In a nearby county, a group of excited youngsters ran out of the city gates early in the morning. They had finally passed the Adventurer's Guild exam and had become certified iron rank adventurers! After gruelling training and several practice dungeon runs, they had finally become ranked and could openly search for treasures and adventures in the wild. Billy, a young man that was leading the party was immensly excited and couldn't wait to slay monsters, conquer dungeons, obtain treasures and live a life of wealth and glory!
Most of the dungeons that popped up around the city of Fairweather were extremely weak, most of which had already been conquered. For example, the prerequisite to even get a license that they're qualified to enter low level dungeons required them to beat the previous most dangerous dungeon of the area, "Dungeon of Slime" that the city mayor himself had conquered when he was a young lad.
The mayor that had only been an average iron ranked adventurer at the time was deemed a strong fellow in comparison to the average level of this backwards county and was asked by the Nobles in charge of the entire kingdom to take up the post as mayor. Afterwards, he lived his days in splendor being a veteran adventurer that cleaned up the strongest dungeon in the entire area, albeit it was one of the weakest in the history of the entire kingdom. Recently, a major mana signature that a new dungeon had appeared in the vicinity was registered.
Due to the mayor partially claiming he was too old to adventure anymore and partially being too fat to fit inside its entrance, he held an unprecedented 'Adventurers Guild Examination' for everyone in the entirety of Fairweather City. Hearing the splendid tales and listening to the great hero of old, the youths in the city felt their blood boiling with vigor. Desire for glory and riches shining in their eyes, Billy and his four friends immediately signed up for the tests.
After several days of rigorous training and testing they finally qualified to become certified iron ranked adventurers! Discussing what to do next and looking over the information of the new dungeon, they figured they shouldn't swallow more than they could chew. They immedietly set out for the newly spawned dungeon and after two days of travel they were nearing its entrance.
"Billy, are you sure this is the right way?", a stocky looking youth asked, looking skeptically at the map Billy held in his hand. "This place is known as 'deer forest', how could there possibly be a dungeon in a harmless location such as this?".
Unperturbed, Billy nodded his head in confusion. The map clearly marked this forest as the location of the mana signature. Removing his backpack and grabbing an odd looking device that looked like a compass the size of a dinnerplate, he placed both his hands ontop of it and instilled some of his mana inside. With a whirr, the compass spun crazily before stabilizing in the eastern direction straight ahead.
"Not much to it, this must be the weakest dungeon ever recorded in all of history, but it clearly exists within this seemingly harmless forest.", letting out a wry smile, Billy continued leading the way. His companions didn't know whether to laugh or cry and followed up without comment. Travelling for another hour they came to a massive mountain that seemed to have sprung up from the earth from nowhere. It clearly wasn't marked on the map of the area, so this should be where the dungeon entrance was located.
Ordering his fellows to spread out and report back the moment they found the dungeon entrance, Billy started setting up camp for a meal and some rest before they would attempt to assail the dungeon. Excitement couldn't help but bubble in his heart, but he wouldn't be so rash as to rush into the dungeon without prior rest after the fairly long journey.
Twenty minutes later the party of five regathered next to the fireplace, heating some mutton they had prepared two days earlier before they left the city. Noticing the excitement of his returning fellows and hearing the description of the seemingly average castle portcullis they had found that was open for anyone to enter on the mountain wall, the heated food was devoured in an instant. They couldn't wait to explore the dungeon, claim the treasures, slay the monsters within and return to the city in great splendor and glory!
—
From two days prior inside the dungeon, Gill was almost bored to death. After the timer ran out and the entire dungeon seemed to be flipped upside down in a gargantuan earthquake, the portculis automatically opened and bright sunlight started to shine inside. At first, Gill could barely keep his beating heart in check. Perhaps in just a moment, a team of valiant knights and powerful wizards would charge inside, breaking his spike wall, crushing his 'treasure' chest, stomp inside to behead him and grab the core in one fell swoop!
