The urges grew stronger and stronger, overtaking her logic and reason. Unable to fight it any longer, she caved.
She guiltily stuffed it in her mouth and swallowed it, turning around the see a flabbergasted Zwei. She didn't know why but the scroll tasted better than anything she had ever eaten before, the texture were impossible to describe, it was like a million different flavours mixed together with perfect synergy. The texture was just as magical, it was soft and bubbly and simply melted on her tongue.
The substance quickly reached her stomach, making her feel bloated as information flowed to her consciousness in a steady dream. She now knew how to summon skeletons, albeit lesser.
Watching the gaping Zwei, she figured that if she could do it once, she could do it again. Probably something to do with being the champion of the god of eating and all that magic. And so, following her thoughts, she stuffed the other three scrolls into her mouth as well. They tasted… substaintially less than the Skeleton scroll, but delicious nonetheless.
She didn't know what to do with Zwei, however, who was still speechless and flabbergasted. Somewhat timidly, Elise formed a small ball of fire.
"Tada..?"
The effect was less then she desired, instead of laughing and saying "oh it worked" or something along those lines, Zwei just gaped even harder. Elise didn't know why she ever expected her to laugh it off, that's so not a Zwei thing to do going off the few hours she'd known her.
Finally, after holding that little fire ball for around twenty minutes, Zwei broke the silence once more.
"T-that works?"
"I guess?"
The awkward silence recommence for a while. It was short lived this time as Zwei asked a question hesitantly.
"Is it your racial perk?"
"Uhh, probably something like that." Elise honestly had no idea, she was just so surprised with the whole ordeal that she gave up on being surprised. She had died, after all, so she was content with this silly madness life threw her upon since she can still eat delicious scrol- foods.
The two established a silent agreement to move on and stopped worrying over the weird consumption of magic. Zwei just decided to accept Elise's power, although she was horribly jealous.
"You didn't even need to learn all the prequisite magics and all that?"
"Mhmm."
Zwei just mumbled to herself dejectedly. 'Such a cheat...'
XXX
After the whole ordeal, Elise practised her wind blade and fire balls for a while, the two decided to head off to find civilisation or any sort of information. The moment the two walked out of the cave entrance they could feel the tangible decrease of mana density in the air. Zwei patiently answered the curious Elise's questions with her professional demeanour.
Taking a tour of the front of the dungeon, Elise could only lament how ugly the cave entrance is, she would surely decorate things once she was richer. Their dungeon, currently small cave, was situated within a small valley. It was a strange dip in the land next to a cliff with their cave carved into the stony walls.
The area outside was blanketed by waist high grass which formed a spiky green carpet. Only around 100 metres away, the grassy field broke away into a lush green forest. The two, one excited by the adventure and the other cold and confident, waded through the grass.
After entering the woods, it was as if the light in the world was suddenly sucked away, hidden behind the trees. Although it was shady, it wasn't eerie, the woods were beautiful and untampered with by sentient beings.
The two walked through the greenery in a calm manner, exploring its beauty while observing the wild flowers and other plants.
The sun lazily carved an arc through the sky, sinking into the western skies. Looking at the endless woods, Elise had no choice but to admit they were lost. Although they had no idea where they were, they knew the general direction of the dungeon through their bond with its existence.
Helplessly, Elise trudged back with Zwei in tow. She hadn't thought it through at all and followed the typical plot of trusting the storyline to bring some character into play or just magically stumble upon a village. Actually thinking this time, she worried whether there would even be a village near them.
After the two walked into their little cave, Elise could feel the familiar warmth of her dungeon's mana circulating them. It felt like home.
Sitting on the floor, she began pondering about their next course of action. Although it was night, she wasn't tired at all therefore she thought she might as well do some work.
"Zwei, can you provide me with a list of cheap monsters? Also, can be get creatures?"
"Yes. There are creatures in the Misc category. Whatever you think of, you should be able to get, plants as well." Zwei replied professionally as she utilised her red clipboard as a smart tablet, quickly bringing up a list of 'cheapest monsters'.
It wasn't a long list and she only took a few minutes to read through it. Soon, she jotted down on another menu notepad a the following options.
[ Slime 1DP]
[Goblin 3DP]
[Pixie 4DP]
[Lesser Ghost 6DP]
[Lesser Zombie 8DP]
She then looked through the shop menu while thinking about various animals she could utilise.
"Zwei, do the creatures in our dungeon need to eat?." She inquired almost as calmly as Zwei herself, absorbed in her work.
"Of course, the dungeon functions as a system which has our own ecosystem. We could support our troops with mana, however, it would cost too much." The professional responded with the required information.
"Then they breed?"
"Certainly."
Taking a deep breathe, she turned around to stare at Zwei and questioned once more. "Can they leave the dungeon?"
"Certainly," She responded unbothered by the intense stare, "Although they will lose a portion of their strength due to losing the support of the mana within the dungeon, they are able to leave. All creature who swore loyalty to the dungeon or are summoned are bound to the dungeon so there is no need to worry about runaways."
A strange smile creeped onto Elise's face. "Then the dungeon isn't that magical, is it? We're bound to it or even created by it but we still exist physically in the matter world. Intriguing." The excitement on her face made her look like a child ready to play a new game.
She turned back to the menu notepad where she was jotting down ideas and kept browsing through the menu. A slightly cheat plan slowly formed in her mind.
XXX
Somewhere in the world of Aravia.
At the same time Elise was happily planning, another dungeon was happily at work.
"Hurry up and carry the stuff!" A hoarse voice bellowed. "Move it!"
One could see a muscular Minotaur holding a whip, watching over a chain of enslaved humans.
The chains on their ankles clattered as they moved with difficulty, carrying various things back towards a cave.
"You don't want to keep the lord waiting, do you?" The cow faced monster yelled, his whip crashing down onto a wobbly old man. The weak man collapsed instantly, dropping his baggage. The monster snorted with amusement as he watched the other enslaved people pick up his baggage and share it amongst themselves while a few dragged the man along.
They all knew what would happen to the man once they returned. He would be murdered within the dungeon while the items they carried back would be absorbed for DP. This was the most basic and crude method to milk whatever DP value available from them.
They thought back to the peaceful village they once resided in, it was only a matter of time before their very own deaths.
The people trudged on numbly, their eyes devoid of life.