And we're finally seeing the Dungeon! Yahoo! Finally free from the vacation! ...I need a better vacation...

We stuck around to enjoy the festival on the last day of the Grand Auction... but honestly, I'm no festival-person. The large crowd knocked me out mentally before I could reach the first stall, so I had to spend the last day in my room at the hotel while the others enjoyed the party... cheaters!

I prepared the Mercenary for take-off the first thing this morning, and we're finally seeing the Dungeon... and there's something big close to it!

I had the Skeleton driver take the floatship closer to the large object. Soon after, we saw several figures walking around the huge chunk of... something. It's Alf, the samurai-Automatas, and many Miner Goblins and other humanoid members of the miner-group, except the undead.

Before the ship had stopped completely, Flint had already jumped off and ran to the big... rock? It's a rock, right? It's shining with some strange, grey colors, different from normal silver. Its size is around... 6 meters high? Big enough to make my neck hurt trying to look over it.

"Alf, what is this?" I asked, ignoring the Lizardman who had started to investigate the rock with such excitement that I'm kinda scared he will catch fire from pure enthusiasm.

"Welcome back. And for your question... a shooting star." - Alf

"Come again?" - Garami

"A shooting star. It almost felt onto the Dungeon." - Alf

Seriously!? Damn, that was close...

"If Iron hadn't deflected it, we may have been one Dungeon Floor fewer now." - Alf

".........Sorry, but I think I heard something strange there. What did Iron do?" - Garami

"Let me start from the beginning: A shooting star was about to strike the Lake Dungeon, but a membrane-like thing that covered the Dungeon killed most of its momentum. Then, Iron who was waiting for the star for some unknown reason used his shield to send the meteorite flying away. And no, I don't know why, and don't want to know why Iron wanted to show off like that." - Alf

......What the heck's that crazy armor thinking!? 

---

Later, in the meeting room in the mansion located on Dungeon Floor 2-5:

"-and that is all that happened to us during this vacation." - Noire

"...Strange. I thought vacations were supposed to be more relaxing than that." - Mira

Me too.

The gang has gathered for the first time in two weeks now and going over what has happened during the period we were away. Alf had developed the Dungeons just like I instructed him to do, even expanding the Dungeons when it reached Lv.6. He didn't do it with the Volcano Dungeon, as that would just end up with an underground floor, nor did he develop any of the new floors. He wanted to hear my input first.

There have been some troubles here too. Like how a party from Velantas tried to invade the first Dungeon. Led by the cowboy-hat and Gust outta all people... nobody was hurt though, except for some giant scorpions that were "mined" by the Miners-gang, whatever that's supposed to mean.

It's not all bad news though. One of the Zombies, the female one that was the one I had first created, had obtained a special evolution by eating some Essence-item like the Essence of Heresy I had used before. The Zombie-girl's now a Jiangshi and has a body that's stopped "rotting", recovering her lost body-parts... Noire's looking like jealousy itself as she stares at the Jiangshi. Keep calm, girl. Keep calm.

"We also destroyed a hive with Desert Bees~. Or, I did~." - Mira

"You don't say." - Garami

"It's true, even if the opponents aren't so impressive." - Alf

Desert Bees are E-ranked monsters that live in the desert. Around the size of a grown man and can handle the lack of water in the desert, but that's that. They're not as strong as the Volcanic Bees we have in the Volcano Dungeon... but I guess that crushing a whole hive is impressive on its own.

Those bees picked the wrong opponent big time. Mira's fast, she's got the [Army of One] title that improves her speed even more, and her Lightning skills are perfect against swarms in the air. I can't do anything but pity those bees.

"We used the Volcanic Wyvern to finish the hive itself though." - Revi

Understandable. While not as much as the Fire Dragon, our wyvern has impressive firepower that justifies its racial rank of C. Bet the hive turned into a globe of melted rock and wax after they were finished with it.

"Iron goofed up and got on the bad side of a group of scorpions after that." - Mira

"Objection. Those crawlers were looking for a fight." - Iron

"We used the Wyvern again after we lured the scorpions to the Dungeon and used them to train some of the subordinates." - Revi

Poor scorps. Namu.

