Chapter 38: One Person, Eleven Dungeons at Once?!

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: One Person, Eleven Dungeons at Once?!

Westmere Professional Center, Dungeon Administration Area.

Administrator Lucas Bennett was organizing the dungeon scheduling records.

Over the past several days, he had almost grown accustomed to Nathaniel Beaumont’s presence.

At first, every time Nathaniel appeared, Lucas had been shocked beyond words. After repeated encounters, that shock had gradually turned into numbness.

Now, whenever he saw Nathaniel walk through the entrance, a single thought flashed through his mind.

Here comes trouble for the dungeon records again.

Speaking of which, why hadn’t Nathaniel arrived yet today?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when a familiar figure appeared at the entrance.

Lucas immediately straightened.

"You’re here, sir."

He put down the records and approached Nathaniel.

"Which dungeon would you like me to arrange for you today?"

Nathaniel didn’t answer. Instead, he asked a question of his own.

"I want to confirm something. Can my Shadow Soldiers enter dungeons independently, without me accompanying them?"

Lucas froze.

For a moment, he wondered whether he had misheard.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Can my Shadow Soldiers enter dungeons alone and clear them by themselves?"

Lucas stared at him.

His mouth opened slightly, but no words came out.

What kind of question was that?

He had worked at Westmere Professional Center for years. He had processed applications from countless professionals, handled dungeon registrations, and witnessed all sorts of unusual abilities.

But he had never heard of anyone wanting to send summoned creatures into dungeons without their master.

Summoned creatures were extensions of a professional’s combat power. They fought alongside their masters, protected them, and helped them overcome powerful enemies.

That was how summoning classes normally worked.

Letting summons enter a dungeon independently?

Lucas had no idea whether the system even permitted it.

He hesitated before answering.

"Sir, theoretically, summoned creatures are part of a professional’s combat capabilities. Under normal circumstances, they enter dungeons together with their summoner."

He paused, struggling to find the right words.

"As for entering independently..."

His voice gradually weakened.

He genuinely didn’t know.

There was no precedent he could recall, no established procedure that clearly addressed the situation, and no guarantee that the dungeon’s entry mechanism would accept a summoned creature without its owner.

Nathaniel watched him calmly.

"So, is it possible?"

Lucas fell silent for several seconds.

Finally, he gave the only honest answer he could.

"I don’t know. But we can test it."

Nathaniel nodded.

"Good. Find me a Level 90 dungeon. Hell Difficulty."

Lucas blinked.

He had expected Nathaniel to ask more questions or reconsider the idea.

Instead, the young man had decided to test it immediately.

"Right away."

The two headed toward the dungeon entrance area.

Lucas brought up the control panel and searched through the available dungeon listings. After checking the requirements, he selected a suitable destination.

A panel appeared before them.

[Blackstone Mine: Hell Difficulty]

[Entry Requirement: Level 90]

[Recommended Party Size: 10]

Nathaniel examined the information briefly before raising one hand.

Darkness gathered at his feet.

A Shadow Soldier emerged from his shadow. Its black armor swallowed the surrounding light, while two faint crimson points glimmered beneath its featureless helmet.

The soldier knelt before Nathaniel, awaiting his command.

"Enter the dungeon," Nathaniel ordered. "Eliminate every monster you encounter and collect all the loot."

He opened his professional storage space and pulled out a large black sack, securing it to the soldier.

The Shadow Soldier didn’t possess an independent storage space like its master. If materials and equipment dropped inside the dungeon, they would need somewhere to be stored.

Otherwise, the monsters could all be killed, but the rewards would remain scattered across the dungeon floor.

That would defeat the entire purpose of the experiment.

Lucas watched Nathaniel attach the sack to the soldier.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

He even prepared a loot bag?

This wasn’t some random question asked out of curiosity.

Nathaniel had clearly thought the plan through and come here intending to put it into practice.

"Open the dungeon," Nathaniel said.

Lucas took a deep breath, selected the appropriate authorization, and pressed the confirmation button.

Hum!

The dungeon portal awakened. Light rippled across its surface, revealing the entrance to the isolated space beyond.

The Shadow Soldier rose to its feet.

Without hesitation, it strode toward the portal.

Lucas watched closely.

Part of him expected the system to reject the creature. Perhaps the entrance would refuse to activate for anything that wasn’t a registered professional. Perhaps the soldier would strike an invisible barrier and be forced back.

Anything seemed possible.

Then the Shadow Soldier stepped into the portal.

