章節 22: Running a Dungeon [Part 3]

If I had to estimate when Emily and Ronan would begin to wake up, I would say I had around 30 minutes left to conduct my Dungeon Management duties. Like Orai stated before, the grassland is technically part of the dungeon but you can't take advantage of the [Absorb & Kill] feature until you expand its effective area. The 1-mile radius of grassland was our potential for expansion on the surface. According to the book by Hidarus, you can request an extra 1-mile radius once you reach DM 8 or DL 750. Not only do you have to pay an extravagant amount for it, but Hidarus himself has to approve the request before you even get the chance to hear the price.

As you already know, inside the 1-mile radius were friendly, passive mobs that wouldn't attack unless provoked. Rabbits, foxes, deer, birds, elementals, golems, and other mythical creatures were now in the grassland. As you may have noticed, more exotic creatures are beginning to inhabit the safe area that is being projected by the dungeon. However, this also means that higher tier predators are also watching from outside the circle. More than likely, the mobs were using the 'sixth sense' that allows them to know if an area is safe or not. In Orune, most mobs have an advanced intuition that's partly influenced by their magical potential. For example, S-rank creatures have an absurd amount of intuition that makes them hard to capture, kill, or otherwise confront in the first place. On the other hand, you don't need to be all that skilled to hunt a D-rank creature. That's part of the reason why the dungeon doesn't give any points for the killing and absorption of D-ranks.

Not only was the outside of the dungeon favorable to the edible animals that we needed for food but the higher tier mobs meant that we had access to the higher tier resources that we needed to thrive. As a summoner who relies on some of these components, this was an important benefit of increasing our dominance in the region. When we first started, the mobs were mostly D-rank and were meant to be used as food sources. Now, on the fourth day, we had a plethora of mobs in the grassland, with the average rank being cited as B- by the Dungeon's System. However, outside of the grassland were an additional amount of numerous beasts. Such additions included Blood Tigers, Corrupted Titanoboas, Dark-Lightning Griffins, Blood canines, Cursed Beings, Twisted Demons, etc. Since they were the predators of the B- prey, they were actually a diverse mix of either B or B+ rank.

Many more variations of beasts were currently waiting for the chance to strike, as the Dungeon cited that our overall 'Wildlife Threat Level' increased to B rank. As you would expect, as your dungeon increases in power, so do the threats that could attack it. This was mostly the result of a natural evolution in Orune but it was also due to Hidarus. Having stronger and more powerful mobs surrounding a dungeon helps to keep out any useless adventurers that would instantly die in the dungeon. The adventurers who could survive the threats that were surrounding the grassland were good enough to enter the Dungeon that occupied that area. Since Hidarus was the God Of War, I wasn't surprised by his tendency to create conflict whenever possible.

With all that in mind, I hopped on Obsidian's back and teleported us to the outside entrance of the Dungeon. It seemed that the aforementioned mobs only recently arrived at night, as Ronan and Emily would have most likely died if they ran into them. Actually, they would have most likely died before they even reached us since they were only C+ adventurers. Luckily, the more aggressive mobs only came out around the late evening so they would have to travel most of the way back before then. Regardless, I pulled up the DP Store while on Obsidian's back. While I was doing so, he began patrolling around the dungeon to learn the scent of the new mobs that came to the grassland.

To purchase land for the dungeon, you do so by purchasing the radius by the Foot, Yard, or mile. I chose to pick the radius by the Foot so the following list was presented to me:

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Dungeon Radius Expansion Costs

1 Mile (5280 Ft) - [37,500 DP]

1/2 Mile (2640 Ft) - [18,750 DP]

1/4 Mile (1320 Ft) - [9,375 DP]

1/10 Mile (528 Ft) - [3,750 DP]

1/20 Mile (264 Ft) - [1875 DP]

1/50 Mile (106 Ft) - [750 DP]

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I went ahead and bought the Radius Expansion to increase the Dungeon's radius to 106 feet. With this purchase, I felt that we could start the process of establishing structures for the Dungeon. This was also one of the reasons that the Dungeon needed an architect. You could choose the prefab structures that the Dungeon Store had available for purchase or you could have your architect construct a more personal structure for your dungeon. These structures could be a variety of different things; from Walls, Outposts, Mining Caves, Houses, Castles, Farmland, Towers, Towns, Cities, etc. The only limit that you had was the area that you purchased. Dungeon structures could not be placed on land that wasn't apart of the Dungeon's effective area. You could also place your Dungeon Mobs in the effective area without issue and they would still receive the blessing of the Dungeon. However, the only mobs that could leave the Dungeon were mobs that were B rank and above. Anything lower than that was way too weak to survive on their individual magic reserves. All Dungeon Mobs must return to either the Dungeon or Effective area exactly one week after they leave or risk the possibility of disintegrating into magic dust. However, this meant that I had the ability to conduct raids with the Dungeon Mobs that I accrued since Orai and I are considered the Dungeon itself. Thus, I could bring an army of mobs with me if I felt that the Dungeon was being threatened and protect the Dungeon without being in the Dungeon.

"Taking Proactive measures allows the Dungeon a greater opportunity thrive".

Those are the words that Hidarus said in his book.

But as I saw a suspicious man watching me from the forest, I noticed something strange.

He was wearing formal attire and had a large, sinister smile on his face. As he walked towards the Dungeon, I noticed that he was transporting suspicious 'Cargo' that was walking with him. With this mysterious person were 6 young females of various races, which seemed to be a mix of human and Demi-human races. Two other men were also pushing a large cage behind him, which housed a woman with Demon horns but a beautiful face. However, all the women had strange matte-black collars around their necks, with a Pearlescent pearl in the center of them. As the man got closer, Orai quickly teleported next to me and Krotos flew down from his nest. Judging from their reactions, it seemed that this man was as bad as I thought.

As he stopped 10 feet in front of me, the man who looked to be in his late 20s quickly introduced himself. As he lit a cigar, he began to speak in a calm and confident voice.

"Hello, my boy! I see that you are the Dungeon Master of this Dungeon! May many intruders die a despicable death for their transgressions! My codename is 'Predator' and I'm one of the Slave Traders in Orune. My sources tell me that you are one of the newest Dungeon Masters on the continent, so I wish to build a fruitful and profitable partnership with you! Men like us have to stick together, right?", Predator said.

That was his first mistake.

Who the fuck said I was scum like him? And why is trespassing near my Dungeon?