It had already been a week since Ethan had sent Alicia on her mission. The mission was straightforward: find a river in the forest, follow it to reach a town or locality, connect with a guild that is average in size and strength, and persuade them to come here with a convincing story. Ethan didn’t want to confront strong guilds just yet. Defeating average guilds would be easier, and he might also be able to recruit one or two of the stronger members in the process.

  Ethan has been keeping in close contact with Alicia using [Mind Link] and [Observe], guiding her with instructions. He knows that Alicia and the adventurer team have already started their ‘exciting’ journey to the dungeon, although they'll still need a day or two to reach their destination.

  Meanwhile, Ethan had been busy testing his abilities and the level of authority he held within the dungeon. The first thing he examined was the pile of mana crystals gathered in the farthest corner of the room. Ethan knew these mana crystals were the materials the adventurers sought, as they sold for quite a bit of money. They were essentially concentrated mana mixed with a significant amount of impurities. These crystals must undergo an extensive refinement process before pure mana can be extracted. However, even after inspecting them for a long time, he still had no idea how these crystals formed or why they were primarily located in the boss chambers.

  He even tried eating them to see if they had any poisonous reaction on his body. They tasted sweet, dissolved slowly in his mouth like sugar cubes, and had no negative effects. After being reborn in this new body, Ethan hadn’t felt hungry until then. However, eating one small crystal gave Ethan the satisfaction he used to feel after finishing a full-course meal on Earth. He concluded that they could serve as food sources and help regain lost mana quickly. Still, their formation inside a dungeon remained a mystery.

  Ethan also tested his two damaging spells, [Dark Nova] and [Shadow Maelstrom]. He found them underwhelming in terms of damage. Additionally, he tried his summoning spell, [Summon Familiar]. No matter how many times he cast it, it always summoned the same two minions: an undead defender wielding a shield and a shadowy wraith holding two bdes. Both of them were at level thirty. One positive aspect was that Ethan’s spells consumed very little mana to cast and had a short cooldown before he could use them again.

  Ethan wanted to explore and examine the entire dungeon, but he quickly realized his activities were limited to his current chamber. He couldn't escape it. “At this point, it really feels like a prison, as if someone has locked me in here for some unknown crime,” Ethan thought.

  Defeated in his attempt to escape, Ethan sat on the floor and opened the [Dungeon Settings] screen before him. It read

  Dungeon Name: Hope’s EndDungeon Rank: BronzeMaximum allowed number of [Boss Monsters]: 4Currently deployed [Boss Monsters]: 0Dungeon [Layout]: NoneMaximum allowed number of [Normal Monsters]: 30Currently deployed [Normal Monsters]: 5Maximum allowed number of [Rare Monsters]: 5Currently deployed [Rare Monsters]: 1[Dungeon Settings] menu is only accessible when no external entity is infiltrating the dungeon. An infiltration will wipe out all the unsaved changes under [Dungeon Settings].

  Ethan had been pying with these numbers. From this screen, he could control the number of monsters that would appear in the dungeon, including the bosses. “The dungeon rank increases in proportion to the number of monsters. If I max out all the numbers, it reaches gold rank. But I probably shouldn't do that, as it might scare off the incoming party," Ethan thought. “It’s interesting that this system doesn’t recognize me as one of the boss monsters. I could essentially have a dungeon with five bosses, including myself.”

  He opened the [Layout] menu from within the [Dungeon Settings], which read

  Select a theme for the Dungeon.

  Monster’s LairVampire’s CastleEthan has tried both of these options already. But now it was time to make a choice for the upcoming raid. Each of the two youts provided different options for the monster types and spawn points that he could pce inside the dungeon. Ethan selected the ‘Monster’s Lair’ option first. Immediately, a second screen appeared before him, showing a preview of how the dungeon would look with that [Layout].

  With ‘Monster’s Lair’ selected, the look and feel of the dungeon was that of an underground cave system. The path inside the dungeon traveled like a maze, providing three different paths to choose from. Two of them got narrower towards the end and were littered with traps before finishing into a dead end. Anyone attacking the dungeon would perish if they selected either of these two paths.

  The third path starts narrow but widens as it goes deeper into the dungeon and finally opens up to the first boss’s chamber. The same pattern repeats itself. If the adventurers manage to kill the first boss, they must select from another set of three paths to proceed to the second boss, and so on.

  This yout’s normal monsters were of Goblin type. Two goblins counted as a single normal monster. As a result, although the maximum allowed number of normal monsters is thirty, this [Layout] can fit sixty goblins. “It might be because goblins were retively weak creatures. They tend to surprise the incoming attackers with sneak attacks and overwhelm them with numbers.” Ethan thought as he was looking through the different monsters avaible.

