Dungeon Maker

Lucia spoke vigorously. Unlike when she was in the Mammon House, only her voice was heard now, so not only Yong-ho but Tigrius could hear it.

Yong-ho felt a lot of expectation in Lucia's voice. It seemed that she was excited to meet the souls of another dungeon for the first time.

Yong-ho wasn't as excited as Lucia, but he earnestly waited for the replies of the dungeon soul of the House of Randolt.

While Lucia's heart was pounding in excitement, there was a reply from the dungeon soul of the House of Randolt.

[A new communication line with the dungeon soul of the House of Mammon is opened.]

[It seems that it will take about 10 minutes to do this.]

It was a hard female voice.

It seemed that the female didn't want to reply to Lucia's greetings.

[Sullen...]

[I will help you with the work.]

Lucia spoke briefly, but apparently, she was disappointed. The sullen face of this blue-haired girl, with her shoulders drooping, came to Yong-ho's mind.

Yong-ho turned back to Tigrius and asked, "Is that the typical response…?"

"Most of the dungeon souls I have met are like that. I think my dungeon soul is perhaps more common than Lucia."

Tigrius had no reason to lie, but it seemed that Lucia was really a special spirit.

'That's good to know.'

From Yong-ho's point of view, a cheerful Lucia was much better.

"When the communication line with Lucia is completed, we will start renovating the dungeon. I explained to you on the way, but I'm thinking of making this a fortress. The new dungeon will be very different from it now," said Yong-ho.

Yong-ho seemed to feel sorry for Tigrius.

Tigrius looked at Yong-ho differently from when he witnessed Lucia's rich emotions.

Then he replied with a warm smile reminiscent of Eligos, "That's fine. I think you need the renovation to stop the forces from the western region. I understand. Thank you for your consideration."

After he expressed gratitude duly, Tigrius recovered his usual look.

His face was that of an old gentleman who gave out the aura of a serious nobleman with gravitas.

***

While Lucia occupied some of the functions of the House of Randolt, Yong-ho headed for the makeshift lodge of the House of Mammon arranged in one corner of the House of Randolt.

Originally, Tigrius wanted to provide Yong-ho with the Demon King's room and his own bedroom as the accommodation for the Mammon House spirits, but Yong-ho declined it.

Tigrius was still the head of the House of Randolt. So, Yong-ho wanted to respect it.

Of course, that was not the only reason.

'A guest room is much better for me.'

It would not be pleasant for Yong-ho to take someone else's bedroom, especially that of an old gentleman like Tigrius. Moreover, Yong-ho did not intend to settle down in the House of Randolt for good. When the dungeon renovation was completed to some extent, he planned to return to the House of Mammon to break through the arena.

The spirits of the House of Mammon waiting at the lodge welcomed back Yong-ho. Accompanied by Ophelia, Skull, and Catalina alone, Yong-ho moved to the guest bedrooms.

Sensing the reason why he called her to his bedroom, Ophelia said, gently pressing on her pounding heart, "I would like to ask for the evolution of my physical strength."

Yong-ho laughed. Although Ophelia changed into a fox-like girl from a veteran tavern hostess who had gone through ups and downs, her sharp eyes remained the same.

"Not magic power, but physical strength?"

"Yes, because balance is important. Especially for Red Demons like me and brother Eli, physical ability is as important as magic power. For the Red Daemons, magic is merely the "means" to strengthen their body. The basis of strength is not magic power, but physical ability."

Her detailed explanation was quite reasonable.

However, Yong-ho was bothered by something unusual she mentioned.

"Brother Eli?"

"Because brother Eligos's name is too long, I like Eli. It's like his nickname."

Ophelia laughed brightly, which made Yong-ho frown.

He said grumly, recalling Eligos's face.

"Let's start."

Ophelia laughed again this time. She closed her eyes then stretched her body comfortably.

Yong-ho took his breath. He put his hands on her shoulders and tried to empty his head.

It had already been proven in several cases that Yong-ho's own "thought" had some influence on his appearance after going through an evolution. He made sure that his envy, not suitable for a master like him, shouldn't have any effect on her appearance.

Yong-ho thought about good things as much as possible. Then he activated the power of evolution.

There was no violent external change. But a violent change took place within her body.

The strengthening of the body itself.

Her bones became harder. Both her internal organs and muscles were strengthened, and her skin became more elastic.

'And… uh…'

He could not describe it accurately, but the aura of Ophelia changed a little.

