Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices

6 – Monster Summoning

I had fallen asleep as if I had fainted, unable to endure the fatigue of the previous day.

When I got up from the bed, something had changed.

My condition was at its best.

“Why does my body feel so refreshed?”

It felt as if I had slept deeply, my body light as if it could fly.

“Gasp.”

Moments later, I realized that something incredible happened.

“Fi, finally…!”

An unbelievable, incredible thing happened.

“I got a Status Window!”

I ran around the room, expressing my joy with my entire body.

Though I had awakened, I hadn’t had a Status Window.

Without it, I couldn’t learn any skills.

Of course, I couldn’t even dream of gaining experience points from killing monsters.

People used to call me a half-baked hunter.

An unfortunate hunter who had awakened but had no potential for growth.

Only slightly stronger than a non-awakened ordinary person.

That was it.

How resentful I was all this time.

Watching those who had awakened later than me growing rapidly only brought me a sense of futility.

Why can’t I do that too?

It was a feeling of injustice.

Even though I graduated from Hunter Academy, I worked not as a hunter but as a porter.

Receiving the lowest treatment among porters.

This didn’t change even when I went to the other-world continent of Eldorado. After all, I returned without gaining anything.

When I returned to Earth, there was no one to welcome me back, let alone a single message.

Well, I guess that’s my place right now.

However, those small things weren’t important.

Status window.

The significance of having it was what mattered.

It meant the potential for my growth in the future.

Of course, obtaining the status window didn’t instantly solve everything.

Otherwise, other laborers would have become hunters and entered dungeons to hunt monsters much earlier.

＜Lee Kang-hyun＞

[Characteristics]

– None

[Basic Information]

Vitality: F-

Attack Power: F-

Defense: F-

Mana: F-

[Skills]

– None

It goes without saying that my displayed abilities on the status window were at the lowest possible level.

Characteristics and skills were marked as nonexistent, and all the entries had F, with a minus sign beside each.

Still, I was glad.

No matter how you looked at it, it was obvious who was better between a stagnant hunter and one with even a slight possibility of future growth.

For me, this was just the beginning.

“Now that I have the status window, I should seriously consider taking the mana test.”

I had received a notification from the government about a mana test while I was on the Eldorad Continent.

Although I had the status window now, I planned to keep the fact that I had been to the Eldorad Continent a secret.

However, I doubted the mana test would raise any suspicions.

“And after that, I should start looking for laborer jobs again.”

With the status window, it would be much easier than before.

While I was at it, I decided to check my inventory skills.

I logged into the Hunter Market website, which sells various hunter items and skills.

However, the price was indeed the issue.

– Inventory Slot 1: 10 million won (Sold out)

“An inventory slot for 10 million won…”

It was astonishing that a one-slot inventory, capable of holding only one type of item, cost 10 million won.

Furthermore, it was already sold out.

‘Well…’

Of course, it was better than having nothing.

Even a one-slot inventory, which could constantly store one type of item, was more expensive than a simple laborer who carried a backpack and picked up items one by one.

Besides, it wasn’t an urgent situation where I needed an inventory, and even if it weren’t sold out, I couldn’t afford to buy one right now.

In fact, it would help with my work as a laborer, but my ultimate goal was not to be a laborer.

I never had any intention of ending my life as a laborer.

Laborers were just a means to earn money and experience, and I was aiming to be a hunter who hunted monsters directly.

Since I had nothing to buy right now, I closed the Hunter Market website.

My gaze naturally turned to the game.

“Come to think of it, I received an alarm yesterday…”

I remembered something about a sacrifice and so on.

“Oh! A bug!”

It came back to me.

The deputy mentioned that he offered a sacrifice to me in an alarm.

The altar system, which had appeared when the dungeon size was expanded yesterday.

I initially thought of the altar system as a curse.

No intruders could enter due to the dungeon’s concealment, and, most importantly, the only monster in the dungeon, Celia, couldn’t go outside.

These penalties would gradually be lifted, but not now.

And my prediction that no intruders could come was clearly wrong.

