Why're the girls on my team so strong only when they're after me? It's the second time just today I've almost been thrown into the next world (overreacting).

"You already got that Tyrant Tooth Blade just yesterday, so don't go starting fights for some hu-ouch!" - Garami

"One sword here and one sword not there means I'll only get one sword instead of two-ouch!" - Mira

"Stop struggling so much. You're only extending the time needed for the first-aid medicine to work." - Carion

"That's right. Stop the futile struggle and accept your destiny!" - Lily

I hate words like 'destiny' and 'faith'. And it's just some medical ointment, don't go chunni over i-iiiitt hurts!

"That stings! Be more careful with that!" - Garami

"Khu-khu-khu. Taste the vengeance of my meat skewers!" - Lily

I told her, that wasn't me... whatever. It's better to move the subject than to butt heads with them anymore. My poor cranium's had enough for one day.

"Vengeance or revenge, whatever. Since we're so far from any big-eared sneaks, let's get down to Dungeon business." - Garami

"Dungeon?" - Carion

Oh yeah, haven't gone through the details with him yet.

"Well, you see-" - Garami

"Garami's got a Dungeon Core from beating the big watery snaky." - Lily

"Now I understand. So the base you talked about before the Haunt was that." - Carion

...My time to shine...

"Snap out of it." - Mira

*Bang*

Ouch! And right on my bump...

"Yes, the reward from that 'snaky' was a Dungeon Core. And with this, I'm aiming to build my own home." - Garami

"I see. Good for you."

"And I was planning on letting my Guild be the co-owner of it, but if you're not interested-" - Garami

"Garami, did you know you look fabulous with those bruises? Like, a whole new level of coolness." - Mira

Stop the fawning, you know that I'm weak for that.

"...Garami turned into a pimp." - Lily

"Now, now, every man(?) wants to have women fawn over them." - Carion

Oi, you guys don't wanna have a share of the Dungeon? THE Dungeon?

"What's so important about having a Dungeon even? Aren't you supposed to destroy them, not own them?" - Lily

"Destroy them?! The living source of treasures and riches?!" - Mira

"Now, there are some strange ideas you have there Mira, but she's right! A Dungeon can produce anything you want-["Monster meat!" - Lily]-well, that too. But the monsters are on our side. Don't eat them." - Garami

"Buuuh..." - Lily

"Seriously, don't eat them." - Garami

"Better get a leash on her when we build the place." - Mira

I like this Mira. Helpful, smart, and not shy at all. If you catch my drift.

"Ehm, I still do not know how helpful a Dungeon would be. Would it not be more pain than gain with it? With invaders and all." - Carion

"I'm glad you asked that. Cause I've got a fool-proof plan for that problem! It's gonna be hard starting it up-["Then I have to say no to it." - Carion]-let me finish explaining before you start dissing it!" - Garami

I took out a map from my storage and spread it out on the ground. It showed the Noterra continent with all the regions divided and colored. Velantas, Avalar, Solomar, the Dragon Graveyard, the Yanxiong Mountains, the Kampela archipelago in the west, the island country of Wakoku located to the north-east, and much more.

Most of the southern parts of the map were colored black and labeled "undiscovered", due to humanity yet having breached the three regions that surround southern Noterra, with one of those regions being the one I pointed at, which was going to be the location of my Dungeon.

".........Garami. That's the desert." - Mira

The area I was pointing to was the dessert region Ranson, colored in a dusty yellow on the map and marked as "inhabitable".

"I know that, but I've got an idea: What're the two biggest reasons for Dungeons not been destroyed? Except when they're too big to be conquered." - Garami

"...When the Dungeon's too far away from humanoid civilization, making one go into the red due to travel expenses?" - Mira

"When the Dungeon makes more good than hurt, which makes the government in that area protect the Dungeon?" - Carion

"When one's not earning anything from the Dungeon, so it's a pain to even crush it?" - Lily

"Okay, I didn't think about that last one, but yes. To have your Dungeon free from brawn-for-brains idiots, you need to have your Dungeon located somewhere in nowhere or make it too attractive to have around. Therefore, I'm planning on doing both, by building an Oasis-type Dungeon in that desert." - Garami

"...That sounds great! but..." - Mira

"But what?" - Garami

"...What's an oasis?" - Mira, Carion, & Lily

I have to start from there?!

---

"I see your point. This 'Oasis' sounds like it will be priceless for adventurers who want to cross the desert." -  Carion

Water is the most valuable you can get in a desert after all. Especially if the desert in question doesn't have any natural oasis. The wildlife there's adapted to the massive drought with only a few rain days a year to collect water from.

"Then, we're going to the Ranson region then?" - Lily

"Not right away. We still need some more materials to create the Dungeon. This is a list over the stuff I want to use." I told them while showing them the note I had made in the Kigal-Note:

• Dungeon Core of Water (Important!) (Have it)
  • It has a high water-attribute, necessary for the oasis-part.
• Metal-material (Semi-important) (Have it).
  • To build buildings.
• Plant-material (Important!)
  • Necessary for the oasis-Dungeon.
  • The plants need to withstand some level drought, even with the water generated from the Dungeon.
    • Something like palm trees?
• Ghost- or Death-attribute material (Semi-important)
  • Desert area + Ghost- or Death attribute will make it easy and cheap to summon Mummy-type undeads.
    • Cheap workers.
• Sand- or Earth-attribute material (Optional)
  • To ease the costs for high-level monsters typical for the desert. 
    • Strong workers.
• Guild Permit Emblem (IMPORTANT!!!)

