1.3 Infodump after infodump? Hurry up and start the plot already!

“Is this all the information available?” Verd asked after finishing going through all the options.

Yes, however, you may ask me questions and depending on the question, I may be able to provide additional information.

Verd nodded in acknowledgment, then turned his attention back to the options.

Goblins seem to be a balanced type, some sort of beginner monster, maybe I could get them to learn how to use tools? But Imps and Kobolds might be better for tool use. They straight up say that Kobolds are smarter than Goblins, but lack their adaptability? What does that even mean? Learning ability?

And Imps, with [Racial Boon], Imps will ‘improve’ traps? That probably means they’re smart enough for complex tasks and problem-solving. But why the use of apostrophes? Is the improvement not always for the best? Or is it random?

“Hey menu?”

Yes?

“Why is improve in quotations?”

‘Improvement’ is relative based on person to person.

“Oh, that is really helpful,” Verd replied while rolling his mana created eyes. The end result was his viewpoint being flipped upside down, and his eyes looking at the wall behind him.

God, I have to get used to this. He thought as he flipped them back in place.

“So what? These Imps might not make the improvements I want, or is it just random?”

Essentially.

“Great.” He replied sarcastically, before falling back into thought.

I guess I’ll shelve Imps, for now, magic seems like something I’m gonna need, however depending on the ‘improve’ in their Racial Boon, I might have to cut Racial Boon from my options, RNG is not a factor I want.

Slimes and Skeletons seem kinda useless, probably just Zerg Rushes with them. The [Racial Boon] for Skeletons seem interesting but doesn’t seem that useful, I don’t think these ‘weak and fragile’ skeletons are good at creating corpses.

Wait. Unless…

“Menu, can my own creatures be revived through Skeletons’ [Racial Boon]?”

The Menu immediately responded upon hearing its name.

Yes.

“Even the Skeletons themselves?”

That… Yes, that is possible, however, damaged bones might not be returned, they can be replaced though.

“Thanks,” Verd muttered, falling back into thought.

This changes things a bit, in a best-case scenario, a Skeleton can be revived an infinite amount of times. And I would save a bunch on costs with Skeletons, same with Golems I suppose, but Golems can only be beaten if their core’s broken so I can’t count on their core’s surviving every fight.

In a good scenario, a Skeleton would only lose a few bones, but that would also mean they were defeated, so Golems are better in terms of toughness, but recycling the Skeletons seem more viable than with the Golems. Even if a Skeleton is mostly destroyed, I might be able to keep intact bones as spare parts and save further on costs.

Wait, what are the costs?

“Hey menu? What are all the costs involved in summoning?”

Oh yeah, my bad I forgot to explain it.

Verd was going to roll his eyes, however, upon remembering what happened the last time, he opted to just raise an eyebrow.

So as a dungeon you have two forms of currency. Mana and Dungeon Points.

Mana you passively absorb from the environment and any invaders, it’s used for the creation and summoning of creatures and objects within your dungeon. You use this for almost everything within your dungeon, it acts as energy for your dungeon traps, feeds your creatures and powers the abilities I showed you before. The absorption skill I mentioned earlier also uses a slight amount of mana, as it breaks matter down into digestible mana.

Dungeon Points or DP are slightly different. Your DP earnings are dependant on the actions you take to purify mana. Directly purifying mana will gain you DP, and having invaders inside your dungeon will also provide DP.

Invaders will provide a steady stream of DP based on their strength and mana usage, since absorbing impure mana from invaders is considered an action to purify mana.

However there is a limit to this, if the intruder stays in your dungeon for too long then the mana they had in their bodies will run out, and they will stop providing DP, instead, they will begin absorbing your mana. If they were to die inside your dungeon, however, then you would get all the DP you would’ve gotten from them if they stayed and a bonus.

DP is used for the activation of certain abilities such as creating a [Creature Spawner] or [Soul Infusion] and for upgrading and modifying already existing dungeon functions. Such as traps or creatures, these modifications are pre-set and you cannot change them. However, you can manually make modifications without DP, though this requires a lot more effort, especially for living creatures. Once you made the modification though, you can use DP to reproduce it.

“And specifically what is all this mana and DP worth in terms of creating monsters? And how much do I generate?”

Ah yes, I should’ve told you earlier. Give me a moment.

Mana and DP List Mana: 100 Mana Generation: 10 per hour DP: 10 DP Generation: 1 per hour

Another tab appeared in front of Verd, cluttering his view even more.

“Isn’t there a way to streamline all of this?” Verd muttered at the wall of blue tabs in front of him.

