon! From a newly integrated planet, no less. Oh, you must be the Dungeon Attendant. I’m Atrono. A pleasure to meet you!?” The centaur rattled off in a single breath.

“Take a deep breath Atrono,” Jimmy said. “I’m Jimmy, the Dungeon Attendant. I’ll translate for you and Rick.”

“Oh, I can speak directly to the dungeon - Rick you said? - directly. He’s the one that is interested in my services. You should know that, Jimmy. Weird name!” Atrono rambled.

“Nice to meet you, Atrono. I’m Rick.”

Atrono bent his front horse legs and took an extravagant bow. “It is a pleasure. Before we begin negotiating, do you mind if I take a look around?”

“I’d prefer if we negotiated first to see if we’re a good fit,” Rick said.

“And how would I know if we’re a good fit if I couldn’t poke around for a minute? It will be quick. I can zap in and out of all of your rooms. Honestly, your Attendant should have explained all of this to you,” Atrono said with a smile and a shake of his head.

Jimmy’s face had been red all morning, but this was the first time it turned magenta. “I’ve been busy,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Ha! As if that were a good excuse. Not to worry, not to worry. Atrono is here to pick up the slack.”

Rick chuckled as Jimmy lifted a middle finger and shook it at the hologram.

“By the way, how do you speak English?” Rick asked.

Atrono puffed out his bare chest, “As a Showrunner, I have a language skill. Anything I say can be understood by all languages that the System is aware of.”

“Neat,” Rick said. “Alright, take a quick peek around and let me know if you want to continue negotiations.”

“Thank you, Rick,” Atrono bowed again and blinked away, reappearing on the first floor with Billy.

Rick spoke telepathically to Jimmy so that Atrono couldn’t hear, “Dude, take a deep breath. This is a goddamn alien. Nothing like Billy or Luca that were blank slates. Even Adam was a human, but this is a freaking centaur. Get your shit together and help me negotiate, alright?”

Jimmy took a breath and calmed himself, “Yeah. You’re right. God damn thing is annoying though.”

Rick observed Atrono’s hologram flickering around the floors and taking notes. Once in a while, he’d shake his head and tsk. Or make a comment like, “Malerio help me.”

After a few long minutes, Atrono flickered back into the Treasure Room, “You are in desperate need of my assistance, but it will cost you.”

“Before we get to numbers, tell me one area that you can immediately improve,” Rick said.