Epic of Caterpillar Chapter 44: Dungeon Managemen
We flew at max speed through the Grand Forest, crossing from the first layers to the second and third, were the Blood Forest is.
When we located the Bloody Sacrifice Dungeon, which is inside a big cave, we quickly flew inside and descended towards the last floor.
"Here it is, the Boss Room…"
Zehe pointed out something interesting.
"It seems that the Blood Lake has been decreasing since the boss was killed…"
Nesiphae nodded.
"Perhaps it maintained itself thanks to him"
Rimuru also added.
"Guuu… Its better this way, this blood lake was infecting the whole forest, guuuu!"
The Blood Lake seems to be the production of the former dungeon boss, as it lived completely submerged inside. This type of Lake is not actually pure blood, as it contains a lot of nasty water into it and even the feces of this monster, creating a gross liquid. This is why I never tried drinking this.
Brontes was the only one who did not understand anything that we were talking about, however, she was quite curious about the strength of this boss.
"Big sisters… How strong was the dungeon boss?"
"Oh! Incredibly strong! You see…"
While my wives told the tale of our battle to Brontes, I opened my Item Box and grabbed the Dungeon Core.
"Where should I even stick this?"
I tried sticking it around but it didn't seem to react at all, even on the walls, the floor or the ceiling.
"Perhaps the Blood Lake? Hmm"
I casually dropped the Dungeon Core inside the Blood Lake.
Fluosh!
Suddenly, a bright red light shined through the entire Blood Lake.
"Uaah!"
The red light enveloped the spherical dungeon core, and this core bright red gem started to absorb the entire Blood Lake, in mere seconds, the entire lake was completely dried up.
When the dungeon core finished its meal, it became stuck on the floor of the former lake, and started to shine brightly, its expanded through the entire floor, creating circuit-like markings all around the dungeon floor. These markings expanded outside the room towards the entirety of the dungeon.
When it finished expanding, the bright lights slowly dissipated and a system message window popped out of thin air.
Ding!
| DUNGEON CORE INCUBATION SUCCESS |
| INITIALIZING |
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| WELCOME, DUNGEON MASTER: KIREINA, YOU HAVE BECOME THE OFFICIAL DUNGEON MASTER OF THE: BLOODY SACRIFICE DUNGEON |
| YOU HAVE GAINED 500 DUNGEON POINTS (DP) |
| YOU HAVE RECEIVED A SERIES OF DUNGEON TASKS |
| YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE DUNGEON SYSTEM |
"Oh?!"
| DUNGEON SYSTEM |
| DUNGEON NAME: BLOODY SACRIFICE DUNGEON |
| DUNGEON LEVEL: 1 EXP: 00000/10000 |
| DUNGEON MASTER: KIREINA |
| DUNGEON POPULATION: 0/10000 |
| ASSIGNED DUNGEON BOSS: NONE |
| DUNGEON QUALITY: E |
| DUNGEON MAGIC CORE PRODUCTION: E |
| DUNGEON SELF-REGENERATION: E |
| DUNGEON SKILLS: NONE |
| DUNGEON TRAITS: |
| BLOOD MONSTER AFFINITY | | CURSED MONSTER AFFINITY | | EXTRA EXP |
"Ah! This is the Dungeon System! What can I do with these points?"
| OPEN DUNGEON SHOP? |
| >YES NO |
"Dungeon shop? Yes"
Ding!
| WELCOME TO THE DUNGEON SHOP |
| MONSTERS |
| BASIC BLOOD MONSTER (E) X 50 | | 300 DP |
| MID BLOOD MONSTER (E) X 80 | | 500 DP |
| HIGH BLOOD MONSTER (E) X 100 | | 800 DP |
| BLOOD MONSTER FLOOR GUARDIAN (D) X 1 | | 1500 DP |
| POWERFUL BLOOD MONSTER FLOOR GUARDIAN (D) X 1 | | 1800 DP |
| DUNGEON BOSS (C ) X 1 | | 2500 DP |
| DUNGEON TRAITS |
| SUPER EXP | | 1000 DP |
| MAGIC CORE X2 | | 1500 DP |
| MEGA EXP | | 2000 DP |
| MAGIC CORE X3 | | 2500 DP |
| BLOOD MONSTER BREEDING EFFICIENCY | | 2000 DP |
| ITEMS |
| BLOOD MONSTER TOTEM | | 1000 DP |
| BLOOD MONSTER STATUE | | 2000 DP |
| BLOOD MONSTER MONUMENT | | 3000 DP |
| GACHA |
| SUMMON RANDOM MONSTER (QUALITY E-D) | | 300 DP |
| SUMMON RANDOM MONSTER (QUALITY E-C) | | 800 DP |
| SUMMON RANDOM MONSTER (QUALITY E-S) | | 2000 DP |
"Gaah! So many things… And a gacha?! This System really likes gacha! Agh! I can't never run away from gacha!"