"Enough about the Wyvern blasting the desert to ashes. What did you get at the auction?" - Mira

Straight to business as always. 

"Several Skill Scrolls, lots of weapons to work with, several monster-materials..." - Flint

"New clothes and accessories..." - Noire

"Two new birdies for me~." - Lily

"New books, with at least one for everyone, and a new bonus for the Dungeon." - Garami

"Huh?" asked everyone. Didn't I mention it for Noire and the other two?

"The [Dungeon Master] title got an upgrade after I defeated that Dungeon Core-man I mentioned before, which also came with an extra 5 DP and another bonus-option to the Dungeon." - Garami

Though, the extra DPs came from various Dungeons that had been destroyed all of a sudden, likely connected to the death of the Chaos Warlock if we're to believe Blot's information-gathering powers and deduction. 

"Ooh, that's interesting. Is it possible to increase the CP-limit~?" - Mira

"Nope." - Garami

And the Sprite's interest disappeared like clothing on sale.

"What can you chose from?" - Revi

"All the stuff that was possible to take when the Dungeon reached Lv.5, a new Dungeon-type, and a new attribute. Planning on taking this new attribute after finishing some other stuff." - Garami

The new Dungeon-type's useful as well, but I wanna save that for later. Getting to know how to use two different Dungeon-types at once will be too much for me. Just the number of new subordinates I can create is making me shiver...

"Then, for our next point of business; what shall we do with that huge chunk of junk in our backyard?" - Garami

Obviously, I'm referring to the meteorite... or shooting star or whatever we're calling it.

"Garami, calling it 'junk' is too much." - Revi

"I agree. That huge nugget of Meteorite Iron is too valuable to be called 'junk'." - Flint

"Huh?" - Revi

"Huh?" - Flint

Ooookay? Are they on the same wavelength or not? I had them explain in turns, starting with Flint the smith.

"Meteorite Iron is an umbrella term for any interstellar metallic objects that arrives on Terra Sol. The massive amounts of aether that the meteorite is exposed to when it reaches the planet will forcefully mutate it into a type of ore that's completely free from any kind of impurities while retaining a high degree of aether, which is useful for crafting specialized weapons and items that does not play on the materials' special characteristic." - Flint

"In simpler terms, you get metal that's useful to create items specialized to the user, rather than items that are made to draw out most of the materials' characteristics?" - Noire

"Exactly." - Flint

"And your story?" I asked Revi. Surprisingly, it's not her who answers.

"It's because of this guy," said Alf while taking something out from underneath the table.

"...Zzz..." 

A... bear? Polar bear? It's got white fur and a black nose, but parts of the fur look like they're decorated with crystals of ice. Its ears are strangely round... and cute. And it's sleeping like a log. Is it hibernating?

"What is this? It's so cuuute!" - Noire

All animals are cute when they're small. Don't state the obvious. 

Hmm, an E-rank monster? 

"This child was hiding in the meteorite. After Iron deflected it, this one crawled out from an opening when we came to inspect the meteorite. And it kind of got attached to me..." - Alf

"Yes! It's terrible to take this child's house away to make weapons with!" - Revi

"Even if it's slapping you every time you try to get close to it?" - Iron

"E-e-even then! This child just needs to get used to people!" - Revi

Excuse me, but I think Alf's a "people" last time I checked.

"This is a Polaursa monster. They are Ice/Space hybrid monsters that are born either on the moon or sometimes from meteorites like the one outside. The odds for the latter to happen are astronomically low though. But I wouldn't say that the meteorite is this one's home." - Flint

You don't say... SPACE!? As in outer space!?

"Really?!" - Revi

"That's what we've been trying to tell you all this time..." - Mira

"...Well, if Alf's getting an interplanetary monster Tamed properly, then there's no reason for me to get in the way. Make sure to train that cub well." - Garami

"Eh, me? ...Fine." - Alf

The cub looks like he's having some pleasant dreams the moment I gave that instruction. Let's hope he's gonna grow into a heavy-weight for the sake of the Dungeon.