No.

Hearing the Menu’s unhelpfulness at this time, Verd opted to try and solve it himself. Remembering something from his past life, Verd tried to move the tabs around by tapping and dragging them around. Smiling slightly when his theory worked, he moved everything relating to the selection data to the side, leaving only the tab about Resource Generation and the selections.

“Can I get the costs for the monsters?” Verd asked as he was moving the tabs out of the way.

Unfortunately, I can’t help you with that.

“Most helpful player guide ever…” He muttered.

Thanks. I do my best.

“That was sarcasm.”

Same here.

Verd ignored the last bit and continued pondering in thought.

Golems and Imps seems to be the best combination for the species here.

Nature Elemental Spirits possess no combat power and their [Racial Boon] seems to be mostly decorative, they seem to be a pure support type creature that shines when they’re paired with a tough living creature, however, the only tank on this list are Golems and they aren’t technically alive.

Golems seem to be one of the best options, tankiness and the potential flexibility to become some kinds of fast attacker., Imps by way of elimination, would be the best race to go with Golems, given the fact they can act as a backline DPSer, and if I take [Racial Boon], the Golems will automatically regenerate out of combat, removing the need for a healer.

The ‘improve’ part of the Imps’ [Racial Boon] makes me a bit hesitant but I think it’s worth the risk.

As for the other two races, the Dark-Vine Lure Flower seems only good for area denial, it can be a lethal trap, but it can be easily avoided or attacked since it’s immobile.

The ants might be a good option given their toughness and small size. However, I need a large number of them to be useful, and I have no idea what the costs may be.

Then, Imps and Golems it is.

Making up his mind, Verd turned his attention to the Starting Abilities.

I need [Racial Boon] to create the Holy Trinity of Tanking, Healing and DPSamage with Imps and Golems, so that’s a must. [Automatic Repair] and [Creature Spawner] aren’t really needed as long as I micromanage everything. [Creature Loyalty] might be useful, since the Imps are potentially very intelligent, hopefully not enough to think of turning on me, but just in case.

[Area Scan] is a gamble, I might be able to snag two of the Bonus Races but I have no idea how large my “Dungeon’s proximity” is, so there's a chance I might miss. Wait actually I could ask.

“Menu, what’s the range for deciding when creatures like the Earth Eater Ant and Dark-Vine Lure Flower will end up in my selection.”

10km, though if the creature is exceptionally strong, you might still get an imprint of a lesser species of that creature even if it is VERY far away.

10km!? Too far, I can’t gamble on that. That just leaves [Soul Infusion], [Contract] and [Boss Rooms].

“Hey menu-” He was about to ask for the costs of the last three options before the system interrupted him.

I already know what you're going to say, [Soul Infusion] and [Boss Rooms] both cost A LOT in DP and mana. The former can only be paid for in DP, the latter costing an extremely high amount of mana, and uses DP to upgrade. Neither are something you can fully utilise in the near future.

[Contract] costs little, all you need is a little bit of mana to telepathically transmit the contract or make it physically, then spend a bit more to make it binding.

“Huh, contract it is then,” Verd replied nonchalantly.

I really hope all those questions you asked were worth something. You better make the best decision. This isn’t a game.

“Of course I made the best decision, [Imps] and [Golems], plus [Racial Boon] and [Contract] is good right? And of course, I know that this isn’t a-”

Verd suddenly froze, standing in silence, the last word hanging at the tip of his tongue.

“-game”

You alright? Wanna confirm selection?

“No…” Verd replied hastily.

“And I’m alright and your right too, this isn’t a game, no this isn’t a game indeed,” It was as if he was suddenly enlightened, as he repeated the last phrase under his breath a few more times.

Are you sure you’re alright?

The menu asked upon seeing Verd’s repeated mutterings.

“Yes… Yes, I am alright.” Verd replied hesitantly, but this time with slightly more conviction.

“Thanks for reminding me that this isn’t a game,” He continued.

Thanks? Wasn’t that obvious? And what the hell? That was your first genuine thank you to me all day. Are you reallllllllllly alright? Especially in the head?

“I’m perfectly fine!” he snapped at Menu.

“And no… It wasn’t obvious.” He continued, his voice faltering. “Perhaps unconsciously, I made it feel like a game, this whole thing is ridiculous and unbelievable after all.” He said with a nervous chuckle.

“It's easy to spout a few words about how combat strategies might work in a game. Nobody will die and at worst a few people would lose a few items.”

“But this is real life. Those strategies can be used against someone for real.”

“I need to change my selections.”