My wives were able to see this window and they approached at me with curiosity.
"Oooh! This is very interesting! Buy some Blood Monsters!"
"Guuuuuu!"
"Nesiphae, Rimuru, we should think this more carefully…"
"Big sister, summon a dungeon boss! I want to fight it!"
I waved my head.
"Sorry Brontes we don't have enough Dungeon Points for that"
Zehe looked at me with curiosity.
"Honey, how do you get more Dungeon Points?"
"Hmm… I think in Dungeon Tasks?"
Suddenly, a system message window popped out of thin air.
Ding!
| OPEN DUNGEON TASKS MENU? |
| >YES NO |
"Yes!"
Ding!
| DUNGEON TASKS |
| SUMMON ANY TYPE OF MONSTER (0/50) | | REWARD: 500 DP/EXP|
| SUMMON MID BLOOD MONSTER (0/100) | | REWARD: 2000 DP/EXP |
| SUMMON HIGH BLOOD MONSTER (0/200) | | REWARD: 3000 DP/EXP |
| DOUBLE YOUR BLOOD MONSTER POPULATION WITH BREEDING | | REWARD: 1500 DP/EXP |
| SUMMON IN THE GACHA (0/1) | | REWARD: 1000 DP/EXP |
| MANAGE YOUR DUNGEON, INCREASING ITS LEVEL FIVE TIMES (1/5) | | REWARD: 5000 DP/EXP |
| SUMMON YOUR FIRST DUNGEON BOSS (0/1) | | REWARD: 2500 DP/EXP |
| FIRST BLOOD MONSTER EVOLUTION (0/1) | | REWARD: 1000 DP/EXP |
| FIRST BLOOD MONSTER RARE VARIANT (0/1) | | REWARD 1500 DP/EXP |
"I can also gain Dungeon EXP with this"
"What would happen when the dungeon levels up?"
"Maybe it becomes bigger?"
"It evolves, guuu?"
"I want to fight a boss!"
"There will be a boss another time, Brontes. Calm down."
"Aww…"
Zehe seemed to understand how this system worked.
"Hmm! Very well, Honey, you should buy the 50 Mid Blood Monsters, using all your 500 DP, afterwards, you will obtain even more DP from one of the tasks, with this DP, you buy even more Mid Blood Monsters to gain even more DP with that task. With this DP you will be able to buy 200 more High Blood Monsters, completing another task and gaining even more DP"
My Zehe is so intelligent! I was always kind of bad in management games, I thankfully have such a smart wife.
"Alright!"
I quickly spent all my 500 DP and bought the 80 Mid Blood Monsters.
| YOU EXCHANGED 500 DP |
| GENERATING MAGIC CORES |
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| GENERATING DUNGEON MONSTER |
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Fluosh!
Suddenly, the Dungeon Core started to shine on a bright red light, illuminating the whole dungeon. From the red markings, countless lumps of red light started to generate, increasing in size.
When the light dissipated, there were countless Blood Monsters of different shapes and forms, looking around the dungeon and interacting with each other.
Ding!
| MID BLOOD MONSTER X80 SUCCESSFULLY CREATED |
| YOU COMPLETED A DUNGEON TASKS! YOU GAINED 500 DP AND EXP |
"They don't seem aggressive towards us… Guuu"
"Perhaps they won't attack Honey, because she is the Dungeon Master, that's a relief"
"But they aren't attacking us either"
"Can I kill them?"
At Brontes question, everyone looked at her.
"No!"
"Aaww…"
I patted Brontes head.
"Maybe later, we need to let them grow stronger and also reproduce"
"I see!"
While Rimuru, Nesiphae and Brontes inspected and played with the inoffensive Blood Monsters Zehe and I looked over the Dungeon System Window.
"Now that we got 500 DP, I exchange them for another batch, right?"
"Yes, Honey"
"Alright"
Ding!
| YOU EXCHANGED 500 DP |
The same ritual as before happened, creating a new batch of 80 Mid Blood Monsters.
| MID BLOOD MONSTER X80 SUCCESSFULLY CREATED |
| YOU COMPLETED A DUNGEON TASKS! YOU GAINED 2000 DP AND EXP |
"Aah! Even more!"
Zehe pointed at the System Window.
"Now, Honey, exchange 1600 DP for two batch of High Blood Monsters which are 100 each, this should also complete another task"
"I see…"
I quickly exchanged 1600 DP and bought two High Blood Monster groups.
Ding! Ding!
| YOU EXCHANGED 800 DP |
| YOU EXCHANGED 800 DP |
Suddenly, a big light covered the whole room, and in a mater of seconds 200 High Blood Monsters appeared, making the big and wide dungeon boss room packed with monsters, giving us almost no space to walk in.
