The types of monsters available in the dungeon were determined by the dungeon master's knowledge.But Gong Qiying never imagined that even fantasy monsters from Earth could be recreated.
At a glance, he saw familiar creatures from Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Monster Hunter, Skyrim, Final Fantasy—even quirky ones like Plants vs. Zombies and Pokémon!Not just games—anime like Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Akame ga Kill, Jujutsu Kaisen, and One Punch Man were included too.
"This is a cheat only a transmigrator like me can have."
After the initial excitement, he noticed only a few monsters from each series were unlocked. The rest were grayed out with requirements like:
[Champion Gundyr – Unlock: Level 3 Dungeon Master]
[Ruinous Roar Dragon – Unlock: Level 5 Dungeon Master]
[Arceus – Unlock: ???]
He checked the requirements. Level 3 needed 50,000 mental power, level 4 needed 500,000, and level 5 just showed question marks.
A long way to go.
Looking further, he realized many monsters overlapped in roles and weren't necessary.For example, native goblins were almost identical to Zelda's Bokoblins:
[Goblin]Mental cost per unit: 1HP: F, Strength: E, Intelligence: F, Endurance: E+, Speed: F, Combat: F
[Bokoblin]Mental cost per unit: 3HP: F, Strength: E+, Intelligence: G, Endurance: F, Speed: F, Combat: F
Despite the same combat power, fantasy creatures cost far more.
"Not cost-effective."
Seeing how expensive the famous ones were, his excitement faded.
"I'm still in the early stage. I need to budget every point. Unless it's special, I'll stick with local monsters."
Available structures had also updated, now including fantasy buildings.He spotted Farron Keep and Blighttown, his favorites…
Then he saw the construction costs and liked them a lot less.
He could also offer fantasy items as dungeon rewards—but again, the mental cost was sky-high.
Maybe in the future, adventurers would find a cancellable straight sword, a red-and-white Pokéball, or Johnny Silverhand's arm.
"Okay, enough daydreaming."
Gong focused again on the crystal orb. A notebook sat beside him, logging improvements.
Time passed. Moonlight fell.
Two hours left before the dungeon closed.
After that, no one could enter, only exit. Anyone left inside would be forcibly ejected in 30 minutes.
Midnight to 3 a.m. was rest time for the dungeon.
"Almost 300 deaths."
He hadn't expected that, but it made sense—it was the "first-time kill" effect.
Soon, once word got out about the difficulty spike, fewer would come—just like MMORPG launches.
His challenge was to make adventurers stay.
Stacking difficulty brought fast mental power, but it wasn't sustainable.
"I should increase rewards."He sighed.
"But I don't have enough mental power. Just repairing structures, respawning monsters, and fixing the map costs a lot. Adding rewards on top of that…"
"No, short-term focus must stay on mental power accumulation."
He knew the problem—but couldn't fix it yet.
"If only tens of thousands came here to die voluntarily…"
Then he checked the orb again and raised his eyebrows.
"No way—is someone about to reach the end?"
The orb showed an elf girl blowing off a Minotaur's head with a bow and entering the mines unharmed.
She was the first to reach that floor without triggering teleport traps.
"She's strong, but…" Gong eyed the dungeon model. "I can't let you win."
Because the final boss… was himself!
As dungeon master, Gong Qiying/Godwin had to be challenged as the final boss.
If he died, resurrection cost thousands of mental points. Without enough… he'd die for real and lose the throne.
Why was weakling Godwin still dungeon master?Because he hid his chamber behind eighteen teleporters and multiple puzzles. No one had found him.
He even made a fake final boss.
All dungeon masters did this, according to his memories.
But Gong, trying to cut costs, reduced the portals to just two and only tossed in some skeletons and blood mosquitoes. So he got discovered.
He had rebuilt the entire dungeon overnight. A massive effort.
Some oversight was bound to happen.
"Didn't expect such a skilled player. That's on me."
He rubbed his temples and browsed his monster list.
He had to stop the elf girl before she reached him—but without spending more than revival cost.
Then he saw one monster… and smiled.
"You're the one. Go, Crucible Sensei!"
[Crucible Knight (Axe Helm)]Mental cost per unit: 800HP: C, Strength: C+, Intelligence: C, Endurance: C, Speed: C, Combat: C