Dungeon Maker - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Demon Labor Market (4)

Yong-Ho’s eyes turned green. It wasn’t as noticeable compared to when his father did it, but there was still an obvious change in color when one looked closely.
Yong-Ho slowly breathed in. As time went by, he could feel his mana slowly being consumed. Although the amount of mana that was being consumed was small, Yong-Ho’s current lack of mana control caused even a small consumption to feel taxing.
‘Let’s not rush.’
He still had plenty of time. Yong-Ho looked up at the goblins displayed on the screen before him.
[Race: Goblin (M)]
[Strength Specialization | ☆]
‘Uh?’
This was the first time he had seen the specifications of a goblin, so he was surprised that it had only one category. Compared to the multiple categories of Catalina and Eligor, he felt embarrassed just by looking at it.
‘Why is that?’
Was the goblin an inferior species compared to Catalina and Eligor?
That was a possibility. However, a more plausible reason came to his mind.
‘The goblins aren’t my spirits.’
Catalina and Eligor were the servants of Yong-Ho. They were not normal spirits, but spirits of the dungeon, where both their body and soul were in-servitude to Yong-Ho.
Of course, both of them being stronger demons was part of the reason, but Yong-Ho believed that spirits belonging to a dungeon must have higher potential.
‘I’m glad I have some information to go off now.’
After seeing the positive side of this situation, Yong-Ho continued to inspect the goblins.
[Race: Goblin (M)]
[Strength Specialization | ★ (1)]
[Race: Goblin (M)]
[Strength Specialization | ☆ (0.5)]
[Stamina Specialization | ☆ (0.5)]
There was a difference. It was a clear difference that Yong-Ho could compare and analyze at once.
‘Even if the race is the same, the field which they can evolve is different?’
It was a reasonable thought. Even if they shared the same race, they surely couldn’t just be all identical.
‘Does the number of stars indicate their potential in each field? Even if they evolved at the same rate, the results wouldn’t necessarily be the same either.’
A smile appeared on Yong-Ho’s face. The more he understood how to use the power of evolution, the more he felt like he was playing a video game.
‘Catalina doesn’t seem to be completely useless after all.’ 1
Despite them all being of the same goblin race, some of them had just one evolutionary route, while others had two.
Catalina, however, had as many as five evolutionary routes, with each path having great potential and the lowest of which, was three stars.
From their current state, it was apparent that Eligor was on the same level as Catalina, with him having three evolutionary routes with a maximum potential of two stars. It was clear that Catalina’s potential was above that of Eligor’s.
‘Once their powers grew greater, would they be able to venture out into the demon world on their own?’
When he thought of that possible future, he also thought of Catalina’s crying face and couldn’t help but doubt it.
Yong-Ho came back to his senses from his aspirational daydream. There was no time to waste. At this very moment, mana was being consumed for communication and power maintenance.
All thirty goblins were currently displayed on the screen. Yong-Ho quickly checked the information for all thirty of them. He narrowed it down to those who had either a large number of evolutionary routes or a large number of stars (potential power).
[No 04]
[Race: Goblin (M)]
[Strength Specialization | ★ (1)]
[Stamina Specialization | ★ (1)]
[No 17]
[Race: Goblin (M)]
[Strength Specialization | ★☆ (1.5)]
[No 22]
[Race: Goblin (M)]
[Stamina Specialization | ★☆ (1.5)]
‘Wow, this is quite difficult.’
He was only able to pick two in total.
In the end, it was their diversity and specialty that he would base his decision on.
‘I don’t have enough information.’
There was no way of knowing whether choosing a goblin with a strength specialization or a stamina specialization would be more effective for his workforce. It was possible that he was overthinking the situation, given that he would only be picking 2 workers for the moment. As Eligor had earlier said that eventually, he would need dozens of workers under his control.
Regardless, he still could not just choose blindly.
If this was a game, then he was only at the very beginner stage. Each worker was precious, and depending on which worker he chose, there could be a significant gap in the early development rate.
Yong-Ho, still in conflict, reached out inadvertently and touched one of the goblins on the screen. He took a step back in surprise.
