"Fire the Arrows! Gobbo!"
A large volley of arrows flung through the forest—black arrows with red feathers and smeared with poison howled suddenly through the air.
Only a moment later, they drilled through a pack of grey wolves.
[15 Gale Wolves Slain]
∟ Gained 150 DP
∟ Gained 300 XP
∟ Gained 55 EP
Gobbolas stood at the head of the goblins, holding his longbow as he drew it fully before releasing an arrow at the leading Alpha wolf from the Gale wolves.
Woosh
The Alpha stood with a body close to two metres in size, with several arrows piercing its body—it tried to run towards the goblins near the dungeon entrance.
Thud
The wolf's skull exploded from the steel arrow, penetrating its eye socket and popping the gooey ball.
A small wolf whimpered before the battle ended.
[Gale Wolf Alpha Slain]
∟ Gained 150 DP
∟ Gained 200 XP
∟ Gained 10 EP
——------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, he sat on his throne while creating small embers of fire in the shape of letters to practise his Mana manipulation. Leonhardt gazed at the panels in the corner of his vision, waiting for the right amount of DP to buy land.
The cost increased depending on the land bought; some cost hundreds, thousands, but the closer to his dungeon core, the more affordable.
"It seems I managed to improve."
Leonhardt gazed at the changes in his attributes while enjoying the warm sensation of power flowing through his body. Most of his attributes increased and made him feel stronger, but he wasn't sure how strong.
"What are you doing this time?" Zafira's curious voice echoed from the elegant table and chairs Leonhardt bought because they were on Sale. He even purchased a full kitchen set for the spare room beside his.
He eyed Zafira from head to toe and tilted his head with a crooked smile.
"Watching a legend in the making," Leonhardt exclaimed with shining eyes while watching his goblins moving towards the eastern forest.
"You mean that dumb goblin?"
"He isn't dumb—his archery will spread throughout the world one day!"
"Hah."
Zafira sighed and turned away.
Their interactions felt like this recently, although Zafira helped clean and maintain the dungeon without complaint. But when she finished, the rabbits would escape to Leon's room, causing her to become irritated and take it out on him.
Because it was a normal occurrence, he ignored her and swiped the screen to the land purchase screen.
'Wife, where can I buy land now?'
[If you keep calling me your wife, I will take half of all your earnings.]
'But we signed a prenuptial!'
[…]
Immediately after taking the lovely voice from the dungeon core, he noticed the map changed, and several spots that were red before had now turned orange with a small icon. [For Sale] appeared over them.
He could buy almost anywhere within a certain range of the dungeons, and each square differed in size, but the smallest was 100 metres x 100 metres. The most expensive slots were the four around the current dungeon core room.
'Why do I benefit from buying the outside land?'
[A dungeon's Rank only increases when the dungeon grows to a certain point]
[Then an official ranking examination will happen.]
'An examination... so it's not instant.'
He was thankful for her information, and so he started to focus on learning about this feature and what kind of benefits increasing his rank might bring.
Suddenly, learning about this feature made him wonder if increasing his Rank would be a bad thing.
'Can you show me more information about the dungeon and my surroundings?'
[No problem, Master!]
Thanks to the system and the knowledge that lingered in his mind, Leonhardt gained immense amounts of information about the world and its past.
The human kingdoms that lingered around his dungeon were never at peace, always fighting against each other or within themselves with revolts, wars, and rebellions. Thus, he would need to create a dungeon to resist monsters and waves of humans if discovered.
'I should take control of the forest and farm dungeon points while evolving my goblins...'
The plan was to improve himself while Gobbolas would help strengthen his archers and other goblins, but he couldn't create a fighting force made of only ranged troops.
'Maybe I should evolve a goblin warrior.'
'Dungeon wife, I need help.'
Sadly, the system ignored him and so he took things into his own hands and examined the dungeon map, choosing the vital three squares attached to the dungeon entrance. The total cost for those squares would be 500 dungeon points.
However, he wanted some more advice from the dungeon.
Because there was a limit to how far he could progress without her guidance.
'She seems angry. Did I push her too far?' He also wondered whether she might be sleeping because he had tried to connect to the dungeon the night before. But she didn't respond to him until the morning.
[Are you sure you wish to purchase these lands?]
A cold, mechanical voice followed, not the usual female voice, but he didn't hesitate and tapped the accept button that appeared in front of him. There wasn't any reason to increase the dungeon depth.
So he chose the forest instead.
Suddenly, the dungeon began to tremble, and the number of squares allotted for the Magical Air Filter dropped by three.
[Squares Remaining: 43/50]
'Oh? The Mana regeneration and bonus also apply to the outside!'
Leonhardt bought the square ahead of the entrance and to the east and west. His land acquisition now encompassed a significant portion of the western and eastern forests.
This situation allowed his goblins to create a small outpost to farm monsters.
"I should give Gobbolas some orders."
Unaware of Zafira's curious gaze, Leon continued managing the dungeon. She watched him as if drawn to his figure. The mysterious actions of the Dungeon Master slowly began to draw her attention.
Zafira stood from her table and began to walk towards the entrance.
She used her long tail to flick the overgrown flora and plants, trimming them back to make them look more presentable.
"To think he could make such a vibrant dungeon, what a strange man."
Zafira stood at the entrance, watching him with a narrowed gazed. She could see into the far distance with her eyes, noticing the human village and found several people holding swords and bows. Her eyes narrowed, suspecting those people would eventually come to the dungeon after Leonhardt had killed the group a few days before.
"They seem to have brought mercenaries."
She momentarily thought about helping him but shook her head. This would be the test of what kind of Dungeon Master Leonhardt would become, although she wouldn't let him die or get injured. Zafira wanted to learn his calibre and limits.
"I should prepare in case he loses."
After meeting Leonhardt and getting to know him, she didn't hate him anymore. Instead noticed how with no power at the start. He grew rapidly and could learn something if she told him once or twice.
Which led to her starting to admire his changes...
"Having a guy who doesn't chase my ass like a fly isn't so bad."
Her eyes always lingered on his figure before returning to the table near the entrance. She rubbed the table he bought with a wistful look on her face, biting her lower lip. It was the first time she could buy her furniture, and she got too excited.
Despite this, Leon didn't complain and even set aside the dungeon points to purchase the entire set, which was quite costly for a new Dungeon Master.
It might have been the first gift she received without strings attached or just to make her father pay attention to them. Zafira's chest fluttered for a few seconds before she watched Leon leaving the room and wondered if he would be all alright.
But she could only slap her tail against the ground, creating a loud snap and let out a sigh because her feelings were contradicting her words.
"Why can't I leave him alone?"