They managed to find a total of three chests, it would have been four but they missed the second one. This doesn't quite give me enough for a second floor but I'm not far off either. As I predicted they didn't really understand what they got but since there were a few of them without any armor they were more willing to try on the leather armor. One lucky person even got an iron chest plate and iron leggings. As for the coins I think that it will eventually become earth's new currency just because it's now the only reliable source of currency. Though I do think the old barter system will see I dramatic rise in popularity as people adjust to the system. Mainly because there will be those who try to cling to the old ways and will refuse to have anything to do with the system.
Even now, based on the limited conversations that I am able to eavesdrop on, it seems that even early adapters are only just recently starting to try and work with the system instead of fighting it. That is why even though the system has been here for a while there isn't many people above level 2 and there are only rumors of people having reached level 4. I am glad people are starting to understand and embrace the leveling system though. It makes my job so much easier. After all it's hard to get people past the first floor if they refuse to delve or do anything else to level up. Speaking of which I can't wait to see how big my second floor will be if the first floor was one cubic kilometer or a billion cubic meters.
About three days after the raid party, I don't know why I decided to call them that it just felt right. Anyway three days after they left Eric's party arrived. To my surprise Eric is wearing the leather armor. I'm guessing they most have done some tests and realized that it was better than the padded leather they had. I would normally be happy to see those kids, and I still am, but the chests have barely had any time to marinade. At this point they'll be lucky to get more than a pair of leather gloves or a pair of leather boots much less a complete armor set. Maybe if their lucky and manage to make it to the two chests the raid party missed. either way they do at least have backpacks this time which is a good sign. It means they won't have to quit because they can't carry any more. At least not as early as they did before.
That actually gives me an idea and I quickly search through the loot table to try and find something that can help them. While I can't directly control what items end up in the chest I can indirectly control it by controlling the level of the chest. It is through this loot table that I manage to locate a space ring with one cubic meter of storage space. Which doesn't sound like much but it's enough to hold a thousand liters of liquid. The problem is that it can only appear in a level five chest. The problem with that of course is that it will cost a total of 1000DP to upgrade one of the chests to level 5. In the future I suspect getting 1000DP won't be a big deal but for now that's an outrageous number. Though I do plan to level up some of those chests eventually. For now I still need to make a second floor before any of them get near my core.
Honestly, now that I'm thinking about it I should have way more DP than I currently do. In fact by my calculations I'm missing a few hundred DP. It turns out that the system automatically set some DP aside for nascent dungeons. More precisely it was set aside for when nascent dungeons gained awareness enough to prove they are capable of rational thought. Most dungeons it turns out just go by pure instinct until they are much older than me, my dungeon self that is. So I do something that no dungeon going on pure instinct would ever do I shrink the rank of the snake spawns. I also shrink the rang of the spider spawns so that they barely overlap with the snakes. Of course these changes won't take effect until after Eric's party leaves but it was still enough proof for the system to allow me access to all my DP.
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Meanwhile, Eric POV
I would have thought the snakes would be easier to deal with once we leveled up, and they were for a time, but now it's like we never even level up. To make things worse we now have to deal with these huge spiders. Thankfully Rachels fire magic is really effect against them. Which is a thought I still can't believe seems completely normal now. I mean magic's not supposed to exist right. Slowly we make our way to the first dead end trying to kill as many snakes and spiders as we can. Which is another thing, no matter how many we kill it doesn't seem to effect their numbers at all. I mean in the short term ya but I myself have killed hundreds of snakes and they just keep reappearing every time we return to the mine. Once we make it to the first chest I can no longer hold in my concerns.
"There is something strange going on here. Has anyone else noticed that no matter how many snakes or spiders we kill it doesn't seem to effect how many their are the next time we come. On top of that I'm pretty sure none of us closed the lid to that chest last time." The others all turn to me and it's clear they all had similar thoughts, though they were probably afraid of being labeled paranoid.
"I did think it was rather odd that the snake population seems to recover almost instantly" remarks Damien. "Between us we must have killed over five hundred by now yet the density of snakes in this mine remains constant." The others kind of just nod in agreement without anything to really add to the conversation beyond what's been said already.
I start making my way over to the chest not actually expecting anything to be inside but wanting to open the lid anyway. To my surprise there are things inside. Not a lot but enough to make me question who or what put them there. "Ok, I highly doubt someone is fighting their way through all these snakes to leave stuff in the chest" I say more just out loud than to anyone in particular.
"If I didn't know any better I'd swear this was a dungeon from one of those old MMOs Damien remarks. "The ones where you go to get specific gear or grind levels."
"Ordinarily I'd make fun of you for thinking such a thing, but it honestly makes about as much since as anything else" replies Amy looking annoyed at herself for actually agreeing. She never was much of a gamer. To busy playing sports or exploring the area, and that was before everything when sideways. "I mean we have levels now so why should that be the only game like element to make it into the real world."
Nobody really has anything to say to that so we continue on our way. Eventually we reach a third chest. "This one should have some good stuff in it" I say as I approach the chest. "After all we only opened two chests last time and I've never seen anyone else in here."
Dungeon POV
Technically he is right about the third chest but only because the raid party missed it completely. As for being the only ones delving he is way off. It's not to the point were my first floor is crowded but I usually have at least one or two parties a week now. They are rather disappointed by the fourth chest, mainly due to there not being much more than their was in the first two chest. After that they decide to call it a day, To be honest they made it further than I would have guessed. Still as they make their way out it's time to get to work.
I still plan to create the second floor but for now I want to fix the first floor. I start by adding a rat spawner close to the entrance. Like the snake spawner it's camouflaged so delvers shouldn't notice it. I set the range to be the first third of the floor slightly overlapping with the snakes area. Then I spend 30DP to upgrade the spider spawner to level 3. The new spiders go from the size of dinner plates to the size of serving trays. A difference of only around 15cm in diameter but making them look much bigger thanks to their overall girth. This provides a nice progression as well. Level one rats up front, followed by level 2 snakes, and finally level 3 spiders. I still want to upgrade the loot spawners aka the chests but for now it's finally time for a second floor.
