“So, tell me how this works.” Jin was sitting in a meeting room that looked rather bland considering it was used to discuss important matters pertaining to the future of the fortress. He thought Moloch would have made the place a little more posh than the other rooms so that his guests would have a better experience.
“Hahaha, I know what you are thinking.” Moloch the plushie was shaking its head in sync the human puppet that it was on. “This room had been picked clean by the adventurers. Even a vase, a simple decorative porcelain vase, was taken by them! I mean come on, can’t they just leave the poor vase alone and just kill me so that they get the gold tribute?” Moloch was complaining as he sat down while Sebastia and the other maids went to make tea for Jin and Peppers.
Peppers loved the attention she had been getting since currently Jin had only summoned her and not the other bellators. Not to mention, Jin had never really summoned her alone before at all. To be part of an important discussion, Peppers was extremely excited and ready to serve her master to the best of her abilities.
“Anyways, I digress. Here’s the thing. This is totally an assumption but from based off of historical records I looted from some adventurers, I believe it should work despite it being theoretical. Usually, when an adventurer like you kills me, the magical core of this dungeon would be exposed and it would allow you to reach into the core before it would verify that you are eligible for the tribute.” Moloch started to explain how the dungeon town fortress works.
“But, if you capture me, the process will be totally different. The magical core would not be exposed but a dungeon guardian would be summoned from the core. That guardian is the so-called ‘spirit’ of the dungeon core and the one who handles the tributes and resources in this particular dungeon.”
“Technically, it’s not meant to be beatable because the spirit of the dungeon core uses the exact same guardian to gauge how powerful the monsters are that want to take over the fortress. A certain time limit would be issued and it would allow the core to determine what kind of resources it would grant the monsters to start with. Hence, it’s something like a punching machine in the arcade, your ‘score’ in beating the dungeon guardian would determine how much it would provide us with.”
“What kind of resources would it provide?” Jin asked and all he could think of were the resources that had been introduced to him such as Matter, Magic, Souls and Dungeon Dollars.
“Walls, houses, water supplies, lighting supplies. The basic necessities for creating a proper town. If we do well enough, we could build walls as strong as the ones this current fortress has.” Moloch answered as he began to sip his cup of coffee that had just been brewed by Sebastia.
“But Jin just flew over your pathetic walls.” Peppers answered in a matter-of-fact tone, which Moloch could not help but sigh at.
“In all my life as a Lord, never have I seen someone as crazy as this Summoner. Catapults? Sure. Catapulting a human over a wall? Unheard of!” Moloch appeared to be very impressed by Jin’s actions.
“So you are saying… there has not been a single flying mob or wizard that tried to enter the same way as I did?” Jin could not help but secretly basked in the hidden achievement he had just been bestowed by Moloch.
“The adventurers do have wizards that can fly. Usually though, they would need preparation to fly over the walls. And even if they did do that, there would be only one, or at most, a bunch of them flying in. We would have already identified these buggers and shot them out of the sky before they could even get the chance to come close. If not, we would just handle them when the need arises. Jin, on the other hand…let’s just say he is an exception.” Moloch purposely made Jin happy in the hopes that he would more easily accede to his demand later on.
“So the dungeon core allows you to choose whether this is a dungeon town fortress or just a dungeon fortress?” Jin asked and Moloch nodded his head.
“Aye, and most monsters would choose the dungeon fortress because they are technically protecting the dungeon core’s resources, hence the dungeon core gives them a reward for protecting the area. It is the easiest and safest way to do things. Because even if the monsters lost the dungeon, the core would still give them a reward, albeit smaller.” Moloch gave Jin a detailed answer.
“Dungeon Town Fortresses on the other hand, utilises the resources of the dungeon core. That is why there are not many dungeon town fortresses. And even then, they are more commonly used as a sign of power rather than as actual resupply bases. Take my Demon King, Baal, for example. He has an Empire Fortress, which is a wayyyyy upgraded version of a town fortress, and all he uses it for is to show off. He uses the rewards from almost every other dungeon fortress to build up his own Empire.” It was clear that Moloch said King Baal’s name in anger.
