Dungeon Maker - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Kaiwan (2)

[Name: Chun Yong-Ho (M)]

[Race: Half Human / Half Demon]

[Class: Demon King]

[Attributes: Fire Level 1 / Darkness Level 0]

[Evolution Rate: 100/100]

[Strength – Level 1 | ★★ (2)]

[Stamina – Level 1 | ★★☆ (2.5)]

[Mana – Level 2 | ★★☆ (2.5)]

[Charm – Level 0 | ★★ (2)]

[Agility – Level 0 | ★☆ (1.5)]

[Skill – Level 0 | ★★☆ (2.5)]

[Seven Deadly Sins | Greed]

Yong-Ho, who was currently sitting on the throne, examined himself with the Power of Evolution and thought in silence for a while.

Catalina wasn’t the only one whose evolution rate was full. Yong-Ho was also in a situation where he could trigger his evolution.

When he thought about it, it was obvious.

Although it had been a short time since his first evolution, he had fought in many battles.

He had first killed more than ten Crazy Ants and Slimes each. He had then defeated and captured the salamander that was controlling the armory. And, of course, finally, he had fought against the invading Orcs and even obtained their leader’s spirit, so it would be odd for his evolution rate not to be filled up.

‘It has changed.’

Yong-Ho examined the list of evolutionary routes. Strength and stamina, which he had never evolved before, were now at level one and his mana was now at level two, even though he had only evolved it once.

He noticed that the stars, which represented the potential power of the evolutionary route, had now increased by a small amount.

‘The rise in the level of strength and stamina is most likely due to my body becoming a lot stronger. Then, was the increase in mana level because I absorbed that Orc leader’s spirit?’

Yong-Ho thought about the previous state of Catalina. Before her first evolution, agility and skill were the only stats that had a level.

After awakening as a demon, Yong-Ho’s body had become stronger day by day. If his body continued to grow stronger at its current rate, then both his strength and stamina level would most likely continue to level up as well.

‘The Power of Evolution is an artificial facilitator. It opens up evolutionary paths that can’t be developed through normal methods.’

Even if Yong-Ho had not evolved Catalina’s agility, given that it was Catalina, her agility would have developed to its current level regardless.

But, the evolution into a Hybrid race was different. The Power of Evolution had manifested both the Succubus’s blood and the Dark Elf blood in a different way than previously possible.

It was the same reason that Jon and Ron each obtained a horn.

Yong-Ho focused on himself again.

Which category was he going to evolve?

He only had to consider it for a short time. As soon he saw that the level of his strength and stamina had increased to one, he had made up his mind.

‘For now, I’ll put it all into mana.’

Yong-Ho wasn’t currently in the situation where he could idly stand by and watch his spirits fight with his hands clasped behind his back. If a fight broke out, he would have to wield Aamon on the front line.

If he chose to develop strength, stamina, or agility, then his close-combat skills would surely improve. However, it was far more urgent to increase his mana.

Currently, Yong-Ho’s combat style was about delivering a single fatal blow.

If that was the case, then he should strengthen that blow. Increasing his mana would double Aamon’s strength.

He also required mana to evolve his spirits. Building new facilities within the dungeon and reorganizing existing passageways also consumed a lot of mana.

So for now, he chose mana. Choosing to evolve the other routes was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

Yong-Ho didn’t waste any time. As soon as he made the decision, he activated the Power of Evolution.

Pleasure and pain both washed over him in equal portions. Yong-Ho roared in both pain and joy.

To break the mold. To expand new territory.

The vessel that held Yong-Ho’s mana changed. His spirit grew, allowing for a greater amount of mana to be embraced within.

Yong-Ho lost track of time once again. It was the Spirit of the Dungeon that notified him when the evolutionary process had finally ended.

[Your maximum amount of mana has increased substantially!]

[The dungeon’s daily mana production output has increased from 80 to 120.]

[Due to the growth of your horns, your mana recovery rate is 1.2 times faster than before.]

It was just as the Spirit of the Dungeon had said. Yong-Ho closed his eyes as green flames began to rise out of them.

His mana had been strengthened considerably. He felt that his mana was far stronger when compared to the time he absorbed the spirit of the Orc leader.

Yong-Ho, opened his eyes while taking a deep breath. He then once again activated the Power of Evolution. He didn’t use it on himself this time, but on Aamon, who was currently laying on his lap.

[Name: Aamon (?)]

[Race: ???]

[Class: ??? (???)]

[Attribute: Fire – Level ??? / ??? – Level ???]

[Evolution Rate: 5/100]

[???| ★★★★★★ (6)]

[???| ★★★★★★ (6)]

[???| ★★★★★☆ (5.5)]

There were still a lot of question marks.

‘You’ve become stronger compared to when I first received you.’

Aamon had stayed quiet ever since Yong-Ho had first obtained him and as he gazed down upon it, he calmed the bitter feeling rising in his mind.

If Aamon wanted to become stronger, then Yong-Ho could grant that. Yong-Ho, himself, wasn’t satisfied with its current condition.

‘Still, having an evolution rate of five is a bit too low.’

During that time, Yong-Ho had twice maxed out his evolution rate.

However, all he could do was complain. On the other hand, it did mean that Aamon was an incredibly strong demon.

After contemplating the capabilities of Aamon and himself, Yong-Ho deactivated the Power of Evolution. He slouched down on the throne and then looked up. He suddenly saw Catalina and Eligor.

