"The fuck do you mean you have your own interfaces?!"

That's how I genuinely reacted when Dungeon Master 01, Dungeon Master 02, and Dungeon Master 06 revealed to me that they, on their own side, each had their own interfaces. As to how that information wasn't conveyed to me earlier was due to overly convoluted misunderstanding. To be honest, I wanted to make a scene out of all of this, but remembering who I was against, I decided not to. After all, there were six of them and only one of me. So here we are. I guess I should take back what I said about the Ethereal Echo authority treating its wielder unfairly; it clearly didn't.

 

_____________________________

 

[ ???'s Interface ]

 

Name: ??? (Dungeon Master 06)

Entity: Dungeon Core

Designation: Dungeon Master

 

[ Ressource ]

- Raw Manacyte (R.M): 0 / 0

- Mana Available (M.A): 00

- Godhood Potential (G.P) Earned: 00

 

[ Dungeon Master Core Function ]

- Dungeon Visualisation

- Labyrinth Editor

- Resource Management

 

『Expand』

 

[ Spawnable Entities ]

- Guardians

- Spawns

- Spawns Catalog

 

『Expand』

_____________________________

 

Each one of the Dungeon Masters had a similar interface, each with the same values, or to be exact, a lack of them. While I initially didn't know about it, since, well, I simply didn't know they had an interface of their own, it turned out that all this time we had access to one another's interface, allowing me to peek into each one of their respective interfaces.

One thing I've come to note about the Ethereal Echo authority is that while the other Dungeon Masters are essentially me, they are also essentially not me anymore. The fact that they were aware of something that I wasn't aware of is a perfect proof of that. And I must admit it raised some concern in me. I'm not saying that I would've been happier if we were to function as a huge hive mind with me in control, which I guess now that I think about it isn't that bad at all, under the lone condition that I have absolute control but yeah this is getting concerning.

"So what do we do now?"

"Hm?"

"What do you mean, Dungeon Master 00?"

"I mean, you have all your interface now."

"So? I'm not sure if I follow you."

"So, that fixes the problem we had regarding the task distribution problem. You have your own interface; isn't this like a reason for each one of us to focus on each one's 'own' interface."

The silence that followed was tense and intense.

"Dungeon Master 00, you do realize that while you think we're just copies of you, we're still essences."

"We get what you're trying to pull off here."

"I didn't see what you guys are talking about," I denied.

"It's useless to deny it, Dungeon Master 00."

"You're not exiling any of us to a resourceless, spawnless, domainless, and most importantly, GPless interface."

That was actually true. While they had their own interface, they were "clones," if I were to call them that, in a sense where they were just clones of myself. They didn't clone anything of my resources, making their interface the same if not easily worse than I was the day I woke to this form. Back then, I at least already had a bowl-shaped domain, some increasing manacyte, and 90 G.P for me to use.

"I mean, it's your interface, guys, and I'm stressing on the 'your' part."

"Yes. We're not denying the exile part of your plan. What do you want us to do without G.P? It's literally the currency of this world, or at least for us all."

"Sigh... I give, but what do you expect me to do? It's not like I could transfer my GP to you guys, right?"

"Hm..."

"What?"

"Actually Dungeon Master 00..."

 

***

 

Latest update, it turned out that I could transfer G.P from my interface to that of the other Dungeon Masters, just like they could to each other, making the G.P more than ever before. This was one of those non-in-interface things, so I could suspect this being the product of once again the authority unless, of course, it was, at this point I wasn't even sure anymore.

"So, Dungeon Master 00, what do we do?" A rogue Dungeon Master voiced out sarcastically. The worst part is that I couldn't even tell who said it, for I knew for a fact that each one of them was as likely as to be that sarcastic.

"Okay, okay, I get it. We can split the G.P, but let's be reasonable. Can we agree that most of our G.P should remain dedicated to the domain, this domain, right?"

"You're us, you know we think about this. We're not claiming all the available G.P, nor are we claiming all the dedicated G.P."

"The Domain must keep running, harvest, but..."

"If you intend to exile us or exile us to each one of our respective interfaces, you'll understand that we'll take up at least a percentage of that GP the Domain can afford, don't you agree?"

There wasn't much I could do to deny or undermine the Dungeon Master's points, so I was left with no other choice but to give in.

"Alright, alright, let's talk this out and negotiate how this'll be split up."

 

***

 

As we delved into the negotiations, the discussion shifted from one Dungeon Master to another, each presenting their case for a fair distribution of the G.P. It was an odd sight, witnessing multiple versions of myself engaging in a civilized debate over the currency that governed our domain. It felt like a surreal business meeting in which every participant shared the same face and ethereal voice.

One by one, the Dungeon Masters surmised their own proposals regarding how G.P should be shared between us. With each being as selfish as the previous or the next, all proposals were, without exception, rejected by the others. After some time and a few insults thrown here and there, we all arrived at a middle ground.

One thing that, before the negotiation even began, we had all agreed on was that none of our decisions should weaken the domain as it currently is. After all, who knew when I would have to deal with an invader as complicated as the last one? Though I doubted there would be someone as troublesome, one's never too cautious.

So, the G.P we were battling over for distribution was the G.P that I had been keeping in reserve following the 76-24 Ratio. It was exactly that 24% that all Dungeon Masters battled over. The reason I kept that ratio was that I had a feeling that one day I would need some G.P for whatever reason. Now, each Dungeon Master had an interface, and each Dungeon Master believed that today was that day. They thought they were in the right to demand the bigger chunk. Naturally, none, including myself, would agree to that. It took some time, but a middle ground was eventually reached, following that same 76-24 ratio.

So, 24% of my available G.P. would be left untouched, reserved for potential future needs. Surprisingly, each of us agreed on this, and the remaining 76% would be divided between the six other Dungeon Masters. This granted a very precise total of 12.66666% for each Dungeon Master to use and wield as they saw fit—or, to be exact, almost as they saw fit since we also unequivocally agreed on one more thing: each Dungeon Master would design their domain with a unique and different spawn category.

Until now, I had been faithful to only one category, which was the undead. This faithfulness of mine was further increased when I acquired a Dungeon Guardian, providing a boost to all my available spawns, which all without exception belonged to the same "undead" category. Not wanting to miss out on this advantage, I never acquired anything that wasn't undead. However, the Dungeon Masters could do things differently. With their own interfaces separate from the main one, mine, they could acquire spawns of their own, create a domain of their own, and, of course, have a guardian of their own. We thought, since it was similar to how Tusko Vagar multiclassed with several different classes, we might as well do the same in our own way. So, here we were.

 

_____________________________

 

[ ???'s Interface ]

 

Name: ???

Entity: Dungeon Core

Designation: Dungeon Master

 

[ Ressource ]

- Raw Manacyte (R.M): 0 / 0

- Mana Available (M.A): 00

- Godhood Potential (G.P) Earned: 3,231.55

 

[ Dungeon Master Core Function ]

- Dungeon Visualisation

- Labyrinth Editor

- Resource Management

 

『Expand』

 

[ Spawnable Entities ]

- Guardians

- Spawns

- Spawns Catalog

 

『Expand』

_____________________________

 

Same G.P for everyone.