*Ding!*
Requirements meet. New title is acquired!You are now known as ‘Pet Dungeon of Fantastica.’
(I, what!?)
*Ding!*
’Pet Dungeon of Fantastica’A dungeon that allows itself to be a pet of the Adventurer Guild Fantastica.EffectA protection from the master, as long as the dungeon serves the master obediently.
(!! Hey, who wrote this description!? I’m not a pet, you know! I give service and they pay me, it's is a fair trade!)
“What’s wrong, Dungeon Master Arz?” Crystela asked.
“... Nothing,” I scratched my head. “Anyway, isn’t it inconvenient to call me with such long name? You can call me Arz instead,” I said.
“... No, that would be too disrespectful. I will call you Master Arz, then,” she replied.
“Suit yourself,” I answered with a colder tone than I intended.
(Ah, I need to overcome this bad mood.)
I took a deep breath, hold it for a moment in my chest and then released it slowly from mouth to calm myself. I put on a smile and changed the topic. “By the way, I only know Crystela's name, can I have the others too? Also, the letter mentioned you being a B-rank party?” I asked.
“That's right. We haven’t introduced ourselves, have we? I am Crystela, as you already know. This is our mage and my vice, Tsalja. Beside her is our healer, Sister Linia. The big one over there is Orga, as you probably already know too. And the twins sitting next to each other are Gora and Gara. We are known as Jowsar-Star, the strongest B-rank adventurer party in [Jowsar],” she said proudly.
Everyone gave a nod and a confident smile as she introduced them. Except Orga, that guy was hostile as ever. I wondered if he had a personal problem with me or something.
“I see. Welcome to my dungeon, Jowsar-Star. Since you, a B-rank party, is sent, does it mean my dungeon is considered a B-rank?” I asked.
Crystela looked at Tsalja to seek for her opinion before answering. After the mage nodded, she said, “Actually, it is one of our tasks to properly evaluate your danger level. According to Miss Alveria, you have eleven rooms in total. So, by size, you are barely surpass the E-rank new dungeon. By monsters, your fierce rats and great bats are also considered D-rank monsters.”
She took a small break before continued. “However, your consciousness is very strong. It is something that can only be found in A-rank dungeon or above. Thus, it should be somewhere between C or B-rank. We will assume your dungeon as a B-rank until we finish evaluating the real danger level,” she remarked.
I nodded, “I understand. You're going to try out my dungeon, right? Can you wait a moment? I need to set several things according to our agreement.”
“Please take all the time you need, Master Arz,” she replied.
I thought for a moment. Since it was a mutual consent, I should be able to absorb their mana just like with Alv and the creatures should be able to recognize them too. No problem with that. However, it was troublesome if I had to personally absorb every adventurer, especially if the numbers kept on increasing.
(Is there a way to absorb their mana automatically?
(Hmm.
(Absorbing mana... The mana-suckers do that.
(How did I create the mana-suckers, again?
(By modifying their proboscis, via the core.
(!! Of course, the core!
(I should be able to modify even a stone panel if it had a core.
(This should work. Let see…)
I raised the earth in the center of the first room and created a stone pedestal similar to the one before the last room door. Except this one had a smooth surface instead and the writing told the adventurers to put their hands on the pedestal in order to pay the mana tribute.
I also made a small stone monument beside the pedestal, with the content of agreement between Fantastica and me engraved on it.
*Whistle*
“You know, no matter how many times I see it, your work with
I turned to her. “Thanks. You said that too before, but aren’t you exaggerating? I’m sure there are plenty of earth elemental user who can do this much, aren’t there?” I said while creating a core and walking towards the pedestal.
“Are you kidding?” she raised her brows. “No, for god sake. The high-ranked elemental-mages I’ve met so far were all using wide area magic with devastating effect, none like yours. ...By the way, that thing in your hand, is it the same thing you put in your two golems earlier?” she asked.
