Chapter 19: Peons_Soul Harvest

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[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Barbarian, Level 22]

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Monk, Level 23]

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 21]

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 22]

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[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Mage, Level 20]

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[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Mage, Level 20]

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[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Barbarian, Level 21]

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With the lone invader taken care of, his body harvested, and his hippie staff and authority acquired for ongoing study and processing, I found myself back to the business of fending off invaders in my precious domain.

"Do they even learn?" I used to wonder.

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification Intrusion Report:

Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.

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Through the screen in front of me, the answer became self-evident. Well, not entirely, as there was a subtle but noticeable improvement here and there. Occasionally, some invaders, displaying either a higher brain capacity or perhaps just a lack of courage, or maybe a combination of both, would make a hasty retreat from the domain. However, doubting the intelligence part, they often returned later only to meet the same fate as their predecessors they had left behind. The ones I considered truly astute were like that one knight named Armand who, after his second attempt, never came back.

Every now and then, in a grand display of intellect, some invaders would return with at least twice their previous numbers, but alas, it usually proved insufficient. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but appreciate the effort they put into their attempts.

"Anyway, time to check out what the spoils are... Let's see... Another sword, another club, once again a sword, and yet another, ah, a club, another club... What the hell, who names their weapon Giselle? Oh, another sword, and finally a staff. 0.7 G.P, Elemental Casting enhancement, huh? Just that? Nothing else? Then this is nothing to compare to that guy's, but this is certainly a good staff, just saying. I don't even know at all."

***

“What the…”

I was peacefully skimming through the acquirable spawns list, seriously contemplating the idea of spawning another kind of undead. Yes, undead spawn—because I went full-time undead dungeon style. There are mainly two reasons for that. First, I've grown fond of these types of spawns. Second, and more importantly, it's the rules in place. For some reason that I won't even bother questioning, the enhancement provided by my current guardian, an undead, doesn't apply to spawns outside the undead category. In fact, it inflicts upon them a negative status. This means that unless I change my entire approach to "dungeonship," spawning anything other than undead would be counterproductive. So yeah, I'm stuck with this type of spawn, and so far, I'm fine with it.

Anyway, back to what I was saying earlier—I was peacefully skimming through the acquirable spawns list when I suddenly received a notification. Fair enough, it was an invasion. Fair enough, but it was not like any other before.

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification

Intrusion Report:

Three entities have invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.

Suggestion:

Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.

Intercept and Slay the invaders

Estimated Reward:

- 0.4 G.P

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I've been through a lot lately—suddenly facing off against a knight and a barbarian, then dealing with a vengeful platoon, drived back countless invasions and finally taking on that one guy. I've seen a lot, faced foes of many levels and many classes, but I've yet to encounter anything beyond the usual human races, namely both Highbreed and Peons. Given the exponentially increasing strength of my invaders, I wasn't really expecting the latter, yet here they were.

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Name: Roger

Level:

Race: Peon

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Name: Leylin

Level:

Race: Peon

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Name: Patrice

Level:

Race: Peon

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"What the hell are they doing? Trying to meet their end early on?" I muttered in disbelief. Through the screen, I watched as the dot representing the invaders ventured deeper into my domain—actually, that's something they didn't do. While I was anticipating them to push further and stumble upon my first line of defense, composed mostly of Spectral Reavers, engage against them and die, they instead circled around the edge near the entrance, effectively staying out of aggro range.

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification Intrusion Report:

Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.

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“What the hell was that?”

***

Some time went by since my Peon invasion—how much time exactly, as always, I couldn't tell. I could only tell with certainty that there was no invasion in between now and then, so this was the last time's next time.

I didn’t even get the opportunity to arrange anything and they were back.

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification

Intrusion Report:

Six entities have invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.

Suggestion:

Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.

Intercept and Slay the invaders

Estimated Reward:

12.3 G.P

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The peons from back then were back, or to be exact, two of them. And they were back with some company—four knights each at level...

"Level 04?!" I couldn't help but frown at the screen. Far from me the thought of discriminating against low-level invaders—all sources of G.P, high-levels, low-levels, from peons are equally valuable to me, but come on, Level 04. They might as well bring some more peons into this.