"Then, is there anything else on the schedule?" - Garami

"Nothing except for one question." - Iron

Oh? Iron's the one who speaks up. That's rare.

"How is the Meteorite Iron supposed to be worked with?" - Iron

That's... a damn good question. That metal sounds so high-tiered that we can't expect anything of rarity "Rare" or below from it.

"We can't. At least for now. I need to train my abilities as a smith first before I even dare to work with that treasure." - Flint

O-okay... how are you supposed to do that.

"Luckily, I'm able to evolve thanks to Garami's battle with that Core-Warlock or whatever he was, so the increase in stats should help." - Flint

"You don't say. What are your options then?" - Alf

"Greater Lizardman, Fire Lizardman, and Metal Lizardman." - Flint

? I get Fire Lizardman, and Greater sounds like a straight upgrade, but Metal?

"We Lizardmen can evolve based on the attribute-related titles we may obtain. In case the attribute is a component-type, we can evolve into either of the basic attributes that make up the component attribute." - Flint

Oh, right. The Smithing attribute is Fire + Metal.

"Can Lily evolve as well?" - Revi

"Yes... but I have only two options." - Lily

Considering you need to absorb the abilities of 10 different species of the same monster-type, that's impressive enough. 

Lily can evolve into Growth Chimera (Beast) or (Lizard). The former comes from all the monsters from the former temple Dungeon, and the other is from all the snakes, including the Vile Viper. The former grants her an increase to her physical stats, but the latter is better in inflicting status ailments.

Just having to choose either one's a tough decision for her, but the next evolution apparently takes in the traits of another monster-type, so she should focus on the one that works the best with her current abilities.

"And there are so many things we need to look through as well, so Flint should take his time in understanding the properties of that thing." - Noire

"You want to use some of it as well?" - Mira

Noire looked away with a faint blush. Hey, you're a Goldsmith. Don't get embarrassed over wanting some fancy metal to work with.

"In any case, there's no need to rush, so simply do your current work at a pace that won't lead to troubles. Dismissed!" - Garami

---

Damn, whenever I'm on vacation or back home, there's a mountain of work to do!

After sending off the others to do their things, I started working on upgrading the Dungeon. The bonus-ability is put on hold, but improving stats always comes with getting new monster-species to look over, test out, and determined their cost-efficiency. Even more so when it's the Subordinates stat itself that's being ranked-up.

And most important of all, thanks to [Dungeon Ruler], I can name the Dungeon! Normally, the Dungeon will be named according to the Adventurers' Union or the gods watching over the World System, but no way am I gonna sit here and wait for some lame name to be slapped onto my Dungeon! The different Territories will gain their own names afterward. And the name I've planned is:

Mwa-hahaha! The Damavand is a mountain on Earth that's said to seal Azi Dahaka, the hypothetical S-rank evolution of the Zahhak! This gives me the excuse to stay here! I can just tell people I'm researching this place since it's related to my Extra Skill. Brilliant! And the name's damn cool!

...Yeah, I'm still a chuunibyou. 

In any case, the number of new monsters is...

......

...............

TOO LONG!! 

I should be happy about there being so many monsters to chose from, but there's a limit to everything!!

Damn, let's take a breath and clear my mind. Instead of forcing the Dungeon to accept all the monsters listed here, let's focus on some special breeds and ignore the others for now. If we're conquering a faraway Dungeon in the future, I can put some of the other monsters to guard that place. Yes, let's do that. Starting from the E-ranks. No need for F-ranks or lower.

Then, starting from the undead... The E-ranked Red Skeleton and Green Skeleton, respectively the offensive- and the movement variant of the Blue Skeleton, and all three seem like good choices with further evolution-lines. They all need 50 CP though, but that's costs that I can afford.

Add the two new guys as front-line soldiers, then use Blue Skeletons and Ghosts as magic-users... niiice. I like that. There's nothing impressive with the Zombies, but I could put them in a Monster House or something, I guess? If I could unlock that Jiangshi, then the golden age of the Zombies would have started...