“You’ve keen eyes,” I smiled while putting the core on the pedestal and let it be absorbed. Touching the panel with my hand, I could feel the core and soon the image of the pedestal entered my mind.
I then set the parameters. The pedestal would start sucking mana whenever someone put their hand on it, but only if their mana at least eighty percent of their full capacity. This way I wouldn't get cheated and get less than I deserved.
“Done. You can pay your mana tribute using the pedestal now,” I said. “I’ll set the drops system in the meantime,” I told as I went towards a wall. I sat down with crossing legs and returned to my dungeon view.
(Let see… How do I set automatic drops? ...Like this? Oh, it’s easier than I thought.)
Now every creatures that died by adventurers might leave behind a part of their bodies at twenty-five percent rates. They could be anything, from tails, skins, fangs, wings, legs, claws, shells, meats, silk threads and etcetera. Afterwards, the dungeon would absorb the rest of the bodies automatically.
I realized that there was a possible problem, however. If there were adventurers who refused to pay mana tribute, then they would be considered as outsiders and I wouldn’t be able to absorb the bodies around them. It couldn't be helped that such people would appear sooner or later, but I need to prepare a counter-measure to limit their numbers.
(I need to set an example by giving a severe punishment.
(But how? By making them the target priorities?
(Hmm. What if other adventurers help them?
(That’s not impossible, they’re guildmates after all.
(Then, isn’t it possible to exploit it further?
(By purposely making the high-defense warriors not pay the tribute and therefore pulling all the aggro...
(Not good.
(I need a special unit that can punish them before others can interfere.
(A unit that's far superior than other creatures and the adventurers.
(It’s okay if the superiority only in regard of attack and the unit perishes afterwards.
(Therefore, a punitive unit that focuses on dealing damage and ignoring defense.
(Let see… My choices are…
(Berserker types for melee. As for range, there are archers, mages and… gunners?
(Of course, the gun!
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
(Monkeys or golems should be able to use the weapon!
(However, it’s probably better to create assault or sniper rifle than the handgun like the one I gave to Alv.
(Alright, it’s decided then.
(I still need a lot of research on how to make automatic firing, though.
(Well, there should be still some times until the first troublesome adventurers appear.)
With the solution in mind, I turned my attention to the next task, which was preparing a prize in the last room. I scanned through the list of items available for me to replicate, which is the items I had absorbed and converted before. Soon enough, my search stopped at the gold coin.
I almost couldn’t believe what I saw, each gold coin cost me only 1 mana point to spawn. It was funny on how humans and dungeons value things differently. Nevertheless, it was good for me.
Still, I wondered if I should start to produce more gold and use them to buy magical items in human town. Surely, I could gain profit in mana and the item list could expand.
(Well, first thing first. Let’s spawn 500 gold coins for now, that amount should be enough to feed a village for a whole year.)
Light particles began to gather in the middle of the last room as the 500 mana points were leaving me. They materialized into a pile of gold coins with a lot of clinking sound. I didn't put them into a box or anything as I wanted them to become a distracter for my last trap later.
Satisfied with the result, I returned my consciousness to the Dungeon Lord. I opened my eyes only to see six pale adventurers breathed heavily. Some of them were resting on the wall while the others were sitting or lying on the floor. Tsalja the mage and Linia the priest seemed to experience the worst.
“You guys okay?” I asked.
“Not... at all. To think mana depletion is this bad,” Crystela answered with a low voice, almost mumbling.
“Haaa… haaa… remind me of my training days under master Maa’,” Tsalja panted as she lay in a suggestive manner.
Meanwhile Linia looked about to cry but somehow had no strength to do so, Orga glared at me with weak eyes and the twins lay with their eyes closed.
“Take your time. I’ve finished the drops and prize setup, by the way. Just to let you know,” I said.
I checked my mana. Excluding the ones from the mana-suckers, it had increased almost 3,000 points. As expected, both magic users Tsalja and Linia gave even more mana than the A-rank Alv did.