“What kind of bug did he exploit to break through the microtransaction item?”

I logged into the game and checked the alarm list.

– Yuel’s abilities have been absorbed.

The alarm ended here.

“Absorbed abilities, huh?”

I clicked on several tabs, but it didn’t seem like anything had changed. Even Selia, who was set as the sub-leader, didn’t seem to have her stats improved or anything like that.

“Hmm.”

It seems that the offering named Yu-Eun was just a common mob. As a common mob, the stat increase was minimal, so there didn’t appear to be any noticeable changes.

Well, I guess there won’t be any powerful foes coming in from the early stages.

The problem is that even with stealth activated, these guys can invade the dungeon at any time.

Since the game was released not too long ago, there might be a lot of minor bugs.

So, my task was clear.

I had to proceed with setting traps and placing monsters, a task I had postponed earlier.

“As expected, the guardians of the dungeon are the monsters.”

The basic guardians of the dungeon were, in essence, monster soldiers.

It was the same for dungeons that appeared on Earth, and for dungeons on the Elodrad Continent.

Since this game was also based on the Elodrad Continent, there shouldn’t be much of a difference.

I went straight into the store and clicked on the draw tab.

– Draw Dungeon Monsters! (1 time: 550 gems)

– Draw Dungeon Monsters! (10 times: 5,000 gems)

It cost 550 gems to draw a single monster. I had seen gold before, but gems were a currency I’d never encountered.

“How do you obtain gems? Can you buy them with real money?”

I didn’t know the price of gems, so I couldn’t tell if drawing was expensive or cheap. I searched the shop to see if gems could be bought with real money.

– 100 gems: 1,100 KRW

– 500 gems: 5,500 KRW

From noble mtl dot com

– 1,000 gems: 11,000 KRW

– 2,000 gems: 22,000 KRW

– 5,000 gems: 55,000 KRW

– Bonus: Double the gems for the first purchase!

“Wow, why is it so expensive?”

It took 550 gems to draw one monster, and 5,000 gems for ten draws. And those 5,000 gems were worth 55,000 KRW.

Moreover, there were no additional benefits for drawing multiple times, like guaranteeing high-grade monsters after a certain number of draws.

Just that the 10-draw was somewhat more cost-effective than drawing once…?

“The prices are crazy.”

Or perhaps the game developers were crazy about money.

Either way, my mood was good right now.

Since there was a 2x gem bonus, I unhesitatingly bought 5,000.

‘Since I’ve also gotten the status window, this kind of spending is nothing now.’

There wasn’t much burden.

– The payment was successful.

– 5,000 gems will be sent to your mailbox.

– First purchase bonus! An additional 5,000 gems will be sent to your mailbox.

There were a total of 10,000 gems in the mailbox.

“Let’s go for 20 draws!”

As soon as I received the 10,000 gems, I started the draw.

– You’ve drawn a Skeleton Soldier(★).

– You’ve drawn a Skeleton Archer Apprentice(★).

– You’ve drawn a Skeleton Soldier(★).

– You’ve drawn a Skeleton Magic Apprentice(★).

– You’ve drawn a Skeleton Soldier(★).

By the time I drew 5 monsters, my expression twisted.

“Are there only skeletons coming out?”

On top of that, they were all one-star.

The appearance alone was hopeless.

The skeleton soldier was holding an old, rickety sword that looked like it would break immediately.

The archer had a typical wooden bow that was clearly not good equipment.

“This damn magician is just holding a single wooden stick.”

Could he use magic with this?

The only hopeful thing is that I’ve only drawn five times.

I touched the screen to continue the draw.

– You’ve drawn a Skeleton Archer Apprentice(★).

– You’ve drawn a Skeleton Archer Apprentice(★).

– I summoned Skeleton Soldiers(★).

– I summoned Skeleton Magic Apprentices(★).

– I summoned Skeleton Soldiers(★).

Oh, damn it.

Turns out, this place isn’t just filled with skeletons, is it?

And if you’re an archer, you’re an archer, and if you’re a magician, you’re a magician.

