The monsters a dungeon could produce were limited by the dungeon lord's own knowledge.
But Wade had never imagined that even creatures from Earth's fiction could be brought to life here.
One glance at the catalog and his jaw slackened. Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Monster Hunter, The Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy… even quirkier picks like Plants vs. Zombies and Pokémon were there.
And it wasn't just video games—anime entries showed up too: Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Akame ga Kill, Jujutsu Kaisen, One Punch Man… the list went on.
"This… is a cheat only I've got."
The initial rush of excitement cooled as he dug deeper. He quickly saw that each franchise only had a handful of monsters unlocked. The rest were grayed out, their unlock conditions taunting him.
[Iudex Gundyr] — [Unlock Condition: Level 3 Lord Authority]
[Malzeno] — [Unlock Condition: Level 5 Lord Authority]
[Arceus] — [Unlock Condition: ???]
Reaching Level 3 would require an energy level of 50,000. Level 4 demanded 500,000. Level 5? Just a string of question marks.
A long road indeed.
As he browsed further, the novelty soured—many monsters overlapped in function, making some of them redundant.
Take goblins, for example. This world's native goblins and Zelda's Bokoblins filled the same niche: low-intelligence grunts.
[Goblin]
[Energy per Unit: 1]
[HP: F | Strength: E | Intelligence: F | Endurance: E+ | Speed: F]
[Overall Combat Power: F]
(For comparison, an average adult human's stats hover around E.)
[Bokoblin]
[Energy per Unit: 3]
[HP: F | Strength: E+ | Intelligence: G | Endurance: F | Speed: F]
[Overall Combat Power: F]
Even when their combat power matched, Earth's imports often cost twice as much—or more—than the locals.
"Not cost-effective…"
The realization took the wind out of him.
"I'm still in the opening phase. Every bit of energy matters. Unless they're special cases, locals will have to carry most of the load."
The building menu had updated too—now featuring structures from Earth's franchises. His eyes lit up when he spotted two favorites: Farron Keep and Blighttown.
Then he checked the construction costs. His smile died on the spot.
He could also stock his dungeon with iconic items as loot—cancellable swords, red-and-white Pokéballs, even Johnny Silverhand's prosthetic arm. But the energy prices were enough to make him choke.
Maybe someday, when he was flush with power.
"Enough daydreaming."
He turned back to the crystal ball, scribbling notes in a battered notebook as ideas came.
Time slipped by, the moon's glow slowly spreading across the land. Two hours until the dungeon closed for the night.
When the entrance sealed, only exits would remain. After half an hour, any stragglers inside would be forcibly ejected.
Midnight to 3 a.m.—the world's appointed downtime for dungeons.
"Nearly three hundred dead," he muttered.
Higher than he'd expected—but it was the effect of first-time kills. Word would get around soon enough that Sein Dungeon had mutated and grown deadlier. The tourist rush would die down, just like MMO servers after launch.
The real challenge was keeping people coming back.
Spikes in difficulty gave quick bursts of energy, but what he needed was a steady stream—a long-term flow.
"I need to sweeten the rewards."
He thought for a long moment… then sighed.
"But money's tight. Repairs to damaged buildings and traps, replacing dead monsters, patching loopholes, rerouting maps… and if I throw better loot on top of that…"
He shook his head.
"No. Short-term goal stays the same—collect energy."
The bitter truth: knowing the problem didn't mean he could fix it yet.
"If only thousands of people would show up just to die for me…"
He glanced back at the crystal ball—and froze. His brow twitched.
"No way… someone's about to clear it?!"
Inside the glowing sphere, an elf girl loosed an arrow from her longbow, the shot punching straight through a Minotaur's skull. Without slowing, she stepped into the lower mines.
She was the first adventurer to reach that point without a scratch—or at least without visible injuries. Others had only made it that far thanks to teleportation traps.
"Impressive… but," Wade's gaze slid to the dungeon's miniature model, "I can't let you win."
Because the final boss… was him.
As dungeon lord, Wade—Aldwin, in his official capacity—had to face any challenger who reached the end.
And if he died, revival would cost at least a thousand energy. Without the payment? He'd die for real and lose his title.
So why was weak little Aldwin still in charge? Simple: no one had found him.
His throne room was hidden behind eighteen teleportation gates and several unrelated puzzles. He'd even created a fake final boss to distract challengers.
That was how most dungeon lords survived.
But Wade had rebuilt the dungeon overnight to save costs—cutting the gates down to two, with only a symbolic fake boss: a mound of skeletons and blood mosquitoes.
A speed build meant mistakes were inevitable.
"Didn't think there'd be someone strong in this newbie dungeon. What a miscalculation."
He rubbed his temple and scrolled through his available monster list.
The elf had to be stopped before she reached him—but not at a cost higher than his own revival.
Then he saw something in the list that made him grin.
"Alright… decision made. Go—Crucible, I choose you."
[Crucible Knight]
[Energy per Unit: 800]
[HP: C | Strength: C+ | Intelligence: C | Endurance: C | Speed: C]
[Overall Combat Power: C]
(*****)
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