Day 3.
Morning came.
"I need to gacha."
There were no enemies at all, and I welcomed another peaceful morning today.
'If I gacha now, I'm totally getting a 3-star.'
I had magic stones overflowing, and one Monster Summoning Ticket from clearing the hidden boss. Plus enough magic stones secured. Thanks to running the sub-dungeon a third time yesterday, the magic stones had accumulated quite a lot including the existing amount.
Lowest grade magic stones: 79.
Low grade magic stones: 24.
I had 1 mid-grade magic stone, but couldn't summon 3-star monsters yet.
With this I could pull most monsters, and though I hadn't been paying attention, one more thing became summonable with magic stones.
[Magic Stone Summon: Use magic stones to summon subordinates.]
[Big Slime 24 / 8 (Low)]
'With this, no need to summon slimes.'
Wouldn't it be better to use low grade magic stones from killing big slimes to summon big slimes? No need to go through the trouble of evolving them.
'Ah, if I gacha now I feel like only 3-stars will pop up.'
Even at ★★★.
'I'd allow it, but would the system allow it?'
"Master, you're already up?"
Lune was preparing to eat breakfast, wetting her mouth with slimahole's bodily fluids. Because I woke up earlier than yesterday, Lune was awkwardly watching my mood.
"Let me do this first."
The flow of dungeon life starts from summoning. If that flow gets blocked from the start, it becomes troublesome in many ways.
"Gacha!"
[Capacity Over: Too many in the dungeon's capacity.]
[Build barracks to increase maximum capacity.]
"Hases!"
I assembled the ghoul squad. But somehow all their movements were sluggish, like they were overloaded.
"...."
It was frustrating. Very frustrating. Not only were their movements slow, even the time to gather in the cavity was slow.
'Only their body movements are slow.'
Could they properly intercept if enemies appeared like this? They could respond, but they couldn't do things like when Hases hurriedly ran from May's attack.
'2 people need to be removed.'
Me, 1 person. Lune, 1 person.
Slime species: 11.
Ghoul species: 9.
Plus harpy: 1.
'Is there any way to reduce them right now?'
Usually in situations like this, you'd fuse subordinates, sacrifice two or more to birth a new existence, or sacrifice subordinates to increase experience.
'Seems I can't do it right now since the system isn't popping up.'
If even one of the three was possible, I could solve the problem right now, but unfortunately that was impossible.
"Hmm...."
When I actually tried to get rid of two, that was also a headache.
'If I'm removing them, the ★s should disappear.'
Would I secure 20 lumber while being a bit sluggish to increase capacity, or reduce personnel to move swiftly?
The answer was the latter.
'I need to level up the summoning facility today and gacha.'
10 summon attempts remained to raise the summoning facility to the next level. Even though I could only get the summoning benefits from leveling up tomorrow, reducing mouths to feed was urgent.
"...I can get slimes again anytime."
Same with ghouls. Hell, even harpies had ways to get more. Just grinding lowest grade magic stones was enough for growth.
But.
"...."
The Slimes (★) worked hard digging the dungeon. Though stupid, they all passed level 10, and were the main actors who would expand the dungeon.
The Ghouls (★) also worked hard carrying lumber. Likewise blockheads, but given the chance their levels would rise quickly and they'd carry lumber diligently.
The Harpy (★) worked hard sucking dick.
"...Ah, fuck it."
In terms of efficiency, throwing them away and pulling new ones was right, but actually doing so wasn't easy. Rather than feeling guilty, I was bothered by abandoning guys born that way just because they had low stars.
"I don't know. There must be some way."
Unless it was a complete dead end, it would definitely be foolish not to try when there were ways to unblock the flow.
'There must be ways to increase ☆s too.'
Maybe such facilities hadn't opened yet because my dungeon rank was still low.
So the plan to discard ★s was on hold.
"Lune, let's eat breakfast with lunch today. But I'll give you double the usual."
"Are you busy this morning? Going to kill slimes?"
"No. But don't you feel kind of sluggish right now?"
"...Now that you mention it, my body does feel heavier than usual."
Every dungeon mob except one person had a debuff. Everyone except 'me.'
"Wait. Let me farm some lumber."
I need to grab exactly 20, build barracks, and clear the blockage.
"Kuhup."
I thought this wouldn't happen after the first day. I left the dungeon and headed to the forest.
