Helper

Ah, welcome. I've been expecting you.

Greetings to the new Baron Jericho. But why did you call for me?

You're Mr. Max, Lord Sinclair's companion, correct?

…That's correct.

Jericho Barony.

Yuben Jericho never returned to the territory even after several months had passed.

The slaves he had taken with him vanished, and so did the soldier.

In the end, he couldn't avoid being declared dead.

By his will, his retainer Lengley inherited the estate and title.

I have something to pass on to Lord Sinclair. I'd appreciate it if you could deliver it for me, Mr. Max.

Baron Jericho handed Max a notebook labeled 'Dreamland Strategy Guide.'

Max took it and blinked.

What is this?

Lord Yuben died in the dungeon. And this contains the dungeon information he recorded before his death.

What do you mean?

Baron Jericho told him the story so far.

A new dungeon called Dreamland had appeared in the Forest of Life,

and Yuben had gone there and never returned.

He probably lost his life while attempting to clear it.

And the reason you're giving this to me—or rather, to Sinclair—is….

As for avenging Lord Yuben… I'm not that emotional a person, so let's say it's more about building a good relationship with Lord Sinclair. Revenge is just a bonus, if you will. By the way, do you need an escape scroll? I still have two left. I'll give you a cheap price.

Max looked over the strategy guide Yuben had written.

.

.

.

.

.

Dreamland Strategy Guide

Dreamland is basically designed so combat isn't necessary.

No magic, no swordsmanship—feels like you could bring ordinary people along?

It's a new dungeon, but did they pay some price to maximize its lethality?

Might need to think about it differently from a normal dungeon.

There are obstacles and such, but they can't be identified with detection magic.

Detection magic should probably only be used to check the layout.

Basically, destruction is impossible... you just can't break it at all.

Instead, there seem to be certain rules... that's probably this dungeon's defining feature.

There seem to be only two areas, if you can call them zones.

The entrance is ridiculously long... six hours just to the mechanism...

The dungeon master's bad taste...

I like the empty, pure-white hallway.

The ultimate in minimalism.

I still haven't met the dungeon master.

Since it's a new dungeon, it probably isn't that strong.

Just in case, I'm thinking of it as ordinary Soldier A level...

Entrance

There's a mechanism here.

It's probably a teleportation device. Maybe this is how you get to the next area?

Only one person can ride it.

If two or more people ride it, they die. Even a Swordmaster wouldn't be able to react. You're just instantly killed.

The hallway with no lights is a decoy.

Absolutely do not go there...

There's probably a monster there, but it doesn't feel like something you can handle.

A bug-man sometimes boards it.

Talking to it gets you killed.

Picking a fight gets you killed.

If you stay still, you should be fine.

There's a button for changing floors.

I think this is probably the clue to getting to the next area.

The elevator moves three times and then returns to the first floor.

Feels like a password input or something.

Straight corridor

It's pretty damn long.

Feels like it's eight times longer than the entrance.

There was nothing when I checked with detection magic.

Spacious chamber

It's really wide.

There was nothing when I checked with detection magic.

.

.

.

'This is a strategy guide?'

Max blinked.

He'd seen too much while traveling with Sinclair to take it at face value.

A normal strategy guide usually looks like this.

What traps and what minions are in which area.

Its traits are like this. Therefore, this is how you should fight.

These are the items you need to bring.

It recommends a mage from a certain school and someone with nimble fingers.

'Well, I can't say it's completely wrong, but….'

Don't go out into the hallway without lights.

A bug-man sometimes boards it, and you have to enter a password.

The strategy guides I usually saw would say things like, 'This minion has strong regeneration, so use fire.'

It was a very unfamiliar kind of strategy guide.

Still, judging by how seriously he spoke, it probably wasn't a fake guide.

"Understood. I'll buy all the remaining scrolls. My condolences to the deceased."

"Yes. Please do."

.

.

.

Max stared at the strategy guide.

'In the end, I missed the timing to say it.'

The new Baron Jericho had asked Max to pass this guide to Sinclair, but

unfortunately, Max was no longer a member of Sinclair's party.

You'd call that cutting ties.

In short, Max was hot-tempered, had a nasty personality, and caused trouble often.

Because of that, he was always treated as the troublemaker in the party.

Even when there were minor or major conflicts, Sinclair always kept Max around.

For better or worse, his abilities were exceptional.

His potential far exceeded that of the other party members.

But.

When Max ruined the Maharuraba raid they'd spent years painstakingly preparing,

Sinclair couldn't hold back his anger and abandoned Max on the spot.

Max himself, however, thought differently from Sinclair.

In any case, after they parted ways like that, his connection with Sinclair was gone.

There was no reason to give this to him when he wasn't even a party member anymore.

'The dungeon's new, huh. Maybe I'll give it a try.'

Max clenched and unclenched his fists.

He happened to have nothing to do.

So, for the sake of clearing Dreamland,

he started gathering supplies and recruiting people.

