Rocky's P.O.V:-

“Okay, your time is up. Now, we need to do some intense remodeling of our home. So, are you ready?”

Well, that is Minie and she is telling me that the time she had given me to get my mind straight after hearing about myths and what not’s is over and that I should get ready for some fu… I mean work.

“Oh, I am ready as an ox. Just tell me the things you want from me and, I… will… Do… Them… all.”

“Oh, acting like a spoiled brat now, are we? Well, that’s something new from you. So tell me, what do you want to learn first?” (Minie)

I mean, does she even need to ask me that.

“Dungeon interface. Tell me how to interact with it! You know I have been trying hard to get it to work, but my efforts bore no fruit.”

“Well, your efforts depend on your methods and not on your hard work. Now tell me, did you follow the same procedure as you did when you activated your status panel?” (Minie)

“Yeah, aren’t both of them just different pages of the same book, but with different information’s. So, shouldn’t the concept to invoke them also be the same?”

“Not bad your theory is correct but there is a fundamental difference between both of them. The status window you opened let you see your own stats and powers. It has nothing to do with the dungeon itself, Whereas Dungeon interface is related to the whole dungeon and not just your crystal body.”

Oh! I see where my thoughts went wrong. It’s not that my theory wasn’t right from the start, but that the fundamentals were actually completely different from each other. So, that’s why it didn’t work.

“So what should I do to open the interface?”

“It’s simple just a little bit tricky.”

“Oh so this thing is actually simple!”

“Hah, to open the dungeon interface you need to try and think of your crystal body as a heart, and this cave as your body. Then feel the dungeon and look for the status of your whole body. Rest of the procedure is the same as when you interacted with your status window.”

Well, this really is a bit tricky, but her theory seems legit. After all, this cave really is my dungeons body and my core is this cave’s heart.

Well, her advice and my luck... I mean hard work and there is nothing that I can’t do. I had not even started to act on the principles when god’s music rang in my head.

*Ding!*

Specific Action performed

Conditions for activation fulfilled

Activation in progress

   0%. 1%.. 2%... 3%...

“I did it Minie, I did it. You said it is tricky, well, at first I couldn’t get around, to see this cave as my body, but after I thought of my crystal as a heart, I felt mana leaving my body as then…”

“Okay, this step is over. No need to get so excited over nothing. Be attentive!” (Minie)

Forget about being attentive, if everything is as easy as these initial steps then I don’t think anyone would be able to kill me.

“Okay. So what’s next?”

“Now, we wait for the interface to activate.” (Minie)

After my initial yell of excitement, we played a boring game of waiting. Well, why boring because this thing is still activating, and it has already been over 30 minutes. Well, 30minutes and still counting.

I looked again at the info Box out of agitation, but

Activation in progress

30%...31%.... 32%...

I couldn’t help but complain to Minie about this useless waste of time.

“Minie, this is taking too long. Will it always take this much time to open?”(Rock)

“No, don’t worry. Because it’s opening for the first time, it needs to register your data into its database. So, this process of creating a new account is what’s taking so much time.” (Minie)

But what do I need a new account? My status window didn’t take any time to calibrate anything.

“Can’t I just use the interface with an open source?”

I thought she would take some time to think about it before answering me, but no she already had a question prepared for me.

“Tell me, what do you think would happen if anyone and everyone who enters in here could see and control the dungeon interface?” She had her arms crossed in front of her chest and the question she asked me was asked in leisure. She didn’t even look toward me.

“They would be able to control the dungeon…”

Shit, I didn’t even think about it. If they really took control over it, then it will create a catastrophe for me. There would be nothing left for me to do. No, I wouldn’t even be able to do anything, to stop them from simply destroying everything. Controlling my monsters and they would even be able to kill me without even lifting a finger.

“So, this is what this account system is for”

“Huh, did you say anything.”

“Ah! No, I was thinking that maybe this account works as an anti theft system against everyone other than the masters of the dungeon.”

I don’t know why but I got the illusion that when she heard my answer her eyes started shinning and drool came out of her mouth. Well, me and my fantasies.

“Yes, it is because of this database. You see only you can control the dungeon through this control panel. Fu, humans don’t even know about such a thing. Now, why would anyone especially look and try to hack something that they don’t know about?” (Minie)

“So, that’s why you said… but why do you always have to wait for me to reply first? Can’t you just say everything in one go? I mean, it takes a lot of it…”

I had a lot of problems with her teacher like behavior, but I didn’t get the opportunity to voice them out.

*Ding!*

Account created.

Welcome, Dungeon Master!

Am I excited? Yes I am. Why would I not be? Now, I can say goodbye to my old cave and create something amazing.

“Now what are you waiting for open the interface and let’s see what it can do,”

“Okay.”

I thought about opening it and it did.

