3. Building spree. Or how I suck in small steps.
My groceries got isekaied ?
That somehow made sense to me. I spent 50000 mana for kinda poor but workable crops. A 10m long and 5m wide patch of potatoes filled the new vegetable garden. A single row of tomatoes and about 5m of garlic also appeared. I won’t even try to question how things work here, when tomatoes grow in an instant and were now ready to eat. Oh, and now they were called food nodes.
I must admit, I had no clue what I'm doing. But this was first tier fun. I saw the elf girl approaching the tomatoes. After a brief while, I heard her voice.
"Excuse me, Mr Dungeon? Are these red things edible?"
"Yes." I replied simply, but she seemed to not hear me. After a while, she decided to pick one and eat. After a few bites, she sat on the ground and started eating tomatoes one after another.
Hmm, can I build a bakery? I thought I would need it if I wanted to have bread. Oh, I can build one. Nice.
50000 mana. Fine. A blueprint is available? Don't tell me...
Yes. Garlic bread.
Ladies and gentlemen. I did it. I brought the secrets of garlic bread into this brand-new world of mine.
I'm no baker, but even I can tell you need more things for garlic bread than garlic itself. It would be good to get wheat for flour and sunflowers or rapeseeds for oil. Sunflowers would be better.
*Don't overdo it. Eriar*
I ... No. No time for questions now. The clock is ticking. Also, overdid? Eriar, my dude. I was offended by this poor excuse of a castle! And I'm still building moderately.
Anyway, I want a sunflower field, let's say... 10m long and two rows wide? 5000 mana? Sure. Near the potatoes please. Excellent.
Cucumbers? 5000 mana. One row near the tomatoes at once!
"Iiiik!" I heard the surprised yelp of the elf girl when a bush of cucumbers sprouted from underground.
I swear I didn't mean those cucumbers to look inappropriate. It's just the pressure of time. I swear!
Ok, so now, carrots. One row. 5000 mana.
Next to the cucumbers. I'm not a farmer, but I guess it can work when magic is involved. What next...
Wheat and hops!
In section 8 of the lower castle ... So let's build the small gate connecting section 8 with the middle castle and cut it off from the lower castle. 285000 mana?! Those enchanted stones cost a lot...
Fineee!
Apples and pears wow... 10000 mana for just five trees each? It's robbery. No matter. I want my fruits. Nectarines! You know, the furless peach. 5000 for five trees. Deal.
Wait. Beans. There will be beans. White and red. Near the wall. Why the hell do beans cost two times what other stuff costs? Whatever. Beans are a must. 20000 mana and off it goes. Raspberry and strawberries in the corner of the fruit garden. Also 20000 mana. Maybe that's because I have so many food nodes?
Maybe. I'm still the noob dungeon.
The Elf girl was devouring most of the fruits like there would be no tomorrow. She must have been hungry, I guess.
Hmmm... I still have 18h of free build time.
Where was I before this senseless farmer shopping spree?
Spawners! I have huh... New spawner? Later. First… birds. I will need 45000 mana for changing vultures to eagles. Pfff. Not even a discussion.
Hmmm... I'll put their spawner in a tower near the food gardens.
Yeah. Looks legit.
That leaves me with two slime spawners and a new one... Snake spawner?
Okay...
Whoa. I can evolve slimes from different spawners in different ways. That's actually cool.
So I can place one slime spawner in the servant quarters of the main castle and dump 1 million mana to max them.
I grinned and started laughing.
After appointing a scion, this spawner will produce slimes of an epic rarity called the maid and butler slimes. The chance of spawning them is 5%. These special slimes are suitable to be servants of the legendary dungeon. The first slime to spawn from this spawner is 100% guaranteed to be a noble slime.
It flows great with my vibes. Noble slimes let's goooo!
A scion? Hmm, sure. But I don't have any slimes. Oh, there it is.
My good humour was interrupted when a spawner that looked like a copper bathtub filled to the brim with green goo spawned my first slime. He looked more or less like a human in a black suit you would expect on a butler. He had short, white hair and a white goatee. However, his eyes are strange. They were sky blue without any features except a black dot in the middle. I wonder how long it will take to get used to it.