I then stood up and walked to a corner, where I created another stone pedestal. It was the last thing I needed to prepare before I was ready to welcome my customers. I provided it with a new core and felt the image entering my mind.
This one would have different function than the other pedestal. Anyone touching the surface panel would have a restricted access to my consciousness, to the absorbed items, and could rematerialize any of selected items from the list with a cost of mana.
I set the mana cost to be ten percent higher than the amount I would get if I chose to convert the items. I also set a three days limit before the items be converted into mana. This way, not only I might gain profit but also a guarantee that I wouldn’t lose.
Considering the possibility of a magical item being valued higher than the owner’s mana capacity, thus the owner could never afford buying it back, I thought of a measure for such owner to accumulate mana first.
I put a core into a baby-fist size stone, renamed it as mana-accumulating stone and let the dungeon absorbed it afterwards. Then I touched the panel and found the stone was there, as the only purchase available item at the moment.
Once again, I modified the pedestal by making the stone permanently shown, fixing the cost at 15 mana points and regulating it to materialize a replicate instead of the original stone when the item was selected.
“Okay, all set. I’m ready anytime,” I announced.
However, someone peeking from the entrance easily grabbed my interest, especially since I didn’t notice him earlier. “Yes? Can I help you?” I asked.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for a man named Arz. Are you him?” he replied, causing everyone to look at the entrance.
“Aren’t you Sid from intelligent division? What are you doing here?” Gara the archer said.
“Gara, right? I’m here to deliver a message,” he replied.
“I’m Arz.”
“Good. Lady Alveria said to search for a certain man and report the progress periodically to you. Do you want to hear in private?”
“No, I think here is fine.”
He nodded, “Someone that fit the description of the mage Mahza was seen entering [Firzoa] eight days ago, at afternoon. However, he already left the town before dawn on the next day. Unfortunately, this is all we can gather for now. We have no knowledge of what he was doing inside the town or where he was going. Yet.”
“Hold on,” Tsalja cut. “By Mahza, do you mean the eccentric, self proclaimed best soul-mage master, who secludes himself in [Rahziel] to pursue immortality? Why are you looking for him?” she turned my way.
“You know about him, Tsalja?” Crystela asked.
“He is well known among mages… not really in a good way, though,” Tsalja answered.
“I know about him too,” Linia said. “Father Jaa often uses his name to scare the misbehave children.”
(Uwaah, what kind of reputation have you built, father?)
“That eccentric guy is my father. One of your members poisoned him with
“
“Hold on, I’m confused. Your father? You mean you’re not born as a dungeon?” Tsalja asked.
I smiled and shook my head, “No. Me and Alv are childhood friend, you know.” I then turned my attention back to the messenger and said, “Sid, was it? Thanks for the information. Please update me as the investigation progresses.”
“Sure. So, is this the training dungeon everyone talks about?” he looked around in curious.
“Everyone talks about it?” I inquired.
“Yes. It has been a hot topic ever since Lady Alveria threw the idea and become a roar after the Adventurer Admin Office officially announced it several hours ago. I’m sure this place will be flooded by our members soon,” he replied.
“Actually, we are about to explore inside. Why don’t you join us, Sid?” Crystella invited.
“Can I? Ah, no. I’m not good at handling monsters. I don’t want to be a hindrance, so I will pass.”
Linia chuckled. “What hindrance? It’s totally safe, guaranteed free of fatality. Isn’t it, Master Arz?” she asked. I gave a nod and smile as the reply.
Orga grabbed Sid’s shoulder from behind and said, “Just put your hand to that pedestal in the center. I must warn you, though. It’s truly an unpleasant feeling.”
“A- alright, I’ll take your offer then. I feel safer if you B lots are around me after all,” Sid replied and walked towards the center.
For me, I was more interested in what Sid said about the training dungeon. For some reasons, it seemed the information spread quickly in a short amount of time
(How? Do big guilds and the Adventurer Admin Office have a method for a long distance communication that unknown to public?)