I decided to send the Blood Monsters outside the room, to walk around the dungeon and become familiar with it.
| YOU COMPLETED A DUNGEON TASKS! YOU GAINED 3000 DP AND EXP |
| DUNGEON LEVEL: 1 EXP: 5500/10000 | | DUNGEON POINTS: 3400 |
After completing these task, new task appeared, replacing the previous ones.
| NEW TASKS OBTAINED |
| SUMMON HIGH BLOOD MONSTER (0/500) | | REWARD: 3500 DP/EXP |
| SUMMON BLOOD MONSTER GUARDIAN (0/1) | | REWARD: 1800 DP/EXP |
| SUMMON STRONG BLOOD MONSTER FLOOR GUARDIAN (0/1) | | REWARD 2300 DP/EXP |
Zehe glanced at the new tasks and asked me with curiosity.
"Is there any benefit on having a Floor Guardian?"
I checked on the Floor Guardian on the Dungeon Shop and it explained that having a Guardian per floor would increase the breeding efficiency of Blood Monsters, and make them stronger, which will grant higher EXP. However, this passive boost goes away after slaying it.
Zehe waved her head.
"Hmm, we don't have enough DP to complete the 500 High Blood Monster task, what we could do is Summon a normal Floor Guardian and a Strong Floor Guardian. This dungeon has 4 floors so I guess we have a limit of four. With the gained DP from the Tasks, we can complete the 500 High Blood Monster task… This System is quite easy, its not hard at all, one must just follow the certain tasks given and the dungeon will become stronger and stronger with ease"
"You are right. I wonder when will we hit a progression wall and be asked to pay with real money…"
Zehe looked me with confusion.
"Real money?"
"Ah! N-Never mind… (This usually happened in Earth Mobile Games, letting you advance a lot and then hitting a progression wall, which needed real money to keep progressing. Hahaha!)"
I did as my smart Zehe said and exchanged 3300 DP for two Floor Guardians, a normal and strong one.
| YOU EXCHANGED 3300 DP |
Fluosh!
For the creation of a Floor Guardian, the dungeon core charged a blinding red light, and from the dungeon markings, two big lumps of red light appeared, increasing in size until the light dissipated.
These two Floor Guardians had familiar faces. The normal one was the Chimera Floor Guardian that we fought some days ago, and the strong Floor Guardian was the "Furniture Golem" boss that was a pain in the ass to kill because of its massive size and resistance.
| YOU COMPLETED TWO DUNGEON TASKS! YOU GAINED 4100 DP AND EXP |
| YOUR TWO FLOOR GUARDIANS HAVE INCREASE THE BLOOD MONSTER BREEDING SPEED AND STRENTH |
| DUNGEON LEVEL: 1 EXP: 9600/10000 | | DUNGEON POINTS: 4200 |
I ordered these two floor guardians to stay on the first two floors for now.
Zehe didn't even took her eyes outside the window when the two floor guardians were summoned. She seems addicted to this game-like mechanics.
"Now! Honey! Summon the 500 High Blood Monsters!"
"S-Sure…"
| YOU EXCHANGED 4000 DP | | DP REMAINING: 200 |
Fluosh!
Suddenly, the whole room was infested once again with hundreds of Blood Monsters.
"Uagh! So many!"
| YOU COMPLETED A DUNGEON TASK! YOU GAINED 3500 DP AND EXP |
| YOUR DUNGEON GAINED A LEVEL! |
| DUNGEON LEVEL: 2 EXP: 3100/20000 | | DUNGEON POINTS: 3700 |
| YOUR DUNGEON HAS EXPANDED, YOU GAINED EXTRA SPACE |
It seems like each level up will expand the dungeon size, increasing the inside space of it.
After completing the three new task, newer tasks showed up, these were way harder.
| NEW TASKS OBTAINED |
| SUMMON HIGH BLOOD MONSTER (0/1000) | | REWARD 7000 DP/EXP |
| SUMMON STRONG BLOOD MONSTER FLOOR GUARDIAN (0/2) | | REWARD 4000 DP/EXP |
| PURCHASE BLOOD MONSTER TOTEMS (0/5) | | REWARD 4000 DP |
Zehe eyes shined after seeing new tasks to complete.
"Ooh! Now… Honey, can you check what Blood Monster Totem do?"
"Y-Yeah…"
I opened the Dungeon Shop and saw the information of the Blood Monster Totem item.
| Blood Monster Totem: install this totem anywhere in your dungeon to increase the breeding speed of your Blood Monsters by 10% each |
The Blood Monster Statue and Monument do the same, but with better percentages.
