"You die."
"You die."
"You too die."
"You live."
“You, it was about time you died. You die!"
"You too."
"You live to my next harvest."
"You die.”
“You… you die for sure!"
Aggroing upon the monsters roaming my domain, I was currently performing my now main duty as a Dungeon Core, harvesting our beloved cattle. This was, naturally, initially Dungeon Master 06's job, but since he went to Fiendfell, the control of his domain was handed to me, and with it came the duty of looking over his precious cattle.
"Sigh, come on dude, if you really cared about those, you could've at least stayed for them or at least hesitated before leaving." My voice echoed in the silence, never mind; it didn't echo at all.
Sigh.
"I guess that tells just how interested you were in Fiendfell."
I couldn't even say that unlike him I wasn't, but between out there and here, I knew that my place was objectively here. So I can't really complain.
"Anyway..."
Even with the other Dungeon Masters gone, my life pretty much went as usual. I was doing my Dungeon Master things. In other words, when not harvesting G.P from the cattle, waiting for human invasion. Well, by human invasion, I was mostly referring to either Dungeon Master 05 or Dungeon Master 07. I wasn't really getting "normal" human invasions anymore.
Usually, when it's Dungeon Master 05, it's because he managed to lure adventurers into challenging our Domain. This, naturally, has only one outcome—death. Of course, their deaths usually don't amount much compared to what I get from harvesting GP from Dungeon Master 06's cattle, but those adventurers Dungeon Master 05 lures are usually tough enough to grace my eyes with some form of entertainment. Yes—entertainment. That's the only reason I believe Dungeon Master 05 keeps doing what he is doing: to keep my sanity in check.
Aaaah, how thoughtful of him, but pretty sure I'll be fine. I've been Dungeon Mastering since pretty much the beginning of history, that's what it is for the people of Fiendfell, though, not for me. To me, it still feels very recent.
Hahaha, this kind of makes me feel like a god somehow.
Haha. Cough cough, come on "me," it's fine to feel superior, but let's not commit blasphemy? compared to mighty K.R.U.L and our beloved Goddess; this humble Dungeon Master is obviously nothing.
So while I do believe that I would be fine without it, I'm not saying no to it either. If it doesn't bother, I'll be thankful to any adventurer he lures over.
When it's not Dungeon Master 05, it's usually, if not always, Dungeon Master 07, usually for his updates. At first, there was roughly half a lifetime, from his point of view, if not more, between his updates as this dungeon was not in a place one could simply reach, however as soon he managed to secure a means, usually in the form of Dungeon Master 02 and his skills, to safely make the journey between his spawning spot and our Dungeon, his updates became more frequent, even more so than Dungeon Master 05's usual visits.
So that's to say he is consistent, if not a little too much. I have a feeling he is doing that to somehow keep me involved in what's happening out there. I mean, I was but I'm like a dude in a cave who can't do much about what's happening out there. So yeah, I'm involved, but I'm “pretty much” helpless, and I, being the one that I am hearing about all they're up to being reported to me, I kind of feel like a pinch in the heart over not being in the party.
But that's just what I'm thinking, just like I would never complain about Dungeon Master 05's usual offering of flesh, I wasn't going to complain about Dungeon Master 07 trying to keep me involved. After all, it comes from a good intention.
Yes, I was an asshole but not an ungrateful asshole.
Anyway, when I'm not visited by those two, what I'm usually up to is tending to Dungeon Master 06's domain, keeping a close eye on his not-so-precious cattle, harvesting G.P from time to time, uprooting the bad weeds when I have to, allowing a nice environment for the good ones to grow. It may not sound as glorious as harvesting G.P from "evil" human invaders, but hey, that pays the bills—too well, I would even add.
Other than that, I'm doing what I'm doing: scrolling through the seemingly endless spawn catalogs. Ironically, as endless as it looked, I've pretty much run over all the available spawns. Now I had to literally click on "expand" for each option to find something new. Now that I think of it, I realize it's a shame the one causing the mechanical construct catalog to expand had been dealt with by the other. Now there's nothing new anymore in that subsection. A shame, but compared to what has been gained in exchange, not so much anymore.
To be frank, as short as it felt and considering how long it truly has been, I believe I've reached an intersection where I consider myself to be the entity with the most G.P in this world. Dungeon Master 07 confirmed to me that none of the native living beings or reincarnates, whether authority-wielders or not, could compare to me when it comes to G.P-owning. This realization brought about a strange feeling. If I were to see this as a game, which seems plausible with all these interfaces, and if the goal of harvesting G.P that I was born with has a certain threshold for the game to be "checkmated," then I think that through our cattle-raising trick, practiced for thousands of years, I've already attained and even surpassed that goal.
