The group still rushed through the floors since they would have time for them later. As they got deeper, the temperature became higher and higher. From the 44th floor, streams of lava could be seen here and there, and by the 46th floor, there were rivers of them.
As for monsters, it ranged from giant scorpions to Wyverns with either fire, poison, or both attributes.
The 47th floor was also a large chamber similar to the 33rd floor, but a little bit bigger. In the middle was a pond of Lava where the Surtr was supposed to spawn in three weeks. Thanks to their fast travel, it only took them a whole day to reach this place, where it was normally reachable in five days.
Yoruichi didn't stop walking and said, "We'll show you the secret room later. For now, let's set up our base of operations first, and maybe add a teleportation site for easier access in the future."
The group went around the lake of lava and reached the staircase that led to the safety point.
The moment they stepped into the 48th floor, the temperature became a lot better as if an invisible barrier was dividing the two zones. With a pleasant tropical breeze, the safety point resembled the 18th floor of the Orario Dungeon, but without the giant tree in the middle and the floor was much wider and higher.
"Where should we place the base, nyaa? I don't think the center is a good idea since a Monster Rex variant may spawn from there," asked Kuroka.
Kisuke surveyed the entire floor and said, "The median between the wall and the center is good. It'll also be nice if it's far from the path leading to the lower floors."
Yoruichi then pointed towards the small hill on the west side of the floor, "That's a good place. Aside from a good hideout, It's also far from the exits and entrances."
"Isn't that the spot that others use to set their camps, nyaa?"
Yoruichi grinned and replied, "That's true, but that doesn't mean we can't use it for ourselves... permanently."
The group arrived at the location Yoruichi proposed and Kisuke further surveyed the area. A few minutes later, Kisuke nodded his head in satisfaction, "This is a good spot~!"
He then faced Yoruichi and said, "Please pass the purse to Kuroka."
Yoruichi reached out to her vest while asking, "The one that Serafall sent to you before we went to the Dungeon?" She found the said purse and tossed it to the confused Kuroka.
"A space bag?" asked Kuroka, not looking inside until she got permission.
Kisuke nodded and said, "Yep. Please take out a portion of its contents."
Since it's an incredibly compressed space, Kuroka closed her eyes to concentrate so that she wouldn't break the 'container'. Once she was able to insert her consciousness within the bag, she immediately opened her eyes back in shock, "W-what is this, nyaa!? Where did you get all of this!?"
Inside the purse was a hard to count amount of processed Orichalcum, Adamantium, and some other materials that could be used for constructing a building.
"I had Sera-tan get a bit of it from our good neighbor," Kisuke replied with a large grin.
"Neighbor?" mumbled Kuroka before a certain place came to her mind, "The Knossos?"
"Yep~ And we can certainly get more in the future since they're very good neighbors~!"
Kuroka couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of pity for them, 'A thousand years of effort, only to be dismantled by this hoodlum.'
Kuroka then took out a small portion of the Orichalcum and Adamantium alongside the other necessary materials. Even then it still formed two small hills.
Kisuke excitedly approached the pile and said, "I'll probably need a lot of Magic Stone to construct the base since I can't use my reserves. Conveniently, there's an almost inexhaustible supply of it upstairs~!"
Yoruichi and Kuroka looked at each other before sighing. It looked like they wouldn't be able to stop this maniac from building something that sticks out like a sore thumb. Leaving their luggage, the two of them returned to the previous floor to hunt.
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Three days later, Kisuke had finally finished their base. While Kisuke looked at his own creation with satisfaction, Yoruichi and Kuroka could only have to twitch their mouths in shock. They were already expecting something that didn't suit the place, but they never thought it's going to go beyond that.
"It's a completely different genre, nyaa!!!" Kuroka retorted on top of her lungs.
Since Kisuke covered his 'project' with invisibility magic so that he could surprise them. Yoruichi and Kuroka had no idea what he was trying to create nor had they pried beyond the cover of the magic.
The base that Kisuke built was actually composed of two parts. The first one was a 400 meters tall skyscraper and the second one is a 150 meters wide dome. But that isn't the problem as they were already expecting something like this when they saw the amount of materials that Kisuke had. What they didn't expect, however, was the overall aesthetics of the buildings.
