Ein doesn't know what would happen when he ran out of DP; maybe he could still continue even without it, or maybe he will die the moment it reaches zero. No matter what, he needs to find a way to earn more DP.
"No choice, let's go with a DP farm!" Remembering his previous idea, he decided to implement it.
First, he would need a new floor. He quickly manipulated the dungeon core and upgraded the dungeon, earning a new room. Same as before, the teleportation array blinked three times before returning to its stable form.
For the resident of the floor, he summoned slimes, the cheapest and the only one left within his budget. This process cost him 3,000 DP in all, leaving him with a measly 2,000 DP left.
Next, he ordered the slimes to dig a 6-meter-deep pit spanning 100 meters on one side. Since a dungeon wasn't actually part of the area but rather inside a pocket space within the crack of dimensions, there was no problem no matter how deep they dug; they could even dig a bottomless pit similar to the one he fell into inside Hades' Hold dungeon.
The only part of the dungeon that was actually present in the physical world was the entrance. This means there's no fear of someone digging around the mountain and reaching the Boss Room instantly. The only way to enter the dungeon was through its entrance.
While the slimes were busy digging, or more specifically, eating the ground of their room, he once again ordered 15 of his wolves to search for nearby goblins. This time, he wanted them to search in the opposite direction from where they had previously gone. Since it was dark outside, the wolves took more time to search for goblin villages.
After about three hours of searching, the wolves finally found a goblin settlement. It was a medium-sized one, similar to the first one they attacked previously. Looking around, the number of tents and the open space could easily hold thousands of goblins.
One of the wolves quickly turned back and ran towards the dungeon. The others remained and surrounded the goblins in regular intervals, making sure not to raise any noise.
An hour later, the wolf managed to return safely and went directly to where Ein was in the third room. After a short bark, the wolf began drawing on the cave's ground. It was a rough map of the settlement they found.
"So a straight line distance of about 30 kilometers?" Ein estimated. "It should do."
Next, Ein sent his order to the remaining wolves. Thinking about ease of control, he said, "Wolves, kill all of the male goblins and leave the young, old, and females as prisoners. Guide them up to here." His words were truly those of a demon lord showing no mercy whatsoever.
After a few seconds of lag, the order reached the heads of the remaining 14 wolves. Quickly and quietly, they attacked the settlement. Soon after, screams and growls were the only things heard around the area.
The wolves ran around with their high agility. The goblins weren't able to even see what attack hit them before they died in a pool of blood. The lucky ones were able to dodge one attack, only to get shredded by another wolf attacking from a different blind spot.
It only took a little over 10 minutes to clear up all goblins with any level of fighting capability. Due to this, a little over half of the total population of goblins was culled.
The remaining goblins were then herded toward the dungeon. The wolves were like shepherd dogs, as they controlled the march of the goblins. Some of the goblins tried to run away but were instead bitten to death by the wolves. By the time they reached the dungeon, the sun was about to rise once more.
Of the thousands of goblins in the settlement, a little over 300 remained. They all cowered in front of the dungeon entrance, shivering from both fatigue from the forced march and fear.
After evacuating the slimes to a corner of the wolves' floor, he then allowed them to be guided towards the newly dug prison for the goblins. They slowly went down the makeshift ladders to the bottom of the hole. Though they look a bit cramped inside the hole, it was enough for them to have enough space for themselves.
The hole was deep enough that even if two goblins cooperated, they couldn't reach the edge of the hole. But for further protection, the slimes guarded the edges of the hole 24/7, ensuring that no goblin could get out. With this, Ein completed his first goblin DP farm.
"I have 300 goblins now. With them providing 50 DP each, I would earn 15,000 DP a day even without doing anything!" He covered more than the upkeep from buying the summoning circles. He even had around 10,000 DP to use freely after deducting the upkeep.
However, there was one big problem.
"If I keep them here without food or water, they would last 3 days at best..." Ein predicted.
The weaker ones would probably die even faster, making this inefficient.
"If I give them water to drink, they could probably last a week or two before kicking the bucket." He pondered.
The idea of giving the goblins food and water regularly did cross his mind; however, he had no idea what food the goblins ate. He could try asking Nayta about this but was afraid of the repercussions of this action.
However, the main reason for his reluctance to give them food and water was that no matter how he tried to extend their lives, they would probably die in a month at most. Sanitation, lack of sunlight, stale air, and many other reasons can lessen their meager lives.
If Ein wishes to create a semi-permanent DP farm, then he would need a lot more preparation. Giving up on thinking, he decided to just give them water for now and let time decide their fates.
...
After Nayta and Melina woke up, they greeted Ein before heading out to hunt. After letting five wolves hunt with them and monitoring them at the same time, Ein was browsing the catalog looking for equipment like the Mermaid's Song that would give him some benefits.
Ein was preparing himself to go to the nearby human city, which he heard about from Nayta. As a dungeon master, he was curious as to how powerful the humans of this world were.
If there was any human being powerful enough to threaten his dungeon, he would play it safe and keep improving his power slowly using the surrounding monsters. Otherwise, he would quickly go and expand his dungeon without minding the consequences.
Ein needed to upgrade his dungeon to the level of being able to protect him from a dragon's attack. The dragon staying in the elves' territory was on his mind since hearing about it last night. If that powerful being decides to attack the dungeon, then only death awaits him.
After scanning the catalog many times over, he decided on buying three tools.
[Ultimate illusion orb: Casts a powerful illusion that can neither be broken through by force nor detected through search, detection, and appraisal magic. Price: 10,000 DP]
[Ring of Iron Skin: This skill constantly applies the skill Iron Skin to the user. Can block a total of three powerful attacks a day in exchange for its durability. Can infinitely block attacks under a certain level. Price: 20,000 DP]
[Return Stone: A magical stone that can teleport the user to the dungeon instantly. Shatters after use. Price: 5,000 DP]
An item to hide his identity, one to protect himself, and one to use in case of emergency. With this lineup, he was a hundred percent sure to survive any encounter. The only problem was that heading for the city would leave his dungeon without a head.
"Right, I remember that I can summon an aide!" Ein muttered to himself.
If he summons an aide and leaves the matters of the dungeon to it, then he can head for the city with peace of mind. It just so happens that he earned a little over 10,000 DP from cleaning up the goblin settlement.
Making up his mind, Ein decided to gamble his 10,000 DP. He controlled the menu and went to the summoning panel. He stared intently at the summon button, praying that he would get lucky.
"Here goes nothing!"
He pressed the button. Instantly after, a large and complicated magic circle appeared with the orb at its center. It almost covered the entire room.
Golden arcs of lightning crackled around him, their intensity growing by the second. The golden arcs of lightning then gathered on the other side of the magic circle, opposite Ein's. Then, the room was filled with an explosion of blinding light...