As we managed to come to an agreement on the distribution of tasks, I and the other Dungeon Masters reached a temporary peace—well, actually, it was more of a functioning non-chaos state than anything else. But well, I can't complain; it's functioning, after all. Having given all the important tasks to the other Dungeon Masters, I guess what I could do, along with my comrade in this taskless lifestyle, was go over what was accomplished and in the process of being accomplished by the others.
"What? Will we really do that?"
"Don't blame me, Dungeon Master 06; all the important tasks have been handed out, and helping them will just make their work messier. So unless you want to be as useless as you currently are, be nice and play along. We're going to act as a central hub."
"Okay, I guess."
With that settled, we began to listen to the reports from each of the Dungeon Masters. Beginning with Dungeon Master 04, who was tasked with enhancing our defenses and thus managing all the available spawns within the domain.
One thing we’ve come to learn from our latest invasion was that we’ve reached a point where Spectral Reavers had become obsolete in the regard for which they were chosen in the first place. They couldn’t protect anything anymore.
Actually, I’ve come to that realization way earlier, since the attack during our first lone invader case, but I guess I’ve grown fond of these spawns. I remember our first kills as if it happened yesterday.
“Ah, good ol’ days. It’s crazy how quickly time flies.”
“Sad thing they couldn’t keep up.”
It was time to replace them. Well, actually, the project was to keep some of them, since being the cannon fodder that they were, they, along with objects I randomly assigned them, made great bait to lure invaders deeper into the domain.
So the whole idea was to get rid of the extra, namely those that I’ve put in “spawning behavior,”meaning that I’ll keep around 14 or 16 Spectral Reavers. Another significant decision Dungeon Master 04 came to was acquiring a new spawn, yet another undead, of course. It would be foolish to not take advantage of the enhancement provided by the Dungeon Guardian by acquiring another kind of spawn. The spawn in question was a weaker version—or, to be exact, a lower-level version of my current Dungeon Guardian—an Undead Ruler, one of the few available spawns with a “native” title, something that makes it a very powerful and unique asset.
_____________________________
[ Plaguebringer ]
Level: 25
Type: Undead Ruler
Class: Necrotic Lord
Title: Harbinger of Decay
[Status]
- H.P: 1700 / 1700
- M.P: 1500 / 1500
- S.P: 800 / 800
- Defense: 1200
- Offense: 2000
[Skills]
- Corruption Infusion: Level 10
- Evasion of Shadows: Level 6
- Summon Pestilence: Level 5
- Toxic Immunity: Level 8
- Elemental Immunity: Level 3
- Elemental Magic: Level 5
- Grasp of the Abyss: Level 8
- Undead Summoning Magic: Level 9
[Abilities]
- Necrotic Wave: Unlocked
- Pestilent Aura: Unlocked
- Decay Touch: Unlocked
- Cloak of Shadows: Locked
- Toxic Barrage: Unlocked
- Putrid Ground: Unlocked
- Summon Plague Minions: Locked
- Necrotic Dominion: Unlocked
- Plaguebearer's Blessing: Unlocked
『Expand』
_____________________________
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
Spawns Catalog
Undeads
Plaguebringer
Description
???
Customisation
Level
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25
G.P Cost
5.500 GP
Defense
1200
Offense
2000
Skills & abilities
『Expand』
Acquire [ 5.500 GP ]
Exit
_____________________________
So yes, naturally, and especially since I planned on acquiring a dozen mid-level and half a dozen high-mid level of them, it was about to cost at least past the five digits of GPs, but it’ll be worth it. I was past the reticence to invest my GPs onto anything, especially with that last invasion. Both in how I realized I really have to bolster up my defenses and the fact that the last invasion had allowed me to acquire a lot of GPs, enough to feel in the mood for spending.
I think that's about all there was to say about what Dungeon Master 04 was up to, and while he took most of the decisions himself, I really had no problem with any of them. Had it been another person, I'm sure I would've complained, but here, from the result alone, I could trace back every thought process behind his ultimate decision, leaving me no room to complain. I guess he's really a perfect clone of me. I couldn't help but realize that perhaps I shouldn't voice that out.