With a white theme, the windowless building was shaped like the tip of a single-edged sword with streaks of blue lights. On its base was a complicated structure with a single large entrance that would overwhelm everyone who came close to it.
As for the dome, it had a simpler structure but still follows the same aesthetics of the skyscraper with transparent hexagonal panels as its roof.
"It looks like a sci-fi spaceship rather than a building, nyaa! Anyone who looks at it would definitely say 'aliens'!" Kuroka added.
Kisuke then looked at her with a stunned expression, "What're you talking about? We're aliens."
Kuroka made the same expression and said, "Ah... You're right."
Yoruichi, on the other hand, could only mutter with a defeated expression, "You really pulled out all stops, huh?"
Kisuke chuckled and started walking towards their new base, "Come with me~ I'll give you a tour~"
Reaching the base of the building, Yoruichi and Kuroka came to a very sci-fiesque lobby, complete with monitors that could be used for announcements and some other information.
Kisuke continued, "This is the lobby and where all the general use teleportation stations. Each floor has two teleportation circles that are connected here for fast travel. Of course, there are also elevators but I doubt those are going to be used much."
"General use, you say. Are you planning to rent out the place?" asked Yoruichi.
"Yep. There are a total of 69 floors and more than half of them could be used for residential purposes. It'll be a shame if we can't use all of them."
"It's your fault for making a stupidly large building that is capable of housing at least a thousand people, nyaa. But 69, huh... I see that it's done on purpose."
Editors:
28th00: They’re really just a travelling band of overpowered trolls. Honestly. Even they’re not safe from their own antics! Time to make this Dungeon Business, literal!
From floors 2 to 10 were various facilities that are useful for everyday life, including recreation and large kitchens. But due to time constraints, most of the furniture was absent and Kisuke planned to fill them up whenever he was finally able to open his own inventory.
Of course, everything was in a sci-fi theme, however, that didn't mean that it felt claustrophobic and airtight since the walls of rooms like the dining room and grand hall were covered in very high-resolution panels that displayed the outside view, making them look like windows despite not being one. In addition to that, the colors that he used weren't just singular, adding to the vibrancy and elegance of the whole interior.
From floors 11 to 50 were rooms for general admissions, with each floor containing 10-15 rooms. The rooms varied from quads, doubles, and singles. Each of the rooms had basic facilities like a toilet and a shower. Of course, since Kisuke was following a sci-fi theme, the halls are what you'd expect to see from a spaceship and the doors were sealed, complete with a fingerprint scanner, key-card scanner, keypad input, and a terminal for an intercom.
The floors from 51 to 60 were the high-class suites that were suited for the big spenders, with each floor containing 5-3 rooms. The rooms are what you'd expect from a high-class suite, as it was completely furnished in addition to having a magnificent view of the outside. Each room would cost around 150,000 - 200,000 Valis each night, which was already as expensive as a high-class Elixir.
As for the floors above and the rooftop, they were, of course, for Kisuke and his family's private use and could only be accessed through a teleportation circle in a very tightly secured and secret room in the lobby.
Within the 69th floor, a Japanese-themed floor, Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Kuroka were having tea on the tatami floor, "You overdid it..." mumbled Yoruichi.
"How are you going to manage such a large place, nyaa?" asked Kuroka.
"Don't worry. Everything in here is automated. Magic is a very convenient tool, you know? If you can set it up, you can do almost anything from automatic repair and cleaning, to room allocation and logistics. I set everything up so that even if we left this place alone for a long period of time, it'd still function as intended. The only real limit is the power source, as that needs to be replenished regularly."
"Even then, we could just commission someone to replenish it. For the time being, I've used the Magic Stone of the Kuraokami as the power source and it should last for about six months at full capacity use. It'll probably be longer than that since I don't think this place will be running at full capacity anytime soon."
Kisuke had the option of using his own technology to gather Magic Power from the atmosphere, however, they're inside of the Dungeon and he doesn't know how it'd react to its Magic Power suddenly being drained, so he didn't want to risk it.
