Claiming The Dungeon (1)

'Congratulations, you have conquered this dungeon! You can now claim it for yourselves.' 

Right after the staff's voice rang in his head, a bundle of light appeared right in front of Kalle before disappearing, revealing a treasure chest inside it.

Before doing anything at all, Kalle grabbed his staff first from the goblin's carcass. He felt vulnerable without it and he didn't like that feeling.

Looking at the treasure chest, Kalle got the urge to instantly open the chest, just like any other man's instinct when seeing a treasure chest, but he refrained from doing so before asking the staff.

He didn't want to risk doing something foolish and might possibly ruin his effort to claim the dungeon and make it disappear from the vicinity of his apartment.

'Staff, is it okay for me to open this?'

'Yes.'

With the staff's confirmation, Kalle wasted no time as he excitedly opened the treasure chest that was half as big as himself.

Different from when it first appeared, there wasn't anything fancy happening when Kalle opened the chest. It just creaked open and revealed stuff lying inside of it.

The first item that Kalle noticed inside the treasure chest, which was also the most numerous item inside it was yellow pebbles.

The pebbles were slightly bigger than golf balls and they scattered all over the bottom of the chest.

Kalle grabbed one of them and put it inside his inventory by following the staff's instructions.

He then opened his inventory to see the name of the yellow pebble.

'Low H-rank Monster Core'

Just like Gilgamesh's gift, the monster core also had a note from the staff below the name.

'Note : Consumable. Increase strength.'

Kalle then grabbed another yellow pebble from the chest, put it in his inventory, and checked once more.

'Low H-rank Monster Core

Note : Consumable. Increase Vitality.'

"So there are different types of these things…" Kalle mumbled to himself before he decided to grab all the pebbles and put all of them inside his inventory.

Seeing his inventory, he saw that the yellow pebbles were divided into 4 slots, each slot containing different types of pebbles.

He learned that other than the monster cores that provided strength and vitality, there were also monster cores that gave him Agility and Spirit Bonus.

Strength, Vitality, and Agility were pretty self-explanatory, but the Spirit one was quite ambiguous. So he asked the staff.

'Spirit increases your capabilities with mana. Your mana pool would increase the higher spirit you got and you would also be able to manipulate mana easier.'

"I see… So that's what I should be looking for the most if I want to be able to use more spells."

Kalle wanted to try consuming one of the monster cores to see what he would feel, but the remaining items inside the treasure box piqued his curiosity.

There were two remaining items when the 25 pebbles had been pulled out from the chest.

One of those items was a mask, one that was as dark as the dark mana that the goblin mage had used before.

Not only that, the mask looked like the top half of the goblin mage's skull. A skull that was pitch-black in color.

Kalle felt the same eerie vibes from the mask just like when he saw the dark mana and he almost wanted to throw the mask away.

But remembering how hard it was for him to clear the dungeon and get the treasure chest, Kalle decided to at least see the name and note of the mask by putting it inside his inventory.

'Cursed Goblin Shaman Mask

Note : Wearable. Able to protect the user from minor curses'

Remembering how scary it was for him to get his whole body invaded by dark mana and also blinded by it, Kalle instantly knew the value of the eerie mask that he just gotten.

Kalle then picked the mask out of his inventory and held it in his hand.

Staring at the mask that had a look as if it would curse its wearer, Kalle began to doubt whether it would give him curses instead.

But he trusted the note the staff gave him and decided to wear the mask.

When the mask touched his face, Kalle could feel dark mana coursing through the mask.

But that was it.

It was as if the mask was containing the dark mana from going haywire and just kept it circulating all around the mask that looked like the top half of a goblin's skull.

'It feels quite uncomfortable because I can sense the dark mana… But if this could help protect me from curses then I would wear this any day of the week…'

Kalle then familiarized himself with the new feeling of a half-mask sticking onto his face, which was quite unusual for him since the mask just glued itself to his face without any straps or whatsoever securing it to his face.

'I'll get used to this sooner or later…'

Kalle then moved on to the last remaining item inside the treasure chest.

Unlike the yellow pebbles and the cursed mask that caught his attention due to their eye-catching appearance, the last item inside the treasure chest was very ordinary-looking.

It was just a simple old tattered scroll.

He then put it inside his inventory right away to see what it was.

'Skill Scroll : Recall Weapon

Note : Consumable. Use to learn the Recall Weapon skill'

It took Kalle several seconds to think of it, but he soon remembered the skill that might be named Recall Weapon.

'It's most likely the goblin warrior's skill that enabled it to pull back its bone axe after throwing it away.'

Kalle also wanted to learn the skill and try it out for himself, but he remembered the main reason why he came inside the dungeon in the first place.

He had left his sister alone in the apartment while he went inside the dungeon.

He even had slept for a few hours inside it, which made him unable to predict what was happening outside the dungeon all this time.

The only thing that he knew was that the dungeon he was currently in was the one closest to his apartment complex and he needed to get rid of it to keep his sister away from danger.

If in the moment he went clearing the dungeon another dungeon popped up even closer to the apartment complex, then Kalle had to make sure that his sister didn't get caught in the aftermath of it.

'I need to make sure she is safe first.' 

Kalle then put aside all his curiosity and asked the staff to continue the process of claiming the dungeon and making it disappear from the vicinity of his apartment complex.

'Staff, tell me what to do next.'

Instead of explaining it in words, the staff sent images in Kalle's mind, just like how it had taught him to contract his first monster.

Kalle then walked a few steps away from the treasure chest and followed the instructions he had been given.

Kalle stood tall and raised the staff up high.

Pushing the staff as hard as he could, he stabbed the staff to the ground beneath him while speaking loud and clear,

"With the authority given to the Dungeon Sovereign, hereby I, Maverick Kalle, command this dungeon to reveal itself!"

--------Author's Note-------

Since this novel is participating in a WPC, 10 Power Stones in a week = 1 bonus chapter!