As Seneos quickly went to the information sheet menu since all the others were either useless to him at the moment, or were actually non-available. There were many greyed-out menus that would only be unlocked after the dungeon was upgraded, though the help menu hadn't been very precise on which upgrade it meant.
Because as Seneos found out, the upgrading menu wasn't there to only upgrade the dungeon in it's entirety. Not only could it provide upgrades for things other than the dungeon, but it also had various upgrades for the miniature world itself. Sen could widen all the zones, create new zones, or even place some wildlife. Apparently harmless animals were seen as sources of food, not direct servants of the Overlord.
The information sheet opened in front of Seneos and his eyes darted to the right, before going to the left, then up and down. The sheet was so long the holographic screen became bigger than Sen himself.
"Hmm...Can other people access this menu ? Because if that is the case, that might become a problem." Seneos asked and was rewarded with an answer in the form of a negative hum. It was so unnerving to hear that hum with hundreds of different voices, but Sen was slowly getting used to it. It had only been a day, in a week he would be completely fine with it, at least he said that to himself.
He decided to go from top to bottom when it came to the information sheet, simply because the top information appeared to be his.
He saw his name, his age, and even his species. Weirdly enough, his age and species had little boxes full of interrogation marks beside them.
"What is that even supposed to mean ?" He asked himself out loud. The beast immediately gave his own thoughts.
"Perhaps it doesn't understand ? I reckon it would be weird for the dungeon to understand humans when it never had some as it's denizens. And it wouldn't have had the time to analyze those hunters of yours either. I have been in here for as long as I can remember, and I didn't fight against that many of you guys. "
Seneos nodded, being satisfied with that answer. It couldn't be anything else since he was indeed a 26 years old human like the information sheet said. His eyes went further down and he saw his hunter rank, as well as his Overlord rank. The rank wasn't a number or a letter like Seneos would have expected, it was simply a word.
[Pathetic]
He stared at it as the beast's head scooted closer. Once it saw what Sen was looking at, it blew some air over his tiny body.
"You are at the bottom when it comes to hunters, you couldn't be much better in terms of leadership. Don't beat yourself with that. It will mean nothing as you progress. "
Seneos looked up, a soft smile on his face.
"Thanks, hmmm...It's really annoying for me to call you Beast or shit like that. Don't you have a name ?" He asked. He doubted it was the case, but as the beast gained a distant look, he wondered if that was even possible. Names came with civilization, and there was nothing in this dungeon, except perhaps the ruins. Was the beast once surrounded by it's brethren and living in those ruins ? They did look like they were made with giants in mind.
"A name, eh ? I would like it if you could give me one." The beast said. Seneos could see that it had a name, he could feel it just by looking at the beast's face that expressed way more than when he had first encountered him.
However he still complied and thought of a good name.
"Hmmm....What do you think of Baem ?" He proposed. The beast tested the name a few times, wording it carefully to make sure it pronounced it right. He wasn't speaking the same language as Seneos after all, not that the hunter even thought of that. Since he could communicate with the beast, he had all but forgot about that fact.
"Hmm...A good choice, Overlord. A word that means serpent in the language of your nation. Rather fitting." Vodka said, a hint of mockery in her tone.
The beast took no offence to that and smirked.
"That is acceptable. Baem it shall be."
Seneos went back to the information and his eyes caught mention of his path. His eyes widened to the very limit and he nearly jumped out of his seat. He would finally get an answer. The name didn't tell him anything, however, he quickly used the help menu to give him the information he needed.
He was very quickly taken out of his little bubble when the help menu proved useless.
"V-Vodka ?" He asked, turning his head like a broken machine towards the being who should have been standing to his right. He heard her voices immediately after asking and reeled in fright when he realized she was closer than he first thought.
"I have no information regarding this Jack of all Trades path, Overlord. Perhaps you will have better chances with that friend of yours. She seems to know much more than both of us on the topic of hunters. My information on that topic are extremely limited." Vodka crushed his hope as he slouched on the throne.