That… sure? I don’t really know how to respond to that, given all that weird gibberish in the middle. But I think you just had an emotional and/or mental breakthrough? So I guess I’ll congratulate you.

“Thanks,” Verd muttered before turning his attention back to the selection screen.

I have to change my strategy now, going for a proactive killing strategy doesn’t sit well with me on a moral level.

Wait a second…

High Concentrations of Nature Mana...

Above average Concentrations of Earth Mana…

High Concentrations of Earth Eater Ants…

A powerful version of the vine-flower selection….

This means that...

Verd took a deep breath, praying that he wasn’t wrong. “Change my selections to [Nature Element Spirits] and [Dark-Vine Lure Flower], I’ll keep the same abilities.”

Ok? But can you tell me what thought process you went through to choose those options? After all that gibberish you spouted, I don’t think I can sleep well at night unless I understood your reasoning. Well, I don’t actually sleep but you get the idea.

Verd smiled slightly, then answered, “Well, the flower’s vines can cover up and block an entire cave right? And they are very dangerous if you get near them, so chances are any intelligent species that knows what the vines do, will probably avoid areas with large amounts of them, and hopefully not investigate further.”

Hiding from the world? Not the worst strategy I’ve heard. What about the other selections?

The menu was genuinely curious at this point and pressed for more.

Verd was about to continue, before realizing a potential problem with his plan.

“Hey, if block off the entrance with a huge number of vines, would that interfere with that mana waste disposal thing?”

No. There’s a weird loophole for this and somehow dungeon creatures, traps and other mechanisms don’t count as actual ‘blockage’.

“Good, one last thing, can I get new species later? I want some room to regret.”

Yes, when you reach certain level milestones you’ll be able to choose from the same list again. The first one is at level 10, and early levels don’t require you to fight anyone, only upgrade your dungeon. It should be level 20 when you are required to fight intruders to level up.

Verd raised an eyebrow at the last part but otherwise made no comment.

And what about the other selections?

“The Nature Spirits are the only support and healing type on this list, and they can boost the growth of vines, allowing me to quickly set up the turtle strategy. Hopefully, the vines can hide me long enough for me to level up and set up proper defences. I can choose new races later, so I might as well play the long game. And [Contracts] can be used to negotiate things if I do get found out.”

Use the vines to hide your true identity, while you slowly grow in power? But you’ll be exceptionally weak during this period. Your banking on the hope that people will ignore a ‘cave’ filled to the brim with carnivorous plants. A plant which might I add, is known to infest entire caves and make entire patches of forest unlivable? What makes you think that people will do that?

Verd smiled and replied, “We’re in the middle of a jungle, aren’t we? Far from anyone.”

What?

“A high concentration of nature mana, medium concentrations of earth mana and there being an extremely powerful plant monster near our vicinity to provide us with the Dark-Vine Lure Flower selection. Not only that, given the fact that there are also high amounts of the Earth Eater Ants, also points to the fact that this place doesn’t really have any buildings around.”

Afterall, termites from my previous world only ate wood, and they can bring down entire houses. A small creature capable of eating stone would undermine the foundations of any building. He thought.

“All this doesn’t really point to a civilized location doesn’t it?”

That… That… That is correct.

Congratulations on figuring out the true nature of the selection process. You're not hopeless after all. You won’t believe how many dungeons miss this.

Verd simply smiled, he had expected as much given all the clues scattered around.

As a reward, you have gotten 2 free uses of the system lottery. And you may obtain a third dungeon ability, though it can only be used once.

This surprised him, he didn’t expect a reward at all. Given how simple it was. But he had already made his decision for the one-time use ability.

“Area Scan, I want that for my 3rd ability.”

Alright, though the scans will be locked to a certain level now, due to balance issues.

“Fine,” Verd replied through gritted teeth, he thought he might’ve been able to cheat the system.

You are 100 years too early to try and shorthand me.

“Did you just-”

Read your mind? No, your intentions were all over your face.

Verd quickly tried to cover his face, he didn’t think his mana apparition could express emotions to that detail.

The Menu simply ignored him and asked.

Confirm Selection?

Starting Race: [Nature Elemental Spirits] [ Dark-Vine Lure Flower]

Starting Ability: [Racial Boon] [Contracts]

Bonus ability: [Area Scan]

Yes/No

Verd could only smile wirily with his hands covering his face. He didn’t know how the Menu would react if it heard his true intentions. And he didn’t know whether it was even a smart idea or not, however, he had to at least try.

Morality was one of the few things he still had.

Still smiling, Verd simply answered.

“Yes.”