Dungeon InterfaceStatusFloors/Monsters/StoreName---Type---Floors0Total no of Monsters0Rooms/floor0Total no of invaders0---Mana Usage by:Dungeon0Monsters0Resources0upgrades---Dungeon Currency1040ReputationNeutral

Whoa! What is this! It has such an amazing contrast comparing to my normal status, yet it feels the same. Dungeon name, floors, rooms, monsters, even no of invaders, what the actual hell!

“Minie can you see this? This is amazing now we can know everything that happens inside our dungeon moreover in real time. Oh shit! I forgot, you can’t see this window. I’m …”

“Haaha. Don’t worry Rocky, I can see it too. Though I can only see and not interfere much with it, but its okay. At least I have enough permission’s to look at all the panels, and buy things. You don’t mind me interfering with your dungeon, right; or do you?” (Minie)

“No way, why would I say anything? This dungeon is going to be as much yours as it is mine?”

“Going to be??”

“Yeah, it’s still a cave you know. So hurry up, I wanna change it and remodel it to make it look like a real and amazing dungeon.”

“Okay, okay. Fine, let’s do this. What we need to do first is to choose a dungeon type.”

“Type? What do you mean by type? Don’t I just need to grow monsters, create floors and voila new dungeon experience for the adventurers.”

“No silly, first we need to select the type of monsters which we can create, like goblins, slime, animals etc.”

“And what’s after that? I mean there are thing that need to be done before we could start remodeling right?”

“Yeah, first choose a dungeon type, then buy monsters according to it and then create a space for those monsters to roam around in. That is all we can do for now.”

Ah! this is a headache. Why can’t I create all types of monsters? Why is there such a limitation on my growth? Well, let’s get over this first.

“So, what kinds of dungeons are there?”

“There are undead dungeons, slime dungeons… well, its better if we see what options are available to us.” (Minie)

TypeMonstersThreat Rank(without evolution)Evolution PathUndead dungeonSkeletons, Ghosts, Ghouls,etc.4Varied, DefinedSlime dungeonSlimes, Elemental slimes, Rainbow slimes,etc0UncertainFire dungeonFire slime, lava kilin, Magma Horse, fire kobold, Human Torch, Burning dead, Fire Dragon,etc6Varied and definedDark dungeonShadow Rats, Ghosts, Undead monsters, monsters, Dark wolves, Blind lizard,Death Spider, Venemous Snake, Dark Dragon, Etc6LowDesert dungeonWheel Spiders, All Snakes, Infesting insects, Fire Lizards, etc3-5DefinedInsect dungeonAnts, Mosquitoes, Bees, Spiders, Giant Hornets, Killer Bees, Wasps, Fleas, Kissing bugs, Assassin Bug, Scorpion Fly, Spiny Flower Mantis, Tailed Emperor Butterfly Caterpillar

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Giant Prickly Stick Insect, Hickory Horned Devil, Antlion, etc3UncertainGoblin DungeonGoblins2DefinedMoney DungeonAny monster can be selected as the starting race.Monsters cant evolve or reproduce.0-10Can't evolve

“So what do you thing? Which option are you going to pick?” (Minie)

“I didn’t know there would be so many options to choose from, this table doesn’t really tell much and I don’t know much. Why don’t you explain their traits and strengths, then we’ll compare them and choose that we both like. What do you say?”

“Huh, okay. Why not? It will be great help to the both of us.”

“Cool.”

“Okay, let’s start with Undead. Well, undead are the dead people who came back to the living after dying.”

“What? This is blasphemy. How is this possible? But are they strong these undead?”

“Aha, they are very strong but also dangerous, dangerous for both humans and us. Though there are many types of undead, mostly evolved forms of skeleton and ghosts, but we can’t choose them.”

“Why? Aren’t they strong?”

“They are strong but living beings hate undead. Believe me you don’t want those humans to find you out housing undead. They will turn maniac and send parties after parties of adventurers to destroy us.”

“Okay, so no undead. So, what’s next?”

“Next is slime type dungeon. Slimes they are the weakest of all the monster, but they have tendencies to evolve into very unusual beings, but we can’t choose this.”

“Why? Just because they start weak doesn’t mean that they would remain weak.”

“No, that is not the reason you see you have affinity with fire, Dark and life element, so the slimes would only be able to evolve into monsters with those elements. So ,with them turning into just small fire bombs or stealth type monsters, I don't think out fire power will increase much.” (Minie)

“Oh, okay. I forgot about that a little.”

“Next are dungeons with your elements fire and dark. It’s like what’s written on the display. Only fire and dark element monsters are allowed and nothing else and that leaves us with very little choice with our hunters.”

“Then there are goblins. They are humanoid beings that only know how to breed. They kidnap Human girls, and use them as their reproduction bank. Although their birth rate is very fast; I don’t think we can use them either, as human kill them whenever their population increases. They will destroy us on the very first day, if they found out that we are housing goblins.”

