Chapter 113
Huh.
I folded my arms as I looked at the monitor.
While observing Lorensia, I learned something shocking.
Her goal was markedly different from those of the intruders before her.
Newbie : No.
Newbie : I honestly thought something was off.
Newbie : But she says she wants to capture me alive and use me as an experimental subject, WTF lol
Isn't this bitch completely insane?
This is seriously the first time I've seen someone target my body instead of mana stones.
ㄴCowhead : lol
ㄴCowhead : If Newbie gets caught by that chick, they're gonna get thoroughly messed up ㅠㅠ
ㄴAnt Queen : ~A suspicious black video-recording crystal delivered to Wallachia one day~
ㄴAnt Queen : Now, Newbie, look this way and say hello~?
ㄴAnt Queen : Tell us your name, gender, occupation, and age~
ㄴPsychiatric Hospital Head Patient : Newbie... male... 4 years old...
ㄴPsychiatric Hospital Head Patient : I'm a dungeon noob who just became a dungeon master...
ㄴPsychiatric Hospital Head Patient : This is my first time being filmed, so please be gentle...♥
ㄴGolem King : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴDIP : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴKongKong : Your banter game is insane lol
ㄴKing Slayer : WTF lol
Guys?
This isn't a joke, it's an insult to my person.
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : You wanna die for real?
ㄴNewbie : Fuck...
They're having a blast because it isn't happening to them.
You sons of bitches…….
Newbie : No, but why the hell is she using me as an experimental subject...
Newbie : Out of all the dungeon masters, why me, WTF
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : You bastard, so are you saying
ㄴWhaleWhaleYeah : you want Lorensia to use us as experimental subjects???
ㄴKingjjang Evil Spirit : Boooooo, that was bad
ㄴSkeleton Bones : So skeletons don't even have dungeon rights, huh? Got it, yeah...
ㄴTV Head : Do you think TV Heads can live with this sorrow...
Newbie : Are you seriously trying to dogpile me like this?
When the big brothers' prank switch flips.
they become more earnest about teasing others than anyone.
Now I understand why Car Wash Bro never uploads his own pictures.
Getting turned into a laughingstock really happens in an instant.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : You've realized it.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Come to Dino World.
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Fuck, Newbie, just block those bastards
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : and later terrorize their dungeons with a bizarre phenomenon.
ㄴSealed Conqueror : We didn't say a word, yeah
ㄴSealed Philosopher : Please remember that fact...
Anyway.
They kept trying to make fun of me after that.
ㄴNewbie : I'm just not going to stream live anymore.
ㄴNewbie : I'll livestream my final lonely death when I die. Later.
ㄴCowhead : I'm sorry.
ㄴCowhead : I'm sorry, fuck.
ㄴCowhead : Your streams are honestly the only joy in my life, so please don't do this.
ㄴAnt Queen : Aww
ㄴAnt Queen : It was just a joke hehe;;
ㄴAnt Queen : Sorry, sorry;;
I gave them a little discipline.
ㄴNewbie : Get on your knees and hold your hands up.
ㄴPsychiatric Hospital Head Patient : (photo)
ㄴAnt Queen : (photo)
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : (photo)
ㄴNewbie : Why are you sending one...
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Because it's pretty!
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Good.
Very satisfying.
Usually the mod steps in at times like this, but it seemed he was a little busy today.
So I threatened them with livestreaming it myself, and they quieted down right away. Phew.
Come to think of it, something's been bugging me.
Newbie : Didn't you say there used to be lots of dungeon masters?
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : That's right, yeah
Newbie : But there weren't any bastards like that back then??
Newbie : I don't think the Shibgan crew's mindset has changed much since then... There must have been lots of weak dungeons back then too.
Newbie : You guys have gotten ridiculously strong by now.
Newbie : Since my dungeon at least leaves room for a clear, I can understand that part, I guess.
Newbie : But if you were going to do it, the past would've been much easier.
Newbie : Why are they suddenly pulling this "research" crap now...
I was only just beginning to learn about this world.
I mean, I'm a newbie.
Honestly, there were many things I couldn't understand.
But it would be different for the veterans.
They were living history itself—the history of living dungeon masters.
I thought they might be able to answer this question.
And then.
ㄴTV Head : Of course there were back then too.
ㄴTV Head : It's because they all failed.
TV Head's comments began appearing, like a teacher reading a fairy tale to a child.
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TV Head : So.
ㄴTV Head : I think Newbie-nim probably understands this too, but humans are fundamentally expansionist creatures, you know?
ㄴTV Head : It's in our nature to want to climb higher somehow. Well, I guess we can't help it since that's how we were designed. We're no different, either, yeah.
ㄴTV Head : We think we're expanding dungeons and buying minions using a system of points and leveling up, like it's a game, but from people's perspective, it feels like the realm of gods creating something out of nothing.
ㄴTV Head : So there were people who wanted to study us, and beyond that, obtain power like ours. That kind of mindset, you know. Especially among mages, yeah.
ㄴTV Head : But dungeon masters can't leave their dungeons. So all sorts of difficulties start cropping up, you know.
ㄴTV Head : Dungeons aren't suitable places for research. Their alien spatial structures, jamming devices that are hard to destroy, and the fact that they teleport to different parts of the world at set intervals. That's not all.