“Oh…so that’s why dungeons are lucrative for adventurers. Then I must ask, will it always be only monsters that can activate the dungeon cores even as the world continues to expand?” Jin was curious since he remembered the dreaded dungeon that had been created by the system in the frontiers.
“Absolutely, the dungeon core only recognises monsters. Humans have tried multiple times and they have not been able to activate the cores at all.” Moloch told Jin but in Jin’s mind, he was thinking otherwise. Since Jin was an outsider, would he also be able to activate the dungeon core? Technically, he had the powers of a Panda, which to the natives could be considered as a monster. And Even if he couldn’t activate it with that, he still had the living armour bands which always stuck to him. Could they be used?
If Jin was really able to control the dungeon core, he would not be at the mercy of this Demon Moloch despite him being controlled by Jin due to the System’s powers. But what if he had a way to break out from the System, no matter how unlikely? What if the System was not as almighty as it claimed to be? That was why Jin had the idea of controlling the dungeon core himself. Call it greed, personal benefit or just leverage, Jin felt that no matter what, this dungeon town fortress could be a great way to earn easy dungeon dollars, that is if Moloch could really run the town as well as he claimed he could.
“I don’t exactly trust you, I don’t know your motives or even your desires in running the town fortress. How would you run the town fortress? What happens if King Baal or his underlings come for the town fortress? I am sure that no matter what, they would not leave this precious place alone, or worse, let it be handled by a traitor.”
“That’s when the fun stuff happens, isn’t it?” Moloch leaned back in his chair and sniggered. Jin was not able to get it but Peppers nodded in agreement. Jin looked at Peppers for an explanation but Peppers did not give him any. “It is indeed beneficial.” Peppers hinted as she continued to see Jin make a perplexed face.
“Oh… They would come to us. That means I would be able to capture them if I am around.” Jin realised how stupid he was to not see this crucial benefit.
“Not just that, they would also be decked out in armour and weapons, perhaps in wads of cash too. If you are powerful enough to capture them, they would be in our service and our town would become significantly stronger.” Moloch finally smirked at Jin. Looks like he was looking beyond the silver lining of the clouds and at the clear blue sky beyond.
“And your opponent Baal would get weaker each time he tried to raid you.” Jin was finally catching onto Moloch’s plan.
“Not just that, King Baal would also most likely send out his trusted warriors and some of those warriors would also oversee other dungeon fortresses too. Capture them, make them loyal to us, get them to attack their own dungeon cores and then we can create either another town fortresses or a dungeon fortresses for the reward.” Moloch added.
“I finally see where all of this is going. Looks like a lot of work though.” Jin tried to downplay this particularly grand plan of Moloch.
“No money, no honey.” Moloch shrugged his shoulders as he raised his hands in innocence.
“Give me a chance to talk to my closest summons for a while and ask for their opinions before I decide.” Jin remarked but the moment he said that, his phone buzzed with notifications, a large one at that.
“Emergency Mission: Capture Moloch, clear the dungeon core and create a town fortress or higher.” The system notification was written in large red font. Jin realised that it had been a while since the system had last done that.
“Wow, the rewards.” Jin was instantly held captive by the rewards the system offered but he still decided to ask his bellators for a second opinion, actually, it was a third opinion since the system had just taken a side.
“It’s a really a no brainer, Master.” Zeru sent a message notification with a cartoonish sticker of him nodding his head.
“Go Fighting, Master! PS: did I use it right? I heard it being used by an injured cultivator in his messages when I tended to him in the recovery bay.” Milk sent an emoji and a Fighting! sticker.
“Then, I shall sign a deal with the devil then, literally.” Jin said as Peppers also nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Correction, Demon.” The plushie smiled with bliss as he asked Jin if both could prepare before he was captured since the dungeon core would immediately appear.
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