Gamers of the Underworld

Panda Novel

Sherlock was a young Dungeon Lord. His Dungeon wasn’t initiated because the Dungeon Core had been abandoned.

Sherlock hadn’t bought this abandoned Dungeon Core because of the persuasive sales tactics of Missy Succubus, who would cast flirtatious glances and give subtle hints occasionally. Neither was it because the Dungeon Core was surrounded by smelly and hard Diamond Seam, which was of little value.

It definitely wasn’t because of the short one day’s journey to the Surface World’s entrance, which meant that Sherlock only needed one day to go to the Surface World. On the contrary, that also meant that the races of the various Light Factions on the Surface World only required a day’s journey to attack Sherlock’s Dungeon.

The environment of Sherlock’s Dungeon was extremely bad and highly dangerous. Since it had been abandoned, immense effort would be required to reconstruct it. It wasn’t because he liked a challenge. He had purchased it simply because this Dungeon was the cheapest in the Underworld.

Enough of the complaints. Sherlock was an ambitious and goal-oriented person. Instead of complaining, it was more productive to spend the effort reconstructing the Dungeon Core and kick-starting his glorious project!

“Infuse Mana, then stamp my personal seal…” Sherlock stood in front of the abandoned dull-looking Dungeon Core. He was holding the “Dungeon Operating Manual” given to him by the salesgirl in a bid to restart the Dungeon Core step by step.

After most of the Mana was infused and he was almost exhausted, Sherlock took out his personal seal and immersed it in his fresh blood before stamping it on the Dungeon Core.

When the word “Sherlock” was blood-stamped on the Dungeon Core, it radiated with brilliance. Sherlock heard a low voice coming out from the Dungeon Core: “Servant Saber, here at your summoning. Are you my Master?”

Sherlock frowned and flipped through the entire “Dungeon Operating Manual”, confirming that there was no such segment in the manual. He lifted his head and looked dazed at the Dungeon Core. What should he do? Had he bought a fake Dungeon Core?

The Dungeon Core waited for a while. Then, not waiting for Sherlock’s reply, it said, “Not from transmigration? An indigenous inhabitant?”

Sherlock knitted his brows tighter as he mumbled to himself, “This Dungeon Core is a nutcase. I have to get a refund from the salesgirl. Indeed, nothing good comes from a cheap sale!”

As Sherlock turned to leave, the Dungeon Core became worried and shouted, “The great future Dungeon Devil King! Those were the terms that I learned from the otherworld. I’m not a nutcase. Please stay and don’t ask for a refund. Based on my poor environment and location, there won’t be a sale in a million years!”

Sherlock paused his steps, but not because of the Dungeon Core’s fawning. He stopped because the Dungeon Core had mentioned “The great future Dungeon Devil King”, and that was a truth!

It was incredible that the Dungeon Core was able to speak. As Sherlock wasn’t an experienced Dungeon Lord, he had never encountered one before, but that didn’t mean there were no talking Dungeon Cores. Perhaps it was a rare occurrence. With such a thought, Sherlock was pleased for having a rare talking Dungeon Core.

Since the Dungeon Core could speak logically, it wasn’t broken. In fact, it could work in Sherlock’s grand scheme of things! He opened up both hands and spoke for the first time as the Dungeon Lord.

“Dig a hundred Dungeon Monsters’ dwellings in one hundred years. Construct ten Kitchens, ten Interrogation Rooms, ten Torture Chambers, two large Training Rooms, and a maze with Libraries and Treasure Rooms for baiting surface adventurers. Also, I’ll need my luxurious bedroom and the richest Treasury!”

The first task was to get the Dungeon’s first batch of labor—Goblins!

The “Dungeon Operating Manual” specified clearly how to summon the Goblins by using Mana, as well as the corresponding Dungeon level.

Sherlock’s Dungeon was at level one, which was the lowest level, so he could only summon Goblins. If he wanted to upgrade his Dungeon, he could spend money. Alternatively, he could buy or raid other Dungeon Cores. When his Dungeon Core swallowed other Dungeon Cores, his Dungeon would improve by one level.

After Sherlock finished reading the operating manual, he decided to infuse more Mana into the Dungeon Core to summon the Goblins. That would be the commencement for his career as the great Dungeon Lord!

As Sherlock was about to summon the Goblins, the Dungeon Core shouted, “Wait! If you follow the normal procedure to recruit Goblins, you will have to pay five Magic Stones per month for each Goblin. Why don’t you try contracting the Goblins from the otherworld? They don’t require a monthly salary, are diligent, and will even pay you money!”

“Pay me money? Why?” Sherlock almost laughed out loud. He had never encountered such strange Goblins.