***

This is an old post.

─────

Title: Traits of Blessed Lackeys (long post, wall-of-text warning)

Author: Yongyonggari

If any DM who's survived this long hasn't met a Blessed yet, strip their mana stone in the dungeon—I'm insanely jealous, damn it...

Anyway, as you guys know, Blesseds basically have human forms. But does that mean those bastards are actually treated like humans? That's... not really the feeling, right?

I mean, it's kind of ridiculous that those bastards die and come back to life and still get treated like humans, lol.

They resurrect at Oblivion Temples all over the continent... honestly, if I were human too, I'd probably have been like, 'What the hell is this?' and not treated them like my own kind either...

But the fact is, among the three major races, humans are the ones showing Blesseds the most goodwill.

In the North Kingdom, they get treated well, like they're messengers from the gods or something.

Anyway, the bastards who are our biggest natural enemy are the Blesseds.

If those bastards had swarmed us and ganged up on us, we wouldn't be in this world anymore... fortunately, Oblivion wasn't that heartless of a bastard.

Because he set the limit so that only one Blessed can enter per wave.

Time has proven that this is an absolute rule.

Has anyone here fought two Blesseds at once? If you have, leave a comment, champ lol.

For the reason mentioned above, only one Blessed can enter the dungeon.

Then naturally, the remaining slots have to be filled by people who aren't Blesseds, right?

The Blesseds get to level up by smashing the traps and minions we've worked hard to make.

The others don't get that, do they??

Well, if they kill us and get the mana stones, that'd obviously solve the problem.

But that isn't exactly easy, is it??

Any DM who's survived this long is basically a hardened veteran...

And getting mana stones is so hard it's like plucking stars from the sky, so in reality there are plenty of times you go back empty-handed.

And unlike Blesseds, a Blessed supporter is finished if they die.

So why the hell do they trail after Blesseds as so-called "supporters"?

I was so damn curious I tried to figure it out, okay???

I ended up learning some truly fucking shocking information...

Turns out those Blessed bastards could raise Blessed supporters through the system, just like we can...

They can boost stats, of course, and even grant rare traits... The party members were trailing after the Blessed, buttering them up just to get whatever trait and stat boosts they could...

Holy shit...

Holy shit...

You already knew that?

What are you gonna do about it?

*Comments

ㄴKingJjangGhost: But where'd you get such top-shelf info??

ㄴYongyonggari: Obviously, I got it by interrogating them

...

...

─────

.

.

.

.

.

Lately, reading old posts has been fun.

Even though he's a dungeon master I've never met, reading through the posts feels like I can get a sense of his life story.

One of the few little pleasures you can enjoy in a dungeon with hardly any content.

Of course, I still keep up with the gallery regularly too.

NoMinionsForMe: After that, have any other intruders come in separately?

ㄴNewbie: Nnnn no, none. Honestly, I wish someone would come in, lol.

This is my main content.

I flopped down on top of Malrang.

"Eh?"

I surrendered myself to the fluffy, cushy feel and spent another peaceful day hanging out with the veterans.

ㄴNoMinionsForMe: Then what about the EXP from when you went out with the lord to film that horror movie last time?

ㄴNewbie: Escape scrolls count as a kill, so the EXP and rewards came in, but maybe because I didn't kill it myself, I don't know, the bonus reward didn't come in ㅠㅠ

ㄴNoMinionsForMe: Ahh... then what's your level now?

ㄴNewbie: I'm level 60 now, and my points are 300,000 hehe.

ㄴNoMinionsForMe: Already? That's gone up a ton.

I could now proudly say that I was a proper member of Dungeon Gallery.

My level is still low, but I share information in my own way,

and I can naturally chat with the veterans?

Later, I'll take those content-starved veterans and run a TRPG session.

The rulebook I'll use is DX3... Since I already know the community stuff, a modern setting should be easy to pick up.

"Heh-heh, I'm excited."

Even if the dungeon master is a newbie, I'm a veteran at TRPGs.

If someone says, "What the hell is that, you nerd?" I can instantly go into instructor mode and spend three hours explaining that it's short for tabletop role-playing game.

【1 minute until the wave…….】

The notification window popped up, but I didn't feel tense.

Yeah. Not buying it.

Anyway, it's the Forest of Life, so nobody's coming.

I thought they'd swarm in after killing the lord.

But they never came even once after that.

Two months had already passed since Yuben's wave.

But not even a single rat had entered my dungeon, let alone a human.

So my current thought is that it'll stay quiet until the next location shift.

I close my eyes.

I can't sleep, but I can at least pretend.

I'm getting drowsy.

【5】

【4】

【3】

【2】

【1】

【The wave is beginning.】

【Intruders are entering.】

【The number of confirmed intruders is four total.】

【Three humans.】

【One supporter.】

I shot to my feet.

For a moment, it felt like I'd seen something I shouldn't have.

I'm glad it's not a Blessed, but….

Then what the hell is a supporter?

I'm wide awake now.