"You are not kidding with this Dungeon." - Carion

Glad you like it, cause someone's gonna have to stay home and ensure no one's messing with it. That's the perfect job for the lazybutt Carion. He's more of a strategist-type anyway, so guarding the Dungeon will fit him better than dragging him around when the rest of us travels the continent.

"How many of these things can we use for the Dungeon again?" - Mira

"Five of them, plus the Dungeon Core. As the Core I have has the water-attribute required for the Oasis-type Dungeon, we have some more leeway for the remaining materials." - Garami

Good thing the requirement was that "the Dungeon requires the water-attribute" instead of "requires items with water-attribute as materials". 

"The plants are required for the Oasis as well, and the [Guild Permit Emblem]'s also important, and having habitable buildings is a must, so we have to use the metal-material." - Garami

"Then the question is what type of plants, where to get the emblem, and what to chose as the two last materials?" - Mira

"If you summarize it, then yes. But we can ignore the last two materials, as we only need a desert area, the water-attribute, and plants to create an Oasis Dungeon." - Garami

I'll still aim for the best materials ever if possible. Not that I can say anything when I'm clueless what kinda plants I can use. This is more realistic than the Mountain Dungeon with hot springs. Turns out that those are a dime a dozen, and adventurers regularly enter the mountains in search of those Dungeons. Better to make one they will depend on than one that they can enjoy. Being able to do both won't hurt either.

"One question: is that Core-thingy strong enough to make one of those 'oasis'? The Ranson region is known to be the aridest place on the planet." - Mira

"If you doubt it, then you can see it yourself." I said while taking out a treasure chest from my storage. It was made of blue metals with black hinges and corners, and a golden keyhole. No key's needed.

=====================================================================

Item Name: Disaster Chest of Water

Rank: A

Type: Guild Decoration/Treasure Chest

Owner: Garami

Durability: 1000/1000

Weight: 100

Decoration Effects:

• Water-attribute damage dealt: +10%
• Water-attribute damage taken: -10%
• Proficiency increase for Water-attribute skills: +7%
  • Proficiency increase for skills of component attributes including the Water-attribute: 3%

Treasure Chest Effects:

• Indefinite Storing (Limited)
  • Capable of storing items for a limitless time.
    • Items stored will not be affected by outside forces.
  • Limited to the following items:
    • Corpse of Glavras
    • Dungeon Core of Lerna

Description: A chest given as a reward to the one who felled an Ultimate Disaster. Only the owner of the chest can open it, and only the Guild that the owner is the Master of can be granted the chest's blessings from the gods.

=====================================================================

I haven't opened it until now since I was afraid that someone would try to steal it if I carelessly let it be seen inside the city, but out here should be fine.

*Creeaack*

*WHHOOOOOOO-!*

*Clank!*

What the heck was that? Did the corpse ferment inside the chest? A large amount of... something, came gushing out of the chest when I opened it. It felt like a burst of wind, but that couldn't be it. I turned back to see the others... where did they go? I then noticed that some of the cactuses where shaking. That, and Levi's too big to hide behind anything here except for the giant cactus.

"What are you guys doing?" - Garami

"Wha-wha-what was that?!" - Mira

Oh, Mira's teary face. That's a treat to see.

"The gust of wind?" - Garami

"What 'gust of wind'?! That was aether! Damn thick aether! What the heck's inside that box?!" - Lily

A distressed Lily peeped out from a different cactus. Hmm, jailbait's ain't my thing, so pass.

"Aether? Then maybe it was from Glavras' corpse... But was that aether?" - Garami

"G-Garami, did you live your childhood close to a large source of aether before?" - Carion

So said the elf, who tried his best to look unfazed. I can see the golem-creation magic circle in your hand you know.

But a large source of aether? I've always been on the move when I was in the Dungeon, and the few homes I made weren't anything fancy, nor were they close to anything like that either. Or... didn't that quack goddess say I was sleeping for ten years right next to that guy's playground...

"Guilty of charge." - Garami

"I knew it. The girl's got aether recognition problems." - Carion

What the heck's that? Kinda get what it means from the name, but that's a pretty rude thing to say to someone.

"GIYAAAA!!" - Lily

Is it that bad? 

"Monsters! Seas of monsters!" - Lily

"Monsters?" - Garami, Mira, & Carion

We looked over to the west were Lily was pointing towards, and yikes! A damn large amount of monsters came flooding from out of nowhere. No, is there something that covers them? It looks like a mirage..., is it something like my mantle's effect? They are an hour away from us, judging by their current speed. Some of them were black-colored, humanoid-shaped monsters, while the rest were mostly blue and looked like they walked on all four... 

"Garami, I think you need to take a look at this." - Carion

I accepted the binoculars Carion gave me and looked at the monsters... yep. Just my luck. Draugrs. Tons of them. Hundreds even! And the blue guys are...-!? Glavras monsters?! The spiders and the turtles! Why?!

"If I am not wrong, I think they come from the Husk Forest." - Carion

Forest!?

"You mean the Dungeon where no one can get out when entering, and therefore been impossible to clear due to the lack of information? The one rumored to be hunted by ghosts?" - Mira

...Okay, time for a tactical retreat.