Had she become more attractive? He seemed to hear Aamon murmuring that he felt so because of his mood or agony.

Shaking his head, Yong-ho concentrated. New boxes of light floated above Ophelia's head.

[Red Demon Breaker]

[Red Demon Vanguard]

Both were new routes to level advancement.

Even though the evolution was over, Yong-ho's green eyes were still shining. Watching him, Ophelia gulped before she knew it. Seeing there was something going on, she quietly waited for his next move.

Instead of saying something, Yong-ho touched the boxes of light in the air one by one.

And he saw something different from before.

It was the same as before that a translucent silhouette was drawn over Ophelia's body whenever he touched them. However, the type of silhouette was different this time.

'Transformation? Is it like a battle mode?'

Even after leveling up, Ophelia's appearance did not change much.

However, she had some other look during the battle, unlike her usual look.

The Red Demon Breaker was an aggressive type. After switching to battle mode, Ophelia turned into a wild figure reminiscent of a feline beast. Her hands were stronger, and her legs were longer and firmer. And black patterns appeared all over her red skin.

On the other hand, Red Demon Vanguard was a speed type. Unlike Breaker, whose physique itself was getting bigger as a whole, Vanguard changed Ophelia's body shape more slenderly. But she looked very agile. It was obvious that she could move much faster now.

Yong-ho intended to have Ophelia choose one. Since her advancement was possible only after her evolution EXP maxed, she had plenty of time to think about it.

'Let me have high hopes for Eligos.'

What was the next step for Red Demon Beast? How much wilder could it turn?

After grinning, Yong-ho let go of his hands from Opelia's shoulders.

He briefly explained to her about the advancement to Opelia, who opened her eyes wide instead of asking what was going on.

Next was Skull's turn.

If Ophelia was the busiest spirit in the dungeon of the House of Mammon externally, Skull was the one who spent the most time training.

Although Skull could no longer collect EXP properly even in the intermediate training ground, he did not roll around the floor quietly.

Skull trained his unit endlessly, literally 24 hours a day.

While Ophelia quickly gained her EXP by sparring with Eligos and through her tight schedule, Skull gained evolution EXP through training.

Skull evolved mainly toward increasing his physical abilities such as physical strength and build. But things were different now. Skull was not just a warrior, but a magic warrior who knew how to use magic power.

Yong-ho, who put his hand on the head of Skull, kneeling before him, applied the evolution of magic power on him. The magical power that more clearly revealed its presence than before after merging with Skeleton Mage was transformed into a larger and stronger form. Yong-ho felt lightning from Skull.

'But I still don't think of his advancement stage.'

Yong-ho felt sorry for it. After all, it seemed that there was still a long way for Skull to move up to a Death Knight.

After completing the evolution of Skull, Catalina looked at Yong-ho with an expectant expression this time. Yong-ho grinned mischievously at her flapping her tail, then gently hit her on the forehead and said, "Did you already forget that you evolved after breaking through the first floor? You're greedy."

Catalina responded by drooping her ears and tail.

Yong-ho stroked her hair and said to everyone again, "Anyway, for the next few days, I will focus on planning dungeon remodeling because it needs a major renovation. Maybe I need to reorganize the dungeon once. I also have to buy the necessary materials."

Just like a dungeon located along the route to the western region, the dungeon of the House of Randolt was already quite in combative form. But that wasn't enough.

Yong-ho intended to turn the dungeon into an indomitable fortress.

Fortunately, Tigrius obediently followed his intention because he knew well that it was the only choice to prevent attacks from the western region.

On that day, Yong-ho immediately planned a draft of the fortress in cooperation with Tigrius and Ophelia. And the next day, he reorganized the dungeon.

It was different from the previous reorganization of the first floor of the dungeon of the House of Mammon in the past. When Yong-ho implemented the dungeon reorganization, the first floor of the House of Mammon was really small.

It would take three days to reorganize the dungeon. After that, they would need to spend a considerable amount of time laying the foundation for the full-scale fortification of the dungeon.

Yong-ho delegated the supervision of the whole remodeling process to Ophelia and Tigrius.

He had Skull and his unit on standby as the security guard. Then he headed back to the House of Mammon accompanied by Catalina alone.

'I'm going to come back here after breaking through the 9th floor of the arena, no, 10th floor.'

Salami, the spirit of flames with the House of Mammon, carried Yong-ho and Catalina on his wings and spread them. It left the traces of flames in the sky of the demon world.