Feeling more than a little bitter, he returned to the information once more and finished what the the dungeon had on him. A disturbing thought entered his mind when he looked at the gargantuan amount of information the Dungeon part of the information sheet contained.
"Will I even be able to do a good job ? What if I fail ?" He said out loud and only realized when one of the beast's finger very lightly flicked his forehead.
Due to the size of the finger, Seneos still ended up knocking his head against the throne and looked up, a tear in the corner of his left eye because of the pain.
"Don't you even start with that, Leader. You cannot concern yourself that much over how good you will be. Firstly because you have no choice in case you haven't noticed, you have to manage this dungeon. Secondly because...You. Have. No. Choice. Look at this." The beast pointed at a long bar on the information bar. It represented the 'health' of the dungeon. Seneos would need to see what it really meant later, but for now he focused on the bar itself because of how intense the beast sounded.
His eyes trailed off to a sentence written in red, right over the bar.
[ Failure to keep the dungeon safe will, just like many other conditions leading to a 'Game Over', result in the Overlord's immediate destruction ]
Seneos blanched as he read this, not only because of what would happen if the bar was allowed to go to zero. It was also because of what the sentence implied. There were many conditions that could lead to his death, not just this. He needed to know what those conditions were, and as soon as possible at that.
"See ? You don't exactly get to stress over this. Especially since I pretty much depend on you now, I won't let you get all moody, Leader. " The beast said in a strict tone. Seneos knew what he did next was pretty stupid, but he still glared at the beast.
"Thanks for putting even more pressure on me. It's really helping Baem." He spat out the name with some venom as the beast returned the glare. Vodka would've stepped in, but she didn't feel like the fight was about to be all that serious. That and she didn't have legs to step in anywhere anyway.
"You wouldn't feel that much pressure if you stopped degrading yourself. Be proud in who you are !" The beast yelled at Seneos who got caught in the heat of the moment and became even bolder, yelling return while standing on his throne to get close to the beast's face.
"As if it's that easy ! I won't change in a few seconds just because you said I should ! I am just a random drunkard, not some guy with immense willpower !"
"If you cannot change, then let that other part of you take command ! Rely on the rotten you while you try to become an actual leader, an actual warrior ! I am not saying this should be easy, I am saying that you will do it....Whether you want or not !"
Seneos recoiled at that, the beast's word striking deeper than it thought. It didn't know all there was to know about Sen after all, but it certainly hit a sore spot.
"I won't become a monster just for power ! If I have to call in to that side of me to rule, than I would rather not rule at all !" The hunter shouted, a little bit of his aura seeping out. He wasn't strong enough however to let out nearly as much as the beast, something he realized when it's eyes became burning suns once again and an orange wave of energy crashed against the walls.
"Just because some are born to leaders doesn't mean everyone is like that ! If you can't be a leader from the very beginning, then act like you are one until it becomes true ! Act like a warrior until you truly become one ! Your rotten part should be more than enough to fool people ! And if you can't...If you can't fool anyone or just won't accept stooping to that level...Then work like a madman so results are produced as fast as possible. I can't provide you with all the solutions, so go out and recruit your future soldiers !"
Seneos was forced back on his throne and frowned heavily. The wave hadn't been focused at him, so he hadn't become a bloody stain on the makeshift throne thankfully.
"I can't go against the bare minimum or morals I still have...." Sen said in between biting at his lower lips angrily.
Baem looked down at Sen and burst out laughing.
"Morals ?! That's your problem ?.....Dear god. Look at me and tell me, leader. Be truly honest about it....."
Baem grabbed Seneos and lifted him up so they would be at the same height. He glared at his little leader and spoke very slowly.
" Do you truly think you can outrun your true nature ? Good people can have morals, neutral people can have those too....Hell, even some evil bastards can afford to have those...But until you have secured a life good enough to afford those...Do you think you can satisfy both the external and internal you with morals ?"
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