While I'm unsure what kinda undead it is, I also got my hands on the Corpse Dragon! They cost 60 CP, but I'm gonna train them to unlock the Skeleton-, Zombie-, and Ghost Dragon evolutions!

...Also, there's a new Ghost-type monster my chuuni-soul is screaming "get this guy!!", so... Living Sword (40 CP), you're hired! Also, the Living Shields (45 CP). Obviously, we gotta add Living Armors (50 CP) as well, or else Iron's gonna sulk!!

For the D-ranked undead, we only have the Lesser Phantom, a Ghost-type undead. Some of the more active Ghosts have evolved into Lesser Phantoms and according to Alf's documents, they are a straight improvement of the Ghost-species... let's add some of these while encouraging the lower-ranked Ghosts to search for more unique evolutions. CP-costs are...90. A little cheap for a D-rank without any discounts, but I'm not complaining. 

Sparing no time, I summoned one right away. If I should describe it, it's a Ghost that looks human? His skin is deathly pale, and you can see through him a little. He's wearing a noble's clothing, along with those domino-masks, I think they're called.
Ability-wise, I have to say he's worth the CP. Especially the many tricky skills he comes with, like [Poltergeist]. He also has the ability to slip through walls, making him extremely valuable if I wanna annoy the invaders.

After dismissing the Lesser Phantom, I started to look at the E-ranked Arachnids. One that caught my eyes is the new Trapdrop Spider. A creature that can live in the water and spin its webs down there. We've finally got a trap-specialist for the lakes! And with the discount from the Water Sub-attribute, they only need 33 CP to be summoned. Basically loose change. Therefore, I summoned one right away.

Hmm, it's got fewer skills than the Phantom, but that's mostly due to none of the F-ranked spiders being able to evolve into one of these. Most of this guy's skills are dedicated to underwater strategies, so that's no surprise. It still feels like it would lose in a battle with the other E-rank spiders. Its tricks and traps are better though-
Appearance-wise, it's a dark-blue spider around the same size as a pig. It has a teardrop-shaped mark on its back that's light blue in color. Other than that, it's pretty much your everyday spider.

I let that guy go and moved to the D-rank Arachnids. Hmm? Sandstalkers and Arachinaras? They've been pushed back by the Reha Phraga and Ushi-Oni, so I've given up on them.

Back to the crawlers. the only D-ranker that I can make from this monster-line is the Grotto Scorpions for 85 CP. Quite the steep cost-increase from the Cave Scorpion. It's strong, so I'm gonna keep having these on hand. 

For the demon-line... a lot. Limited to the E-ranks, we have Lesser Fiends (40 CP), Dark Phantoms (25 CP), Reha Phraga (45 CP), Reha Aridna (40 CP), Greater Demonia Bat (45 CP), Demonia Minyarda (50 CP), and Ushi-Oni (45 CP), just to start with the ones that are already in the Dungeon thanks to the monsters evolving into them. 

There's also the Joro-Gumo, a yokai-variant of the Arachne monster. They need 40 CP to be summoned and can be used with the Reha Aridna to create clothing. Maybe we can strike a deal with the clothing city?

I'll also keep on with the humanoid trio of Zerbreuses, Dark Elves, and Succubi... and Incubi. Happy? The Lesser Fiends are nice soldiers, so I'll have a few of them around too. The Dark Phantoms are cheap and deadly, so I'll mass-produce them as guards for the Dungeon.

Reha Phragas will be the land-trap specialists, with Lesser Mimics, Mimics, Demonia Gorogois, and Peretots, acting as bait or living traps to assist them.

Greater Demona Bats and Demonia Minyardas will work as an air-defense.. but I'll keep the ratio 5:1. The Minyardas are better as leaders for the bats than soldiers, according to Alf's studies. 

Ushi-Onis... can be used as sub-bosses in the Dungeon. Their power is deadly in the smaller tunnels. Sadly, they're so bad at cooperating. They're bad with any weapons except clubs as well.

I'm also capable of summoning various other demons, such as ogres related to the Darkness- and Water attributes, but I'm honestly content with my current team. Kinda sad that there are no Darkness Ogres. Those would be useful... well, got the Lesser Fiends. No biggie.