ㄴTV Head : You asked about this before, Newbie-nim.
ㄴTV Head : Each wave has a limit on the number of people who can enter.
ㄴTV Head : So if we use that fact...
ㄴTV Head : and trap weaklings who are easy to control inside the dungeon...
ㄴTV Head : wouldn't that mean intruders could be prevented from entering forever?
ㄴNewbie : You said that was impossible...
ㄴTV Head : That's right.
ㄴTV Head : This applies to dungeon masters too.
ㄴTV Head : If intruders neutralize a dungeon for a long time, Oblivion considers the dungeon master defeated. The mana stone is extracted from the core room, and the dungeon master and dungeon disappear.
Ah.
So that's why research is structurally impossible.
ㄴTV Head : Honestly, I'm not sure whether Newbie-nim falls into this category.
ㄴTV Head : I can't give you a definite answer either... but I think this mage named Lorensia believes she may be different.
ㄴNewbie : Hmm...
ㄴNewbie : But if you look at it that way, wouldn't the Blessers be more useful?
ㄴNewbie : They have better access than those bastards, after all.
They have powers very similar to ours.
And they're special beings who revive even after death.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Exactly.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : But why don't they? lol
Ah.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : It's like a rule written in blood.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : If these bastards don't declare themselves Blessers, you can't even distinguish them from humans, and they have all kinds of bizarre traits too, right?
ㄴThe World Is Cold : They're like SSS-tier trolls with insane potential.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : We can't leave our dungeons, but
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Blessers are different, right?
ㄴThe World Is Cold : If you cross them, you get to experience getting utterly fucked in real time.
ㄴThe World Is Cold : It's just that they see one another as rivals, so they don't band together...
ㄴThe World Is Cold : but in situations like that, they cooperate like ghosts, yeah...
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I more or less understood.
Mana stones were one thing, and new dungeons were another, but...
So the fact that I can leave the dungeon really draws more aggro than I'd expected.
Until now, dying would just mean dying normally.
But if the mages captured me, I probably wouldn't get to die peacefully.
ㄴNewbie : If only it weren't for Aboralis's unfair visions... ㅠㅠ
ㄴNewbie : This fucking sucks...
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Newbie-yam!
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Either way, experiment or whatever, none of it can happen unless Dreamland is conquered in the first place, so don't worry too much!
ㄴSkeleton Bones : We only teased you just now
ㄴSkeleton Bones : because honestly, we don't think your dungeon is going to be breached.
ㄴCowhead : For real lol
ㄴCowhead : And you're a pretty sharp bastard, so
ㄴCowhead : These days it feels like everyone watches your streams reassured, just to see a new bizarre phenomenon or your trolling skills lol
ㄴAnt Queen : Honestly, nobody's been giving Newbie-nim advice this whole time.
ㄴAnt Queen : I think you would've made it big even if you hadn't specifically chosen the bizarre-phenomenon theme.
Is this what they mean by the carrot and the stick?
When was it that they were gleefully making fun of me? Seriously, who'd think I'd like this?
Newbie : .......
Newbie : (/////)
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I lay down on the floor.
Even after becoming a dungeon master, sitting at a desk the whole time makes my back hurt.
Going by what I've felt so far...
I don't really need to worry, do I?
I understood the motive behind targeting me.
Basically, they wanted to get their hands on my body and study it.
But it wasn't like Count Wolphaufen's case.
It wasn't a goal that had to be achieved even at the cost of one's life.
In this case, there was no reason to go all-in like the count.
People generally value their own lives most.
If there was no reason to wage an all-out war.
Wouldn't they give up after getting a taste of Dreamland's harshness?
The reason people don't take an interest in the veterans' dungeons is that they're so overwhelmingly powerful that attempting to clear them is pointless.
I just need to make it clear that mine is just as unreasonable.
That's why I tried to imprint fear on the intruders who entered in the first place.
-Come to think of it, the mages the tower lord personally sent along with the golems haven't come back in quite some time…….
Considering the scale and method of the Fire School's attempted Dreamland raid, now that they have a jamming bomb, there wasn't much of a threat for the time being, but hmm.
"Should I stop monitoring here?"
"Hmm."
The conversation from back then suddenly came to mind.
It wasn't a particularly grand conversation.
I once had a private conversation with the mod through secret comments. It must have been right before I settled things with Count Wolphaufen.
I scrolled down.
And found a trace.
Orange★(◑) : To us, you're our hope.
Orange★(◑) : I'm not just saying that. I mean it.
ㄴNewbie(◑) : Why all of a sudden?
ㄴNewbie(◑) : Why are you saying something so damn burdensome...
ㄴOrange★(◑) : I'm saying it to put pressure on you lol
ㄴOrange★(◑) : Just remember that.
ㄴOrange★(◑) : Always put your life first.
"Still, I can't really let my guard down."
I did some light stretching and sat back down at the desk.
***
Time passed.
It passed quickly, then even more quickly.
It had already been half a year since Lorensia shut herself away in the laboratory.
She stretched.
Then she admired the blueprint for the magic safe on her desk.
Perfect.
I never expected her to make a blueprint for such a polished safe this quickly.
A smile spread across her lips.
Her hard work had paid off.
"I've finished it."
A miniature slime was watching the scene.
A miniature slime was watching the scene.