Despite achieving this milestone, there's very little that I, as a Dungeon Core, can "do," especially anything that involves Fiendfell, except what the authority allows me. It feels akin to finishing a puzzle—rewarding but somewhat empty. To be fair, there is the option to use the authority to extricate myself from this position, but considering everything I would have to lose, it's not worth it. This option is similar to finishing a puzzle only to wreck it to restart from scratch. I have flaws, but I don't hate myself enough to put myself through that. Besides, I believe this is not something that either Mighty K.R.U.L or the Goddess I think I'm destined to unseal would want me to do.
So, here I am, doing what my life as a Dungeon Master is all about: cattle-raising, waiting for human sacrifices, anticipating the latest gossip, and skimming through catalogs.
I was pretty much doing the latter when I saw the notification of an invasion pop up. Naturally, with my cattle-raising activities, I was being constantly invaded, so rarely do I ever give attention to these notifications. But I do always keep an eye out on my G.P level offered, which could indicate that this was a normal invasion done by a monster lured into our domain or a special one, which could be triggered by either Dungeon Master 05 or Dungeon Master 07. Let's see.
Oh, that's a lot of G.P, definitely Dungeon Master 05, but wait, this is a little more than usual. As I went over the map-like interface to check on the dots, I immediately understood why. On the map, near the entrance, there were five dots, dots that I was tempted to immediately assume were "human invaders," which they were, since the dots, upon being clicked, revealed representing 3 highbreed and 1 verdenkind and another individual with their class being listed as "classless" and the latter’s race listed as “Raceless,” but the [Teleportation] skill of one of the three aforementioned highbreed along with that weird mention—raceless told me this was not the case.
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Without wasting time, I, upon feeling that my guests would not want to be attacked by my cattle, which considering their monstrous nature could actually attack them, did my thing and had them moved straight to Dungeon Master 07's former guardian chamber.
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- Spawn Dungeon Guardian
Yes
No
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As I manifested Dungeon Master 07's former domain guardian into existence, Echo-13, a visual clue of what was happening was finally bestowed upon me.
Standing there in the middle of my domain were five people, two of whom I immediately recognized. They were both still very young in their present incarnation, but with the help of the [Teleportation] skill, which they very swiftly managed to get a hold of, I've received their visit plenty enough to familiarize myself with their current appearance; they were Dungeon Master 07 and Dungeon Master 02.
Standing slightly behind them was another boy, equally youthful; he had white hair and red eyes that seemed to hint at the lurking madness. I've never seen that boy, but, without even checking on his skill, which very easily betrayed his identity, I've heard enough about the troublemaker to know that he was the first and current incarnation of Dungeon Master 20.
Also standing behind them was a tall, ash-blond-haired woman. To be frank, being what I am, I, unlike the others, have a very hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that some of us reincarnated as girls. I didn't know why, but I've always believed that the Greed and Resurgence would reincarnate the other as boys somehow. Obviously, I was wrong.
Dungeon Master 08 was the first one to find out. Dungeon Master 07's report had it that Dungeon Master 08 hated it, hated it so much that he was eager to ditch her first body. But irony had it that all his subsequent incarnations were female. We soon found out that while the likelihood of becoming either male or female the first time one was to use Greed Resurgence were equally probable, if one were to reincarnate as male, it would be the same for subsequent incarnations. The same for the one reincarnated as females; the subsequent reincarnation would be into females. So basically, if one were to reincarnate as a girl in his first incarnation, it would be the same for the next, and the one after, and the one after that one too. Truly a curse, isn't it? But apparently, some really acclimated themselves well to it. Among those were Dungeon Master 08, the original one.
From his title, his–her high level, I knew for a fact that the tall ash-blond-haired woman standing was the current incarnation of such a Dungeon Master 14, one that has been unfortunate enough to fail to reincarnate as what we've been in our past life—a man but instead instead reincarnated as a woman: Dungeon Master 14.
Just like with Dungeon Master 20, today was my first time meeting her. So far, I've only heard about her, or him, which is why today was quite the commotion compared to the visits I usually get, which generally involved either one or two Dungeon Masters. Yet today, I was having the visit of four, if not possibly five.