Besides that, he looks great. I would call him Sebastian. The head butler had to be named Sebastian.
Aaaandd he disappeared. He was back in the spawner, evolving into a scion.
Hmmm... This looks good. Elemental slimes.
After appointing a slime scion, this spawner will spawn rare slimes that gain random elements. The chance for spawning elemental slime is 5%. The elemental slimes will roam your dominion, protecting you from invaders and enriching mineral nodes. Most of them prefer caves.
A cave?
Advanced dungeon building that allows a dungeon to build underground complexes. Underground caves may have treasures desired by adventurers who will dare to risk their lives to dig them up from their depths. Costs 100000 mana. Has to be adjacent to a wall or natural hill.
Thank you, sir system. I want one, please. In section two, near the wall of the middle castle.
Okay... Then the slime spawner goes to the cave. Where do I appoint a scion?
Sebastian? Uhum...
That leaves me with a snake spawner.
Where should I place snakes? Middle castle? But where? Pfffff... Granary? Sounds like a plan. Granary and warehouse attract rodents; snakes eat rodents. And I need to evolve them.
I'm dumping all my mana asap. I have a feeling that when the free building time ends, I will lose all mana over my limit...
Which levelled... Nice. My current limit was 100000.
Doesn't look that impressive while I spend mana in millions right now.
Anyway, snakes. I have no idea where I want to evolve my snakes so I'll leave them right now and hope I'll have enough mana to evolve them later.
Back to my eagles. Can I have an eagle scion? Sure I can. Let's dump some more mana into their nest. Hmmm.
DUDE! That's sick.
I can have storm eagles. For 800000 mana at this point. Sweet!
I waited for my first storm eagle to spawn while watching their spawner. It was a simple big nest. Disappointing, to be honest. But then my fully grown storm eagle spawned. It looked like every first spawn from each spawner is guaranteed to be the best spawn. I'll take that without complaints.
My thunder birb is lit. It's a huge eagle that can easily lift a full-grown cow. And I see flashes of lightning flickering over his feathers.
I'm short on time now since there was only 18h left. Time flows slower when I wasn’t building and this made sense somehow.
Anyway, the Birb.
I would call it Gwaihir the Windlord, but the Amazon lawyers would find me even if I got reincarnated.
So, plan B.
You will be Arani the Thunder Lord.
And he went back to the spawner for hatching.
I had this strange feeling that I forgot about some important buildings. I quickly looked at my castle from above and gathered my thoughts.
Fuck!
Windmill and brewery. Mr System, don't kill me with costs, I beg you...
400000 for both. Nice. Brewery will be in the middle castle near the bakery. And windmill pfff... Hmmm. That looks legit. I'll place it in the section wall between the wheat and hops field in sections 8 and 7.
Ummmm Mr. Shop? Can I have chickens?
Oh, I can. A spawner?
A domesticated small bird that lays eggs and its meat tastes excellent cooked.
Available only for 17h.
Non-combat spawner. Hunt node.
Cost 50000 mana.
That's fair, I guess? Hmmm. To section 7, you go.
Wall time.
I want the wall between sections 8 and 7 to be just 2m tall and made from regular stone. Make a wide gate there.
Excellent. Playing Stronghold is paying back now.
Thank you. The walls between sections 7 and 6 are enchanted stone. After a little shuffle with them , I was still good with mana. In section 7, I could build some more homes and it took only 50000 mana for 10 homes that back on earth I would call big. A two story building with 3 bedrooms and bathroom on the floor and with utility room and living room, kitchen and bathroom plus two or three utility rooms on the ground floor. Not bad. As I told you before, I'm a generous dungeon.
All of that left me with the feeling I was still missing something. But I can't build an armourer or weaponsmith. It's all unlocked in the blacksmith or the forge building. But I can't upgrade it. No time for it now.
System, what other buildings or rooms can I build?
Watch post is used as an early warning system. It's also available as an upgrade to your towers.
Cost 10000 to upgrade the tower or 100000 to build a new one.
Ok... I'll upgrade 4 towers, I guess... To the four sides of the world!
