Building an Ecosystem (1)
The work of hollowing out the cavity inside the Dungeon took ten goblins, and even after the number swelled past thirty with newly produced units joining in, it was only then that the task was finally complete.
It had been finished so quickly thanks to the increased manpower as the newly spawned goblins were added to the labor force along the way.
At the center of the passage on the first floor, the circular hollow had been completed on a broad scale, its interior tilted with a slight slope.
On one side, several springs had been formed, sending water flowing toward the center.
The completed hollow.
He had the goblins carry the gravel produced during construction over to the Transformation Platform.
He turned the gravel placed on the Transformation Platform into soil.
The goblins began sorting the randomly generated earth.
From sand, to slightly rough soil, to nutrient-rich earth.
Various kinds of soil were produced.
He had them sift through it by hand and separate out only the greasy, lustrous soil from the rest, then lay it into the hollow.
Even though the energy costs from using the Transformation Platform were tight, the efficiency from the boss bonus made it manageable.
Like coating the bottom of the hollow.
Once the nutrient-rich soil had been spread thickly across it, one part of the construction menu that had remained locked until now finally opened.
The Theme!
One of the crucial elements that formed a Dungeon was its theme.
Normally, a theme was a construction technique used only in the later stages.
But once the conditions were understood, it could be used early at a low cost.
A broad plaza.
And the nutrient-dense soil covering its surface.
Bring them in.
The first harvesting team began entering the Dungeon interior.
In their hands were small saplings and plants.
Plant them.
At his command, the goblins carefully began to plant them.
They did not even know what kinds of plants they were, only that they were being planted for the sake of diversity.
Insects were also released one by one.
The shape of something artificially made.
And finally, the heroes of the day, who had gone berserk here and there, slashing themselves on grass blades, stumbling over rocks, and feeling no pain at all: the forest animals the goblins had dragged back.
Rabbits, deer, foxes, squirrels, chipmunks, and other creatures of the woods.
Even though their bodies were trembling from fatigue caused by the aftereffects of Disdain for the Weak, they had tied the animals to their own bodies with vines and brought them in.
You did well.
Their devotion would never be repaid.
But he would remember it.
He ordered a worker goblin to take out the stone cages that had been prepared in advance.
The bound animals were temporarily shut inside the stone enclosures.
The animals seemed exhausted too, and let themselves be dragged forward limply in the goblins’ hands.
Trees, grass, insects, animals.
And even a small stream.
A tiny ecosystem had been created.
The theme’s completion rate is high.
Would you like to set the first floor’s theme to Forest?
Yes.
At his answer, the core began to shine brightly.
A beautiful bluish light.
Dungeon energy...
It was the same Dungeon energy as before, yet for some reason the sensation was different.
It was still the same Dungeon energy pulsing together within him every time he breathed.
It feels fresher.
As if he had stepped directly into a forest.
The Dungeon energy was the same, and yet not the same at all.
For a brief moment, Dungeon energy burst outward across the entire first floor as if in a frenzy.
To his senses, a new current of blue light could be felt.
How mysterious.
The flow continued for a while, then gradually faded and blurred, becoming so faint it was almost impossible to see, like a wisp of pale blue smoke.
The core absorbed enough experience.
The core leveled up.
The core had leveled up.
The energy flowing through the Dungeon grew sharper, and the density of energy in the air increased.
That intangible change in the Dungeon was immediately perceptible.
But its outward change, though invisible to the naked eye, was also something he knew all too well as someone who had seen far too much.
It changed.
He had a worker goblin with a shovel scoop out the soil.
Thud!
The dirt bit into the stone shovel.
Even though only a thin layer had been laid, the floor had already deepened into something like forest soil.
As expected.
It was no different from a game.
The soft earth automatically transformed the bottom of the hollow to a depth that made it feel like forest ground.
The effect is good.
Still, the forest domain was not yet complete.
A small hollow like this could hardly be called a forest.
But once the domain of the forest expanded, the Dungeon’s energy production began to fluctuate.
...It increased.
By feel alone, the Dungeon’s energy recovery had risen by more than fifty percent.
The forest itself even felt like a place that held and stored Dungeon energy.
Once the theme was complete, the Dungeon energy began to move slowly, responding to his will to refill the hole he had just dug and restore the soil.
He focused on the flow of the Dungeon energy.
It was like breathing with everything in the space.
He would need to observe that flow closely from now on.
Hoo. Good. Then have the workers plant trees.
At his command, the workers moved back and forth between the interior and exterior, bringing in trees, grass, and insects, while the goblins who seemed skilled at hunting were gathered and sent out along what he judged to be the safest route.
This would solve the early food shortage.
The Dungeon would have to grow larger from here.