Zehe nodded.
"I see! So that's is what it can do, very useful. Sadly, we don't have enough DP to buy all 5 of them… Honey, for now buy two Strong Floor Guardians!"
"Okay… (Zehe is getting pretty obsessed over this… I would already see her as one of those people that spends all its money on mobile games if she was from Earth… Hahaha…)"
I quickly exchanged 3600 DP for the two last Strong Floor Guardians.
| YOU EXCHANGED 3600 DP | | REMAINING DP: 100 |
Fluosh!
Two big red lights appeared out of the dungeon markings and slowly grew larger.
These two were another familiar face. One being the Blood Monster Basilisk and the other being another Chimera, however this Chimera seemed stronger and had more heads.
I decided to keep the strong Chimera in this floor and sent the Basilisk to the third floor.
While doing all of this, the rest of my wives have been playing with the Blood Monsters and Brontes was using the Basilisk as a mount. The monster didn't like that very much but it couldn't really do anything about it.
| YOU COMPLETED A DUNGEON TASK! YOU GAINED 4000 DP AND EXP |
| DUNGEON LEVEL: 2 EXP: 7100/20000 | | DUNGEON POINTS: 4100 |
After seeing these points, Zehe was disappointed.
"Ugh… With 4100 DP its not enough to buy 5 totems… It's not fair!"
There it is, the progression wall.
"Well, we will have to buy 4 for now and leave the Blood Monsters breeding for now"
"B-But… I wanted to complete more tasks…"
I hugged Zehe and comforted her.
"I-It's okay Zehe, it's not something bad"
I quickly exchanged 4000 DP for 4 Blood Monster Totems.
| YOU EXCHANGED 4000 DP |
Fluosh!
Even for items, the dungeon core was the responsible on producing them.
Four small lights came outside the dungeon markings and became solid totems made of wood, they were decorated with Blood Monster heads and were painted with blood.
As we left the dungeon, we placed these totems on the four floors.
As we flew back home, I glanced over the dungeon.
"We left a lot of Blood Monsters and Guardians; they should be able to take care of themselves"
"I wonder how they feed; they don't need to eat?"
"They obviously need to eat, probably hunting small monsters around the Blood Forest…"
"Guuu… A pity we couldn't eat some, guuu"
"I wanted to beat some bosses…"
I tried to cheer my wives up.
"Now, now, no need to get all sad… Let's go back home to eat lunch, afterwards, we can train together"
Brontes and Rimuru liked the idea and smiled at me.
"Sounds good, guuuu! I want to level up a lot so I can evolve again, guuu!"
"Hnn! I want to evolve again too…!"
"I guess it sounds nice… Sigh…"
However, Zehe still seemed quite depressed over hitting that progression wall.
"(There is nothing I can do against her sudden addiction… Time is the only cure…)"
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Back home, we joined the rest of my servants on their midday lunch.
I told all my servants about our new dungeon, and the possibilities of training there. However, because these Blood Monsters were way stronger, only servants that have reached a certain level of power could join and be safe inside, so rookies were not allowed.
For now, I will leave the dungeon alone to settle down and increase its Blood Monster population. I can check it any time through my System Window.
"I don't really know at which number of Blood Monster population we should start hunting. I would wait until its population reach at least three times its actual size… We also must be careful on the grind, and always leave some Blood Monster alive"
Zehe nodded.
"Don't worry, Honey. The more Totems and Statues we install inside the dungeon, the more breeding speed these monsters will have, to the point of not having to worry about their population slowly diminishing. After this, we would be able to buy Dungeon Traits that can increase the max EXP learned and Magic Cores given"
"Good point, Zehe. (It seems like the delicious food recovered her a little)"
Nesiphae analyzed what Zehe said.
"If what Zehe is saying is really true, then this whole Dungeon is pretty much a gold mine, isn't it? Those Magic Cores and the EXP are very valuable resources. We could even make a big business based solely on this. Supporting our whole Kingdom"
That's a very intelligent observation coming from Nesiphae! I was kind of surprised.
"V-Very well said, Nesiphae! I didn't think of it in that way!"
Our population is increasing steadily every day, and with the coming of new races and them settling and having babies here. We are on dire need of a stable resource point like this dungeon!
Before continuing our training, I went to see Kusuri and Kajiya on their workshops inside the castle.
Before leaving the dungeon, I killed three different Blood Monster for experimentation. These three were a Lower, a Mid and High Blood Monster. I extracted their Magic Cores and bought them here so Kusuri can investigate them.
When I entered their big workshop, a lot of the royal Alchemist monkeys, trolls and goblins greeted me, offering gifts of any type. Which I had to accept to not disappoint them.
They gave me mostly beautiful accessories and potions.
Kusuri and Kajiya stopped doing the