“Huh?”

Yong-Ho unknowingly gave a blank reaction and quickly fixed his posture. All the spirits of the dungeon were now gathered around the throne.

[It’s been an hour and ten minutes since you’ve sat on the throne, Master. The dungeon spirits have been waiting for around an hour.]

It seemed like the trance state he was in during the evolution process was much longer than he had expected.

Yong-Ho coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment. Then Eligor, who was standing in front of the throne, spoke with a passionate voice.

“By Mammon, Master.”

His eyes welled up with tears and he looked like he was about to start weeping at any moment. Furthermore, the other dungeon spirits were also passionately admiring him.

The Goblin Rangers’ eyes sparkled with envy and respect. The Kobold looked like he was about to bow down and praise him. While the Treant and the Salamander expressed their admiration through small gestures.

It was quite a natural reaction since they had now physically seen how his mana had grown through the Power of Evolution.

Yong-Ho coughed again, and looked around the room, he felt quite burdened by his dungeon spirits’ admiration. Though after seeing Skull’s blank expression, he felt a strange sense of calmness.

Yong-Ho once again looked back at the spirits.

Catalina was standing between Skull and Eligor and was looking at Yong-Ho with a flushed expression.

As expected, her long ears fluttered like wings. And just a puppy, On top of that, her tail was wagging from side to side like a windshield wiper.

‘Wait a minute.’

“A tail?!”

His thoughts suddenly burst out in a stream of sound. Catalina blinked in surprise as Yong-Ho quickly got up from his seat. After biting her lips several times, she finally managed to speak.

“Wh-when I woke up, a tail appeared.”

A sharp trident shaped tail was one of the physical characteristics of a typical demon. Yong-Ho looked at the black, glossy tail and asked Eligor instead of Catalina.

“Does a Succubus have a tail?”

“They do. High-ranked ones have wings as well.”

At Eligor’s immediate answer, Yong-Ho looked at Catalina again. Catalina replied while quickly shaking her hand.

“I don’t have wings. Just a tail.”

Hybrid Evolution.

Before, Catalina was more of a Dark Elf than a Succubus. However, as a result of the hybrid evolution, the sleeping blood of the Succubus had awoken. Her new tail was evidence of that.

“Are you okay? You don’t feel ill or anything strange?”

Yong-Ho asked with a serious face. Catalina answered with a bright smile.

“No, Master. Rather, I feel quite refreshed. I feel like I’ve been reborn. I think my mana has grown stronger as well.”

Given how energetically her ears and tail were moving around, it seemed like she was telling the truth.

Yong-Ho breathed a sigh of relief. He then looked at the rest of the spirits.

“I’m sorry for having kept you waiting so long. Then let’s get right to the point.”

Yong-Ho started to speak.

It was about his future plans, including on how to recapture the gold mine.

***

Yong-Ho spoke with his usual conciseness and then set about starting his next task.

The evolution of the dungeon spirits.

Since most of the spirits in the House of Mammon were of the lowest rank, they were able to quickly fill their evolution rate.

Yong-Ho first evolved the Kobold into the agility specialization. Similar to when he evolved Yon, the Kobold’s arms and legs became longer, but he didn’t get a horn like the Goblins.

The Kobold’s eyes widened in amazement due to the sudden new length of his arms and legs. Yong-Ho’s next target was Jon and Ron.

Yong-Ho evolved Jon and Ron into Hobgoblins.

After evolving into Hobgoblins, Jon and Ron now looked quite different from the typical Goblin. They had both grown by an additional head size and their muscles had become noticeably larger and more defined. Even their dim eyes now had a degree of sparkle in them.

The evolution rate of the other spirits was still lacking. And among them, the most regrettable one was Eligor. He had no significant experience in actual combat, other than hunting, so his evolution rate was taking considerably longer to fill. Though it was a relief that he was able to fill it through miscellaneous tasks such as dungeon construction.

After finishing the evolution of some of the spirits, Yong-Ho ordered Eligor to lead the spirits to the armory. It was to prepare for Yong-Ho’s next task.

And about thirty minutes later. Eligor, who had returned with the others, looked at Yong-Ho with a concerned expression.

“You’ve used the Power of Evolution continuously today. Will you be okay?”

“Time is of an urgency.”

Yong-Ho smiled and looked at all the weapons that had been piled up on top of a magic circle connected to the Dungeon Market.

They couldn’t use a majority of the weapons from the recapture of the armory, so although it was disappointing, they simply didn’t have a choice.

They urgently needed more money.

“Even if we fail to recapture the mine, we’ll at least have advanced the evolution rate of the dungeon spirits. Eligor, just in case, I want you to continue with dungeon construction as I instructed.”

Eligor displayed a warm smile after hearing Yong-Ho’s request.

“It’s a good plan, Master.”

“One of the things the House of Mammon has is a lot of space. Might as well put it to good use.”

Yong-Ho smiled and Eligor nodded his head in response.

Eligor didn’t have any intention of insulting the previous owners. However, he could say for sure.

That they and Yong-Ho were different.

Yong-Ho never lost his smile, even in situations that many would have given up. Instead of being frustrated and giving up, he found a way forwards.

“I’ll be back. Start on the construction right away.”

“I shall obey your orders, Master.”

Eligor, along with the other spirits, showed their respect.

Yong-Ho shut his eyes without delay.

He once again connected to the virtual space of the Dungeon Market.