_____________________________
[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Barbarian, Level 22]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Monk, Level 23]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 21]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 22]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Mage, Level 20]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Mage, Level 20]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Spectral Reaver (Patrolling Spawn, Enhanced), Level 19, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Barbarian, Level 21]
_____________________________
With the lone invader taken care of, his body harvested, his hippie staff and authority acquired for ongoing study and processing, I found myself back to the business of fending off invaders in my precious domain.
"Do they even learn?" I always wonder.
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification Intrusion Report:
Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.
_____________________________
Through the screen in front of me, the answer to that profound question became self-evident.
Well, perhaps not entirely as there was a subtle but noticeable improvement here and there.
Occasionally, some invaders, displaying either a higher brain capacity or perhaps just a lack of courage, or maybe a combination of both, would make a hasty retreat from the domain. However, doubting the intelligence part, they often returned later only to meet the same fate as their predecessors they had left behind. The ones I considered truly astute were like that one knight named Armand who, after his second attempt, never came back.
Every now and then, in a grand display of intellect, some invaders would return with at least twice their previous numbers, but alas, it usually proved insufficient. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but appreciate the effort they put into their attempts.
"Anyway, time to check out what the spoils are... Let's see... Another sword, another club, once again a sword, and yet another, ah, a club, another club... What the hell, who names their weapon Giselle? Terrible naming sense. Oh, another sword, and finally a staff. Elemental Casting enhancement, huh? Just that? Nothing else? No wonder you’re only worth 0.7 G.P. You my dear are getting harvested."
“What the…”
I was peacefully skimming through the acquirable spawns list, seriously contemplating the idea of spawning another kind of undead. Yes, undead spawn—because I went full-time undead dungeon style.
There are mainly two reasons for that. First, I've grown fond of these types of spawns. Second, and more importantly, it's the rules in place. For some reason that I won't even bother questioning, the enhancement provided by my current guardian, an undead, doesn't apply to spawns outside the undead category. In fact, it inflicts upon them a negative status that can cause some of my spawn to even die. This means that unless I change my entire approach to "dungeon leadership," spawning anything other than undead would be counterproductive. So yeah, I'm stuck with this type of spawn, and so far, I'm fine with it.
Anyway, back to what I was saying earlier—I was peacefully skimming through the acquirable spawns catalogue when I suddenly received a notification. Not-so-surprisingly, it was an invasion. But it was one unlike any invasion before.
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification
Intrusion Report:
Three entities have invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.
Suggestion:
Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.
Intercept and Slay the invaders
Estimated Reward:
- 0.4 G.P
_____________________________
I’d been through a lot lately—facing off against a knight and a barbarian out of nowhere, dealing with a vengeful platoon, repelling countless invasions, and finally taking on that one guy.
I had seen much, fought enemies of varying levels and classes, but in all that time, I had yet to encounter anything beyond the usual human races—namely, the and the . Given the exponential increase in my invaders' strength, I hadn't expected to see the latter anymore since they’re basically fodder.
And yet, here they were.
_____________________________
Name: Roger
Race: Peon
_____________________________
_____________________________
Name: Leylin
Race: Peon
_____________________________
_____________________________
Name: Samuel
Race: Peon
_____________________________
"What in the world are these guys up to? Are they in a hurry to meet their end?" I muttered, baffled.
Through the interface, I observed the dots representing the invaders as they moved through my domain—or at least, that’s what I they were doing.
Instead of pushing forward and triggering my first line of defense—mostly Spectral Reavers, who would have swiftly engaged and cut them down—they lingered near the entrance, skirting the perimeter just outside of aggro range.
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification Intrusion Report:
Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.
_____________________________
“What the hell was that?”
***
Some time went by since my first Peon invasion—how much time exactly? Well, not even enough time for me to notice my M.A moving. In other words, almost instantly. So instantly, I didn’t even get the opportunity to arrange anything, now here they are, back again.
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification
Intrusion Report:
Six entities have invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.
Suggestion:
Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.
Intercept and Slay the invaders
Estimated Reward:
12.3 G.P
_____________________________
The peons from back then were back, or to be exact, two of them. And they were back with some company—four knights each at level...
