[World Announcement: Greetings to all Dungeon Masters! By now, you should have all already settled and founded your dungeon. You are all walking down the correct path. However, as I previously mentioned, you will have to face many trials during your growth!]

Hearing the voice, Five immediately focused. He easily recognized the owner of the voice; it was the same person that brought him into the game, Gaia.

[Since it is the very first trial, I have decided to graciously warn you. Now, you cannot complain about forgetting about it.]

[The trial you will face will vary from dungeon to dungeon. Now let me tell you a secret... The location you chose for your dungeon, not only determined how many people would visit your dungeon but also the difficulty of the trial!]

Five listened in silence; although he was starting to feel annoyed by Gaia's speaking manner, he could only listen because what she said might determine his fate. It was clear that Gaia was taking this announcement more as a conversation than a speech, she even seemed to be enjoying the feeling of teasing thousands of dungeon masters.

[One week... Your trial can occur at any time during the next week! I hope you are not too stressed by the news. But just a gentle reminder that this trial will determine whether you can continue to live in this game and possibly your fate in the future. I wish you the best of luck!]

The world announcement ended but Five was still deep in thoughts.

'The trial is based on the position of the dungeon? I picked the blue zone which should be the easy one but after I ran from that town, I am not sure if I crossed the border. I am probably very close to changing zones...'

But what did it mean? The only thing that came to Five's mind was that the trial would consist of the nearest enemy attacking. And in his case, it was the barbarians. If they really attacked, it would be a disaster!

Only four barbarians almost succeeded in completely erasing the dungeon just 2 weeks ago. Even if the dungeon was not considerably stronger, none of his monsters was still able to fight the barbarians. Fortunately, he made a considerable reserve of DP for cases like this, but would 500000 DP be enough for him to survive if the entire tribe was to attack?

'It is just the first trial... It should not be too hard, right?' thought Five.

'Let's be safe and at least warn Dreidus about it... I should also warn the harpies about it...'

...

It was already past midnight but as an undead, Dreidus did not need to sleep. It was one of the few advantages of being an undead. He usually spent entire nights meditating and thanks to that, he was able to advance to level 26.

Dreidus was silently meditating, gathering the dark energy that loomed in the dungeon when he suddenly heard a few knocks on the door of his room.

"knock knock knock"

"Please enter, master!" said Dreidus. He instinctively knew that it was Five.

The latter entered quickly, "Sorry to bother you Dreidus but there is something I have just been informed about."

"Please speak master, there is no need to ask for my permission for things like this."

Five looked at the lich before sitting down on the sofa. After the 2 weeks, the lich was already showing some physical changes; he was still looking like a skeleton but surrounding the bones, a few patches of skin could be seen especially near the skull. Ligaments and muscles also started to appear; he started to look more like a zombie.

It was apparently completely normal. As the monsters were getting stronger, they would slowly change and evolve. In the end, Dreidus would return to his original form and look like a real lich. Similarly, the harpies would also grow as they level up, they looked like 15 years-old girls but later, they would turn into mature women like Harriet.

"In the incoming week, we will face a strong enemy. Just a few moments ago, Gaia warned all the dungeon masters including me that we would have to face a trial. I don't know the nature of the enemy yet but..."

"..."

"Mmm. Thank you for warning me! It will indeed be hard for us to survive if all the barbarians turn against us. 400000 DP is clearly not enough but we should be able to make a good fight!"

Dreidus was the unofficially appointed war commander. He had a better knowledge of the undead monsters than Five and was reliable. He kept a close eye on the monsters and reported to Five whenever it was required.

"But are you sure it will be the barbarians? If so, wouldn't that be equivalent to killing our own source of DP? It is just the first trial and I think they would be more lenient than that," said Dreidus.

Five nodded, "But in any case, it is better to be safe."

"True but by summoning more monsters, the daily DP consumption would also drastically increase! Remember that monsters above level 20 are much more expensive than the ones below level 20. It might affect the later development." said Dreidus.