For the new D-rank demons, on the other hand, I have the evolution of the Zerbreuses, the Malpherus. And only for 80 CP. Warriors that can use magic and demonic abilities, just for 80 CP? Let's not think about it. They're strong with some training.

Unfortunately, they're the only D-rank demons I can bring out. Guess I need to upgrade the other stats to D if I want more. And I do! Still, there's also the option of getting a C-rank stat with either Subordinate, Treasure, or Facility...

Speaking of Facility, are the preparations done by now? 

---

A little more than an hour later:

"Time to get this party started!" - Garami

"Starting it with a bang!" - Revi

"...And why're you here?" - Garami

"Because everyone said that you are about to do something amazing with the second Dungeon, so I came to watch." - Revi

"That's fine... I guess? But even I don't know what's gonna happen, so stay on your toes." - Garami

"Roger-dodger!" - Revi

Someone's happy that I'm back. Alf mentioned that Revi had been bored without any other girls to hang around with. Mira's constantly hunting for materials with the monsters, and the female monsters... aren't the kind that Revi here wants to interact with. Not sure if I can be classified as a "girl" though...

What I'm planning on doing here on the Oasis floor is simple: making use of the D-rank bonus from the Facility stat. In simple terms, I'm creating a tailor-made Dungeon-type.

Basically, once Facility reaches rank D, one can fashion a new type of Dungeon-floor. The new floors are based on the various data regarding the current Dungeon, such as the inhabitants, the number of floors, the items created, invaders defeated or let escape, and so on. 

To be honest, our Dungeon's definitely weird from the point of the world, as we've invaded and conquered several rivals all around us, not to mention recruiting many of those Dungeons' subordinates. That's why I don't wanna add the new Sub Attribute from the Ruler-bonus to the mix. It's already scary what the current results will be. No need to add another ingredient to the witch's cauldron. Wait, Revi's the witch, not me.

The reason why I'm here, in the second Dungeon, is because it's gonna be where the new Dungeon-type is created will automatically have all its floors changed to that type. I can change them back to Cave, Mine, or use FP for some "rental Dungeon-types" like the Underground Lake, but what if the place turned into a poison swamp? That's why we've emptied the second Dungeon, plus it's guarded on all fronts, so no invaders will reach here. 

"Now I see!" said Revi after I explained it all to her.

"Then, will you create a Boss monster after that? You can make a boss now, right!" - Revi

"Someone's looking excited." - Garami

"Of course I am! Even I thought the scrap-dragon was awesome while I lived in Tir na Nog!" - Revi

R-really? When that thing could have killed you if it noticed you? ...This dragon-girl's got more guts than I first thought.

"That's my plan. Getting a boss out, I mean. But not right away. To summon a boss, I need to spend 1,000 CP for a C-rank boss, which is the lowest level I can get, and I'm gonna use 1,000 CP now for the new Dungeon-type." - Garami

"Hmm, so bosses are expensive to hire." - Revi

"More than you think. You need to also permanently lower your total FP with 100 for each boss you summon." - Garami

"100 FP!? And permanently!?" - Revi

No wonder the Water-Knot didn't have any traps~. Well, probably not. That place was definitely not playing by the rules. 

"Plus, the boss summoned is random." - Garami

"Eeeh~!? What's up with that!?" - Revi

"The procedure is simple but annoying. You chose one of the Dungeon's monster-lines and a random monster of that line that fits the selected Dungeon best will be summoned." - Garami

"Where's the fun in that!?" shouted Revi while swinging her arms in displeasure. I'm all with you on that part, little dragon.

In any case, the talk about bosses will have to wait. Now, it's the time of confrontation! Come at me, you crazy Dungeon!!

When I activated the "Personal Dungeon" ability of Facility D, consuming 100% of my total CP in the process, four screens similar to the System Message Windows popped up in front of me.

"Wow! As expected of Garami! You have four different Dungeons that fits you!" - Revi

Y-yeah... am I so weird I need four Dungeon-types? Come oooon...

This first one is... damn freaky. Is the grudge of Tir na Nog haunting me or something? Speaking of, I've never maintained my weapons either, have I? 

