Dungeon Maker

Union evolution.

An act of joining two different figures into one.

This was probably only possible because the Power of Evolution had become stronger after Yong-Ho received his third horn.

He understood the Power of Evolution this time too.

The name, Rock Skeleton Warrior, was probably created when Skull and the Rock Golem were evolved by being unified into one being.

The Power of Evolution is growing based on how much Yong-Ho was growing.

But that didn't mean that it was an almighty power.

There were limits and conditions that had to be met, just like how the development rate needs to be filled up in order to evolve.

The union evolution was the same. It felt like there would be some sort of condition.

He was curious as to whether it was possible to perform with spirits that were alive and if two spirits have been unified, who's free will remain, etc.

But if he were to just focus on Skull and the Rock Golem, then it was simple.

Skull was an Undead. An already dead spirit that has been bound to a skeletal body through the power of magic.

And the Rock Golem didn't have a consciousness. Even if the two have been unified, it won't affect Skull's consciousness.

A Skeleton Warrior that had the body and the strength of a Rock Golem.

If this worked, Skull will be able to display a stronger power.

'If there's one thing that's getting to me…'

If he did proceed with the unification, then that'll be it for the Rock Golem. Through the recent battle, he lost the Clay Golem and on top of that, he was close to losing the Rock Golem as well.

'But.'

Skull was still important. It was a sad reality, but the House of Mammon was being operated by a small group. It was better to have one soldier that added to the group, rather than having two soldiers that were of no use because they were broken.

"Ready?"

Yong-Ho spoke. Skull answered with the same trusting expression.

"Skullll!"

Skull spat out his answer. Yong-Ho placed both of his hands on top of Skull and the Rock Golem.

He looked at the Rock Golem one last time and got rid of the regrets that were lingering within him.

Unification evolution.

Rock Skeleton Warrior.

Yong-Ho sent mana to both of them. He activated the Power of Evolution.

First, a light appeared.

A white light enveloped both Skull and the Rock Golem. Next, the white turned to green and Skull and the Rock Golem were linked into one.

Based on the amount of mana that Yong-Ho was pouring, the light became bigger and stronger, which covered Yong-Ho's eyesight.

A couple of seconds later.

Yong-Ho started breathing heavily. The feeling of Skull and the Rock Golem disappeared from both of his hands.

Yong-Ho clutched the air and took a step back after standing up and looked at the area where the green light was.

The rock remains from the Rock Golem were all over the place. And a Skeleton Warrior was standing in the center of it.

Their developed grey body was sturdier than the Rock Golem in the past and wasn't as excessive - he was big, but at the same time nimble and he gave off a much stronger feeling than a Skeleton Warrior.

Yong-Ho anxiously looked at the Rock Skeleton Warrior's face. As soon as he gulped, green eyes lit up in the inner part of the empty skull.

"Skulllll!"

Yong-Ho let out a sigh of relief when they released a loud and dignified roar. He smiled brightly and they were both happy about the situation.

"Hold on, wait."

"Skull, Skull?"

Yong-Ho activated the Power of Evolution and looked at Skull. He quickly read the new information.

[Name: Skull (-)]

[Race: Rock Skeleton (Mixed Spirit)]

[Class: Skeleton Warrior]

[Attribute: Earth - Level 1]

[Individual Nature: Original / Naive]

[Individual Stat: Talent / Stamina]

[Evolution Rate: 0/100]

An attribute that wasn't there before appeared and an individual nature and stat were added as well. The description, Mixed Spirit, caught Yong-Ho's attention.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he read the remaining information.

[Bone Strengthening - Level 2 | ★★☆ (2.5)]

[Strength - Level 1 | ★★ (2)]

[Physique - Level 2 | ★★☆ (2.5)]

[Intellect - Level 0 | ★☆ (1.5)]

[Talent - Level 1 | ★★☆ (2.5)]

[Available Race/Position Advancement]

[Rock Skeleton Knight] / [Rock Skeleton Berserker] / [Rock Skeleton Archer]

There were some stats that leveled up automatically and the strength stat was a new one.

But the portion that caught his attention was the new advancement route.

There were three.

Just by looking at the names, he had an idea of what they specialized in.