"Level 04?!" I couldn't help but frown at the screen. Far from me the thought of discriminating against low-level invaders—all sources of G.P, high-levels, low-levels, from peons from Verdenkind or even Highbreed even though I haven’t harvested any of them yet are equally valuable to me, but come on, Level 04. They might as well bring some more peons into this.
I watched with great perplexity and curiosity at what my invaders were up to. Just like last time, they remained toward the outskirts of the entrance of my domain, but unlike last time, they didn't roam as much. They settled in a corner, completely still.
"What are you guys doing, a picnic or something... wait..." It was subtle but I felt it. It was as if something very light, so light that I would nearly call it imperceptible, had been lifted off my body. But as I said it was not perfectly imperceptible, the moment it was lifted from me I could feel its absence.. "Don't tell me these bastards are doing what I think they are..."
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
Name: ???
Entity: Dungeon Core
Designation: Dungeon Master
Status: Invaded
[ Ressource ]
- Raw Manacyte (R.M.C): 39 / 39▼
- Mana Available (M.A): 71832▼ / 102067▼
- Godhood Potential (G.P) Earned: 6225
_____________________________
Checking the interface, I confirmed what I had immediately suspected. My Mana Available (M.A.) and Raw Manacyte Cluster (R.M.C.) were both decreasing—proof that something was happening to what these statuses represented. It wasn’t hard to figure out. The bastards were mining my Manacyte.
Sure, Manacyte was one of those resources that, as a Dungeon Master, I wasn’t exactly struggling with. In fact, I had so much of it that it bothered my perfectionist heart. The higher my Raw Manacyte Cluster (R.M.), the higher my Mana Available (M.A.) became. M.A. was used to sustain spawns, each drawing from it, pooling their Mana Points (M.P.) and Stamina Points (S.P.) from the shared resource. But I didn’t have enough spawns to make full use of it—especially since it grew autonomously and exponentially without any active investment on my part. And that hurt.
So, yeah, I wasn’t exactly hurting for M.A. But that didn’t mean I was about to let anyone steal from me in broad daylight.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
"If you're not here to die, get off my domain! Aaargh!" I growled. "Can one of you please snuff the life out of them? This isn’t fair!"
But, thanks to how my dungeon was structured, they were just out of reach of my spawns—my first line of defense. Free to carry out their thievery without fear of retribution.
"Shameless. Utterly shameless!" I shouted, baffled but mostly helpless, watching them take what was mine. Eventually, just like the three peons who had done the same before, they left, leaving me 27 M.A. short—a whopping 0.03% of my total available M.A.
Actually, when phrased like that, it didn’t sound like much. But witnessing the theft first hand made me crave vengeance.
"You guys will pay for that," I muttered, immediately navigating to my acquirable spawn section. If they were going to make a habit of this, I needed a proper response.
I went dove straight to the Spawn Catalogue interface investing in new spawns.
If they were coming back—and I knew they were going to come back—I had a little surprise waiting for them. Hope they like it.
***
As I expected, they came back.
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 3]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 4]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Peon Intruder, ]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Peon Intruder, ]
_____________________________
“Hahaha, that’s what you get for stealing what’s mine.”
_____________________________
[Death Paladin (Guarding Spawn, Enhanced), Level 20, has slain Verdenkind Intruder, Knight, Level 4]
_____________________________
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification Intrusion Report:
Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.
_____________________________
***
“What the fuck?!”
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification
Intrusion Report:
Six entities have invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.
Suggestion:
Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.
Intercept and Slay the invaders
Estimated Reward:
61.7 G.P
_____________________________
Having taken care of my Peons invasion, I was thinking that perhaps they would learn their lessons and renounce stealing from me. But it turned out that the one who didn't learn his lesson was me.
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification Intrusion Report:
Invasion successfully repelled, G.P and domain secured, all interfaces are now available.
