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After jumping into NFO for an eternity, Bloom greeted me in my Player Room.

"Welcome back, Master." - Bloom

"Hiya. Now, how's things going?" - Garami

"With the Dungeon? Nothing. The Migrants have yet to appear in the Dungeon." - Bloom

Gah, those lazy bums! And when I've been so busy last night updating the Dungeon to fit the new rules! These, by the way, are:

1. Dungeon Points are now passively regenerated up to a certain point, the DP-cap. It takes 10 hours to recover from 0 to 100% DP.
2. One can also obtain DP by sacrificing items, even if they exceed the natural recovery's capacity. 
3. All Dungeon Levels, Floors, and Zones grant 100 points to the DP-cap. The first Dungeon Level is not counted, by the way. 
4. Dungeon Stats can now only be upgraded if you lower the DP capacity by some points. To raise it from E to D one has to spend 100 points from the DP-cap. To reach C-rank, 300. And the prizes keep on growing and growing!!
5. Other items seem to also reduce the DP-cap. Like the "Last Floor Boss Area" Facility. That alone drains 1.000 DP from the score...
6. A new Dungeon Stat has been introduced. This "Luck" stat increases the quality of items produced in the Dungeon and improves the traps as well. To put it simply, it is the item/trap version of the Monster stat. 

To circle these rules, I spent most of the night upgrading the Dungeon so it would have the highest DP capacity possible. One way was to add beneficial Facilities. Beneficial for the invaders, that is. Treasure chests, safety zones, and even stuff like the "Glutton Kitchen" facility. The one that I had on the 1st floor has its effects updated so it can provide the Dungeon's DP-cap with 10 points for each Food Booth facility that is placed on the same floor. The Kitchen is needed to place the booths now, by the way. 

Since the first floor was never big on defeating invaders in the first place, I added 2 more Booths to that floor and enhanced the Glutton Kitchen from I to IV. That gives me 40 * 4 Booths, in other words, 160 more DP just from the food alone. 

There is also this "Chip Chests" thingy that unlocks Treasure Chests for the 1st floor. The "chests" provided by this facility are closer to abandoned vaults from the fallen civilization that the Sin Ruins (the theme's name changed from Sin Urban. No idea why) theme is based on. Those old piggybanks can be broken open to get the "money" inside.

This fake money only works for the money-requiring facilities like the Kitchen or the Booths. On one hand, it reduces the possible income from the invaders who visit the shops. On the other hand, we're getting a nice 20 DP increase for each floor I add these chests to. 

Other than that, thanks to the "early start bonus", I was allowed to upgrade 3 different Stats to rank D without reducing my recoverable DP. That's 300 points, or 3 Dungeon Levels' worth, saved. I did purchase a few new zones and floors along with adding more facilities for increasing the DP. At this rate, I'd be able to continue developing the Dungeon without having to worry about lacking DP, even if I have to increase the Dungeon's status values. Right now, I'm focusing on-

"But Master, were not the rewards of this 'event' you participated in something that belonged to everyone in the Guild?" - Bloom

"Huh? Those guys have their points to purchase rewards with." - Garami

"Really? With how much you spent on the Darkland Fort, I assumed you had stolen some of the hard-earned rewards from your Guildmates." - Bloom

"As if I'd do something that lowly! Don't underestimate me! I just used most of my spending on the Fort." - Garami

"...Master, you will start falling behind the other Migrants if you do not start developing your powers in combat." - Bloom

"It feels like I'm doing all the hard lifting in fights, either with the summons or with my own two hands." - Garami

Besides, I did spend some reward points on a pretty strong skill, ku-huhuhuhu~. 

"And that's not important right now. If there are no invaders here, how can I check how the new traps work in real life?" - Garami

"You just have to wait until the adventurers return. I heard that the hastily built village that they used as a resting area was destroyed when some of the frog monsters inhabiting the Darkland Plains found them too much of an eyesore." - Bloom

TCH! The damn frogs, no, maybe the devs decided that having a city too close to a Dungeon would cause too many problems? Many light novels related to dungeons have cities centered around one (or when the dungeon is the city itself) to be too overpowered. There are many rare and "endless" materials and monsters that you can use to farm both levels and equipment... Maybe it was good that they took down that village.

"Then I guess we got some free time until the Migrants return, filled with Dungeong diving desires." - Garami

"In this case, 'desires' is indeed the right word..." - Bloom

Can't people add some R-18 brothels to their urban fort Dungeon without getting the stinkeye from their maids nowadays? Where is the world going?

