In the dark room, there was a small crystal in the shape of an octahedral that glowed. A purple light hit Isaacs's face, who was staring at the source of light.
"Crystal Core..."
Isaac had just landed on Earth. He was currently on the highest floor of the Dungeon.
The thing Isaac was staring at was the core of the Dungeon's life. Like the heart in a body, this shining object channeled all of its energy into the Dungeon to build whatever was in it and keep it upright.
Without a Crystal Core, the Dungeon would collapse.
In his previous life, Isaac lost the Dungeon due to enemy soldiers breaking through the highest floor and destroying the Crystal Core.
"This time I won't repeat the same mistake again."
The light in the Crystal Core suddenly brightened. From behind the light, a creature appeared.
"Yahoo! My Lord! My name is Pippi. From now on, I will be your aide."
A girl with the stature of a 4-year-old child had just been born from a Crystal Core.
She had fair skin with brown freckles and red hair. She smiled widely, showing her missing teeth on the front. Excitement radiated from her expression.
Isaac sighed when he saw the child named Pippi.
"What did I expect? Of course, this naughty kid is the Dungeon Manager," Isaac thought.
Pippi's eyes squinted into mere slits at her master's response.
Dungeon Manager was a position in charge of supporting the Nobles in managing the Dungeon. It could be said they were the right-hand men.
Their duties included building Dungeons on each floor and rebuilding the Dungeon's destroyed properties. Including taking over the position of Noble when the Dungeon Master was not in place.
Dungeon Manager was a creature in the form of clumps of energy. They were born and their souls were directly connected to the Crystal Core.
In other words, Pippi's existence was bound by the dungeon.
"Alright Lord, are you ready to listen to the tutorial explanation?" Pippi asked.
Isaac shook his head. He had been playing this game for 8 years. So, he already knew the ins and outs very well.
Pippi was surprised at Isaac's response. She insisted on reminding Isaac how important basic information was, especially every feature in the Dungeon. However, Isaac still refused.
"Pippi, you don't have to." His eyes stared at the little girl. "Do your next task."
Pippi sighed in disappointment. "Okay." She then touched Isaac and the light from the Crystal Core radiated into Isaac's body.
Ding!
A notification window appeared before Isaac.
[Synchronization completed!]
[Displaying status information.]
<Character Status>
[Isaac Constantine - Lv 21]
[Rank : 99th - Baron]
[Title : N/A]
[Skill Slot : 0/3]
[Strength : 38]
[Magic : 60]
[Constitution : 41]
[Dexterity : 58]
[Perception : 55]
<Dungeon Status>
[Dungeon Floors : 0/3]
[Monster Boss : 0/3]
[Population : 0/300,000]
[Fund : 100,000 zenny]
'Nothing has changed at all.'
When they descended to the human world, the power of the Nobles was converted by the system in the form of levels. For the Baron class, they had levels between 21 to 30, and for the Earl class, it had levels between 40 to 50. Meanwhile, the Duke had levels around 60 to 70.
That was just individual strength, not yet with the Dungeons as their base.
The Barons had to start with a three-story Dungeon and stock up with 100,000 zenny. As for the Earl's class, they started the Dungeon with five floors and got 300,000 zenny.
And Duke? Among the three classes, they had the most superior advantages. Starting with seven floors and 600,000 zenny.
Each Dungeon was upgraded, the number of floors, and the capacity would increase. However, there were conditions that must be met.
Nobles weren't allowed to attack other Dungeons that had a different number of floors. They should be fighting each other at the same dungeon level. Neither more nor less.
It was this rule that provided security for other nobles from being devoured by the Dukes.
Therefore, in order to catch up with this lag, Isaac had to take an advance step and worked harder.
"Pippi, you didn't forget something important again, did you?" Isaac gave Pippi a code.
Pippi patted her head. "Sorry, Lord."
Then, the little girl raised her hand, then from her tiny hand, she collected light grains like fireflies. The cluster of light turned into a wooden box with bronze ornaments.
"Here comes the first annual bonus box for Lord Isaac, the Bronze Box!"
Every year, the Nobles would receive a box filled with random things; such as items, artefacts, monsters, and skills to increase individual strength.
The box the demons got would depend on the Nobility class. Duke class nobles would receive a Gold Box and Earl's class would receive a Silver Box. As for the Baron, like Isaac, got a Bronze Box.
The significant difference that distinguishes one box from another was the quantity and quality that would be received. In the Bronze Box, there was nothing special in it. There were four of them and all of them were F class. However, there was one item that would be very useful to Isaac when opening it for the first time.
"I have to get that 'skill'. There is only one other noble who has that skill."
[Would you like to open the 'Bronze Box'?]
[Yes/No]
Without hesitation, Isaac immediately chose the 'Yes' option. Isaac knew the contents of the 'Bronze Box'. There would be three things that come out.
Ding!
[You got the artefact weapon 'Merlion Sword (D)']
[You got 1000x 'Bloodsucker (F)']
[You got the landscape 'Heavy Rain Forest (F)']
[You got the item 'Challenge Dimension (F)']
Isaac smiled. "Exactly the same."
"Wow! Congratulations Lord! You got a rank D artefact!"
Every item, monster, skill, landscape; whatever was sold in the shop had its own class. Starting from the lowest F to the highest S. The higher the class, the better the effect given.
According to Pippi, a class D artefact was a valuable object. However, for Isaac, the artefacts he just got were just trash.
Besides, Isaac already had plans to win this game.
"Open a shop," Isaac exclaimed.
"Oh! Lord already knows there is a Shop feature in the Dungeon. It turns out that the Lord really knows all the basic information."
Pippi seemed to let out a sigh of relief, while Isaac focused on the blue screen in front of him.
<Shop>
[Buy]
[Sell]
[Upgrade]
[Combine]
After opening the Shop, Isaac sold everything he could from the 'Bronze Box' except for the 'Challenge Dimension'.
[You get 9,500 zenny.]
Instantly Pippi's eyes opened wide. "Nooo! What are you doing, Lord?!" She shook Isaac's legs frantically. "Lord, did you know that everything you sell is half the original price?!"
However, Isaac ignored the little girl.
Then, he spent 45,000 Zenny. He got to buy three skills.
[You purchased the skill scroll 'Mental Strength (F)']
[You purchased the skill scroll 'Mana Flow Stabilizer (F)']
[You purchased the skill scroll 'Mind Distraction (F)']
[All items are added to the inventory.]
Now, Pippi thought her master was crazy.
Buying three skills at the start of the match didn't sound unreasonable. Considering the skill slot was very limited.
To add skill slots, demons had to level up by grinding desperately. Because the skill slot only increased once every 100 levels.
"Lord, don't tell me you're going to use your slot skill?"
Isaac casually replied. "Of course not. Do you think I'm stupid, to waste three of my precious skill slots for a low-grade skill?"
After hearing Isaac's answer, Pippi's face pondered.
Isaac accessed the 'combine' feature available in the shop. Then, he put on the three skills he just bought.
Pippi was taken aback by Isaac's actions. The 'Combine' feature was one of the features of the system to exchange monsters, items, or skills that had poor quality with better quality. But it needed the right combination. Otherwise, only worse items would be obtained.
Of course, Isaac already knew the right combination.
[Are you sure you want to combine these three skills?]
[Yes/No]
Without hesitation, Isaac chose the 'Yes' option.
Ding!
[The combination process is complete.]
After the result came out, Pippi's eyes opened wide.
[You got the skill scroll 'Seeds of Mind (D)']