Chapter 2 - Is It Wrong To Try And Build A Dungeon?

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[System]

…

I walked up to the dungeon core and touched it.

[Create Floor]

[Create Dungeon Creatures]

[Delete Floor]

[Delete Dungeon Creatures]

A menu appeared. I slowly stopped touching the dungeon core and backed away. This caused the menu to disappear.

'Dungeon properties.'

[Create Floor]

[Create Dungeon Creatures]

[Delete Floor]

[Delete Dungeon Creatures]

'That was a good test.' I thought as I nodded to myself.

It would be stupid if the reason the dungeon was destroyed was because I was an idiot and thought you had to hold it in order to edit the dungeon.

I instantly chose to create a floor.

[1km x 1km]: 50 points

[2km x 2km]: 100 points

[5km x 5km]: 250 points

[Locked]

[Locked]

[Locked]

[Locked]

[Points: 100]

I believe the second everyone finishes designing their dungeon, the floodgates will open, causing the over a billion player base to try and fit into a few dungeons.

The best bet is to appeal to the low-level players by making the dungeon extremely weak so that the higher-level players get zero experience.

I know missions were color-coded. Green meant easy; yellow was medium; orange was hard; and red was very hard.

If the dungeon is easy, even for low levels, then they'll pile right in and get to grinding.

The first five levels I make have to be unassuming. Make players believe that the dungeon is easy until they get to the sixth level and are unable to leave.

The second I add a floor too strong for them, the dungeon's color will change, but because they know the first five levels are easy, they may believe it's some glitch.

After all, I am here to guard my dungeon core, and I believe anyone under level thirty would find beating me almost impossible.

I immediately bought the [1km x 1km] amount of land. I saw that the menu wanted me to edit the ground around me, but from what I tested earlier...

I waved my hand while thinking about a beautiful place with green grass, a light placement of trees, and a softly blowing wind.

I watched with both of my eyes (my chest eye was weird to get used to) and saw how the landscape began changing around me.

The sun was high in the sky, providing a soft and warm heat, while the sky had only a few white clouds.

This was as close to a garden of Eden as humanity would get. As peaceful as can be.

All that was left was to add an entrance that the players would use to come in and the entrance to the next floor.

I made a large pond near the corner of the floor, the farthest from the exit. In the pond near the bottom corner of the murky water was an air bubble that held a door deep inside of it.

Even if they jumped in, they would never be able to see it.

I grabbed the dungeon core while walking over there. I went to Creatures next.

[Respawning Creatures]

[Non-Respawning Creatures]

[Boss Creatures]

Why would someone choose a non-respawning creature? Were they cheaper?

My walk suddenly paused as I came up with a new idea. 'What if... you could take these creatures out of your dungeon?'

Respawning creatures would be too much for a world to handle, so they must be trapped in the dungeon. Non-respawning ones must be able to exit the dungeon at any time, which would be our main way of attacking.

A smile grew on my face as I resumed my walk.

I would go with respawning creatures for now.

[Imp]: 5

[Hell Hound]: 7

[Prowler]: 20

[Locked]

[Locked]

[Locked]

These were the base choices that the dungeon would automatically generate for you. Who said you had to listen to these overpriced options?

[Customized Creature?]

The second I thought of not listening to the options, I was hit with a customization screen.

Due to having multiple lifetimes, I knew of creatures that would be weak but, in number, would be strong and would fit the design of this dungeon floor.

A white rabbit with beady-red eyes. They looked completely normal besides the large single horn on their heads.

[Great Rabbit]

[Description: The great rabbit looks similar to an unsuspecting albino rabbit; however, with its speed, sharp horn, and razor-sharp teeth, it proves to be a deadly enemy.

They travel in groups and usually tear into anything that has flesh. They make a loud chittering sound when they find prey to alert their others.

When a large snowstorm forms, they gain a secret ability.]

[Status]:

[Level 5]

[Vitality]: 2

[Strength]: 4

[Dexterity]: 11

[Endurance]: 7

[Intelligence]: 1

[Arcane]: 0

[Talents]:

[The Great White Rabbit]: (Locked)

[Cost]: 2 points

I knew I had to lock away any talent I gave them and lower their status until it was almost sad to look at, so they fit the 2-point criteria.

As I finished making the creature, I split open the water in the pond and made my way down toward the doorway.

The waterway closed behind me as I made my way to the pocket of air, stopping the door from being flooded.

Opening the door, my eyes widened. It looked like a boss room, but I didn't create one.

Large chandeliers hung from the massively, tall ceiling, while six large black pillars were parallel to the doorway. At the end was a large throne that had stairs leading to it.

The walls were made of reddish-black stone with a large red carpet leading from the door to the throne.

I'm guessing this was a room to hold the Demon King candidates when they created their first floor. It would be stupid to have the bosses of the dungeon on the first floor because they don't have enough points.

I closed and locked the door to the second floor behind me as I made my way to the throne.

Sitting on it, I bought ten great rabbits. They would spawn randomly on the first floor, and I would have to see about respawn times.

'I still need clothes.'

[Buy/Customize Clothes?]

'So that's how you work!' I thought in excitement.

The dungeon core had barely anything in it, and it seemed to be that way because I had to unlock its features!

Truly enlightening!