Yong-Ho’s hand had touched the box that marked one of the possible evolutionary routes. The goblin’s appearance started to change. To be exact, a semi-transparent silhouette appeared on top of the goblin’s figure.
Yong-Ho had a hunch. After swallowing dry saliva, he reached out and touched each box one by one. 1
The Strength Specialization goblins turned into inverted triangles with broad shoulders. The Agility Specialization types generally had elongated limbs, and finally, the goblins with Stamina Specialization had an overall increase in toughness.
It only displayed a silhouette, but it was enough. It was good enough to see how they evolved.
‘I’ll have to try it on Catalina and Eligor.’
But they weren’t here, and what Yong-Ho needed right now was two workers. Yong-Ho, who was contemplating whether to choose between strength or stamina specialization goblins, finally came to a decision.
[You have selected No. 17 and No. 22.]
[Thank you, sir. Please allow one to two days for delivery.]
Yong-Ho laughed at the typical comment that he usually saw on online vendors.
He had finally decided to pick one Strength Specialization goblin and one Stamina Specialization goblin.
It was a little unfortunate that he wasn’t able to find the most efficient option, but he thought that it was overall more important to gather different specimens to understand his power of evolution.
[Would you like to finish the transaction?]
[Yes / No]
The amount of mana that he had consumed was already huge. There was no reason to spend additional fees on communication when he had already finished the transaction that he had set forth to do. Yong-Ho pressed ‘Yes’ without hesitation. The space before him was now filled with the dullness of the throne room, replacing the white space from before.
“Did you manage to complete the transaction?”
Eligor asked Yong-Ho, standing a short, but respectful, distance away. From their facial expressions, Yong-Ho could easily tell that they appeared to be quite anxious. He didn’t realize it at first but since it was his first time visiting the virtual branch, he had spent over an hour browsing.
Yong-Ho nodded and answered.
“Yeah. I bought two goblins. They’ll arrive either tomorrow or the day after.”
“Oh oh… finally we’ll have workers in this dungeon again. We’ll be able to reinforce our traps and start building other facilities.”
He said it with such a voice, that it wouldn’t be strange to see him start crying with joy.
Yong-Ho could slightly understand Eligor’s thrill with the situation. It had been almost a full year since the previous owner had committed suicide. During that period, the House of Mammon had continually fallen further into ruin, and it was very exciting to see the moment when the dungeon was beginning to flourish again.
“How exactly are the goblins delivered?”
Yong-Ho asked Eligor, who wiped away his teary eyes with the back of his hand.
“A courier who’s affiliated with the Dungeon Market will come. They’re always very quick and precise.”
“It seems that couriers are a welcome sight in either world.”
There were times in Yong-Ho’s life, where the anticipation right before a package arrives was more exciting than actually receiving the package itself.
There was also more good news.
“Master! Master!”
Catalina’s voice carried waves of excitement from behind the door, causing both Yong-Ho and Eligor to look towards her at the same time. After about three seconds had passed, Catalina slammed open the door and strode in. She walked in carrying a wild boar on top of her shoulders, which made one wonder how her slender body had the strength to support such a beast.
“I caught a wild boar! I caught one!”
Her bright expression was filled with a mix of joy and pride. Her face beamed with so much brightness, that Yong-Ho and Eligor seemed to find it difficult to know how to immediately react.
When Catalina didn’t receive an immediate reaction from them, she suddenly became embarrassed and quickly put the boar down on the ground. She then tried to act cool about it. It was too late, however.
Yong-Ho began to laugh out loudly. He rose from the throne and lavished Catalina with praise, who’s long ears were now dropping with embarrassment.
“Well done, Catalina. You’ve done a great job. You’ve done really well as the guard. You’re definitely the best guard in our dungeon!”
Despite his lavishing praise, Catalina still maintained her cool expression and tried to act befitting of her status, but her long ears started fluttering uncontrollably like a dog’s tail.
How should he have reacted in a situation like this?
Eligor gave a quiet chuckle, and Yong-Ho tried to restrain laughing any further. Nevertheless, he continued to compliment his guard.
That night, it had now been two whole days since he had been crowned the demon king of the House of Mammon.
Yong-Ho, for the first time, had tasted meat from the demon world.