_____________________________
To make matters worse, not only did they come back, but they simply turned tail upon noting my presence. Sure, there was no Manacyte loss this time, but the thought of being notified of an invasion without having the opportunity to even seize the G.P reward I’m promised didn't sit quite well with me. "You're the ones searching for trouble? I'm making a change just for you guys," I promised as I went to the domain edition section of the interface.
***
"Okay, this seems to work."
No more stealing peons at my doorsteps, but is it me, or do I have this impression that this isn't the end of it?
Hm…
This must just be my imagination.
***
Okay, I messed up.
Sure, stealing peons was a nuisance, but I think I might have gone overboard with the approach to eradicating them. It turned out that ambushing at the very entrance of my domain with dozens of Death Paladins and Shadow Specters was a bad strategy, as it almost immediately drives them—including Verdenkind toward the wise and reasonable response, which is retreating away.
Fine, I get it, I messed up. I'm fixing that."
***
"Come on, guys, I've fixed it. Keep popping as you always do. There's no more unbeatable force at the entrance.
What are you guys waiting for? Enter my domain and do your thing, as I and my spawns do our things. I'm begging you all.
I know I deserve this, but I've changed, so come back. Was it not enough? What do you expect me to do? Give gifts, perhaps? Eh?
Hm. Actually, if that's what you need to be baited in, we can find a middle ground to agree on."
Things were finally back to normal after fixing a problem that was, ultimately, a byproduct of my own doing. Life as a Dungeon Master was back on track.
No longer deterred by my ambushing Death Paladins and Shadow Specters, invaders were once again back on the menu. Occasionally, a few peons would show up, but I had long since decided to ignore their existence. After four attempts, they eventually stopped coming altogether.
That was dozens of invasions ago—so much so that I could now consider it a thing of the past. My routine had returned to what it once was: repelling invasion after invasion and improving between each cycle—whether that meant strengthening my spawns or expanding my domain.
I kept my baiting strategy in place, even though the situation that had prompted it had already improved. The strategy was simple: posting weak spawns near the entrance—ones that could be easily defeated to instill a false sense of confidence in invaders.
To further tempt them, I equipped these spawns with weapons and gear scavenged from previous invasions. A nice sword for one. A sturdy shield for another. Maybe even a staff here and there. Each victory would lure them deeper and deeper into my domain.
Once they crossed a certain threshold, though… well, that’s where my old Shadow Specter strategy kicked in. No escape. No turning back.
Beyond that, my days consisted of skimming through monster catalogs, waiting for the next invasion cycle. So far, I had gone through seventeen of them.
So yeah—life was good. No, this existence was good.
When I first became a Dungeon Master, I used to wonder what my future would look like. Turns out, this is it.
Farming. Yes—farming G.P. There’s no better way to put it.
This is the future and it’ll probably look the same further down the road. Occasionally a little monotonous, sure, but… not bad at all. Though I’d admit there are things I miss.
TV, music, stylish outfits, good food, internet, weapons. I miss these from time to time. But each time I do I instantly realize that lamenting was pointless. Those things were gone. And while I do occasionally think about them—this existence isn’t bad.
Especially compared to that one place.
"Ouh…" Just the thought of it sent a shiver down my spine.
I needed a distraction. Immediately, I opened the interface.
At the moment, I was "idle"—a period that, at this point, is just a period of downtime between invasions. Time I usually spend planning my next investment—new spawns and domain expansions.
And it was during one of these idle moments, as I navigated to the [Spawnable Entities] section, that I noticed something.
Something that I was certain hadn’t been there before.
At first, I considered blaming my memory. But then I quickly dismissed that idea.
I don’t have poor memory.
In fact, in this existence, maybe because my mind wasn’t bound by flesh, my memory was perfect. Photographic quite literally. Recalling something felt less like remembering and more like playing a crystal-clear flashback in my head.
And that meant one thing.
Whatever I had just found—it hadn’t been there before.
It had simply appeared when I wasn’t looking.
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
Spawns Catalog
Monsters
_____________________________
“Mechanical Construct. Pretty sure this was never there.”