"Anyway, I will be busy in the next few days. Bloom, deliver this letter and arrange a meeting with me and the recipient. I'll try to squeeze in some time for that." - Garami

"Okay...?" - Bloom

This should give me some more options in the future. Don't mess it up, Bloom. As for me, I should work on the player side of the game.

---

A little while later, I was standing in the port town of Barataria. Specifically, inside one of the training areas in the local Adventurers' Union hall. The only ones here are me, Aino, and Rolf. 

"No one else could make it?" - Aino

"It is early in the morning. Even I have to log off later." - Rolf-Prix

"Me too. Garami, are you free?" - Aino

"Money or work aren't any problems for me, luckily. Leave the meeting with the Homura Thawing Committee to me." - Garami

"Thanks, Guild Master. Even if you did mention something that piqued both my interest and my ire. Are you one of those a pro gamer IRL?" - Rolf-Prix

"Nothing like. And it's bad manners asking people about their IRL info, Rolf." - Garami

"True, true. People might start a manhunt for a perverted slime if rumors about you trying to obtain the personal information of pretty girls like our beloved Guild Master~." - Aino

"Why!?!?" - Rolf-Prix

Rolf must be the type that gets slapped by women just cause his compliments came out wrong. Every time. Though, a pro gamer, huh...

No way. I can't imagine myself having that kind of future. I'm good at games, but pro gamers in this age are practically super-humans. Their reaction speed combined with the latest VR technology makes it so that the audience always feels like mortals watching a fight between war gods. Play-backs in slow-motion are almost guaranteed during the fighting game tournaments, or else nobody, the commenters included, won't know what is going on. 

Then again, there is that path...

"What's wrong? Something on your mind?" - Rolf-Prix

"No, nothing..." - Garami

That fake FBI agent only "scouted" me because I look similar to his boss. I'm not good enough to start considering becoming a VR actress. Though... Let's suggest that idea when everyone is together.

"Guild Master, can we hurry up? I don't have that much time to stay logged in..." - Aino

"Oh, right. *Cough*, then to start, let's show our CC accessories at the count of three. One..." - Garami

"Two..." - Aino

"Three!" - Rolf-Prix

At the same time, the three of us revealed an accessory-like item to the others. I showed a somewhat Wonderland-ish pocket watch, Aino had a large feather key strap, and Rolf's was a huge gear of an amulet, literally. 

"Man, as expected, Garami's child has the most luxurious appearance." - Aino

"Who are you calling a mom? And your feather and Rolf's gear look pretty cool too." - Garami

"Don't patronize us. Yours is a reward for defeating that Spring Dragon Guardian creature. It should be painfully obvious it would be stronger, or at least a little more developed, than our Companion Creatures that we bought with the event's reward points." - Rolf-Prix

Yup. What we came here to do was to introduce our Companion Creatures to each other. Too bad Palug, Dawn, Dusk, and Bones had other things they needed to do IRL, so we decided to settle with the people who could come. And even then, these two have to log out almost right away after the meeting. What is up with everyone today? There's nothing big going on as far as I know. Whatever...

The accessories we showed each other act as the "homes" of the Companion Creatures, or the CCs as people have started to call them. The CCs are kind of like genies in a bottle, except here, the "bottles" are various accessories you have to equip to summon and control the CC. 

Whatever abilities the CC can have is virtually limitless, but each unit is restricted to work under 1 out of 4 possible roles: Attack, Tank, Support, and Craft.

Attack is the CCs with high attack power and can be used in battles. The Tank is a living wall that will defend its owner. Support has various tricks to help turn a fight to the owner's advantage. Last on the list is Craft, a non-combat CC role that assists Crafter-line players with their work. 

"Allow me to have the honor of debuting my cutie first~. Come out, Tsurumi~!" - Aino

Aino waved the feather strap like a conductor's baton, and with a flash of light, a large bird, a crane with snow-white wings dressed in a kimono-like outfit, appeared in front of us before preaching on top of Aino's shoulder. 