Its armored figure passed through the shimmering light without resistance.

A moment later, it vanished completely.

Lucas stood motionless.

It had entered.

It had actually entered!

His gaze snapped toward the dungeon control panel.

The information displayed there was unmistakable.

[Current Dungeon Status: In Progress]

[Entering Unit: Summoned Creature]

[Associated Professional: Nathaniel Beaumont]

Lucas’s mouth hung open.

For several seconds, he couldn’t manage to form a coherent sentence.

"Sir... this..."

A faint smile appeared on Nathaniel’s face.

His theory had worked.

The dungeon system had accepted the Shadow Soldier as an independent entering unit.

That meant his plan might be feasible after all.

However, before he could celebrate, another notification appeared on the panel.

[Notice: No professional has entered the current dungeon.]

[Experience earned from monsters defeated by the summoned creature will not be awarded to the associated professional.]

Nathaniel glanced at the message and shrugged.

"That doesn’t matter."

He wasn’t trying to gain experience right now.

His immediate objective was to earn five hundred million gold coins within twenty-four hours. What he needed was money, valuable materials, and equipment he could sell.

Experience points were irrelevant to this particular objective.

Nathaniel looked down at his shadow.

"Everyone, come out."

Darkness spread across the ground.

One Shadow Soldier after another emerged, their black armor reflecting almost none of the surrounding light. They formed a silent formation before their master, each waiting for an order.

Lucas watched the formation grow.

Five soldiers.

Ten.

Twenty.

Thirty.

The number kept climbing.

Soon, dozens of armored figures stood across the dungeon administration area. Their presence changed the atmosphere entirely. The once-ordinary hall now felt like a military assembly ground, with Nathaniel at its center.

Lucas looked from the soldiers to Nathaniel.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

Nathaniel had summoned far more than a handful of creatures, and he showed no sign of stopping.

The practical constraints were his available Shadow Energy, his command capabilities, and the needs of the task before him.

For this experiment, he had decided to use a substantial force.

Nathaniel divided the soldiers into separate units and issued their instructions.

Each unit would enter a different dungeon, eliminate the monsters inside, collect the loot, and bring everything back when the dungeon was cleared.

They weren’t going to stand around waiting for one another.

They would work simultaneously.

Lucas stared at the assembled army.

"Sir... how many dungeons do you intend to open?"

Nathaniel looked at the available dungeon listings.

"Enough to keep these soldiers busy."

That was all he said.

He didn’t need to make a grand declaration. The results would speak for themselves.

Lucas swallowed and returned to the control console.

He selected suitable Level 90 dungeons on Hell Difficulty, then began activating the entrances one after another.

The most outrageous scene in the history of Westmere Professional Center unfolded before his eyes.

A group of Shadow Soldiers approached the first portal, their large black sacks secured to their backs, and disappeared into the dungeon.

Another unit entered the second dungeon.

A third entered the next.

Then a fourth.

A fifth.

Every time Lucas activated another portal, Nathaniel directed a new unit toward it.

The dungeon administration area filled with the glow of multiple entrances.

On the control console, one status panel after another lit up.

[Entering Unit: Summoned Creature]

[Associated Professional: Nathaniel Beaumont]

[Current Dungeon Status: In Progress]

The same information appeared across the records.

Lucas’s fingers moved over the console, opening new dungeon registrations as quickly as the system would permit.

He had never imagined he would spend a morning doing this.

He had certainly never imagined doing it for one professional.

Before long, a large portion of Nathaniel’s Shadow Army had been dispatched.

Each unit had its own dungeon.

Each dungeon had its own active status.

And every unit was operating independently under Nathaniel’s commands.

Lucas leaned back slightly, trying to process the display before him.

The number of active dungeons had already exceeded what he would normally expect to manage for a single professional in an entire day.

Yet Nathaniel still wasn’t finished.

He glanced at the available dungeon listings and pointed toward another Level 90 dungeon.

"Arrange one for me as well."

Lucas slowly turned his head.

"For... you?"

Nathaniel nodded.

"Yes. Hell Difficulty."

Lucas stared at him for a moment before mechanically opening the registration panel.

He selected the dungeon, confirmed the entry, and activated the portal.

Nathaniel stepped forward.

"Keep an eye on the records. If the system reports anything unusual, contact me."

"Understood," Lucas replied automatically.

Nathaniel entered the portal.

Hum!

The light swallowed his figure, and he disappeared into the dungeon.