Anyway, moving on to what Dungeon Master 05 had been up to, the task given to him was similar to that of Dungeon Master 04, bolstering the domain defenses and making sure that none making past the threshold of my domain would ever make it out. But his task focused more on the domain-side rather than the spawn-side of the thing. Just like I myself thought, unlike with the spawn aspect of bolstering the domain defenses, there weren't many improvements to be made here except perhaps adding a few more chambers for my Shadow Specters, which, unlike their Reaver counterparts, are still holding up the race. But I still could see that happening in the future. For now, they could still be used smartly.
Initially, the domain was shaped like what one would imagine a cave to be shaped, just almost perfectly circular. But improvement upon improvement to fully adapt the domain to both my invaders and my spawn led me to end up with a corridor-shaped domain from within, but shaped like a slithering snake from the outside, with hundreds of pouches to the side. From an unzoomed outlook, it looks more like a centipede than an actual snake. As I looked at it, I couldn't help but think that the day my Shadow Specters become obsolete, along with all the other acquirable spawns that have the "intangibility" ability, would be the day I'll have to give up on that design. But I could picture myself sticking with that large corridor-shaped design, I felt like it gave my domain a proper Dungeon-ey vibe.
Anyway, moving on to what Dungeon Master 03 was up to, he was tasked with focusing on the Authority Gathering ability. He tried to understand what the authority does, having already understood that each authority had a special ability it was attached to. From the moment I acquired it, I was very curious as to what special ability was attached to this authority, but with how troublesome "Ethereal Echo" is, I couldn't really focus much on it. Now, Dungeon Master 03 did focus on it on my behalf, or, to be exact, on our behalf.
Dungeon Master 03 discovered that what Authority Gathering did was much like Otherworldly Synergy. It "installed" a new language straight into what could be considered my brain, granting me a sort of knowledge. I guess it can also be described as similar to knowing exactly where the north is. Strange, isn't it? Yes, indeed, and yet that's exactly how I felt: like a compass that naturally knows where the north is, I could point in one direction, then at another, then another, and say that out there in those directions, they are. What is this "they," one can logically wonder? Well, the answer is simple: authorities.
That's right, the theory to which Dungeon Master 03 and I, when I also came to think about it, came, was that this authority's special power is to locate the location of all other authorities. I guess that's also self-explanatory when one comes to consider the self-explanatory name, but yeah...
Taking into account that new knowledge and the semi-confirmed theory that most likely, just as he used the power of the "Ethereal Echo" authority, the lone invader most likely also relied on the power of this authority, meaning that what most likely brought him to me was not some random coincidence but rather him sensing the presence of the authority in my possession: Otherworldly Synergy.
That assessment, with all the proof I had at my disposal, led me to believe that, just like me, who seeks out to hoard more and more G.P., the lone invader must've been led to me with the same drive that made me want the authority that had been held by the first lone invader. Assessment upon assessment, I, along with Dungeon Master 03 and Dungeon Master 06, was led to come up with wild theories upon theories. These authorities I'm sensing the presence of, what can they do? Will their wielder, like the two I've faced thus far, come to me? What's even an authority? What does Mighty K.R.U.L expect of me from this? I've done exactly what he'd asked of me, and yet I can't help but feel like there's something I might have done wrong in the regard of these authorities.
Well, I did say "I" and I clearly meant it. Before becoming what I've become now, I've been entrusted with the simple task to act upon the shard that'll be entrusted. Even now, I'm not sure what exactly that shard is, but I've acted upon all these weird urges that I, in my living days, never had. So yes, when I felt there was something that I felt I did wrong, it was all that is left of my human side that is voicing that; it's in times like this that I really wish I'd been entrusted with a much more precise and well-voiced mission.
I hope the opinion won't be seen as blasphemy. Instead of just a complaint, it came from a genuine desire to do better.
