The summoning facility upgrade was done.
I left Eila's supervision to Lune.
While I focused on other things, Eila got tied back up with vine stems, and Lune agreed to notify me immediately once Eila woke up.
Summoning Facility Lv.1
As soon as the upgrade finished, I checked what changed with the summoning facility upgrade.
Magic Stone Summon and Bond Summon didn't change much, but Normal Summon's status had changed.
[Normal Summon: Use Monster Summoning Scrolls to summon subordinates.]
[★ 30%]
[★☆ 25%]
[★☆☆ 20%]
[★★ 10%]
[★★☆ 10%]
[★★★ 5%]
"Holy shit, the rates changed?"
The 1-star rates dropped significantly, and the 3-star rate went up by a whopping 4 percentage points.
'What if I upgrade the facility even more...?'
Maybe upgrading the level unlocks the next tier of rates? Maybe even the probability of getting trash with no potential like ★ could disappear.
[Summoning Facility: Magic circle for summoning subordinates.]
[Current Level: Lv.1]
[Daily Summon Limit: 10 / 10]
[Facility Level Up Condition: Summon monsters 20 times, secure 3 ★★ subordinates. (0 / 20, 2 / 3)]
"This is annoying as hell..."
The summon count reset. Since I'd summoned up to the limit, it would take at least two days to meet the summon conditions.
And 'secure 3 or more ★★ monsters' was pretty irritating too.
'At least it looks like Lime and Hases count.'
Doesn't seem like it's asking for exactly ★★ only. Since Lime is a 2-star that can grow to 4-star, the system seems to have that much flexibility.
In the end, I had three ways to meet the conditions.
1).Make a Big Slime or slimefolk.
But this required the cannibalism condition (50 individuals), which was too harsh. I'd need to get a whopping 250 lowest-grade magic stones.
2).Create ghouls and make high ghouls.
I still didn't know any of the conditions. But at least it seemed more realistic than evolving slimes, so when the summon count resets tomorrow, let's try summoning ghouls.
And the big one, number 3.
Evolve Lune to 2-star. I carefully examined Lune's evolution conditions.
[Subordinate Evolution: Evolve Lune (★☆☆☆☆).]
[Expected Result: Lune (★★☆☆☆)]
[Evolution Condition: Reach Lv 15 (5 / 15)]
[Evolution Routes: Dark Elf, High Elf]
"Yo, this is a corruption route."
Dark elf, huh. Pretty tempting race name. But I looked Lune up and down, all scared and everything.
'She doesn't seem like she'd be good as a dark elf.'
Dark elves should be busty, tall, big-sister types. For an elf with a young body like Lune, it was better to stay in her original form.
'What's the condition for evolving into a high elf?'
[High Elf: A more noble elf than common elves.]
[Evolution Condition: 1).Reach Lv 15 (5 / 15)
2).Noble bloodline (O / O)]
"...Well shit."
I figured as much from "high elf," but didn't think the bloodline itself would actually need to be noble. It was really easy since I just had to raise her level, but for some reason the consequences of her bloodline scared me.
'Honestly, I thought today's invaders were elves coming for her.'
I couldn't keep trembling from vague fears. I asked Lune first.
"Hey Lune. By the way, aren't people from your village coming to rescue you?"
"What?! ...Probably not, since I'm a half-wit."
"A half-wit?"
"...Yes."
But she's a high elf? I couldn't understand it.
"...I'm a dummy who can only use archery. Spirit magic... I use it by getting help from spirits, I can't actually use it myself... I, I'll work hard! Please don't eat me!"
"Say 'eat me' one more time and I'll actually eat you."
"Hic!"
Lune hiccupped and crawled submissively. There wasn't much new information about Lune, but it bothered me a bit that a high elf was being called a half-wit.
'Does she not know she's a high elf?'
Since there were no other elves around, I couldn't verify, but I only knew through the system, so the elves might not know either.
The cliché of the village outcast actually being a hero is pretty common.
'Then what about evolution into a dark elf?'
[Dark Elf: A corrupted elf. Black.]
[Evolution Condition: 1).Reach Lv 15 (5 / 15)
2).Kinslaying (X / O)]
"Whoa, that's proper corruption."
Evolving by killing your own kind. This must be where monsters and intelligent beings split.
Slimes evolved to the next stage by eating their own kind.
Elves take the corruption route if they kill their own kind.
'Dark elf route would be harder.'
Setting aside the bloodline Lune already has, kinslaying requires there to be another elf.
'I'd like to see a black Lune, but I should save her for later.'
Usually in these cases, the former has a higher chance of hitting it big. She could awaken as an elf queen and become the leader of an entire group of elves. I don't know how far she can grow.
"Gotta get materials."
It was about time for Hases to return. I picked Lune up, groped her body, and left the cave. There, Hases was waiting with a pile of lumber.
Kruruk.