I watched with great perplexion and curiosity at what my invaders were up to. Just like last time, they remained toward the outskirts of the entrance of my domain, but unlike last time, they didn't roam as much. They settled in a corner, completely still. "What are they doing, a picnic or something... wait..." It was subtle but I felt it. It was as if something very light, so light that I would nearly call it imperceptible, had been lifted off my body, and yet I could still feel it. "Don't tell me these bastards are..."

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[ ???'s Interface ]

Name: ???

Entity: Dungeon Core

Designation: Dungeon Master

Status: Invaded

[ Ressource ]

- Raw Manacyte (R.M): 39 / 39▼

- Mana Available (M.A): 9023▼ / 16067▼

- Godhood Potential (G.P) Earned: 3786

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Getting a visual confirmation from the interface, I confirmed what I had immediately suspected. My Mana Available (M.A) along with my Raw Manacyte (R.M) were decreasing, indicating that something was happening to what these two statuses stood for. It wasn’t hard to guess. The bastards were essentially mining my Manacyte.

Sure, Manacyte was one of those assets that I, as a dungeon master, realistically wasn't struggling about. In fact, I was so not struggling about it that it saddened my perfectionist heart. The higher the Raw Manacyte (R.M) is, the higher the Mana Available (M.A) becomes. M.A was used to be allocated to a spawn, each connected to it, pooling their M.P and SP from it. However, I didn't have enough spawns to utilize that asset to its full extent, especially since it autonomously and exponentially grew without any active investment on my part, and that hurt my heart.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

So yeah, sure, I wasn't struggling when it comes to my M.A, but that doesn't mean I'll allow anyone to steal what's mine in broad daylight.

"If you're not here to die, get off my domain. Aaaargh. Can one of you snuff the life out of them? This isn't fair," I screamed, but due to how my dungeon was established, they were safe from spawn and could carry out their thievery without fear of judgment.

"Shameless, utterly shameless." Helpless, I watched as they did their thing. Eventually, just like the three peons did the day before, they left, leaving me alone missing Mana Available (M.A) that was now short of 27. Actually, voiced like that, it didn't sound like much, but having witnessed the broad daylight steal left me with a void in my heart. "You guys will pay for that," I muttered retributively as I went to the acquirable spawn section of my interface. "Now that I think about it, was I short of two level 20 Death Paladins? But I can't remember what it was that I planned to do with them. Well, there's no helping that. I'll spawn them here at the entrance as a spawning spawn first until I properly remember." I had the feeling that wouldn’t be the last time I would soon receive a visit from those peons; so I was set to be ready for next time. I'm sure they won't be against two little surprises.

***

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 3]

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 4]

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Peon Intruder, ]

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Peon Intruder, ]

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“Hahaha, that’s what you get for stealing what’s mine.”

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[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 4]

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification Intrusion Report:

Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.

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***

“What the fuck?!”

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification

Intrusion Report:

Six entities have invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.

Suggestion:

Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.

Intercept and Slay the invaders

Estimated Reward:

61.7 G.P

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Having taken care of my peons invasion, I was thinking that perhaps they would learn their lessons and renounce stealing from me. But it turned out that the one who didn't learn his lesson was me.

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification Intrusion Report:

Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.

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To make matters worse, not only did they come back, but they simply turned tail upon noting my presence. Sure, there was no Manacyte loss this time, but the thought of being notified without being granted any G.P reward didn't sit quite well with me. "You're the ones searching for trouble? I'm making a change just for you guys," I promised as I went to the domain edition section of the interface.

***

"Okay, this seems to work."

No more stealing peons at my doorsteps, but is it me, or do I have this impression that this isn't the end of it?

Hmph.

This must just be my imagination.

***

Okay, I messed up.

Sure, stealing peons was a nuisance, but I think I might have gone overboard with the approach to eradicating them. It turned out that ambushing at the very entrance of my domain with dozens of Death Paladins is a bad strategy, as it almost immediately drives them toward the wise and reasonable response, which is retreating away.

Fine, I get it. I'm fixing that."

