“Master Jin, be quick. I don’t know how long the dungeon core will stay exposed for so you better get a move on or all the effort we put in will end up wasted.” Moloch said and Yun was looking at Jin with a slightly puzzled look. “Isn’t it obvious enough to let the System take care of management?” Yun spoke her thoughts to Jin.
“Do I really have to choose a side…?” Jin scratched his head for a moment before he grabbed Moloch off the man puppet. The man puppet immediately squatted and curled into a ball as a result of the sudden detachment of its main source.
“You said you are a puppet right?” Jin looked at the minotaur plushie but Moloch felt very exposed without the man puppet as if he was naked. It nodded his head cutely… and went ahead and did the most unconventional thing ever.
He took his phone out and stuffed the entirety of it into Moloch’s mouth. His heavy handed shoving of the phone into the plushie caused Moloch to choke momentarily. He subsequently pushed Moloch into the dungeon core. At that moment, he also released a bit of his chi into Moloch, which caused his phone to be activated from within the plushie.
The insides of the metallic ball shaped Dungeon Core immediately shone brightly. Subsequently, an entire monitor along with an old school mechanical keyboard appeared right in front of it. There was even music playing from the dungeon core.
“It’s a brand new day~!
Brand new day~!
A brand new morning has come~!
Be Happy ~! Be Happy~!
The wind of happiness continues to blow as we start our day~!
One, Two, Three, Let’s Go~! “
The music had accompanying lyrics that came from the metallic ball as it was heard throughout the whole throne room.
“Oh My Gosh! This seems so creepy despite the cheerful deposition of the song. Wait… that’s probably why it’s creepy” Yun was taken aback by the sudden song coming from the metallic ball and so was Jin. Moloch eventually threw up the phone from its stuffed mouth and Jin noticed it was covered with cotton. He then slowly put Moloch back onto the man puppet.
However, the man puppet immediately got up and slapped Jin each time Moloch shouted at him. “Do not! Ever! Do! That! Again! Else I will put super glue on my man puppet.” Moloch was angry but at the same time, he was blushing as well. As much as Jin was stunned by the slapping, he also noticed that the slaps were really weak as compared to the ferocity of magic Moloch wielded.
Once the music subsided from the metallic ball, the monitor lit up. “Dungeon Town Fortress or Dungeon Fortress?” Moloch went ahead with his man puppet and entered the option of the Dungeon Town Fortress without any hesitation.
“Congratulations! You have cleared 3 Phases of the Dungeon Core Guardian. You are eligible for a Dungeon Town Fortress with iron wall fortifications, a starter set of shops and inns, a starter set of service and industry components, a complete wiring of electrical supply as well as piping for your water supply.” The monitor displayed the details clearly and Moloch was able to see what was given as a reward.
“Alternatively, you could also start with the area of land of a Dungeon City Fortress but no other perks would be given other than a basic wiring and piping provided for all houses.” The console gave the group another option that surprised Jin. Was the hard fought struggle against the guardian really that great that the dungeon core gave the option of an immediate Dungeon City Fortress.
“Hmm, a town with a basic set of facilities and a complete wall fortification would be great but that dungeon city fortress is extremely tempting as well.” Moloch was thinking out loud.
“Why would you want a Dungeon City Fortress? Isn’t it incomplete? I doubt we have the resources to even feed the masses if it is just land.” Jin replied as he finally felt the effects of the potions he drank kicking in.
“Because the land is the most important commodity. The current Dungeon Fortress we are in will roughly be the size of the Dungeon Town Fortress. However, if we choose the Dungeon City Fortress, we would have even more room to expand as well as more production than a Dungeon Town Fortress.” Moloch explained to Jin.
“Besides, it is hard to expand with a Dungeon Town Fortress. We need to either pay more dungeon dollars to expand per square feet, which could cost more in the long run even. On the flip side though, we would have a solid foundation.”
“So you are suggesting we take the Dungeon City Fortress and build up from scratch? How confident are you on being able to do that? Did you not say that you would be content with just a Dungeon Town Fortress? Would it not be easier for King Baal to siege the Dungeon City Fortress since we would not have proper fortifications?” Jin was concerned. He understood Moloch had a long running interest but he was currently being too greedy.
“The System said it would help with the defences,” Yun spoke to break up the argument. “Jin, what you did just now… was unconventional to say the least, but it did give the System partial access to the Town Building. Technically, it can brute force the dungeon core to grant itself full access but it decided to take a step back and observe what this Moloch plushie is able to do.” Yun added and Moloch was slightly confused. It was then that both Jin and Yun provided him with a short explanation regarding Jin not being a monster summoner, but instead a dungeon supplier.
“I see! Now I finally understand why you stuffed that phone into me and hoped that it would work.” Moloch nodded his head upon hearing Jin’s circumstances.
“I believe what Jin did was a good choice, though a little abrupt. If he had chosen the System, it would probably have immediately chosen the former while just you alone would have taken the latter despite there being no guarantee on if it will work out in the long run.” Yun replied to Moloch.
“It can work! All I need is time… and some breathing room.” Moloch somehow felt slightly ashamed to admit that he would not be so bold to create a Dungeon City Fortress all by himself if it was not for Jin’s help.
“So, how far is the System willing to go in terms of defences? Just walls? Maybe some cannons?” Jin asked Yun but she shook her head.
“Just because you are in the Dungeon World does not mean you cannot apply concepts from the modern world. If you do that, the Dungeon City Fortress will have no need for walls.” Yun replied.
“But in the modern world, there aren’t any defences in most cities except for city-wide monitoring and most defences come from the borders, such as anti-air missiles or deterrence with military force. How can they… Oh.” Jin realised he had just voiced out all his options.
“A standard metal fencing should be sufficient. City-Wide Monitoring will prevent any sneaky bastards and in terms of chasing the enemies down, we would have the upper hand since we have intelligence on their movements in this city.”
“Regardless, we need to focus on our basic needs first since we will only be given standard housing,” Moloch interjected and hoped that this would not turn into another conjecture discussion and instead prove to be useful.
“Can we change the housing to our own specifications?” Jin typed the question onto the monitor, hoping that it would have a response. The metallic ball kept quiet for a while before responding. “Additional changes to specifications require dungeon dollars. Please choose an option before proceeding to the city/town building.”
“Let’s choose Dungeon City Fortress first and then we will go from there.” Jin finally gave in to the idea of having a Dungeon City Fortress instead of a fully equipped Dungeon Town Fortress. That way, he could build a modern city within this small part of the dungeon world and perhaps create an urban battlefield for his customers.
Moloch proceeded to select the City Fortress option and the entire dungeon shook violently. The group watched the throne room crumble before their eyes and the dungeon space was expanding rapidly with the dungeon core ball at the centre of it all.
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