And this "Miasma", it's gotta be based on those two Aura-skills of me. The Evil-one and the Darkness-one. 

The status-changing effects aren't that much unless we're talking about stats up in the thousands, but the real strength of this Dungeon-type lies in the Miasma. Anything that's not already dead's gonna suffer continuous damage and status ailments. Unless you're the chosen hero with the protection of the goddess (lol). 

Hmm? "Ruins from a different world"? Can I get a picture of that? Oh, I can...WHAT?!

This is... Earth? No, it's wrong. The "ruins" are ruins alright, but they look like a post-apocalyptic metropolis on earth. Though... it seems that it's only faking the scenery. The cars lack number-plates, and the billboards are empty. That green-looking fog's probably the Miasma. It's completely a post-apocalypse stage!! Did all the creation of Earth-goods lead to this?

"Wow! Garami's personalized floor looks awesome!" - Revi

This... is bad. This kinda Dungeon will gather the attention of researchers and such, and there are prolly materials they can harvest from this kinda floor, but Migrants are gonna be a pain! They may even seek to conquer the Dungeon if they think this place is a clue to return home!!

......Let's look at the other three options.

OIII!! What's this floor supposed to... ah. Is it because my "childhood"'s been one huge game of survival? The desert around us must have mixed in... and it's still post-apocalyptic!? Why!?

D-damn... I better expect the other two to have the same punchline and take a serious look at this thing to distract myself from the future mess...

"Survival of the Fittest" gives a boost based on how much percentage of your HP that you've lost divided by 2. Taking 50% damage will give you a 25% boost to all stats, but recovering until the HP-loss is at 10% means the boost gets reduces down to 5%. 

The Feral-ailment from "Feral Instincts" is like a weaker Rage. Your physical abilities increase, but you can still use skills and magic. The bad part is that blood still goes to your head, so you're more likely to get hit with a nasty counter-attack if your enemy is of the nasty kind... like me.

"Desert Drought" looks OP. Even if we ignore that attribute-based power-up, just causing the invaders to retire from thirst is nasty! And I bet I'll unlock monsters like the Desert Skeletons just by owning this Dungeon-type.

The floor looks like a huge desert with large buildings from a modern city spread around the floor. The buildings look like they can collapse without warning from the wear and tear over the years... or so they appear to be.

"This one looks cool as well... but kind of dry..." - Revi

Hmm... This one's gimmicky, but it's strong. Let's look at the last two before I decide something.

Are you insulting me!?

Damn, Revi's eyes are literally shining as she looks at the picture showing an example of the Dungeon-type. It's a huge city is made of black materials, with some hints pointing towards Earth here and there, such as broken light poles and cars, and many of the buildings are made of former buildings from before whatever catastrophe that's supposedly happened there. There's no castle though, but it's probably gonna be housing the Dungeon Core. What is that, the Big Bad's castle?

I kinda expected it, but you could let me down this time, Dungeon. The third post-apocalyptic Dungeon in a row...

If the first Dungeon was based on my Necromancer class, Aura-skills, and Poison attribute, and the second one is based on my experience in the Water-Knot, then is this based on the Assassin class and my race? A demon sounds like they're from the "Horror-type".

And? The final one is?

I'm the one who wanna cry!!

Okay, this gotta be based on Weaver and Alchemist! The picture shows an area not that different from the Lake Floor of the third Dungeon, but urban buildings are sticking up from the lake. The road and islands of the lake seem to be made of dark concrete as well.

"*Sniff*, so sad..." - Revi

This girl's damn empathic. 

In any case, this is one heck of a floor if I wanna improve Water-type monsters. The Silence ailment is damn bad news as it prevents you from using any magical abilities until it's cured. And this strange ability that strengthens Artisans... should I put Flint in this Dungeon?

Damn, all these floors are both troublesome, impressive, and embarrassing. No matter what I take, I'll both lose and gain something. Not choosing something would just result in me wasting away a thousand CP, plus these abilities are leagues above normal Dungeons, even when counting the Volcano.

However, I already know which type of Dungeon I want. And that is...