SPENDING MY RETIREMENT IN A GAME

Chapter 926: Around the Dungeon

Turning right, then left, through the bushes and between those trees, Eisen steered Fafnir in the direction that the arrow created by Bree was pointing. Like this, they were finally able to proceed forward, getting further toward the forest's middle. The further they went, the more complex the forest's barrier became and the harder it actually was to navigate, but through the map that was created beforehand, Eisen was confident that they were able to get through without needing to be concerned.

And then, once the forest got so dark that Eisen wasn't even able to see the light from his own flames anymore, they pushed through. It wasn't even that bright out here; it was dim and foggy, like a particularly cloudy and moody autumn morning. But when you compared that to the absolute, unnatural lack of light in the forest thus far, even this gloomy environment was blinding.

It was a quite large clearing, and in its center stood a large tree, much bigger than all the other trees in this forest. However, different to the others, this one was dead. The branches at the top were completely bare, spiralling around each other as if they were snakes trying to escape before it was too late. Its bark was cracked and gray, and a large opening seemed to be the doorway into its hollow interior.

With a smile on his face, Eisen brought the carriage to a halt, "Perfect. Alright, come on Fafnir, let's open up the dungeon," the old man said, practically jumping off the driver's seat to detach Fafnir. The dragon quickly opened the dungeon, and a flood of golems quickly stepped out. The thing with Fafnir's dungeon was that it couldn't close if there was anyone in there, with the exception of Sigurd, who as the core guardian counted as part of the dungeon itself, and the dungeon's monsters. If there was anything with a soul in there, the dungeon was forced to stay open. And, since the dungeon monsters couldn't step out of the dungeon themselves, instead, Eisen decided to employ a few simple golems for what was currently happening instead.

Basically, they were setting up a large-scale camp out here. The only reason why the old man was here was to scout the area out and set up everything for the larger group to come through. A dungeon with a Transcendent Monster at its bottom was going to be extremely massive, complicated, and would simply take a huge amount of time to traverse. Though Brody would probably be able to get down there on his own, that was also only the case if there weren't any gimmicks involved. If there was even a single door that had to be opened with mana, Brody was screwed. Of course, Eisen had given Brody some items that he could use to activate items like that with instead, but you never knew what else happened in a space like that. Dungeons didn't tend to follow the same rules as the space outside of them. Considering everything else connected to this dungeon, it was more unlikely that it was going to be just a simple combat-based dungeon.

Which was why they needed to deal with this differently. They needed a proper expedition crew that could take on this dungeon. Sadly, it would take a lot longer than just trying to run to the bottom of the dungeon, but it was also better than getting stuck or messing something up in the process. Eisen heard of a dungeon that only allowed entry beyond a certain point once a month; if this place had similar rules, then that needed to be figured out first.

So, for now, a camp had to be built around the tree. Once all the materials and items were brought out of the dungeon, Eisen let Fafnir close the gate so that he could stretch a bit. He had to walk very slowly and deliberately while pulling the carriage through the forest, so Eisen figured it was a good idea to let him play a bit, and even let out his large wolf golem friend to play with. And while the two of them went off and jumped through the tall grass, Eisen made sure that the entire camp was properly being built up.

There were some tents being put up, but Eisen also wanted some more permanent structures here. So, he ended up using some of his instant buildings for the time being. Though, it might not be a bad idea to set up a long-term settlement here.

There weren't any particularly large cities around here, only smaller towns and tons of villages sprinkled around. It was why most players either left for other places, or seemed to become part of the black dragon's forces. But a dungeon as large as Eisen assumed it to be would be a great way to pull people to the area, and for that, they would need a place to stay. Once the dungeon became popular, a settlement would be constructed around this area in the first place, so monopolizing this first might be smart. Considering the sorts of players that were in the area, Eisen wanted to make sure that this place was under 'correct leadership' instead of under the forceful thumb of some hooligans.

Before the barrier around this place was lifted, Eisen should make sure that Komer came here and set up some good shops, and Eisen should send some folks down here to make sure that the players could make a proper living and stick around. Chefs, blacksmiths, woodworkers, tailors; the sort of people that were needed to support the players who were heading down into the dungeon, until the players that chose crafting professions made their way to this place.

"What else would be needed..?" Eisen wondered, running his fingers through his beard. Actually, it was quite simple. It was something that Eisen set up on Fafnir's first floor as well. A quest board.

Of course, at the end of the day, a dungeoneer's goal should be to conquer the dungeon in the first place, but that wasn't always possible. In the case of Fafnir, it was because Eisen moved too often to give people the opportunity to reach the end, while for a dungeon like this, it would just take far too long for regular players to be able to reach the bottom. Of course, there were quite large guilds at this point that might be able to create a large-scale expedition to the bottom of the dungeon, but Eisen still wasn't quite sure if that would be enough to let them actually conquer a dungeon with a transcendent monster.

So, players needed something else to do in the meantime. Especially those that just wanted to use the dungeon as a stepping stone to make some money or raise their level, giving them some guidance by telling them what they could do, while giving them some basic information by telling them which monsters they should aim at at their current level, would help players safely achieve their goals.

Though, as Eisen was taking some notes and drawing up some plans for the future development, Bree came to take a look and to see if she could help. But as she realized what Eisen was doing, she slightly tilted her head, "Wait... aren't we here to take the dungeon down?"

The old man looked at her and smiled, "Well, not directly, no. We're here to kill the transcendent monster at the bottom."

"Isn't that the same thing? If the transcendent monster is the dungeon's boss, then... to get the sort of rewards that we need to resurrect Silber, we would need to destroy the dungeon itself, right?"

"Oh... the transcendent monster isn't the dungeon's boss, it's the dungeon-master. Like what I am for Fafnir," Eisen explained quickly, and Bree raised her brows surprised.

"Huh? But- How are you so sure?"

"Because it would be impossible. You have to remember that I took part in the creation of the dungeon cores. While I don't remember every dungeon in existence, I remember how they work well enough by now to assure you that it's impossible for a dungeon to create a transcendent monster. And all actual dungeon monsters are basically artifical beings created by the dungeon itself, including the boss," Eisen explained, and Bree quickly nodded in understanding.

"I see... so the transcendent monster found an abandoned dungeon, became its master, and then made it as powerful as it is now?"

"I assume so, yes," agreeing with Bree's conclusion, Eisen leaned back on his seat. He was inside of his 'instant' workshop right now, "A dungeon's qualities and internal abilities change depending on the master. As I'm Fafnir's master, it's possible to create monsters with high craftsmanship abilities. If Brody were to be a dungeon's master, the monsters would be all incredibly strong physical fighters. For Xenia, they would be stronger with magic. Since I'm quite versatile in my abilities, we made sure that the dungeon was set up in a way to accentuate different gimmicks depending on the floor."

Bree thought about it for a while longer, looking at the dungeon's entrance, "So... depending on what the dungeon itself is like, we can guess what the master is like as well?"

"Mhm," Eisen nodded, returning to his sketches, "Which is another reason why we want to do a large-scale expedition. It makes it easier to take in all the dungeon's information. And then, once we take down the dungeon's boss, we will search for the core. In most regular dungeons, the master is directly in the core's space, so this should be similar now as well. A monster that locked itself away at the bottom of a dungeon like this probably wants to be away from others as much as possible, and make sure that it can never be disturbed, so I doubt it will be different this time either. But still, we need to be careful as we head inside."

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