The Skeleton Knight was an infantry and strengthened defense, the Skeleton Berserker was a high-ranked warrior that focused on offense and the Skeleton Archer specialized in long-distance attacks.

Since each specialized in different things, the silhouette of each route was a bit different.

For the knight, the bone itself looked similar to an armor, and the berserker's arm became a bit longer and thicker. For the archer, there wasn't a big difference in the outer appearance.

Just looking at Skull's change made Yong-Ho feel satisfied. It was unfortunate for the Rock Golem, but with this kind of result, he could bear with it.

Skull armed himself with the weapon and armor that were on the ground. He wore the helmet, which was like his trademark, and waited for Yong-Ho's command.

And the Spirit of the Dungeon spoke right on time.

[Catalina and Eligor are heading your way.]

It seemed like she contacted those two right when Yong-Ho woke up.

The Spirit of the Dungeon did really well because Catalina, Eligor and the Goblins entered the throne room with food in their hands.

***

"Wow, master."

Like always, tears filled up in Eligor's eyes as soon as he saw Yong-Ho. Catalina reacted the same way as before. Her ears started flapping like wings and the way her tail wagged made it seem like she would jump right into his arms if he opened them.

But Yong-Ho was cautious. Instead of opening his arms, he looked at Catalina's stomach.

Since she was wearing her combat outfit, under the tight, leather clothing, her bare skin was exposed.

Her soft, yet tight abdomen was in the same condition as before. Her light brown skin, which looked like sweet milk chocolate melted on it, was the same as well.

He let out a sigh of relief without knowing. Foras's coldness that penetrated her abdomen disappeared. Her wagging tail was proof that she was healthy.

"Sir?"

Since he was staring at her for a while, she asked while blinking her eyes. He remembered that he was described as crafty and after acknowledging it, he cleared his throat.

He calmly responded to it, just like when he was in battle.

"I was worried, but it looks like you're all healed up. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"

She replied as her ears shot up.

"I've healed up thanks to your mana, sir. Thank you very much for worrying about me."

"I should be one thanking you. I was able to live because of you. You're definitely the best guard."

When she heard his compliment, her ears started flapping again and she laughed sheepishly. It looks kind of dumb, but it was pretty cute.

"Sir, I've completely recovered as well. I apologize for making you worry."

Eligor spoke after taking off his shirt and showed the areas that Foras had hit him.

Because his stamina had been developed, his body was sturdy despite having an old man's face.

Yong-Ho turned his attention away from Eligor, who posed like a bodybuilder. He was always thankful towards Eligor, but this was a different situation.

Yong-Ho took a few steps back and looked at all the spirits.

And then. Catalina's eyes widened. Yong-Ho was the only one that was in her sight and then Skull entered.

"Skull?"

Since his frame was larger than before and his color changed, Catalina blinked her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. For Eligor, as soon as he turned around to see Skull, a bright smile appeared on his face and the Goblins expressed their excitement when they saw how big Skull became.

"Skullll."

Along with his helmet, he lightly swung the war hammer, which was another trademark of his.

Catalina and Skull became rivals at one point, but were teammates, not enemies.

A bright smile appeared on Catalina's face and Skull swung the war hammer again.

During this time, Yong-Ho activated the Power of Evolution once again. Rather than looking at Catalina and the other spirits, he wanted to see if a union evolution was possible.

But information regarding the union evolution didn't appear for any one of them. It looked like it was possible for spirits that were already dead or didn't have a will, just like he had assumed earlier.

"Okay, let's talk over some food. I'll tell you how Skull became like this."

Yong-Ho spoke after deactivating the Power of Evolution and the Goblins quietly cheered.

Eligor sat down after placing a mat on top of the carpet that was in the throne room and grabbed some food. They were usually smoked meat, bread and other preserved food.

Since the spirits haven't eaten yet, the atmosphere turned into a group get-together. Even though he ate with the House of Mammon's spirits every day.

The explanation regarding the union evolution didn't take long.

The base of the Power of Evolution came from Yong-Ho's mana and spirit, but it wasn't fully developed and it wasn't completely within Yong-Ho's control.

But, it was a power that would completely be his someday.