At that moment, my metaphoric gaze shifted onto the fifth person in the room. He was very young; I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to children, but I think he was between 2 or 3 years old. I wasn't very sure, but he did qualify to be called a toddler. He was tucked between Dungeon Master 20 and Dungeon Master 14, giving a strange impression that he was being held in detention.
What's this, an offering of flesh to me or something?
I know I've been awful–if not outright a vile Dungeon core, but this! This is where I draw the line.
To be honest, when I first noticed his presence, I immediately assumed the little one was a Dungeon Master like the four others, but as I remembered that, from the latest updates, our youngest was not a male, I realized that it was not the case. So there, hang the big question.
_____________________________
Echo-13: Who’s the kid?
_____________________________
“You don’t waste your time, don’t you?” Dungeon Master 07 said, with a chuckle, before reaching for his forehead as if having a headache.
_____________________________
Echo-13: Sorry I forgot it. Good morning. Unless it’s nighttime out there then good evening.
_____________________________
“We are still in the afternoon,” Dungeon Master 07 explained.
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Echo-13: I see. Good afternoon then.
_____________________________
_____________________________
Echo-13: So? Who’s the kid?
_____________________________
“That’s…” Dungeon Master 07 mumbled, trailing off and casting a glance at the boy who, I only noticed, was awfully calm in spite of everything surrounding him. “That’s actually a good question. But I think that before I can answer that question, we should first allow you to glimpse at what he is.”
At that moment, Dungeon Master 07 turned to the kid and ordered, “Do it.”
The kid looked like he was about to voice something out but ultimately chose not to. To be frank, being there witnessing all this, I began wondering if my initial assumption, which I'd ruled to be erroneous, wasn't wrong because the reaction I’ve witnessed thus far was similar to that of a calm and collected individual. Should he be crying or sucking on his thumb or something?
Curious to see what this was all about, I watched expectantly, expecting the kid to do something as he was instructed, but nothing happened, or at the very least, nothing that I had expected.
Standing there, the kid’s expression shifted from a very strangely collected one to a confused one. He suddenly began to look around before his eyes locked onto Dungeon Master 20. Then, the next thing that happened was that as he backed away, he began crying out.
“Maa!” he repeatedly cried out, as if calling for someone.
What the hell?
Most likely thinking that backing off wasn’t enough, he turned heel and was seemingly about to make a hasty retreat, but just as he did that, Dungeon Master 14 reached onto the kid by the back of his shirt and lifted him up before holding the kid up in my direction.
Needless to say, the kid's crying intensified to a whole new level, drowning the guardian chamber in a never-heard-before cacophony of distress. Since I’ve been a Dungeon Master, there’s been plenty of distress I’ve witnessed through the interface, but this one was of a different kind. It might have been fear, but this one was not stemming from the fear of dying at the hand of our guardian; it was different.
As Dungeon Master 14 held the kid the way he—she did, it was obvious there was something that I was seemingly expected to see about him, but right now I couldn’t see anything except the fact that he was crying.
As soon as I dispelled my assumption that the kid was the current incarnation of one of us, the immediate alternative assumption I formulated was that the kid was the result of Dungeon Master 08’s experimentation—I mean that was most likely the case considering his stats which displayed—what the hell!?
As I glanced at the open interface displaying the kid’s overall status, I immediately took note of something amiss—the absence of titles, skills, abilities, and unique characteristics that immediately made me wonder what the hell was wrong with that kid. After all, he literally had the kinslayer title, a title the system bestows upon killing a kin, in other words, in his case, a verdenkind. However, right now as I was checking, this title was nowhere to be found, giving the overall impression that the kid’s status had been replaced with that of someone else’s—someone else much more normal.
“You’ve most likely already noticed it,” Dungeon Master 07 said. “So allow me to introduce you to him—let’s call him ‘Baby’. Now that you know ‘Baby’, allow me to introduce you to someone else.”
Dungeon Master 07 then glanced in the little boy’s direction, and in that moment, the kid who had been crying non-stop suddenly stopped. Along with him stopping, I saw his status shift back to the one I noticed upon them entering my domain.
“Now this, this is Dungeon Master 20,” Dungeon Master 07 explained, showing the little boy who was now wiping his tears.
The sudden change—I wasn’t unfamiliar with this sight. I once saw something like this happen, but back then, it was done through an authority—one that is currently in my possession. No doubt about that. So naturally, I went on to ask.
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Echo-13: So? What happened again this time?
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