There was one thing bothering me. Throughout all of this, my energy hasn't tried to overpower me.

I looked at my skills and noticed something different.

Holding back wasn't at novice anymore. It was now novice+.

Grabbing the dungeon core, I took it to the corner of the room before putting it on the floor. The floor opened up, eating the core, and then returned to its original look.

Now that my dungeon core was hidden, I could worry less. Paranoia is the savior of the fearless.

I walked into the middle of the room. Deactivating my skill of holding back, I felt energy rush into me.

My skin turned dark, and the vein-like lines on my body were glowing a bright neon blue. My hair grew spiky as spikes grew on my shoulders.

I felt a soft breeze generate as small sparks formed on my body, only to dissipate.

It was nice. I felt like I could do anything and had enough energy to do everything. There wasn't a big reaction like I originally thought there would be, but I chalked it up to having low stats.

I need to check my status.

[Name: Boros]

[Level: 0]

[Titles: Demon King Candidate]

[Status Multipliers: 2x VIT, 5x INT, 0.3 all, -2x Holy Res, 2x Demonic Res, 2x STR & DEX (Unleashed)]

[Class: Demon King Candidate]

[Subclass: None]

[Health: 184]

[Mana: 246]

[Vitality: 18.4 (8)]

[Strength: 26 (10)]

[Dexterity: 44.2 (17)]

[Endurance: 13 (10)]

[Intelligence: 26.5 (5)]

[Arcane: 0]

[Armor:

Helmet: None

Chest: None

Gloves: None

Pants: None

Boots: None]

[Abilities: Regeneration (A->S-), Energy Release (D->C+), Energy Control (E-), Marble Control (B-), Power Sensing Sight (S+)]

[Skills: Holding Back (Novice+), Vaporizing Energy Wave (Novice), Semi-Legendary Hand-to-Hand Combat (Novice+)]

[Talents: [Marble of Essence], [Astronomical Energy Reserves], [Nigh-Uncontrollable Energy], [Genetically Perfect], [Prodigy], [Peak of Species], [Survivor of the Harshest], [Unparalleled Regeneration], [Soul Sight], [Soul Eater], [Low-Class Demon Blood]

[Skill Points: 0]

[Ability Points: 0]

It seems that unleashing myself provides a two-time status increase in strength and dexterity. I believe it's only two times due to the amount of energy I'm using passively being so small.

Currently, endurance isn't affected, but I believe if I do go into [Meteoric Burst] when I get it, it may drop my endurance by half.

I could probably focus my energy on an increased output of stats, but I won't as of now. I still need to get used to this form and adapt to passive energy consumption.

I couldn't imagine losing because I unlocked a new form and got trigger-happy enough to charge my enemies, only to run out of stamina halfway.

I began punching the air. I needed to test out the increase. I felt the wind move out of the way of my fist as if I were a speeding bullet.

It was definitely different. As a human, if you punched as hard as you could, then you'd definitely feel a bit of wind move out of the way, but this was weird.

I know I've done this before, but the game can never replicate all of reality. The energy on the tips of my fingers made me feel as if I could keep going forever.

Next was running. I ran around the room as fast as I could. Given a little more energy and a little more of a boost, I could probably run straight up the walls.

I needed more energy, and to get that, I would need to level up. Since I was now a 'player' and an 'NPC' of this game, I could probably grow in status points by training.

I stopped my movement and began holding back my power once more. I was almost out of energy.

Normally, in the game, you can't see someone's experience bar.

Some classes had the ability to check the status of others, and the experience bar wasn't included in the status for that reason.

If you were to kill a player as a player, you'd receive 6 percent of their level experience. At low levels, it isn't worth it, but at higher levels, when people need 100,000 experience points or more, that's a good exchange.

Without a quest, you'd only get 3 percent of a mob's level of experience.

Those rules only change when someone reaches level 100. Then the real grind begins there.

I still needed clothes... but I'm a cheap bastard!

I began customizing only pants as I didn't want to lose more than one point.

A pair of white harem pants, held by a magenta-colored sash. Silver-lined purple blades hang from it.

In the end, I believe inanimate objects or things to eat are rated lower. I wouldn't have been able to get the pants if they weren't.

[Points: 29]

'How much experience till the next level?'

[EXP Needed: 500]

There are still a massive number of things I need to test out. If someone died in my dungeon, would I get EXP? If a creature dies, would I get points for it?

The questions were stacking, but I could only try and train my abilities and hand-to-hand combat. If I needed food, I could always use a point to make some.

[Notice: You shall be marked as 'The 1st' in hell for your position. Your dungeon will open in fifteen minutes.]

[Quest #1: Your job is to survive in this dungeon along with your dungeon core. You have been given an extra-free floor that can form doors to hell and to a meeting room that all 72 clans can enter.]

[There will be five clans per message room. You will only be able to meet the other 67 through the meeting room, and you cannot enter anyone else's dungeon by going through said meeting room.

Each clan will have its own number as its name unless you specifically say your name out loud to the other clan members.

Remember, this is a race to become the demon king! You can destroy other people's dungeons, but no fighting will be had while in the meeting room. There are other spots besides the demon king to obtain, so do not worry if you don't want to be the king!

Form alliances or make enemies. Good luck and don't die!]