It's been three days since Rias' peerage finished the first floor of the dungeon and left.
Cain used this time to expand his dungeon and create traps for his next guests. He was engrossed in planning and modifying the dungeon layout to make it slightly harder but not impossible to clear for newbies.
He had added more rooms, corridors and stairs, making sure that the first floor of the dungeon had four main paths; one was a safe path with almost no danger, only traps. Second was a challenging path with monsters. Third was a shortcut with a high chance of getting lost.
And the fourth... was an exciting and dangerous path with lots of traps and enemies. If anyone could beat that, then they'd get a great reward at the end.
He decided to delete the first boss and made it a mini-boss that guarded the path to the second floor. Of course, this boss is still stronger than the Hobgoblin. And then, for the second floor, he decided to introduce a new monster.
Looking at his finished dungeon, he couldn't help but smile. He had to admit it was pretty damn good! It would surely surprise Rias' group.
However, Cain still had one problem.
"Hmm, I should limit the entry to 6 people, the standard party members in a video game..." he mused, "I can get more coins if more people go inside the dungeon. But I can't let the quality of the experience decrease. This is a newbie dungeon, so creating this kind of system should be enough. I'll increase it later."
If there were too many people and the dungeon felt pretty easy, he wouldn't get enough emotion to convert into Coins. So limiting people like this would definitely get him the result he wanted. With less people, the dungeon would be more difficult, generating more intense emotion.
With that done, he opened up a setting for the dungeon and limited the entry to 6 people per party, then changed the system message so that it informed newcomers of the new rule.
"Now, let's wait for someone to enter the dungeon... They should be able to enter again today. I wonder how their party composition is."
Cain sat back on his seat. He had no idea how much time would pass until his next visitors appeared. But he was willing to wait.
In fact, he enjoyed this part of his new job.
Waiting and planning, watching and recreating. It was relaxing.
In his previous life, he had spent countless hours playing games and reading manga. And now, he could get anything he wanted just by playing this dungeon game. Even his own life had become like an anime or game.
"System, can I watch the challengers in the real world? Like directly walking with them and join their party?"
*Ding*
[It's impossible right now.]
"Right now, huh? Fine. I guess I will upgrade my authority or level first before I am able to experience my dungeon directly."
He chuckled and leaned back in his chair, "System, open my current status."
*Ding*
Status:
Name: Cain Volper
Title: Dungeon King (1), The King (1).
Fame: 0
Coins: 1,850
Authority: 1
Ability:
─ King's Privilege
"Hmm... How can I increase my authority?"
*Ding*
[Authority will rise depending on the growth of the dungeon and the level of its creation. It can also increase with fame and titles.]
"Level 2 will unlock more features, I assume. But to gain fame and get more titles? System, what is the condition?"
*Beep*
The robotic voice answered, but this time it sounded slightly different. Cain could feel an excitement in the voice that he had never heard before.
[You can gain Fame and Title from completing achievements. Every time an achievement is completed, your fame increases by one point. If the achievement is very impressive, your fame increases by more points.]
[Pro tips: Giving a dungeon a theme will make it easier to gain Fame.]
"Ah, I see..." He scratched his chin. He understood the meaning behind it. "I am on the right track."
After finishing the modification of the Fun Fun Dungeon!, he felt bored because there was nothing else he could do. So he checked the System's settings to change how the screen looked.
At that moment, an alarm he set if a challenger entered his dungeon rang. Cain got excited and opened the screen showing the entrance. He looked at the six challengers that entered and exclaimed.
"Oh!" His eyes went wide, a grin spread on his face. "This time, the cast changed!"
***
[Fun Fun Dungeon! Limit: 6 people!]
Rias read the message and looked back to the cave's entrance. She frowned and shook her head before saying to the group, "The rules have changed. It only allows 6 people to enter."
She looked at Sona and the others behind her.
Sona had come to help with her peerage to check on the dungeon after hearing about it from Rias. And since there are enough in the Sitri peerage, they were ready to enter safely, but...
"It seems that we have a problem." She turned towards the red-headed girl and spoke with an emotionless tone. "I don't think you will agree to have your peerage to stay behind while we investigate this dungeon, no?"
"We found this first, so we have priority." Rias asserted herself. Her peerages were standing behind her with their heads held high. They were confident that they wouldn't let themselves be outdone by anyone else. And even if Sona's group was stronger, they still wouldn't give up easily.
"I'm sorry, Sona. You should have gotten here first." She crossed her arms in front of her ample chest and continued speaking confidently. "But we still have a slot left. If you don't want to leave someone behind, then one of you should join our party. That's my proposal. What do you think?"
"Ara, that's a good idea." Akeno chuckled at this proposal.
However, Sona didn't look pleased.
"I need to bring Tsubaki with me too. Give us two spots."
"I will only give you one spot. We are being kind now." Rias shook her head. "If you don't want to, we will enter now. The dungeon might only open three days later for the next group."
Looking at the red-head's smirk, Sona looked at the people in her group. Rias and her peerage had been inside before, so they had experience. While she didn't want to leave someone behind, it would be dangerous if they encountered unknown things. It was better if someone in her group entered together.
"Rias," she turned toward the red-haired girl, "Fine. Only I will join your party this time. Tsubaki will wait for us outside."
"It's a deal, then."
After that, both of the peerage groups agreed to work together and began to prepare to enter the cave. The members who were to stay behind were told to keep guard in case something happened.