"Kyah, ahh...?"
Lune screamed when she saw Hases, then tilted her head.
"Not... scary...?"
"That's also my subordinate."
Both Hases and Lune were my subordinates.
[View Subordinates: Grimfang's Dungeon Subordinates 12 / 20]
[Slimes: 10]
[High Elf: 1]
[High Ghoul: 1]
'Simple enough.'
If I wanted a more detailed view, the summarized content would probably expand to show each individual slime. But I didn't want that level of detail. The system read my mind and revealed just what was needed.
"High ghoul, from today you're 'Hases.'"
"Keruk."
[Hases: ★★☆ Lv. 16 / 35]
The amount of log chunks the high ghoul Hases had stacked was considerable. I wanted to praise Hases, but I didn't have any special gift.
"Good work."
"Keruk."
Was I imagining it? Hases seemed grateful for my praise but also a bit shy. But there was still more work to do.
"Lune, Hases, carry as much as you can. We're taking it all inside the cave now."
"Yes..."
"Keruk."
Lune made a complicated expression looking at the cut trees. Hases didn't care at all and picked up two at a time, following behind me.
The number of log chunks Hases had stacked was 22.
I'd secured more lumber than I thought, and I wondered if there were other facilities I could make with lumber.
[Facility Upgrade: Consume materials to upgrade facilities.]
[Bedroom Lv.0 -> Lv. 1 (Lumber 22 / 11)]
When I first made it, it only needed 5, but suddenly it jumped to 11. Still, since it's a facility that can be upgraded, let's upgrade it.
After checking what facilities could be built, I looked at what facilities I could currently make.
[Facility Construction: Secure materials to expand facilities within the dungeon.]
[Storage Lv.0: Lumber 12 / 10]
Storage?
[Storage: A warehouse where all kinds of things can be stored. Dig a hole in the ground to make storage.]
[Required Materials: Lumber 12 / 10]
"Just a warehouse."
The reason I still couldn't make a prisoner cell must be because there's no such thing as iron. I examined the items seized from Richard's knight order.
'All just clothes.'
I stripped Mary's clothes myself so her clothes remained, but Lime ate everything from the other three except Richard's clothes. All that was left was a broken wooden sword and a pretty decent-looking staff.
'But she was using magic with the staff when we fought earlier.'
Usually staffs have magic stones embedded in them, does this one too? I stared at the staff, lost in thought for a while.
'Let's do a mid-point assessment first.'
I upgraded the bedroom first and made the storage. When I designated the storage location right next to the bedroom, the ground sank in and the log chunks became planks that laid across the walls and floor.
The time it took was 2 hours for the bedroom upgrade, 1 hour for storage construction.
While the facilities were being built, I took Lune and Hases to check on the dungeon construction site where the slimes were working hard. The slimes had worked for quite a while and successfully carved out roads through the dungeon as much as I wanted.
If I roughly showed this as a district map...
■■■▽■■■
■□□□■■■
■□■□■■■
■□□□□□■
■■■□■□■
■■■□□□■
■■■☆■■■
From the entrance at ▽, coming in and going straight to ☆ where the cave was located, there were changes from the simple straight-line dungeon. Lime, who'd gotten chewed out once, was on top of her game, and had a handful of magic stones.
"Lune, come over here and sort them."
"Magic stones...?"
"You can tell the difference between lowest-grade and low-grade, right? Do well and I'll let you drink some tonight too."
"Yes!"
Lune crouched in front of Lime, anticipating the reward. Lime, on all fours, brought up the magic stones from inside her body.
Gwaaaeeeek
She vomited them up. The magic stones were covered in Lime's slime, and Lune made a disgusted face as she started sorting the stones.
'The slimes leveled up a bit too.'
The ones that were only level 1 all rose to around 4-6. Especially the slime dragon (planned) had already gone up to 8. I ordered the slimes to rest, and they stood around blankly before sticking to the cave walls.
"Master, here are the magic stones..."
Lune held up the magic stones with trembling hands, her ears flushed.
8 low-grade magic stones.
And 50 lowest-grade magic stones.
Looks like the dungeon's magic stone supply comes from digging. I recalled the structure of Forneus's dungeon.
Forneus's dungeon goes underground.
Then my dungeon should be able to get magic stones by going deeper and deeper underground too.
"Solomon's dungeon is underground level 9, they say."
Then let me try building a 100-story building underground.
"Alright subordinates. Slimes scatter to each area. If invaders show up, run away and report to Lime. Hases, wait at the entrance and lure enemies. Got it?"
In case enemies invaded again, I gave my subordinates orders to scout and lure. Since my subordinates were still weak, the only way was for me to intercept them myself.
I'd done everything I could for today.
Now I just had to wait for time to pass until tomorrow.
"So then, Lune."
"Yes, kyaah?!"
I picked Lune up, and as I walked to the bed, I drank from Lune.