“Because they are rich sows,” the Dungeon Core replied.

Sherlock couldn’t believe what the Dungeon Core said, but he was tempted. He didn’t have enough Magic Stones to pay the normal Goblins. Though he could obtain Magic Stones during the development of the dungeon, his poor location negated most possibilities of obtaining Magic Stones since it was surrounded by the hard Diamond Seam.

After careful consideration, Sherlock decided to use the otherworld’s Goblins. According to the Dungeon Core, he would need more Mana to construct infrastructure such as Teleport Portals.

In the following week, Sherlock provided his Mana to the Dungeon Core to build infrastructure, specifically the Teleport Portals. The Dungeon Core seldom talked to him. After completing the Teleport Portals, the Dungeon Core explained the details of the otherworld to Sherlock.

Because of cultural differences, the otherworld’s Goblins would perhaps say strange things, call him strange names, form their own clans, trade among themselves, engage in fights, murder, or do foolish things. Sherlock had to be mentally prepared.

Since they were from different worlds, as a Dungeon Lord, Sherlock had to change his management style. Using brute force to order them around was the least effective way to manage. Managing them on the official website was the more effective method.

The Dungeon Core also explained that the official website was like an embassy between the two worlds.

Sherlock got the gist of it. Although he felt that the otherworld’s Goblins were rather strange, as long as he didn’t have to pay them, he had no issues. Sherlock couldn’t wait to summon the Goblins and start work on the dungeon.

The Dungeon Core didn’t summon the Goblins. Instead, he let Sherlock carry out the publicity and recruitment on the official website.

Entering the official website required the Dungeon Core to act as an intermediary. A screen, a keyboard, and a mouse appeared at the Dungeon Core. After the Dungeon Core taught Sherlock the basics, Sherlock had a new mission: to protect and manage the official dungeon website as the Dungeon Lord. The most important thing was to recruit the first batch of Dungeon Monsters. In the otherworld’s jargon, they were called “Beta Gamers”.

When Sherlock entered the official website, it was full of the otherworld’s language. For a high-level Devil, learning a new language wasn’t a difficult task. He picked up the new language quickly and followed the Dungeon Core’s instructions to broadcast the first advertisement on the official dungeon website.

[The first global virtual reality online game, “Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom”, will start closed beta testing soon. Recruiting Beta Gamers!]

The content was created according to the Dungeon Core’s suggestion. Sherlock gave an eerie name to his dungeon—Eternal Kingdom!

After which, he gave the Dungeon Core an elegant name—Bru!

Though the Dungeon Core strongly objected to these two names, Sherlock had already made up his mind. Why would he change his mind?

As Sherlock and Bru were arguing over the names, a lot of comments were left on the official website.

[Violet Flower: “Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom”? Bye bye! I’m going back to “Dungeon Fighter” to continue my bashing!]

[Thunder Cliff Chief: The virtual reality online game looks interesting! Look at the promotional pictures. I thought they came from video cameras!]

[Doctor Naise: I have submitted my application. Hope that the game officials will select me in the first batch of Beta Gamers. I promise to be online 24 hours every day and will immediately report any bugs!]

[Add A Few Spoons Of Sugar: The advertisement and summary are pretty good. The professions are on the lean side. The initial profession is only a Goblin. Hopefully, you can add more professions quickly. The virtual reality online gaming gimmick will definitely attract a lot of Goblins to apply!]

Similar replies filled the comments page rapidly. Every time Sherlock refreshed the page, there were new pages of comments. The number of registrants also increased rapidly. Within a few minutes, the registration count reached a hundred.

Sherlock was shocked. He had never heard of Goblins queueing up to be recruited! He didn’t intend to recruit that many Goblins!

Sherlock looked at Bru and asked, “Bru, the otherworld is a Goblin’s world?”

Bru said, “Yes, almost. There are eight billion of them, but we don’t need that many. Our Dungeon isn’t able to accommodate that many Goblins. Let’s quickly select those with good attitudes. They will be easier to manage.”

Sherlock had the same sentiment as he looked through the pages of application forms.

Within a day, there were more than 5000 applicants. The capacity of Eternal Kingdom could only allow for a hundred Goblins.

He couldn’t afford to recruit more than the allowed capacity. Though the Goblins didn’t require a salary, they required food and drinks. Goblins had small appetites, but their food and drinks required Magic Stones as payment. Sherlock’s remaining cash could only pay for a hundred Goblins’ meals for three days. After that, they had to hunt for food.

Sherlock selected the first hundred Beta Gamers quickly. Before meeting these Goblins, he had another task.

Buying pickaxes for them to mine ore!