"Harriet. Did you say some monsters surrendered? Are there any monsters from the second dungeon?" asked Five.

Five did not know which option to pick. Both of them had powerful effects. The first option would not only improve the stats of all the insects but also their breeding rate! He could use low-level insects as food for later monsters like birds or reptiles.

The second choice would have a more significant long-term impact. It would set up the foundation for a crafting team within the dungeon but a lot of DP would have to be invested to make it useful. Furthermore, the increase in stat would also affect a lot of monsters. There were many monsters shorter than 1.5m but most of them were unable to craft; all the beasts of the dungeon fell within this category.

"We destroyed all the mechanical monsters. The Dwarves and the Goblins fought to death but a few gnomes decided to rebel and surrendered. Unfortunately, the Elder Gnome died in battle. There should be six or seven gnomes. I know what you are thinking but you should be careful. Monsters can learn to craft but you will need to invest a lot of DP in them. You'll need to pay for materials, books, and equipment. If I am not wrong, Kroff spent millions every week to sustain his crafting team."

Five bitterly smiled. He knew the path ahead was tough. The easy solution would be to choose Entomology but Dwarfism would be the one that would benefit him the most. He was curious about the third option. Since his dungeon core absorbed three other dungeon cores until now, it was not hard to guess that the third effect should correspond to Kroff's dungeon. 'I wonder what kind of effect I would get from Kroff...'

In the end, he decisively picked Dwarfism. Sooner or later, he would need to set up a crafting team.

[System prompt: You have chosen Dwarfism. Updating the Core of Madness]

[Information]

[Core of Madness](Grade 2)(Upgradable)

Controls the overall operations of the dungeon. Once taken out of the dungeon or destroyed, the dungeon and dungeon master will be destroyed

Effect 1: DP gained +4%

Effect 2: Dwarfism - Increase the crafting success rate of all monsters shorter than 1.5m and increase all their stats by 1.

Effect 3: The Dungeon Master and all the dungeon's Boss Monsters will also learn the skills provided by the Core of Madness.

Skill: [Frenzy], [Hysteria]

[Frenzy(level 1)]

User temporarily sacrifices part of his Intelligence and Wisdom in exchange for an increase in Strength and Dexterity:

Intelligence and Wisdom -4

Strength and Dexterity +7

Duration: 2 minutes

Can be used twice per day.

[Hysteria(level 0)]

User sacrifices HP and MP in exchange for an increase in Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom.

HP & MP - 5/second

Strength and Dexterity +3

Wisdom +2

The skill automatically comes to a stop if the user's HP or MP is insufficient.

Can only be used once per day.

Five stared at the new dungeon core. After its upgrade, the dungeon core became significantly stronger. Not only did [Frenzy] level up, he also obtained a new skill and to top it off, all his Boss Monsters also obtained the skills!

However, Five did not have time to think as he was soon overwhelmed by a series of system prompts:

[System prompt: Your Core of Madness has successfully consumed the Core of Entomology.]

[System prompt: You are awarded 200000 DP.]

[System prompt: You have unlocked: Level 8 Termites, Level 25 Blood Sucking Mosquitoes, Flame Scarabs, and Flame Scarab Warrior. One monster from each Species is available for summoning]

[System prompt: Due to failing to protect their dungeon core, the following monsters are forcefully recruited and unlocked: Giant Ant Queen, Meryssa and Mother Spider, Eyala. Both Boss Monsters are now unlocked in the Dungeon Shop together with their subordinate monster.]

[System prompt: Your Core of Madness has successfully consumed the Core of Dwarfism.]

[System prompt: You are awarded 200000 DP.]

[System prompt: You have unlocked: Elder Gnome and Goblins. One monster from each Species is available for summoning]

[System prompt: Due to failing to protect their dungeon core, seven Unnamed Gnomes are forcefully recruited and unlocked. The monster: Gnome is now unlocked in the Dungeon Shop.]

[System prompt: You have plundered the following items from the dungeon master: Cube of Resourcefulness and Seed of Ingeniosity.]

After what felt like an eternity, the system prompts finally came to an end. There was way too much information to process at once. Five sat down and read through the system prompts one by one.

"Looks like when you defeat another dungeon master, you unlock part of their monsters. It is like annexing a different colony, but the problem is that my dungeon is not adapted for them. I will have to rebuild part of it if I want to implement them in the dungeon."

Five was naturally delighted to have obtained all these rewards but he knew the headache of implementing all these monsters in his dungeon would soon come. 'I'll just wait for Dreidus. Together, we'll sort it out.'

He obtained 400000 DP from conquering the two dungeons but the most valuable spoils of war were definitely the last two items.

Five was familiar with the Cube of Resourcefulness. It was one of the items that were auctioned a few hours ago.

[Cube of Resourcefulness]

Generate a random source of material at a random location near the dungeon.

Can only be used once

It was one items auctioned; its effects paled in comparison to the last ten items but it still had a very useful effect. If used properly, he could obtain a lot of resources or alternatively he could use it to attract a lot of people to the source of material and consequently to his own dungeon. The only problem was the randomness. He did not decide the outcome.

As for the Seed of Ingeniosity, Five never saw this item before. He concluded that the dungeon master obtained it before the auction somehow. 'This guy must have focused a lot on crafting...'

[Seed of Ingeniosity]

Activate to obtain a random formula corresponding to the user's crafting profession.

The formula's level of difficulty is proportional to the user's profession grade

Can be used once per month

Next use: 17 days and 8 hours

"Five? Did you do something? I feel like something intruded my mind."

While he was staring at the two new items in his inventory, Five suddenly heard Harriet grunt and complain. Similarly, Lyra also wore a confused expression.

"Did you receive some skills or something like that?" asked Five as he recalled the description of the Dungeon Core.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"It's the effect of the dungeon core. After upgrading, all the Boss Monsters now have access to a few more skills but be careful when using them. Although they considerably increase your strength, there is also a heavy price to pay," explained Five.

"I know. I will be careful. It is similar to our Battle form. It is best if we avoid using them unless necessary. What do you plan to do now? You should have unlocked quite a few monsters."

"For now, nothing. We will wait for Dreidus to come back and then, we'll plan our floors together. It is time to change the dungeon. The Corpse Eaters are doing fine and can feed on the Cadavers. I think it's time to build up the dungeon in a more sustainable manner."

Five spoke and fell into deep thoughts. It would not be easy. So far, there was no need to create an ecosystem. The dungeon consisted mainly of undead monsters who could simply absorb DP from the dungeon but the new monsters were different. They needed food to survive. Not only did he need to unlock smaller monsters to act as food sources, but he also needed an efficient transportation system.

'I think it might be time to summon a few Corrupted Servants.'

"By the way, Harriet. Have you heard of a demon called Mad King Lavenus?" asked Five.

"Mad King Lavenus? I am sorry but no. Maybe I can ask a few old monsters about it but since it’s a demon, I doubt any normal monster would remember them. If you really need information about him, I would suggest getting into contact with the old Dungeon Masters. They are the only one to have accurate information about the demons."

Five frowned. As he expected, it would not be easy to obtain the information he wanted. "That's fine. I will think about it later. For now, did anything happen at the dungeon in our absence?" asked Five as he looked toward Alice and Lyra.

The latter answered: "Nothing out of the ordinary. We were very vigilant but aside from some movements from the Black Iron Tribe, nothing unusual happened. However, the Shaman came to the Dungeon this morning. Alice went to speak to him and he asked to speak to you as soon as possible. As we knew you were coming back today, we arranged a meeting for you tonight. He mentioned something about introducing you to the other elders of their new tribe."