Understanding that perhaps wasting brainpower on the many questions without responses wasn't the best way to use my time, I decided to leave all those unanswered questions to Dungeon Master 03 to dissect. Instead, along with Dungeon Master 06, I asked ourselves the very much answerable question: With what I know of the Authority Gathering authority, what can I do with it? Unfortunately, for now, the answer was: nothing. All the authority I could sense the presence of and the overall direction of its location were outside the bounds of my domain, and there was nothing I could do to reach out to what's outside, at least for now. So I guess for the time being, what's to be done is to keep an eye on these authorities I'm sensing the presence of and hope that just like the three I've acquired thus far, the others' wielders will come to me. Deep down, I had the feeling that this wouldn't be happening, but I had not enough energy to be negative today.
Moving on to the reports from Dungeon Master 01 and 02, who were tasked with investigating the cloning/splitting issue caused by the Ethereal Echo authority. To be honest, having heard of how little Dungeon Master 02 managed to learn from Authority Gathering, I braced myself for potentially nothing, except perhaps bad news. However, to my pleasant surprise, the duo openly confessed that they themselves weren't sure how they did it, but for the time being, they managed to stop the authority from causing further damage.
Yes, damage—that's the only sane way to put it. Any more of us would lead to utter chaos. Just with seven of them, with Dungeon Master 06 being the latest one, it took hundreds of curses and insults to achieve this current consensus we were in.
This was actually one aspect I really wanted to complain about. In the regard of the authority, aside from the fact that I know nothing about them, perhaps it was the time I'd spent along the system, but I've grown fond of how well layered the system is. With the system, everything is a mental click away from total control, which I guess makes me feel somewhat untouchable if not all-almighty. But with the authorities—all of them, it was... hum, how do I put it? It was like watching a movie with a protagonist that wields a vaguely explained superpower. Yes, that's it. There was simply no better way to put it.
And speaking of superpower, "I," coming from a world without one, can speak about it. With the system, everything—and by everything I mean the undeads, the H.P, the M.P, the stats, the eldritch spawn—everything, to a certain extent, with the control the interface granted me over them makes it feel like it actually makes sense. But the authorities, they simply don't. So when I think about it, they really come across as some "magical" phenomenon or power more than anything else.
We still don't know if it's them or if it's something else, but in that moment realizing that there could be more than 7 seven of us, I couldn’t help but praise Dungeon Master 01 and Dungeon Master 02. "Well done, gentlemen."
"Yeah, well done, you two."
"Easy work."
"Don't mention it. We're not even sure this is any of our doing."
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Can you guys imagine what would've happened if the authority wasn't stopped somehow..."
In that moment, at these words of Dungeon Master 06, all our four minds joined as one as we imagined the outcome of that what-if. We all remained silent until Dungeon Master 02 voiced what we've all been thinking, "There's no doubt that if that had happened, we would've had to take radical solutions."
As to how exactly that "radical solution" would manifest itself into reality, well, we left that to our imagination.
"Sigh, this makes me really wonder how that lone invader was handling his clones."
"I was thinking the same thing."
"Me too."
"He seemed to be doing pretty well with them."
"Yep."
In my mind materialized a clear picture of Tusko Vagar. He was a man, not particularly beautiful but not exactly ugly either. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties.
"He was averaging around level 30 or so, along with all his alternative classes. I'm not sure how long it takes to properly level up in this world, but I'm pretty sure he had that authority for a while."
"Yep, dozens of years with several voices in your heads."
"Can you imagine the hell?"
"Yeah, but at least the voice in his head could actually be used for something useful. It's not like they were just in his head; they had levels, HPs, M.P, skills, and abilities of their own. That made them each as invaluable as the other. I really don't want to complain about it, but it's unfair. At least if it gave us a similar or equally useful ability as that of Tusko Vagar instead of just cloning our mind, like I don't know cloning along our spawning ability or something like that, I wouldn't be complaining."
As I voiced out these words, I was expecting them to follow me. After all, we're the same mind, and I'm sure they would understand where I'm coming from and where I'm going. So, one can understand my reaction to the silence.
"Guys? What's the matter?"
"Dungeon Master 00."
"What?"
"Actually, there's something you must know."
"Huh?"
***
"The fuck you mean you have your own interfaces?!”