Yoruichi then pointed towards the 'window' and asked, "What about that dome? And is it really wise to use glass panels on it?"
"It's a simple training facility and that isn't glass, but transparent metal."
Yoruichi and Kuroka's interest peaked, "Transparent metal?"
"It's an alloy from Orichalcum and some other rare metals that I was able to create some time ago. Although it's weaker than Orichalcum itself, it's still stronger than most metals out there."
"But even then, strong monsters still roam this place. Orichalcum and Adamantium are strong, yes. But they aren't indestructible, nyaa."
But Kisuke just chuckled and replied, "No worries~ It also has automatic hazard detection that would automatically deploy Magic Barrier on its surface. Not just that, it also has several retractable Magic Cannons that are capable of obliterating several Level 5 monsters in an instant~ Though that might deplete the power source in an instant."
"What the heck!? Put thrusters on this thing and it'll be technically a spaceship! No, a warship, nyaa!" Kuroka retorted again.
"If we weren't underground, I would have added that too."
"You would!?"
"But let's forget about that for now and discuss our next course of action. I've already wasted 3 days on this so I don't want to waste anymore of our time."
However, Yoruichi suddenly stood up and started dragging Kisuke towards the bedroom, "No. You're going to rest. I know you didn't just work on this project, but also trying to learn your new energy while at it. The mental strain on that should be immense, so you're going to rest."
From Yoruichi's tone, she wasn't really requesting it but making it more of a command. Kisuke could only smile wryly as he let himself get dragged away. Seeing this, Kuroka hurriedly followed while saying, "I'll take the left side, nyaa!"
And indeed, Yoruichi was correct. As long as Kisuke still hasn't managed to adapt his control to his subconscious, every single movement he makes, even as tiny as lifting a finger, was carefully calculated. Even though Kisuke had a great amount of mental fortitude and could probably take some more beatings, Yoruichi knew he still had his limits and she wouldn't wait for that limit to be reached.
Knowing Kisuke, Yoruichi knew that he wouldn't stop until he's either barely capable or he's finished his job, so she had to personally take action to stop him.
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On the fifth day since they'd arrived at their destination, Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Kuroka returned to the 47th floor and immediately went straight towards the lakeside of the lava lake.
While looking at the bubbling hot matter, Yoruichi asked, "Can your body take the heat of the lava? If not, both Kuroka and I are gonna help you."
Yoruichi asked since she knew that Kisuke couldn't cover himself with any protective energy.
Kisuke, on the other hand, didn't immediately answer but instead crouched down and dipped his hand in the lava without hesitation.
For a whole minute, Yoruichi and Kuroka only quietly watched Kisuke's hand sizzle in the hot bath before he lifted his hand, showing that it was red, but not burnt, "Looks like I can take it. So the secret room's under this?"
"Yep," Yoruichi answered as she and Kuroka covered themselves with Reiatsu-Ki and Ki respectively.
Kisuke then started undressing as there would be nothing left since he can't protect them, "I'll need you to lead me by hand, though. Since I can't really sense much."
Kuroka kept Kisuke's clothes while saying, "You should really make some burn-resistant clothes later."
Yoruichi grabbed Kisuke's hand and dragged him to the lava, diving in. Kuroka also soon followed and the 47th floor returned to its former stillness.
After five minutes of swimming, the group entered a small crevice. A few more minutes later, all of them got out of the lava and into a small cave with a small pond in the middle.
Kisuke looked back and saw that the lava was being kept out by an invisible barrier, the same as the seawater being kept out of the Dungeon. Furthermore, the temperature inside the cave was actually a bit cold. One could only describe this spot as a different world from the outside.
AN 10/27/2021:
And that's everything from me, for now.
I'm really sorry for taking so long.
Have a nice day~!
Editors:
28th00: Burn-resistant clothes? But… It’s lava? Or is it Magma? I don’t know which is which inside the Dungeon with it’s non-euclidean geometry. Anyways, they’d be ripped apart if they didn’t turn to ash. Lava is really dense, being molten stone and all stuff.
Goyya: That’s why it’s one incredibly secret place. Not just enduring the heat, but also rip through that liquid rock.