Silence settled over the administration area.

Lucas stood alone before the control console.

Multiple dungeon status panels shone in front of him, each connected to Nathaniel Beaumont.

Most belonged to the Shadow Soldiers he had dispatched.

The remaining one belonged to Nathaniel himself.

One professional.

One enormous shadow army.

Multiple Hell-Difficulty dungeons running simultaneously.

Lucas stared at the display for several long minutes.

His mind finally reached a conclusion.

This world has gone completely insane.

He had thought Nathaniel reaching Level 100 in eight days was already beyond belief.

Apparently, he had been wrong.

There were levels of absurdity he hadn’t even imagined.

One person clearing multiple dungeons simultaneously?

And not merely sending one or two summons into a single dungeon, but dividing an entire army into independent units?

These weren’t ordinary dungeons that a beginner could stroll through. They were Hell-Difficulty dungeons with Level 90 entry requirements, the sort of challenges that could overwhelm even experienced teams.

Yet Nathaniel had sent his Shadow Soldiers into them without accompanying them.

Worse, he had entered another dungeon himself, as though managing several additional battlefields were nothing more than a minor scheduling detail.

Lucas pressed a hand against his forehead.

If he told anyone what had just happened, they would probably laugh at him.

If he insisted he was telling the truth, they might recommend that he take a long vacation.

But the records were right there.

Multiple active dungeons.

One associated professional.

A vast army of summoned creatures working independently.

There was no room for misunderstanding.

Lucas abruptly straightened.

Wait.

This wasn’t something he could keep to himself.

The incident had to be reported.

Immediately.

He grabbed his communicator and searched for a familiar contact.

Captain Adrian Cross.

The call connected after a short delay.

...

City Lord’s Mansion

Captain Adrian Cross sat in a secured conference room, reviewing a stack of intelligence reports.

The investigation into the Lion Syndicate’s attack on Westmere No. 1 Academy remained unresolved.

The infiltrator responsible for leaking information had yet to be identified.

Over the past several days, Adrian had barely found time to rest. He had requested records from multiple departments, including the Guard Team, Westmere Professional Center, the Array Management Office, and the City Energy Monitoring Bureau.

Every report had to be checked.

Every suspicious record had to be compared against the others.

Every possible lead had to be investigated before it went cold.

The work was tedious, and the growing pile of documents offered no easy answers.

Adrian rubbed his temples, his brow furrowed.

Just then, his communicator vibrated.

He glanced at the screen.

The caller was Lucas Bennett, the administrator responsible for dungeon scheduling at Westmere Professional Center.

Adrian accepted the call.

"What is it?"

Lucas’s voice came through the communicator.

"Captain Cross, Nathaniel Beaumont has entered another dungeon."

Adrian paused.

Then he leaned back slightly.

"And?"

For the past several days, Nathaniel had spent nearly every available moment entering dungeons.

At this point, his visits to the Professional Center were practically a routine.

If Nathaniel failed to show up for an entire day, that would have been more surprising.

Adrian returned his attention to the report in front of him.

"Is there a problem with his registration?"

Lucas swallowed audibly.

"That’s not exactly the issue."

Adrian’s pen stopped moving.

"What issue, then?"

Lucas took a breath, struggling to organize his thoughts into something that sounded remotely reasonable.

"Captain Cross, it’s different this time."

Adrian’s eyebrows drew together.

"Different how?"

Lucas looked back at the numerous glowing dungeon records on his console.

His expression turned complicated.

"Sir... Nathaniel has entered multiple Hell-Difficulty dungeons simultaneously."

Adrian paused.

"How many?"

Lucas looked at the active records again, making certain he wouldn’t give an inaccurate number.

"He’s sent a large force of Shadow Soldiers into separate dungeons. Each unit is operating independently. Nathaniel has entered another dungeon himself."

Silence.

Adrian slowly lowered the report in his hand.

"...His summons can enter dungeons without him?"

"Yes, Captain. The system has accepted them. I’ve checked the records myself."

"And they’re all active?"

"Yes."

Adrian stared at the communicator.

He had spent the entire morning investigating a dangerous conspiracy involving an illegal S-Rank organization.

Now, somehow, a single young professional had managed to make that problem feel almost ordinary.

He closed his eyes and took a slow breath.

"Lucas."

"Yes, Captain?"

"Tell me everything. From the beginning."

Lucas glanced back at the control console.

He had a feeling this was going to be a very long conversation.

___________________________________

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