Staring as if bewitched at the dungeon monitor, Gill was about to get a nervous breakdown from anxiety. As the hours kept passing by, he soon realized that no adventurers seemed to be waiting for his dungeon to pop up from the ground the instant it was available. Uncertain if he should head outside to take a look, Gill waited for another day and night yet not a single adventurer had appeared. Mustering some courage, he opened the doors to the core room and walked to the entrance to take a look.
Looking outside he saw a most harmless forest with nothing in particular going on. It looked like a peaceful meadow from the most harmless of tales. Not sure about what he should do now, the tips window jumped infront of his face again.
[ Congratulations Dungeon Master Gill, your dungeon has successfully appeared within the 'Deer Forest' of Fairweather County within the Kingdom of Dachin! Estimated levels of adventurers on their way to your dungeon at this moment ranks between one and three. ]
Raising his eyebrows at the extremely low level of the adventurers and hearing the name of this particularily peaceful forest, Gill inwardly sighed in relief. His first few adversaries were so weak he could kill them as easily as if swatting a fly. There was zero risk of his untimely demise at the hands of this group of fellows.
"How far away are they, any estimated time of arrival?", Gill questioned with a voice that sounded like clanging chains from the depths of hell. Pondering for a moment, he also wondered how much gold and other rewards he could possibly get from such weaklings.
[ Estimated arrival: 20 hours, 38 minutes, party of five. ]
Rubbing his chin in thought, Gill wondered how far the range of his dungeons trap placements could reach. It would be simply hilarious if he could place a crate filled with poisoned food and beverages outside the gate which unsuspecting adventurers would use to then die before even entering the dungeon. Glancing at the tips window that seemed to be able to read his mind, he quickly got an 'Affirmative'-response, it was completely plausible to do. Feeling amused, Gill couldn't help but smile in anticipation.
Turning around and going back to the core room, Gill laid down to sleep while placing an alarm on the dungeon system to wake him up should anyone enter or approach the dungeon. Using his arms as a pillow, Gill still couldn't believe his current life situation but was still feeling quite content. His next purchase should probably be a bed, a couch or something comfortable to rest upon. The stone floor wasn't doing his back any favours. After just a few moments Gill fell sound asleep. He had been awake for almost three days and three nights straight in anticipation after all.
After sleeping soundly for about twelve hours, Gill couldn't sleep anymore however hard he tried. Bored out of his mind he started browsing through the shop menu's and planning his future endeavours. Looking through the dungeon structure tab he found quite a lot of interesting buildings and special array type constructions. He was especially intrigued by one called 'Mana Gathering Array'. It was basically a sort of vacuum array for mana in the atmosphere.
If he could set one up he would have an automatic experience gatherer that could level up both himself and the mana core slowly but surely. The stronger, larger and numerous the arrays, the greater the amount of mana would be sucked into his dungeon from both the heavens and the earth. Realizing how much waiting around he would be doing in the days to come, he eagerly looked through all kinds of currency-generating constructions.
There were gold mines, crystal mines, blacksmiths, mana arrays, cannon turrets and all kinds of structures imaginable available so long as he could afford it. Imagining himself living in a mighty demon castle filled to the brim with turrets, with the mountain beneath propped full with gold mines, crystal mines and slaves working day and night to arm his monster army - Gill couldn't wait to start his miniature empire within this mountain his dungeon popped out of. The price of the smallest type of array wasn't too costly either, merely a thousand gold. Although the output was abyssmal, it was absolutely better than nothing when he was idle.
While he was brewing his plans and envisioning the splendid future, the alarm suddenly rang throughout the core room. The adventurers had finally arrived outside the dungeon! Eyes glittering with great expectation Gill jumped to his feet. Opening up the dungeon monitor to eagerly spectate how they would approach his dungeon, he could barely keep his excitement in check. Just in case these weakling adventurers bypassed his two traps he started to warm up with some shadowboxing without letting his eyes leave the monitor for a second.