Chapter 459 - Progress
Alissa imagined that it would be easier to find unicorns flying in the sky than wait for Ryan to ask for help. Still, in the end, she didn't say anything about it. Nothing would change even if she says something, after all. After a while, Gustavo and Lucas left the call, and only Alissa and Ryan were left.
"You are in the base, right?" Ryan asked. "How are things in there?"
"They just relaxed a little bit when I said to them that you dealt with the deserters, but this situation put them on the edge again," Alissa replied. "Do you think these dungeons suddenly spawning is the sign of something troublesome that is about to happen?"
"Maybe, I am pretty sure that all the dungeons that appeared now are tier three dungeons, thanks to it, I just realized that it would be more convenient for the dungeon masters to make them spawn only this late in the game," Ryan replied.
"Why?" Alissa frowned.
"Think about it, tier three monsters are naturally stronger than others, and some even have special skills that grant them the power to defeat monsters many levels above their own," Ryan explained. "Now that the population of monsters in our world spiked, those new monsters can level up much faster than the others."
"I guess that makes sense… anyway, I am going to check things in that new dungeon," Alissa said. "We don't want the dungeon master from that place seducing deserters with their sweet words."
Ryan imagined that Yahiko would contact them eventually. Hence, he decided to focus on what he could for the time being, which was to check the situation of the dungeons under his control. It didn't look like anything changed in the place where the Steel Eagle was, but Ryan noticed that the dungeon of the Frozen Slimes could level up, and so he made it.
Area Lv 13: 20 square miles Level UP cost: 250.000 coins or 2.500.000 mana
Monsters Book Lv 05 Level UP cost: 25.000 coins or 250.000 mana
Barrier Lv 07
Level UP cost: 15.000 coins or 150.000 mana
Army Lv 05
Level UP cost: 11.000 coins or 11.000 mana
Dungeon T1 Lv 02 (15%) Level UP cost: 20.000 coins or 200.000 mana
Coins stored: 254.365 Mana stored: 1.655.842
The cost to summon each Frost Slime increased by five. It wasn't so bad. However, Ryan got more interested by the fact he could summon an unlimited number of monsters from the book to his domain. The only problem was that they would come out at the same level they were registered in there, and it looked like they could only level up by making them spawn inside dungeons.
"I guess this is something that will come in handy later," Ryan nodded to himself.
In any case, Ryan decided to keep his domain in that situation until he finds out what the monsters from those three dungeons could do. Meanwhile, even if that wouldn't help him all that much, he decided to keep following his schedule and train the Red Falcons. However, since he couldn't go all out against them, Ryan had plenty of time to spare while the monsters recovered from the pain. Thanks to that, Ryan started to get restless, he had to use every single of his time doing something meaningful, or he might lose it.
"I guess I should learn a new summoning skill in order to make sure that his next fight won't get off the rails," Ryan rubbed his chin while considering what he should do. "Creating a stock of potions with all the essences I am getting now also seems like a good idea… or maybe I should craft some special gear for the golems and make them sturdy."
Not knowing what would come out from these three dungeons really was making Ryan exhausted and putting him on edge. He wanted to send his minions to dispose of those creatures, but he knew that by doing that, he would give the monsters on the enemies' side the chance to level up. However, letting them build up their numbers was starting to look like a bad idea.
"Ah, crap… I am too tense, I need to relax," Ryan said and then took a deep breath.
It has been a long while since Ryan felt that the stakes were so high. Probably he only felt like that on the first day the monsters arrived. After getting used to fighting, he learned how to control his emotions, but now he was feeling like that again because he was protecting his domain. Something like that couldn't fall on the hands of monsters.
After taking deep breaths for a few minutes, Ryan calmed down. Failure wasn't an option, so he didn't need to think about that. He just needed to focus on doing what he can and find the best way to deal with his enemies.
"Well, the problem is that I can't find the best to fight them, when I don't know who they are," Ryan said while showing the hint of a smile. "I guess I will just focus on creating better bows and crossbows for the time being."
Ryan did precisely that for the next twenty-four hours, leveling up Craft, Auto-Production, and Improved Creation, he created new weapons at a slower pace, but each new weapon was slightly better than the other. Those would certainly be used when he finds some powerful monsters to seal their souls in them.
Regardless, Ryan was forced to start when he felt something coming from the three dungeons at the same time. While the monsters didn't have much time to get stronger, the fact that they decided to show up at the same time troubled Ryan deeply. By using some drones, Ryan identified the three species of monsters. While they were certainly working together, they didn't belong to the same dungeon master. They were: Centaur Archers, Giant Skulls, and Minotaurs… Ryan couldn't find a connection between the monsters. However, he still was one hundred percent sure that the monsters and the dungeon masters were working together.