***

"Come on, guys, I've fixed it .Keep popping as you always do. There's no more unbeatable force at the entrance. What are you guys waiting for? Enter my domain and do your thing, as I and my spawns do our things. I'm begging you all. I know I deserve this, but I've changed, so come back. Was it not enough? What do you expect me to do? Give gifts, perhaps? Eh? Hm. Actually, if that's what you need to be baited in, we can find a middle ground to agree on."

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Things were finally back to normal after fixing the problem that was a byproduct of my own doing. Life, as a dungeon master, was back to doing good. No longer dissuaded by my ambushing Death Paladins, invaders were back on the menu. There were occasional peons now and then, but I decided to completely ignore their existence. After perhaps three or four times, they eventually stopped and never came back since. It's been several dozens of invasions ago, so I could somehow say that it was now something of the past. Now, I was back to my old life, which consisted mostly of repulsing invasion after invasion, improving in between invasions, be it spawn-wise or domain-wise.

I kept the strategy I'd set to bait more invaders in place, not discarding it even though the situation I wanted to improve with that strategy had improved. The strategy consisted of, as per usual, posting weak spawns, the ones that could easily be defeated near the entrance. This would instill onto the invader a sense of confidence. I stored into these spawns one or a couple of the many swords, shields, and staff I'd harvested from the previous invasion, to instill onto the invader an even greater sense of greed. After defeating one of them, they would gain a nice sword; defeating another would grant them a nice shield, sometimes something else, luring them deeper and deeper into my domain. Making past a certain threshold, thanks to my old Shadow Specter strategy, there would no longer be any retreat for them.

So yeah, life was good, or to be exact this existence was good.

He used to wonder somewhere in the back of his head, somewhere how he would be doing, what his future would also be like.

“Farming—Yes, farming G.P, there’s no better way to put it.”

I remember so clearly how confused I used to be, anxious as to how I'm supposed to raise my G.P, yet here I am. Guess this is the future, and this is what it's going to look like further down the road. A little monotonous but genuinely not bad at all. Sure, it's a little lonely, nothing of the fun there was in the past anymore—no TV, not even some music, no nice outfits, no nice food. I missed all of that, but it's useless to lament about it. Those are gone, and while it would be lying to say it doesn't happen that I occasionally think and miss those, my current existence isn't bad at all, especially compared to that one place.

“Ouh…”

Just the thought of it sent a shiver down my spine. To get it out of my mind, I immediately opened the interface. I was currently "idle," a time that at this point I simply considered to be the window of time in between each invasion. Time that I usually dedicated to deciding what next investment I should make, be it for my spawn or simply for my domains. It was in this "idle" time that one day, as I opened the [Spawnable Entities] section of the interface, I found something that I was pretty much sure wasn't there before.

Initially, I wanted to blame it on perhaps my poor memory, but I quickly realized that I never had poor memory, and clearly, in this existence, maybe because I don't have a brain made of flesh, I had a photographic memory. Remembering a memory was to me like having a perfect flashback but happening in my mind. So yeah, that thing I found there was clearly not there before but had instead popped up there as I wasn't looking.

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[ ???'s Interface ]

Spawns Catalog

Monsters

Animalistic Monsters

Eldritch Beings

Celestial Beings

Deep Sea Monsters

Elemental Creatures

Familiar-Type Monsters

Forest Creatures

Mechanical Constructs

Mythical Beasts

Shadow Creatures

Undeads

『Expand』

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“Mechanical Construct. Pretty sure this was never there.”

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[ ???'s Interface ]

Spawns Catalog

Monsters

Mechanical Constructs

Automaton Soldiers

Clockwork Golems

???

『Expand』

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[ ???'s Interface ]

Monsters

Mechanical Constructs

Automaton Soldiers

P-Ritter

P-Ritter 01

???

P-Verwegener

P-Verwegener 01

『Expand』

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Not only was it never there, but a quick glimpse of what that category was made of made it clear that there wasn't much that this category had to offer compared to the others, which had subcategories under subcategories. This meant that either this category was meant to be this empty, or that it was still updating. "Updating, huh? I guess that's actually the right word to describe it." The system, subtle as it is, was updating itself, or else how would that category appear on my interface overnight?

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[ ???'s Interface ]

Spawns Catalog

Mechanical Constructs

P-Ritter

Description

???

