Dungeon Of Pride, Laplace

The entire floor was dark and only the crimson agate that spawned underneath the ground which surfaces occasionally was the only source of light. No, it would be wrong to say that the crystals were the only light as there was another source but the adventurers who were unfortunate enough to find it, would later go on to warn the others never to wander there.

Finishing with the creation of the new floors, Simon called the [Helpers] and ordered them to move the mutated monsters to their new habitat.

Since [Helpers] did not have the authority to teleport the monsters from one floor to another, it was ultimately him who migrated the Fire Eater Rat and the Fire Fanged Mouse. Their main job was to monitor them for a couple of days and see if the monsters were able to create their own ecosystem on the floor or not.

Now that the pressing situation inside his dungeon was settled, Simon nonchalantly opened the [Main Menu] and observed the progress of the adventurers. As expected, most of the adventurers that were here to explore his dungeon, were weak.

Their average levels were around 150 and their motive was to simply absorb experience through defeating monsters and at the same time earn some money for their living.

These were the types of adventurers that constituted most of the numbers; however, that does not mean that all of the adventurers were here to increase their level. Some of the adventures team were here from the neighbouring cities specifically to mine the Silver Crystals growing on the floors. 

These types of adventurers usually spend a couple of days to a week inside the dungeon mining. Various motives were fuelling the adventurers and thus it wouldn't be surprising if there were some among them who were aiming to conquer the dungeon and eyeing his dungeon core.

Simon did not underestimate his enemies no matter how weak they were because he knew that the allure of his dungeon sooner or later would bring the strong adventurers here.

Next, he looked at the stockpile of DP that was increasing at a steady pace and smiled in content. His earning were finally keeping up with his expenditure and if this pace continues for a month or two, Simon believed that his DP would be doubled.

Creating a floor and increasing its area took a lot of DP not to mention the price goes up the more floors the dungeon had. Currently, his dungeon Laplace not including the main floor and the Forest Spring Spirit floor, had thirty five floors.

His dungeon was a low tier [D] rank dungeon and the maximum number of floors he could create was fifty. That was not all, there were still many functions yet to be unlocked which ate an enormous amount of DP to install.

Even with his current stockpile of DP, he wasn't eligible enough to touch those functions. Although the enormous sum of DP needed made them seem quite out of reach, but Simon knew that with time and when the number of floors and the rank of his dungeon increases, those sum won't look as extreme as they were now. 

After observing the progress of the adventurers for a while, he checked the spawn rate of the monsters before closing the [Main Menu]. Other than the incident on the 15th floor, there was nothing unusual going on with the other floors.

While Simon was busy monitoring the dungeon, Irene used the mysterious ability of hers to observe his status and the new skill [Mana Lines] on it made her widen her eyes for a fraction of a second.

The changes were so slight that it went unnoticed by the occupants of the room.

"It seems that you were able to acquire the Rare skill [Mana Lines] in less than two months. I'm quite sure you can already feel the changes within you but don't forget that your goal is to evolve the skill to the Ancient tier before you rank up to Demon Duke" Irene's reminder snapped Simon back from his daze.

He nodded his head in acknowledgement of her words. It was as she had said, the difference between him before acquiring the skill and after was like that of a day and night. He could distinctively feel that the skill made him much more stronger even without the obvious increase in his level.

However, that was not the true power of the skill [Mana Lines]. The one that he had acquired after recreating was an imperfect version and it would only be completed when the tier of the skill reaches the Legendary tier.

There is a huge gulp between a skill that had reached Superior tier than a one that hadn't. The [Mana Lines] Skill was a Rare skill unlike the dozens of normal skills that he have. To increase the tier of such rare skill would be even harder than the normal ones.

After experiencing the huge increase in strength after obtaining the [Mana Lines] skill, Simon's next goal was to evolve it to Superior tier before ranking up to Demon Earl.

Unlike the other Demon Nobles such as the Demon Baron and Demon Viscount, Demon Earl was a Demon Noble in a true sense of the word. Their Bloodline is quite pure and is renowned across the whole land.

Their might was on a whole different level than the low-rank Demon Nobles and are a true nobility among demons.

Those Demon Earl that show remarkable strength and talent, are even eyed by the high-rank demon to be their confidant or butlers. A Demon Noble can only rank up to Demon Earl after reaching level 500 and possessing a somewhat pure bloodline.

Their power was unimaginable to ordinary people and to humans, they were a symbol of terror that could destroy multiple cities in a span of few hours. The power of a Demon Earl was so great that it needed two humans who have broken through level 500 and had undergone at least six class changes to even content with it. That was what it means to rank up to Demon Earl.

"What are you planning next?" Irene asked looking at him. Simon deliberated for a while before making up his mind.

"I'm going back to the western part of the forest to train and increase my level" Earlier he was only able to explore a little of the territory of the High orcs. This time he was planning to go a little more further in search of strong enemies.

Suddenly, he remembered the peculiar gaze that had locked onto him while he was on his way back. Simon couldn't help but feel that whoever it was, it must be quite strong. He felt exhilarated to confront such an enemy whose gaze was enough to tell how strong it was.

"Me! I want to come along. I want to get stronger so that I can help big brother someday" Cecilia raised her hands and insisted after learning that Simon was going out to train once again.

While it is true that Forest Spring Royal Spirit had no combat abilities, their powers lied somewhere else. Their Heaven Defying Auxilary Powers to control and manipulate nature made them a true royalty among other races. Allowing her to increase her level wasn't necessarily a bad thing… Simon thought.

However, when he recalled the words of Aldebaran, he put a halt on his line of thought. According to him, her powers were sealed within her and with time will slowly manifest. There was no need for Cecilia to put herself in harm's way specifically to level up.

Her powers were sleeping deep within her along with her memories. This goes to say that her memories of her time as one of the Emissaries of the Primordial Demon Lord of Pride, Samael will also awaken. When he thought till here, he suddenly felt quite dejected.

"Cecilia as your big brother, I'm naturally happy with your decision to get stronger. But unlike me, your power rests deep within you, and as long as you try to recall it, you will naturally be able to get stronger without needing to defeat monsters to increase your level" Simon tussled Cecilia's bright emerald hair and explained.

She had complete faith in her brother and that was Cecilia simply nodded without arguing. Well, it wasn't like she couldn't feel the powers that sometimes appeared in front of her in her dreams. She tried many times to converse with it but every time that she did, it ended up in failure.

She could feel the presence of a deep unfathomable power sleeping quietly within her soul but she didn't know how to interact with it nor a way to make it her own.

She wanted to help her big brother and share some of his burdens and to do that, she needed to master her abilities first. Giving a strong nod, Cecilia replied "Un… big brother, I'll do my best and quickly get stronger so that I can help you someday".

"Irene how about you? Do you want to…" Just as he was about to ask whether she would like to explore the forest and increase her level, he realised that if the both of them were to be absent from the dungeon, he would be quite worried. Especially now when there were quite a few number of adventurers frequently visiting and diving inside his dungeon.

Unbeknownst to him, the woman who always appeared to be icy cold, noble and calm, had too become an irreplaceable part of the dungeon that he couldn't do without.