The week came to an end without any problems. Certain days proved busier, while others experienced fewer visitors. With the dungeon coins we obtained, we decided to hire more assistant attendants, allowing the dungeon to be available 24 hours. However, as these assistants lack experience in complex tasks, we can't leave them responsible for cooking and providing emotional support just yet, as we're training them to assist in the kitchen and support Rebeca.
In addition, I established a clinic offering massage and physiotherapy services to generate supplementary income. I'm considering whether it's worth quitting my job to give more attention to my dungeon.
As it doesn't seem difficult to complete the missions, I decided to study how everything works in more detail. Through this, I discovered that while completing the missions is straightforward, the way they are accomplished can have negative long-term consequences.
To explain this better, let's delve into the specifics of each mission.
Objective 1: Have a minimum of 100 visitors. It's the simplest and yet most complex objective, influenced by several factors.
The dungeon's location plays a role. If the dungeon is far from the population, it attracts fewer people, although you dont need to consider regulations or norms. In the long run, the dungeon's location matters less if it can attract people, even if it's in a challenging spot.
Public perception of dungeons and monsters matters. Not all individuals or nations have a positive view. Many lives have been lost due to monsters, even after the world stabilized. Some people may obstruct or isolate you, even seeking ways to expel you due to this negative sentiment.
The dungeon's attractiveness is crucial. The number of visitors is counted based on those who challenge the dungeon, not those who remain in the initial instance. If your dungeon doesn't offer benefits, who would challenge it? Perhaps some common people, but they wouldn't return after satisfying their curiosity.
Objective 2: Have a minimum of 3 levels of difficulty. It's not difficult; it depends on the quantity of resources you have. The dungeon is divided into levels, known as floors. To create a level, you need a certain number of coins for each additional floor. The first expansion costs 500 dungeon coins, the second costs 1000, and so on up to level 10. After that, the cost doubles every 10 levels.
Objective 3: Have a minimum of 1 hero. This is the most questionable and debated objective in the dungeon chat. What exactly is a hero? From the dungeon master's perspective, it's a right-hand, a companion, a secretary. But for everyone else, this hero has another name: a Raid Boss, a formidable enemy that appears randomly while challenging the dungeon.
A hero's role isn't just battling challengers. They also have the potential to make changes in the dungeon with the dungeon master's permission, and they assist in governing the dungeon. You can have only one hero for every 5 levels.
Through sacrifices and wealth, we've learned why the value of a hero hired from outside the dungeon differs from one created within.
Potential: All creatures generated by the dungeon, regardless of species, possess immense potential to rapidly become much stronger, almost without limits. Conversely, an average human might not have such high potential.
Loyalty: As long as you don't mistreat a hero summoned by the dungeon, they will never betray you. You're considered their creator, unlike externally hired heroes.
Power: Summoned heroes are designed in a way that they can handle 7 novice awakened individuals with little experience. While it's possible to hire individuals with similar or even greater power, you need to offer a sufficient incentive for this to happen.
How do I know all this? Some individuals bought monster bodies to exchange for DC, while others simply spent all their coins without much thought. Because of this, some people were asking for help or loans because they hadn't properly set up the dungeon and didn't have coins available.
Due to the loyalty some heroes demonstrated, some dungeon masters began treating them like slaves. Some even tortured them and engaged in other deplorable actions. Eventually, the heroes retaliated and killed them, something everyone thought was impossible.
After all, within the dungeon, the dungeon master is practically immortal. Apparently, this particular dungeon master had a humiliation and exhibitionism fetish. One night he went out, and... that's all it took for the situation to unfold. The case even made the news that a dungeon master was murdered.
As a result, many began reconsidering their relationships with heroes. Those who had crossed the line or were close to it are doing everything they can to repair the relationship, well, not everyone.
Finally, the awaited day to challenge the dungeons arrived. We decided to start by challenging my dungeon, given my previous experience.
To increase our chances of success, we agreed that each of us would take on a specific role.
Oliver will be in the tank position. I will take on the role of a close combatant. Livia will be responsible for long-range attacks. Rebeca will be in the hybrid role of a tank with DPS capabilities. Alexandra will handle close combat, and last but not least, Rick will be in the rogue position.
Oliver with his towering two-meter stature and imposing muscles, coupled with his armor-clad frame, Oliver resembled an unmovable mountain. This presence naturally led him to embrace the role of the tank.
Livia, hailing from a privileged background, had been trained in archery from a young age. She had even participated in archery competitions. Owing to her familiarity with the bow, she decided to be responsible for long-range attacks.
Alexandra, despite being the quietest and shyest of the group, enjoys adventures and challenges. While her parents had successfully dissuaded her from confronting monsters directly due to safety concerns they had actively encouraged her to practice various martial arts, including unarmed combat and weapon fighting.
Rebeca, well, she has a crush on Oliver and does her best to stay close to him, motivating her to adopt the tank-DPS combination.
Rick, with his talent, can transform into various animals and monsters he has seen before, thanks to this ability, which enhances his mobility and senses within the dungeon, contributing to the group's cohesion.
With everyone ready, we decided to enter the dungeon. It didn't take long for us to encounter a group of enemies.
Rick decided to draw the monsters' attention. While the monsters were focused on him, Livia began attacking them with arrows, causing damage and briefly distracting them.
Taking advantage of the distraction, each of us took responsibility for a monster, while Livia provided auxiliary support.
Alexandra simply beat her goblin opponent to death and then went to help others.
As I was finishing off the goblin I was in charge of, Rick passed by me. While he had adeptly dodging and blocking attacks, he couldn't deliver the final blow to his opponent.
After quickly dispatching the two, I looked around to see if anyone still needed help.
Everyone had finished their fights; Rick and I were the last to finish off our enemies.
After resting for a while and ensuring everyone was safe, we decided to press on. Everyone seemed to be handling the situation better than I had expected.
No one appeared shaken or visibly affected by what had just transpired – well, not to the extent of hindering their ability to continue.
Alexandra was a special case. It was as if she felt nothing, as if she were strolling through the park with friends on an ordinary day.
Perhaps this seemingly unaffected reaction was what made the entire group face the situation more easily.
We continued slaying monsters for the next two hours, pausing occasionally to rest and wait for mobs to respawn, gradually improving our coordination with each encounter.
The most challenging encounter was defeating the slimes – or rather, discovering how to defeat them.
The slimes were composed of a slightly acidic goo, and this goo protected their core. No matter how much we attacked, they wouldn't die – until, during an attack, Rick managed to strike a core, defeating one of them.
Realizing our mistake, we started searching for the cores and focusing our attacks on them.
In the end, we all experienced the sensation of "leveling up" twice, while I only felt it once. We also collected various items: four rusted swords, two worn daggers, and fifteen cores.
After an hour of rest, we decided to attempt Rick's dungeon.
While we may not have had the best coordination, our combined efforts allowed us to emerge victorious, laden with loot.
We decided to sell the items and divide the money. In the end, it wasn't a huge sum, but it was enough for us to go out and have some fun.