Nothings good huh, why are all the choices given to me so unreliable. Can’t choose the dead, slimes are weak and these goblins are, well, this only leave me with the option to sigh and nothing more.

“It’s a bit heart breaking having so many options, but most of them being useless. It’s such a waste. Carry on; tell me about the next one.”

“I don’t know why we have desert dungeon as a option, maybe its related to your dark element. You see monsters in a desert are usually camouflaged and use stealth technique for hunting.”

“Another useless one huh, I don’t know why all of my choices are so, garbage. I mean can’t I have a dungeon where monster starts of weak, but gets stronger and stronger as they evolve. Am I asking for too much?”

“Next is a Money dungeon. Haha, this one is funny. It wants us to spend money to gain our protectors.”

Huh, sounds interesting, but

“What does it mean?”

“It means that we could buy any and all the different types and kinds of monster, but there is a cache here. We will need money and we’ll need a lot’s of it.”

“Money! What is this Money? Where can I get it from?”

“Ah! I am such an idiot. How could I forget to tell you about money! You know from monsters to upgrades and even buying of floors need money… No, Dungeon Currency (Dc). All the changes and resources, monsters almost everything need this Dc.” (Minie)

“Then it must be very difficult to gain this thing, right?”

“Well, it’s easy actually.”

My excitement reached another level when I heard her say it’s easy, but then she spoke the rest of the sentence and my soul left my body.

“We gain Dungeon credits according to the number of life forms that die inside our dungeon.”

Minie’s face contorted and her expression became stiff, after she completed her sentence.

It confused me, so I had to clear my confusion with her.

“So we have to kill humans.”

“Yes.”

“And if we don’t have any money, we can’t do shit with our dungeon and then we’ll not get strong.”

“Yes”

*………*

*_____*

We are fucked, we are so fucked. Here we are trying to create an image, to show other beings that we are not dangerous, please use us and don’t kill us. But on the other hand we need to kill them for advancing. This is truly OUTRAGEOUS.

“Well, there are also other ways to gain Dc you know, if we don’t want to kill everyone who enters.” (Minie)

“And such methods don’t involve any killing of humans and such?”

“NO, absolutely no killing.”

“Ah! My shining hope, my goddess, please tell me what kind of a way provide such exquisite profits without the drawback?”

“Well, we could either make them stay in our dungeon for a relatively long period of time and make them use their mana or we could always capture some, torture them and harvest credits out of them for a constant supply of Dungeon currency.” (Minie)

“Minie, are you sure you are not a spy sent by the humans?”

“Excuse me?”

“No, nothing. Please carry onwards with the explanations.”

Are you fucking kidding me? How can we torture someone without getting found out? I mean how would we even capture them? And we also don’t have any place to keeping them. But that other method we could use. I mean, we can at least keep them here for longer duration of time.

“So there is only one option left, which is to choose an Insect type dungeon. Insects are the weakest and most miserable creatures, other than the slimes. They are no danger to any one individually. But their specialty lies in raids and as a monster horde. In the real world, killing one of them makes you venerable and then their whole colony would come after you. So this is all of them. Now, tell me which one is you going to choose?”

“Which one do you think we should choose?”

I have no idea what to do with these options. All of them were either directly rejected or were given reasons to not select them.

“I am against undead and goblins. Though an elemental dungeon sounds grand, but after looking at the options I guess they also have their own limitations.”

“Okay. Then I am going to choose Insect dungeon.”

“What? Why? Didn’t I say they are individually weak? They are weak to their very bones and they also have an uncertain evolution path. What if they evolved into something even weaker? Moreover, they are weak to fire. Didn’t you say you wanted to create the world’s greatest dungeon? I don’t think we can become great with an insect dungeon. Why do you think there has never been an insect dungeon before?”

“Minie, you are degrading insects a little too much.

They rule over everything and as you can see 95% of the living beings are insects.

And don’t forget that I have affinity with fire element. So, my affinity will offset their weakness. I even have the magical life element can’t I create a dungeon worthy for the insects to grow and evolve into something amazing.”

“No, no matter what. We are not choosing insets. I hate ‘em, hate ‘em, hate ‘em.”

“So, you really don’t want insects manifest our dungeon.”

“No, never.”

“Sigh… Okay, so I won’t *Cough* choose insect dungeon.”

*Ding*

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

“Rocky what happened?”

“I don’t know. I just told you that I won’t choose insect dungeon… oh shit!”

Choice recorded.

Initializing necessary Functions.

Updating Database.

Database updated.

Dungeon Type Updated From (---) to (Insect Dungeon).

“Nooooooooo…”(Minie)

That night howls and cries akin to the wails of ghosts reverberated inside the cave and it echoed throughout the area. It only stopped after sun rose on the next day. That night led to the cave being officially named as ‘The cave of misery’ by all of those who witnessed that phenomenon occurring. The cries were dreadful enough to create a commotion in the forest and villages near the cave.