400000 DP sounded like a lot but this amount would disappear very quickly. Above level 20, the price of monsters significantly increased. The level 22 Death Knight, for example, cost 75000 DP to unlock and 5000 DP to summon one. They also consumed a lot more DP per day than the other monsters.

Although they were pricey, they were also a lot stronger than the other monsters. The Death Knight consisted of two monsters and killing just one of them was not enough. Even if the mount was killed, the knight would continue to fight and if the knight was killed first, the skeletal horse would then continue to fight to avenge its rider.

Level 20 represented a milestone and at the next milestone, level 40, the price would increase even more!

"In that case, what about unlocking a boss monster? I think it is time to get someone else apart from me. The dungeon is growing, and I will not be able to look after so many floors. It would be good to have someone to help."

"A boss monster?" murmured Five. It was indeed true that at the moment, Dreidus was handling the undead monsters but as their number increased, Dreidus might not be able to supervise so many.

Unlocking a boss monster also meant unlocking its normal version but boss monsters had prerequisites before being summoned.

"I had a Banshee Queen in mind... Her only requirement is a good environment like the graveyard on the third floor. I know that placing her there would be too much, but we can make another floor for her later."

Banshees formed part of the group of monsters having both the undead type and the ghost type. They existed in the form of spirits and were always shrouded by a white layer of particles.

Five quickly browsed through the dungeon shop. There was indeed a Banshee Queen. Normal Banshees were level 20-23 monsters while the Banshee Queen would start at level 20 but would then be able to grow to a certain extent; her level cap was level 30.

But since she was a boss monster, unlocking her would cost 150000 DP and summoning her would add another 50000 DP. Just like that, almost all the DP accumulated by Five would disappear.

On one side, it was dangerous to put all his eggs in a single basket but at the same time, it was best to summon the Banshee Queen early so that she could start leveling up.

"If you think it is the best option, then let's do it!" said Five.

"The rest of the DP shall be used to summon a couple more monsters. Thank you for trusting me Master! I will always do what I think is best for the dungeon!” sincerely declared Dreidus. In the beginning, he was frustrated at being forced to join the dungeon and working under someone but as time passed, he became used to this place and acknowledged it as his home. He was now ready to do anything to protect this place.

...

In the middle of the night, Five made his way through the graveyard. The zombies, wraiths and spectral hounds all looked at him when he entered the place, but they did not attack. They were all smart enough to recognize their master and quickly backed off.

Dreidus followed closely behind. As the two arrived at the center of the graveyard, Five opened his interface and searched for the Banshee Queen. His heart was aching at the idea of having all his hard-earned DP disappear but before he could doubt himself, he immediately pressed the confirm button.

A summoning circle appeared in front of him as the graveyard suddenly turned silent. All the other monsters stopped moving and all turned towards Five. The circle started shining as white fumes started to rise out of the entire graveyard; from the tombs, graves and even just the soil, the white fumes all converged to the summoning circle.

A few seconds later, in the middle of the concentrated cloud of white fumes, a frail figure appeared.

"Master..."

The Banshee Queen finally revealed herself as most of the white fumes disappeared in mid-air. Contrary to Five's expectation, the Banshee Queen looked just like a regular human being. She had white hair and a very common face. She wore plain clothes which made her looked like a normal servant.

She was respectfully bowing to Five as the white particles around her were slowly settling down, creating a strange white halo.

[System prompt: Congratulations Player Five, the unnamed Banshee Queen has agreed to serve you.]

Name: -

Race: Banshee

Level: 20 (0/10000)

Title: Queen

HP: 500/500

MP: 490/490

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 30

Vitality: 50

Intelligence: 49

Wisdom: 75

Special Skills: [Wails of Sorrow]

Seeing the information window pop up, Five smiled. "Well, welcome to the team!"

Behind him, Dreidus blinked his eyes and discreetly reminded Five, "Master, you should give her a name."