  The rare monsters were giant scorpions with tank-like bodies, two mean pincers, and a massive sting. Its boss monsters were also insect-themed. The first boss was a giant spider with a poison attack. The second boss was a huge toad with a frontal cone attack using its tongue. The third boss was an earthworm, which could burrow inside the ground to avoid attacks and come back up to counter the adventurers. Lastly, there was a centipede with a hard exoskeleton and a pincher attack.

  When Ethan opened the Layout menu for the first time, ‘Monster’s Layer’ was selected as the default. This led him to believe that these were the monsters and bosses that Alicia’s party had faced when they attacked the dungeon. “Honestly, the existence of the Scouts makes this yout obsolete. The adventurers entering the dungeon would know exactly which path to choose.” Ethan thought. “Instead of that, the other [Layout] is way better.”

  Ethan selected the Vampire’s Castle option from the [Layout] menu, and a preview appeared on the second screen. ‘Vampire’s Castle’ transformed the dungeon into a medieval English castle with dark and sinister corridors. Its walls were made of dark stone and lined with flickering torches.

  “It is very simir to how dark castle hallways are depicted in horror movies,” Ethan thought. On both sides of the hallway were rooms where normal and rare monsters' spawn points could be pced. The castle had four floors in total, which was retive to the number of boss monsters selected.

  As a party of adventurers attacking the dungeon, they have to move through the narrow corridors until they reach the main hall near the stairs. The main hall was an open space for boss encounters on each floor. They must defeat the boss monster of a floor, use the stairs to go to the next floor, and repeat the process until they reach the terrase, where the dungeon’s st boss would be waiting for them.

  In this [Layout], the normal monsters looked like zombies. Their flesh was stitched together haphazardly, sometimes falling off as they patrolled their designated area. The rare monsters looked like wraths. Their pale white, almost transparent bodies floated above the ground. Their faces were absolutely hideous, twisted in eternal agony, and their jagged teeth glinted in the dim light.

  This [Layout] also came with four unique boss monster options. The first was A massive bat with burning red eyes and a vampiric ability to drain life from its victims. The healing it receives via life drain is proportional to its damage to the enemies.

  The second one was a Cyclops with a muscur body and a single massive eye on its head. It has a lot of health and can shoot an energy beam from its eye. Because of the long casting time, it is easy to avoid. But at the same time, anyone hit by that beam would surely die.

  The third boss was a pair of stone gargoyles, slightly bigger than regur humans with broad bat-like wings. They had a skill that shared their hit points. Both had to be killed within a very short timeframe. If one dies before the other, it gets resurrected with full health.

  The fourth boss was a Vampire. He could shapeshift into a huge bat or divide himself into a pair of Gargoyles. The bat and the Gargoyles have the same skills as the first and third bosses.

  Ethan read through the description of the monsters once again and concluded, “Yup. They are borderline broken. From my experience of pying online RPG games in my previous life, this [Layout] would be a nightmare for the adventurers. I faced boss monsters with simir abilities in the games I used to py, and it used to take me a lot of tries to defeat them. But this is the real world. There will be no second chances for those adventurers. I feel a bit sorry for them. But it’s a matter of survival for me as well. In an ideal world, we would not be facing each other with the intent to kill.”

  Ethan decided to go with the Cyclops and the Gargoyle because of their abilities. Even if they couldn’t stop the adventurers, he wanted them to continue fighting for as long as possible so that he could analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

  “My build is not very combat-oriented, and my offensive spells are not very good. But this time, I am fully self-aware and have complete control over how I want to use my skills. I will have Alicia to help me as well. And if everything fails, I will still have [Reincarnation] and [Rage] talents to finish the fight when they least expect it. However, I don't want to rely on it.” Ethan murmured.

  Ethan adjusted the number of normal and rare monsters, set their spawn points, and pced the boss monsters in their respective pces. After the changes, the dungeon’s rank increased to silver. “This is fine. Those adventurers are already expecting the dungeon to be silver rank.” He thought. He carefully went through the dungeon map shown on the second screen once again to ensure everything was in pce. Once satisfied, Ethan tapped the Apply button on the [Layout] selector screen.

  Ethan’s surroundings shined brightly. He could not see anything around him for a few moments. Then, the brightness reduced, and Ethan could finally see. He looked around. The [Layout] had also altered the space around him. He was currently standing on a vast empty rooftop. In front of him was an empty, gothic throne overlooking the darkened ndscape. Ethan looked closely. The throne was intricately carved with snarling beasts and draped in deep crimson fabric. A huge bck Sun loomed in the gray sky above him, emitting an eerie glow that made everything around him visible. As far as he could see, jagged spires were silhouetted against the gray sky.

  Ethan was more than satisfied with the setup. He got up and leaned back on the throne meant for him. He has completed all the preparations on his end. Now, he just has to wait.