Chuck took out the 4 Dungeon Cores that he had acquired today. He couldn't help but think he had gotten off to a good start. Well… minus the part where he almost died in his first dungeon adventure.
From Crumb he received a 1 star core, (2) 2 star cores, and a 4 star core.
He held the 1 stare core first and then pressed it against his own.
[New core detected]
[2 options available]
[1st option: Shatter core and claim 532 DP]
[2nd option: Merge core and acquire 600 square feet of dungeon space]
Checking his menu, Chuck found that it cost 1DP to add a single square foot of dungeon space to his dungeon. The second option already had more DP value. Even more so when you considered that his daily wage would be increased from 2,000DP to 2,600DP.
But he still didn't know what to do. Option one put cash directly in his hand and option two would be a better long-term solution. But no mater how big his dungeon was, in less than three days he needed to have some defenses put up.
Although he needed DP, Chuck decided he could get it from one of the other cores. Plus, he would get his daily allowance at dawn.
When he chose the second option, his core glowed for a moment before the core in his hands was sucked inside of it and disappeared.
Next, he pulled out a 2 star core
[New core detected]
[2 options available]
[1st option: Shatter core and claim 3,521 DP]
[2nd option: Merge core and acquire 3,800 square feet of dungeon space]
With the same dilemma, Chuck took the second option again.
The core vanished. This time he pulled out the core that belonged to Crumb's dungeon. After seeing the state of it, he wasn't expecting much.
[New core detected]
[2 options available]
[1st option: Shatter core and claim 28,576 DP]
[2nd option: Merge core and acquire 29,000 square feet of dungeon space]
"Hiss."
Chuck sucked in a cold breath of air.
'What the hell…'
It was obvious that Crumb had no idea how to work his dungeon. How could the guy be eating rats and worried about food when he was a small tycoon. Sure, all that DP may not be much for a higher-level dungeon, but he was only in a level 2 dungeon.
Chuck was pretty sure Crumb didn't know how to spend DP. As for getting to level 2, that must have been dumb luck. He got his daily allowance and points from the rats he stole and put in his dungeon. And then points again when he killed said rats.
It was too many points to pass up. That much DP in the beginning would make a huge difference.
Chuck chose option 1. The core in his hand cracked open and a red energy was sucked out and absorbed by his own dungeon core. Once the energy was gone, the shards of the core crumbled into dust.
[You have obtained 28,576 DP]
[Total DP: 28,674]
Chuck wiped the sweat of his forehead and took out the last dungeon core, the level 4 core.
[New core detected]
[2 options available]
[1st option: Shatter core and claim 9,632 DP]
[2nd option: Merge core and acquire 10,000 square feet of dungeon space]
Chuck was happy, he didn't expect it to be as potent as Crumb the dumb dumb who never spent a single point, but it was still good. All the more so considering that the daily allowance wasn't given once the dungeon master died.
After a moment of deliberation, he chose the second option. It would bump his daily allowance to 1,640 dungeon points. It would definitely be worth it in the long run.
When the last core disappeared, Chuck headed back out. Crumb was already in the corner snoring up a storm while under the sheets and blankets. He walked around the empty dungeon and tried to decide on his future layout. He couldn't add an additional floor until he reached dungeon level 10. He may be able to do that now, but he really didn't know. To reach dungeon level 2 he had to spend 200DP.
If the dungeon leveled like players, he may have a chance. But from level 5 to 6 the XP didn't increase by 100 instead in doubled, if it kept doubling afterwards it would cost too much DP.
Before adding his new dungeon space, he decided to see if there was anything he knew he wanted to buy.
He opened his class tab inside of the dungeon tab and began to skim through.
After filtering out what was outside his price range there was a surprising number of options. But then he realized pretty much all of it was food. For instance, the price of a single top-class egg was 5,000DP. He then filtered out the food.
There was only 1 option left.
[Small immortal dining room (10,000DP)]
[Furnish a 20 by 60 foot area with 8 tables for 4 people and a corner booth that can seat 6. Bathroom facilities will be included along with a hostess stand.]
'Eh, that's not bad. I can get another 38 seats, along with bathrooms. Plus, carpet lights and other fixtures. The price is high but so far, the Immortal Chef options have all be top quality. I still have a lot of DP to spend on defense. Let's do it.'
Chuck confirmed his choices and then spent the next few minutes selecting where the tables would go.
Standing at the entrance of the dungeon, the kitchen was at the back with the open window in the center of the kitchen and the door on the left.
Against the right side of the kitchen was the corner booth. On the left wall were 5 four-person tables. On the right wall, another 3 four-person tables. Closer to the entrance was an enclosed bathroom on the right and the hostess stand on the left. Red carpet ran towards the kitchen. Lights hung down from the ceiling and rested over the top of the tables.
Each table was covered in a black tablecloth and had a salt and pepper shaker on it. The walls were then covered with wood instead of being bare stone while the ceiling was covered in a stamped tile panel. Everything looked good. Chuck confirmed his placement and all the items appeared at once.
Crumb was so deep in sleep he didn't notice when a cushioned booth rose from the floor underneath him. He continued to sleep happily on the bench seat of the booth.
Chucks dungeon automatically advanced to level 8.
Level 6 required 1,000DP
Level 7 required 2,000DP
Level 8 Required 3,000DP
Chuck guessed that the player levels would function in a similar manner since the first fire levels were already identical.
[Regional Announcement: Congratulations to Charlie Forest to be the first human player to advance his dungeon to level 5 in the region.]
[You have received 1,000 Reputation points.]
'Well this can be good or bad. Did I just paint a target on myself?' Chuck thought.
He didn't worry about it, the protection period was still up, so what was the point of stressing. Besides, it may even act as a deterrent to some.
He looked around his dungeon and found that there was still 10x10 area of unused space in the entrance.
As soon as he spent another 6,400 DP it would be enough for him to reach level 10. The chatlogs would be going wild tonight.
It had only been a minute since the announcement but there were already tons of message filling up his inbox from people in the region who privately messaged him.
He skimmed through a few and saw that there were some ladies offering nudes for protection. There were even a couple of guys doing the same (eww). Others were asking for tips on how to earn quick DP. And a few were telling him to think twice before trying to attack them. They didn't care if he had a strong defense. They would smack him down. In the end, it was just normal internet B.S. He didn't think too much of it.
He ignored them and went back to the core room. Since that would be his room in the future, he decided to buy a few things.
The core room wasn't counted as part of the dungeons size, but it grew with each level up. Instead of being the standard 10x10x15 it was now 18x18x15. His room was now huge.
He set the bed in a corner facing the door. Bought new sheets, pillows and a blanket. He got an alarm clock and a couple of lamps. He then bought a desk with a chair, paper, pens. Chuck then dropped 1,000DP on a small bathroom that included a shower. It wasn't as high class as the one that came with the dining room, but it did have a shower. And it was private. After that he bought a laptop. Yeah it was kind of dumb since there was no internet and it cost 500DP. But it could connect to the interface and chat channels.
He didn't buy it, but he saw livestreaming gear. Who knew what kind of content people would produce in the future? He could lay in his bed and watch videos on his laptop in the future.
He spent 2,400 DP and advance to level 9. He was already 2,000DP into level 9 and only had to spend 3,000 more to reach level 10. He was about to go back into the dungeon and spend more points when his laptop kept sounding out notifications nonstop. He had already silenced his interface but hadn't done the same for the laptop.
First, he muted it then opened his interface.
He noticed that in under 3 minutes he had received 60+ messages all from the same person. He was about to get annoyed at this spammer but then he recognized the name.