Customisation

Level

G.P Cost

2 GP

Defense

Offense

Skills & abilities

Valiant Charge

Valiant Charge is an innate ability bestowed upon those who choose the knight class, embodying a powerful offensive maneuver. It enables knights to execute a swift and courageous charge into battle, combining both speed and strength to engage enemies head-on with a formidable and impactful assault.

『Expand』

Acquire [ 2 GP ]

Exit

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[ ???'s Interface ]

Spawns Catalog

Mechanical Constructs

P-Ritter 01

Description

???

Customisation

Level

G.P Cost

3 GP

Defense

Offense

Skills & abilities

Swordsmanship

It is the art and skill of wielding a sword proficiently, encompassing techniques in both offense and defense.

Valiant Charge

『Expand』

Acquire [ 3 GP ]

Exit

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What was in front of me was a screen showing the stats of a spawn that was obviously sampled from that of a Verdenkind knight. The offense and defense were slightly above that of a conventional knight, but it was clearly a bad attempt at copy-paste. Even for a copy-paste, shouldn't the G.P price be the same? What do you mean 2 G.P for a knight that, from the look of it, clearly can't be leveled up? At least there didn't seem to be the option to calibrate the knight level.

I can understand that defense and offense-wise, this is clearly an upgrade to the conventional knight, but this doesn't change the fact that this is broad daylight robbery.

The same thing could be said about the three remaining options, which are equally sketchily priced as the two others, with the two being a copy-paste of the Swashbuckler class. While this new addition was, to say the least, welcomed, I have no interest in anything in this category for the time being. Nonetheless, I just hope that if it ever comes to be updated, it will come up with something more interesting than just that. Neither the Automaton Soldiers nor the Clockwork Golems options offered anything interesting, with the clockwork domain offering just a sort of nonsensically mechanical insect-like being with no skills or abilities, so basically a spawn with little to no combat capabilities. Something basically useless to me.

***

It has been several invasions since the day I discovered the existence of that one monster subcategory. There have been some upgrades, mainly in the Automaton Soldiers' sub-subcategories.

A new addition was made to the Automaton Soldier's bestiary, P-Ritter 02 and P-Verwegener 02. What's new about them? Not much, except that P-Ritter 02 and P-Verwegener 02, which were clear attempts at creating a robotical and humanoid version of a "knight" and a "swashbuckler," could finally be leveled up like a Verderkind would.

Well, I did say robotical, but they seem more "clockwork" robotical than the actual robotic image one would imagine from movies in my time. The robot in question looked more like what people from the Machine Age in the late 3100s would imagine a robot than an actual realistic futuristic creation, in other words a machine made of cog and steam.

While I'm saying that, it's not like we had actual humanoid robots. If we did, I certainly would have worked hard to get myself one.

As I entertained that thought, I came to ask myself, how come I didn't react at all? The world I've experienced so far through the interface introduced is a very primitive one, with knights using swords and shields, mages using staff and magic—a world with angels, demons, and undeads available to me to make my spawns.

How come I didn't even react to a damn robot? How come no reactions at all? As I asked myself those questions, I realized the answer was there all along.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for something substantial. While both P-Ritter 02 and P-Verwegener 02 are levelable, it doesn't change the fact that they both cost an arm to acquire and level up—at least 20 times the value of a regular knight and swashbuckler. Sure, both offense and defense levels up accordingly, making them substantially better than their flesh-made counterparts, but still not worth it.

So yeah, waiting we are.

I was closing the interface when I was "surprised" by a now completely normal and casual notification of an invasion. "Time to get to wor---Eh?" I hadn't even finished reading the notification when I felt it—something was different about this invasion compared to the ones before. Or, to be exact, compared to most, as I felt it had been through this at least once in the past. It was none other than that one time against that lone invader, and fair enough, I was once again dealing with a lone invader.

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[ ???'s Interface ]

System Notification

Intrusion Report:

One entity has invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.

Suggestion:

Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.

Intercept and Slay the invaders

Estimated Reward:

- 27082 G.P

- Authorities: Authority Gathering

/ Ethereal Echo

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Chapter 19: Peons

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