What’s with these trainees and apprentices?

Seems like they want to make it really challenging for me to synthesize.

Originally, I was planning to do another 10-summon right after the first one.

But looking at this mess, I didn’t think doing it consecutively was a good idea.

I immediately touched the monster screen and looked at the monster list.

[Owned Monsters]

– Skeleton Soldiers(★) × 5

– Skeleton Archer Apprentices(★) × 3

– Skeleton Magic Apprentices(★) × 2

＜Skeleton Soldiers＞

– Grade: ★

[Basic Information]

HP: F

Attack: F

Defense: F-

Magic: F-

[Skills]

– None

It was really a simple setup.

＜Skeleton Archer Apprentices＞

– Grade: ★

[Basic Information]

HP: F-

Attack: F

Defense: F-

Mana: F-

[Skills]

– None

This guy was no different.

＜Skeleton Magic Trainee＞

– Grade: ★

[Basic Information]

Health: F-

Attack: F+

Defense: F-

Mana: F-

[Skills]

– None

Oh god. Is this really a game?

It was miserable.

Although the three types of skeletons had slightly different stats, their wretchedness remained unchanged.

Of course, my abilities were higher than my status window, but this didn’t feel like a game.

I spent 55,000 won, and these are the only ones that came out?

My mood plummeted in real-time.

The only silver lining was that the monsters also had a fusion system, like subordinate departments.

– To synthesize a Skeleton Soldier (★), you need two Skeleton Soldiers (★).

It was a system that could be synthesized by consuming two of the same monsters.

Fortunately, I had five Skeleton Soldiers and three archers.

I made two of each into a fusion.

– Synthesize Skeleton Soldier (★).

– Consume two Skeleton Soldiers (★).

– Synthesis successful! Skeleton Soldier (★) has evolved into Skeleton Swordsman (★★).

＜Skeleton Swordsman＞

– Grade: ★★

[Basic Information]

Health: E

Attack: E

Defense: E-

Mana: E-

[Skills]

– None

Ah…

There was a slight change in the process of synthesizing.

When I synthesized a 1-star Apprentice Archer, it turned into a 2-star Skeleton Archer.

[List of Owned Monsters]

– Skeleton Soldier (★) x2

– Skeleton Swordsman (★★) x1

– Skeleton Archer (★★) x1

– Skeleton Mage Apprentice (★) x2

Looking at the lieutenant and the monster pulls, it seems that the basic mechanism of this game is growth through synthesis.

“Still, it’s too much that only skeletons are coming out.”

I just used 5,000 gems for 10 pulls.

I have 5,000 gems left.

I would have pulled consecutively if it were the usual case.

However, after seeing only skeletons come out from the previous pulls, I lost the desire to do so.

“Could there be a bug in the gacha as well?”

I thought the type of monsters coming out might differ depending on the day, so I clicked on the notice, but there was no such thing.

It seemed better to do additional pulls later.

I would waste gems if only more of these guys came out.

“Then, I need to place these guys…”

The important thing is to place these guys in the dungeon.

Even with the same monster composition, it would be more efficient to place them appropriately according to the terrain.

However, my dungeon was just a long, narrow cave. Plus, it was quite narrow.

There was no place to hide and take cover.

Wouldn’t it be pointless to place monsters like this?

“Can’t we change the internal structure?”

It would be nice to have a wide square in between the paths, even if we can’t change them entirely…

I went into the dungeon management tab and looked for the internal structure option.

However…

– This feature has not yet been opened.

Why is there so much in this game that I can’t do?

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and touched the screen.

[Delegate fully to the deputy]

Anyway, the deputy managing the dungeon would do better than me placing things directly.

I was planning to leave it entirely up to the deputy on how to utilize the monsters obtained through the random draw.

I also set the additional option in the settings for the deputy to autonomously handle all dungeon-related tasks and then exited the game.

For a while, it was expected to be difficult to access the game.

Since the status window appeared, I had to check my magic power and find work as a pack mule, so for a while, my days would be busy.

At least, by doing this, it would automatically grow like an idle game.