What else?
I scrolled over most of the buildings since they had little to no sense now and skipped to rooms. And immediately I found three rooms that I decided I must have. A library, a war room and what drew my attention the most…
Dungeons can store their mana here. Arcane crystals of mystic power illuminate the darkness of the dungeon's inner sanctum. From here, all the power of the dungeon hails and is stored.
Cost- mana you pay during the free build time
***Error*** Plus ten million. It's my gift for you, my chosen mortal. You can also upgrade this room later on. You got this, my champion. Eriar. ***Error***
So... I now had 2700000 to spend. Mana vault for two million mana in the -1 level of my main castle, please!
Yes! Eriar, you are a cool guy. And my mana vault has 12000000 capacity. And I can't use that mana now... No exploiting it, then. After spending 100000 for the library and war room, I'm on 600000 mana.
I still had some time left in the free build mode.. So I could ... WHOA!
I just saw Knight Skeletons standing in parade formation in front of the Mausoleum I put their spawner in.
Nope!
To the garrison in the middle castle you go, my skelly bois. This one looks like a commander with his shining silver armour, tower shield and spear in his hand, and with a long sword at his belt, he just looks badass.
My dude, from now on, you are Galahad.
Ummm the hell? I just burned 100000 mana on naming my skelly scion.
But I got a second skeleton spawner. So you guys will stay in a mausoleum and stay as basic skeletons.
What else?
Stable and horses? I'm a castle. So I should have stables.
Seriously? 300000 mana?
An epic grade war beast spawner of otherworldly creatures of unprecedented beauty and might. Warhorses of Theon will roam the world carrying his knights and will bring his will to anyone opposing.
Scion is unavailable. The unique creature will be spawned instead.
The building can hold up to 200 horses at level 1.
Costs 300000 mana.
200 horses? In this? Sure. If I ever manage to sell this technology back to earth, I'm set. This is a normal-looking stable that might house up to 10 horses. I guess my buildings are bigger inside than outside.
Cool, I guess.
I'm looking from above on my domain with a sense of goal accomplished. However, when I look at my domain, a seed of doubt sprouts inside my soul.
Do dungeons have souls?
No. Not this one.
Maybe I really overdid it?
Hmmm... I'm positively sure Eriar wanted me to protect this world. And I am a dungeon, so I'm stationary.
How exactly is a dungeon supposed to save a world? Maybe I should have talked with the elf girl before I built this.
I gasped. What if this world is technologically advanced, and castles are obsolete like in my world?!
However...
"This is the Castle you fuckers! Muahahaha!" my evil laughter rolled over the plains. Or not- no clue. The elf girl couldn't hear me when I talked about tomatoes. What else should I do? Ummm.
"You!" I pointed mentally at the skeleton archer. "When Galahad wakes up, tell him to prepare castle defences. The upper castle is a no-go zone. No one from outside can enter or exit. For now, the middle castle is also forbidden. For now, the lower castle is open to adventurers. Also, let me examine the situation before you attack anyone. I'm gonna decide on that later."
"Yes, my King!" responded the skeleton through some strange emotional connection.
I saw a simple slime wandering around the main castle. It was a simple creature, but I decided to give it a shot.
"Inform Sebastian that I want to see him as soon as he wakes up." The blue slime elongated itself two times, and I felt how he agreed.
Strange. Giving orders eats my mana.
"Birbs! Protect my domain from any invader that might come."
Once again I was lower on mana but received confirmation from a normal-sized eagle.
"Snakes? Do snake things." I wasn't sure what to order snakes to do, but I was sure as hell they knew what to do.
I felt a strange sense of pride coming from my snakes.
I guess I'm ready... But this seed of doubt from before was unnerving. I had to do something about that.
I focused on the only person who can help me now... Yup. There she is. I focused and condensed myself into human form in the room next to her. I quickly checked myself.
Ok. Good shape check, clothes check. I'm good to go. I opened the door with a warm smile and concern in my eyes.
"Elf Lady! We must talk!" I started.
"Iiiiik!"
Slap.
Note to myself. Before you open doors to anyone's room, knock.
Even if you are the entire castle they are in.