***
At that moment, in the slash-and-burn village.
"Let's go."
The chief raised his sword with determined resolve. The villagers were full of complaints, but seeing the chief's determined appearance taking the lead and bringing equipment, they had nothing to say.
"Um...Chief? Since it's one day, shouldn't we at least wait until afternoon?"
"Then it'll be too late. Maybe it's already too late. ...Sorry, I can't delay any longer."
The villagers were moved by the chief's determination. There was also the fact that the chief was the strongest person among the village residents, so they were swayed by his charisma.
"Let's go. Let's all come back together and have lunch."
The chief said while scanning the village residents.
"Kai's dad still hasn't returned?"
"No...."
"Tsk, that guy really."
Kai's mother eventually collapsed worrying about her disappeared son and husband. Everyone was worried sick since she might lose her husband too, but the chief was worried about a different problem.
'Damn, I couldn't run away.'
He would've packed his bags and fled at the first chance, but he couldn't run away because his wife stayed up all night worrying about Richard.
'If the lord's army comes they'll definitely squeeze taxes, and the moment a knight comes....'
Gulp. The chief's mouth went dry. He was someone who mustn't be caught by knights.
"Let's go. We don't know what dangers there might be, but let's rescue the children."
In that danger, the chief would disappear alone. Unaware even of that, the villagers steeled their resolve and grabbed farming tools.
The chief and the rescue party.
Leaving behind the elderly and weak, the people left the slash-and-burn village to search for the missing.
***
20 lumber collected. I sat down on the ground dripping with sweat.
"Phew, phew."
"Master, are you thirsty? Want something to drink?"
"I don't have the energy to drink right now, so let me rest a bit, whew."
I lifted the wooden cup filled with valley water the harpy brought. No matter how much food and drink there was, I still needed to drink cold water sometimes.
"Phew."
I felt alive. The ghouls waited in front of the dungeon then carried the logs to the cavity with heavy movements, and with Hases guarding the rear finally arriving, all the lumber gathered in the cavity.
"...Then where to build is important."
Should I build in the rear, or the front? Barracks were a rest area for soldiers, but also a facility to intercept enemies anytime.
'Would be troublesome if it breaks.'
Nothing was more annoying than having the population blocked because the supply depot got robbed.
So I had to build barracks in a place far from my bedroom, easy to block enemy intrusion, and where enemies couldn't easily destroy it.
'Need to dig a cave.'
And I scanned for an appropriate place for the barracks (◀) in the dungeon area already dug out.
■■■▽■■■
■□□□■■■
■□■□■■■
■□□□□□■
■□■□■□■
■□■□□□◀
■◎■☆■■■
The spot right to the right from the cavity. The left had slimes in the sub-dungeon naturally intercepting, so the right naturally needed a place to intercept too.
"Ghouls, hang in there a bit more."
I lifted two logs for my share. The ghouls moved to the destination with heavy bodies, and I arrived first, put down the lumber, and received and moved them from the front.
[Construction: Would you like to construct Barracks Lv.0?]
[Materials Consumed: Lumber 20 / 20]
[Time Required: 1 hour]
[Expected Result: Barracks Lv.0, Monster Summoning Ticket]
"Don't even need to dig?"
I came just in case, but as expected it was a system that automatically set the foundation. Couldn't extract magic stones through slimes, but barracks had to be built to solve this frustrating movement.
"Construct."
The lumber quickly seeped into the walls. The entrance was blocked with well-spread planks, and construction would probably proceed smoothly from inside by the system.
'Can't help what's wasted.'
I'd figured out the dungeon's vertical width. But hadn't yet checked how much the horizontal width was.
'So nothing to regret.'
There was a sub-dungeon regularly supplying magic stones, and plenty of land to dig up and down.
"Ghouls, to your positions."
I dismissed the ghouls and returned to the bedroom. Lune sat on the bed fiddling with slimahole's bodily fluids while waiting, then welcomed me.
"Master!"
"Yeah."
Tap tap tap.
I'd been preparing breakfast for Lune while walking over, and it ripened perfectly for eating.
"Lunch isn't ready, but here's a snack first."
Lune hadn't done any work, but still, I needed to eat a snack, didn't I?
Lune and I devoured each other until the barracks was completed.
"...M-Master. My mouth won't move properly...."
"...."
I'm definitely keeping capacity from now on.