A Dungeon of this scale needed many lives to live within it, and large forests had to be built at intervals throughout it.
Dohyun’s ultimate goal in creating a forest floor was to make the Dungeon self-sufficient from within.
He had suffered enough from that before.
He always had to assume the worst.
In the worst case, I should be prepared to be trapped with the entrance sealed off.
When he fought those urban legends.
There had been times when going outside meant instant death.
He let the old nightmare drift through his mind for a moment, then realized that the core’s level increase had lifted the restrictions on certain buildings.
First, he raised the goblin production facility to level 2.
Immediately, the control cap tripled, the upkeep doubled, and production itself also tripled.
With production facilities, efficiency improved every time the building level went up rather than by building new ones.
Watching the goblins begin to emerge in greater numbers from the level 2 facility, he considered the next roadmap.
Let’s see. The next essential building gets constructed at level 5, doesn’t it?
He had to reach level 5 quickly, take the route of full-fledged growth, and then reach level 10 to organize the Guardian Legion.
As he fell into thought, his stomach let out a shameful rumble.
Only then did he realize it.
I’m hungry.
A faint, ridiculous sound escaped from his mouth.
I really am a living creature, not some proper dragon after all.
It was an obvious truth, and yet he had somehow thought that being a dragon meant surviving on dew alone.
On one side, he spotted a goblin preparing to cook some of the harvest.
In order to eat, the goblins had caught a rabbit intended for meat rather than breeding, and one of them who had won a lucky roll on the Transformation Platform was now holding an obsidian stone hatchet and skinning it.
It moved with great diligence.
And as it peeled away the hide...
It had such nimble fingers that it looked as though it were undressing the rabbit.
He sent a command straight into the goblin’s mind.
When you’re done, cut it into pieces and bring it here.
For a moment, he sensed the goblin hesitate as if to say, "Really?"
But that was surely just his imagination.
It was still early, so these things had almost no intelligence yet.
Sure enough, without questioning him, the goblin carefully placed the rabbit into a stone bowl made by turning soil into rock and brought it over.
The rabbit meat in the bowl.
He briefly wondered if he should have them roast it instead.
But the scent of blood drifting through his nose felt strangely fragrant.
I’m not human anymore...
With a faint self-mocking thought, he brought the meat in the bowl to his mouth.
Crunch.
With the sound of bones being chewed and shattered, the tough meat was torn apart by his sharp teeth.
What filled his mouth was the metallic tang of blood and the deep savor of flesh.
Rabbit sashimi sliding down his throat.
If he had still been human, it would have been a taste he would have recoiled from.
And yet...
...This is fine?
No, it was more than fine.
Swallow.
As the bloody juices slipped down his throat, warmth spread through his body.
My taste... has changed.
The standards he had lived by as a human crumbled away.
Raw meat.
The smell of blood.
The texture of chewing through bone.
There was no discomfort.
Instead, a sweetness like honey flooded his mouth.
Now that he’d tasted it, he wanted more.
This won’t be enough.
Compared with the goblins, his dragon body was about the size of a small dog.
But hunger rose in him much faster than it ever had when he was human.
His insides felt hollow, like a cavern with a hole in it.
Meat with more nutrition...
It was a small desire.
But the goblins were willing to satisfy it.
The goblins who returned from hunting, chewing on grass, gladly offered up their own meat for their master.
It felt almost like stealing food from a child.
He wanted to endure the hunger.
But it gnawed at him as though his stomach had been punched through.
I don’t need this kind of meat. I need something with real nutrition.
Something like rabbit meat was not going to fill him up.
He was still thinking about how much more food he wanted when he was in the core room.
Then he heard an unfamiliar sound from above his head.
"Dragon! It’s a dragon!"
It was the sound of a bird, yet in his mind it came through like human speech.
What...?
Startled, he looked up.
There, at the ceiling of the core room, a bird was flapping its wings in silence and hovering in front of Dohyun.
Black feathers, a gaunt body.
A creature with only its eyes shining unnaturally bright.
Kyaaak-!
...A crow?
No matter how he looked at it, it was a crow.
And yet it seemed highly intelligent; though its eyes were those of a bird, wisdom seemed to be packed into them.
Did you say that?
"Yep! Little dragon, I’m the one who said it."
Strangely enough, it spoke in bird language, and he could understand it.
He understood the bird, and the bird understood him.
Who are you?
"Me? Heok-o! Dragon, first time seeing me!"
...Right. But how are you talking to me?
"You’re weird. You’re a dragon and you can’t even talk? You’re just like those stupid beasts."
Stupid beasts?
The bird began speaking in a smug tone, its expression plainly amused, as if it were snickering to itself.
"Well, listen here, foolish dragon..."