"A bird?" - Rolf-Prix

"Oh, I think I get it. It's related to the Tsuru no Ongaeshi folktale, am I right?" - Garami

"Correcto, mon amigo~." - Aino

"Ain't that the wrong response when you have a Japanese-inspired theme going on? And why a bird? I don't know about that Tsuru-tale." - Rolf-Prix

"Tsuru no Ongaeshi is about a woman who tries to repay a favor for a man. The only thing she asks of him is not to peek at her while she is weaving the thank-you gift clothes for him, but one day, he ignores this request and finds out that the woman is a magical crane. The crane then leaves the man when they find out her true identity, and that's the end of the story." - Garami

"Now I'm getting it too. That birdie is a Crafter-type for weaving, ain't it?" - Rolf-Prix

"Yes, she is~! And Tsurumi is so cute~! She won't even fly when I watch her weaving~." - Aino

Of course, she won't. Game-wise, that would be the most idiotic restriction to add to a Companion Creature.

That is what I and Rolf are thinking right now, but Aino is looking too blissful as she hugs her feathery friend, preventing us from saying it out loud.

"It's my turn then. Spring out for us, Gearbolt." - Rolf-Prix

Rolf turned the gear around a few times, which caused a second gear to appear like a magic trick. The second gear rolled around for a second before more machinery parts started to appear around it. After a while, a golem made out of broken machines stood in front of us. Its height is around...140 cm. 

"This here is Gearbolt, a Broken Progress Golem CC. It takes in machines to refine its own body so it can act as a shield for me." - Rolf-Prix

"In other words, an eco bodyguard that recycles the remains of your broken experiments?" - Garami

"It better be, because that was my goal when I chose him." - Rolf-Prix

"Isn't he a little short? Rolf is small too, so I understand that he can guard you, but any taller species would find him useless." - Aino

"Gearbolt's body can be reinforced by adding more scrap metal to him. This appearance is his current limit though. I need to upgrade his vessel if I want a bigger and stronger guard when I look for materials for my next inventions." - Rolf-Prix

The next big trend from now on is going to be CC-material hunting quests. Let's have someone else in the Guild look into that while I'm busy with the Homura Thawing Committee. Man, it is so good to have Guild members to share the pain with~. 

"Then it's me as the lucky last. Here goes nothing!" - Garami

I opened up the pocket watch and saw the gears inside it spinning unnaturally fast, giving off a magical light as they moved. A blob of light then jumped out from the watch, and with a dramatic turn and flair, the light ball revealed its true appearance. It was dressed similar to the all-familiar white rabbit from the stories of a well-known wonderous land, but the creature was not a rabbit. It isn't even a mammal. 

It is a spider. Not a realistic-drawn one, but more of a cartoon spider standing on two legs while using the remaining 6 as arms. It had a fancy black tophat with a blue bow, a purple jacket, and white pants. The spider's arms and face were pitch-black, while its eyes had a more shiny glance like polished black onyxes. 

In short, despite being a spider, it looked sort of cute. Its behavior was just as friendly as its appearance suggested, as it bowed to us with grace the moment it was summoned.

"This here is the Wonderland Timelocker. I haven't thought of a nickname for it yet." - Garami

"...Guild Master? Wouldn't a rabbit be more...visually correct" - Rolf-Prix

"Probably. Defeating the dragon unlocked lots of different Wonderland-inspired Companion Creatures, each having a different version depending on what their role is." - Garami

"Then, this is the White Rabbit as a..., an Attacker? Supporter?" - Aino

"Close. It's the Caterpillar as a Supporter." - Garami

"Why the bug!?" - Aino

"And FYI, the other members of the Caterpillar "group" included a Hercules Beetle for Attack, the Caterpillar itself for Tank, and a Bee for Crafting." - Garami

"Now I'm starting to wonder what the counterparts for the Queen of Hearts or the Jabberwock would be like." - Rolf-Prix

"And rather, why Wonderland!? Wasn't the dragon guardian related to the season of spring?" - Aino

"You have Easter during spring, right? And when you think of Easter, you think of the Easter Rabbit. Then with rabbits, you have the White Rabbit and Wonderland." - Garami

"What a convoluted relationship." - Aino

"Forget about the dragon for now. What can this spiderling do?" - Rolf-Prix

"That is... It is easier just to show you." - Garami

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap, motherf*cking crap!! I completely didn't think of that last night! My head was all cloudy from exhaustion after I finished renovating the Darkland Fort! Why didn't I delay the choosing of CCs until after I had a good night's sleep?

N-no worriers... I just need to find out what makes this tick-tock-clock spider tick and tock. Where is that item description page...... Wow. Go half-asleep me. This little guy might be the best companion I could wish for. ...I better keep that to myself. A half-dozen demons + 1 maid would be mad if they heard that.