At first, he would see colorful smoke and then, the information window of the Power of Evolution changed to where it resembled like the ones in RPGs and it was based off of Yong-Ho's choice and will.

A clear classification.

The explanation was easy enough for Yong-Ho to understand.

After talking about the union evolution, Yong-Ho listened to Eligor's various reports about the dungeon while eating.

He said that the corpses that were in the passageway were currently being cleaned up.

They stored Foras's corpse just in case and they placed the corpses of the Orcs in an empty room near the entrance. They'll have to take it outside of the dungeon and bury them as soon as possible.

The Spirit of the Dungeon briefly mentioned Foras's war carriage and they were placed in the room at the dungeon entrance.

Since they were Western style carriages, Eligor suggested that they keep two for the dungeon and sell the remaining.

Of course there was the option of keeping all of them for the future, but that was too far off into the future.

In order to further develop, they required a good amount of money. The House of Mammon was quickly growing and rather than keeping carriages that they may never use, it was better to sell them for money so that they could develop the dungeon right away.

When it comes to financial issues, Eligor and Yong-Ho thought the same way, so Yong-Ho nodded his head and approved.

Next were the prisoners.

The Orcs that were in the prison cell were quieter than they imagined.

But just neglecting them was bad in many ways.

"There's definitely an issue with the capacity of the prison."

They temporarily made the prison cell. Before, it was just the Kobolds and the Princess Ant that were in there, but the Orcs were bigger and on top of that, there were a lot of them. One or two days was fine, but there would be a problem with food and toilet if they stayed in there for a long time.

Yong-Ho placed the half-eaten bread down and asked Eligor.

"And the chance of them willing to join our side?"

"Very high. I think they're staying quiet because they had that in mind. Their leader, Rikum, is a very experienced warrior and he even expressed a desire of wanting to join the House of Mammon as a spirit. Free spirits, especially warriors, are very similar to mercenary warriors. Since their owner, Foras, died, it's only natural for them to act that way."

Since their owner died, it's only natural for them to find a new one.

It was kind of uncomfortable, but it was good news.

The Orcs have seen Yong-Ho use the Power of Evolution. If they weren't going to join his side, then the only option left was to kill them.

"There's a possibility that it could be a...false surrender or they could betray us, right? Maybe to get revenge on us."

[If it is a false surrender, then there will be an issue when registering them as a dungeon spirit. That's something you don't have to worry about.]

The Spirit of the Dungeon must've been listening in because she replied right away.

Yong-Ho nodded his head and spoke to Eligor again.

"Great, then let's go meet the Orcs as soon as we're done eating."

"Yes, sir. And...here they come."

After he finished talking, Eligor turned around. Yong-Ho followed and when he turned around, there was the Kobold, who was wagging his tail excitedly, and the Princess Ant. The Kobold was holding the rope that was tied around the Princess Ant's wrists.

It was a pretty shocking sight because it was like a dog was carrying around a leash, but the important thing was that that wasn't it.

The Princess Ant was outside of the prison.

Eligor explained.

"The prison cell was too small, so we didn't have a choice. She's not experienced in fighting and she has a gentle personality, so I let the Kobold watch her and moved her to the spirits' dormitory. I apologize for doing this without your approval, sir."

It was true that he exceeded his authority, but Yong-Ho didn't care.

For the past 31 hours, Yong-Ho was in an unconscious state and during that time, Eligor did what he was supposed to do.

On top of that, Eligor was the butler of the House of Mammon.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that he was the second highest ranking spirit in the dungeon. This can be seen as Eligor completing a simple task.

After Yong-Ho told Eligor that it was okay, he motioned the Kobold and the Princess Ant to come closer.

The Kobold quietly glanced at Yong-Ho and then sat on top of the mat with the Princess Ant. The Princess Ant quietly ate the food that the Kobold grabbed and from the looks of it, she could probably be registered as a dungeon spirit soon.

But before that, they had to take care of the Orcs.

Yong-Ho stood up after he finished eating. He headed towards the prison cell with Catalina, Eligor and Skull.

His goal was to bring them to his side and obtain information about Foras's dungeon.

There was still a lot to do today.