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
Spawns Catalog
Monsters
Mechanical Constructs
_____________________________
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
Monsters
Mechanical Constructs
Automaton Soldiers
_____________________________
Not only was it never there, but a quick glimpse of what that category was made of made it clear that there wasn't much that this category had to offer compared to the others, which had subcategories under subcategories. This meant that either this category was meant to be this empty, or that it was still updating.
"Updating, huh? I guess that's actually the right word to describe it." The system, subtle as it is, was updating itself, or else how would that category appear on my interface overnight?
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
Spawns Catalog
Mechanical Constructs
P-Ritter
_____________________________
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
Spawns Catalog
Mechanical Constructs
P-Ritter 01
_____________________________
The screen before me displayed the stats of a spawn that was obviously modeled after a Verdenkind knight. Its offense and defense were slightly above that of a conventional knight, but even at a glance, it was clear—this was a bad copy-paste.
And even if it was a copy-paste… shouldn't the G.P price at least be the same?
2 G.P for a knight that, from the looks of it, couldn't even be leveled up? What kind of scam was this? There wasn’t even an option to calibrate its level.
Sure, I could admit that stat-wise, this was an upgrade to a normal knight. But that didn’t change the fact that this was daylight robbery.
The same could be said for the three other options. Sketchy pricing, all of them. Two were clearly just reskinned Warrior-class spawns.
While I could appreciate the addition of a new category, I had zero interest in anything it had to offer for the time being. Hopefully, if this subcategory ever got an update, it would come with actual worthwhile options.
As things stood now?
Neither the Automaton Soldiers nor the Clockwork Golems had anything of value to offer. The Clockwork subcategory, in particular, was just… absurd. A bunch of mechanical insect-like creatures with no skills, no abilities—basically, spawns with zero combat capabilities.
In other words? Completely. Useless.
It had been several invasions since I first discovered the existence of the Mechanical Constructs subcategory. There had been a few upgrades, mostly in the Automaton Soldiers branch.
Two new additions had appeared in the Automaton Soldier’s bestiary—P-Ritter 02 and P-Krieger 02.
And what was new about them?
Not much.
Well, technically, there was one improvement—these two, which were clear attempts at creating humanoid, robotic versions of a knight and warrior, could finally be leveled up, much like a Verdenkind.
Although… "robotic" might be the wrong word.
They were less true robots and more like what Machine Age-era people in the late 3100s would’ve imagined a robot to be. Cogs, steam, and mechanical joints—not sleek futuristic machines, but more like something from a steampunk fever dream.
Not that my era had true humanoid robots either. If we did, I definitely would’ve gotten myself one. The things I could’ve done with a machine servant…
As I entertained that thought, a question crept into my mind.
Why hadn't I reacted to the existence of robots at all?
The world I had been introduced to through the interface—through the constant waves of invaders—was a primeval, or at the very least medieval one. Knights and warriors wielding swords and shields. Mages and sorcerers casting spells with staffs. Angels, demons, undead.
That was the world I had come to know.
So why hadn’t I even blinked at the idea of the existence of robots?
As soon as I asked myself that question—I realized I had just answered it.
Because, in this world, nothing made sense by the standards of my old one.
Anyway… for now, I was still waiting for a real, substantial upgrade in the Mechanical Constructs subcategory.
Sure, P-Ritter 02 and P-Krieger 02 were levelable—but that didn’t change the fact that they cost a fortune to acquire and level up. At least twenty times the price of a regular knight or warrior.
Yes, their offense and defense scaled better, making them objectively stronger than their flesh-made counterparts—but at that price? Not worth it.
So yeah, for now—waiting we are.
I was about to close the interface when I was interrupted by something that, by now, had become a completely normal and casual occurrence—a notification of an incoming invasion.
"Time to get to wor—eh?"
I hadn’t even finished reading the notification when I felt it.
Something was different about this invasion. Different compared to most. Because while different to the usual—I had felt this once before.
That one time.
The lone invader.
And now, once again—I was dealing with another lone invader.
_____________________________
[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification
Intrusion Report:
One entity has invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.
Suggestion:
Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.
Intercept and Slay the invaders
Estimated Reward:
- 27082 G.P
- Authorities: Authority Gathering
/ Ethereal Echo
_____________________________
