10 Creating a Mine
After reading Lilith's proposal, Ein was completely convinced. As long as everything she wrote inside was true, then they could probably earn tons of DP in just a short while.
Lilith's proposal was simple: create a mining floor. It wasn't listed in the info on the dungeon core, but there are different types of floors available. The common, default floor is the cave style, and most dungeon masters only use this type of floor. Ein was one of them too.
Another one is the resource type. There are many varieties, such as metal deposits, open-field orchards, precious stone mines, and others. Resource-type floors are special in that they can be detached from the dungeon and placed anywhere the dungeon master decides. What's more, the resources inside them get refilled every week at varying costs. Usually, it costs as much as half the price of the floor.
Lastly, there's the variable floor. This kind of floor takes on the surroundings' peculiarities and adapts them. For example, in a dungeon by a volcano's mouth, the variable floor will be turned into a cave filled with hot stones and magma. Or if it is a dungeon in the middle of the city, then the variable floor would look like the inside of a building.
In the proposal, he will be making a precious stone mine. Such a mine could yield gems like rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. There's also a chance of producing a small number of magic stones, which was what Lilith needed to produce some artifacts. If you are extremely lucky, there's also an almost impossible chance of picking up a philosopher's stone capable of transmuting any material into another.
The floor itself cost twice as much as a normal floor, at 2,000 DP. Then, adding the summoning circle for goblins, which he would use as labor, at 5,000 DP, he would need a total of 7,000 DP. He could still spend the 3,000 DP remaining on mining and refinement tools.
Lilith already gave the estimated yield of the mine in a day, and with that, she also estimated the total DP they could earn through making magic artifacts and selling them through the dungeon core.
A whopping 50,000 DP a day! And that is the minimum estimate too! The only problem is that this plan relies heavily on Lilith's ability to create magic artifacts. If they could invest in a summoning circle for dwarves, known for their skill in all sorts of crafting, then they could rest easy and earn a ton of DP effortlessly.
"But can we really sell items through this dungeon core?" Ein couldn't help but ask.
The dungeon core seems to be almighty enough as long as you have enough DP. Who knew that you could even sell things through it, not just buy them?
"You saw some invading monsters vanish after dying inside the dungeon, right?" Lilith confirmed. "The soul of the dead invader will be directly converted to DP, while the body will be absorbed by the dungeon core and turned into DP before being shown to you as a lump sum."
"So the reason why killing monsters outside the dungeon is worth half is..." Ein pondered.
"Yes. It's because you only harvest their souls when hunting outside the dungeon. If you bring the dead body back to the dungeon, you can convert it to DP too, but that seems like more trouble than benefit," Lilith explained. "By the way, you can only offer the bodies you or your dungeon monsters hunted. You can't get some carcass somewhere randomly and turn it into DP since the system wouldn't recognize the monster that lacks a soul."
"How about my dungeon monsters? What will happen if they die?" Ein asked as he remembered the slime that died while fighting the first goblin invader.
"If it died inside the dungeon, then its soul and body will get the same treatment as any invader. However, outside the dungeon, the dead monster's soul would return to the core and be reprocessed and summoned again sometime later. It's like the respawn mechanics in games," she explained. "However, their memory gets cleared out to its initial state during reprocessing." She further added.
Nodding in understanding, Ein tried searching the catalog specifically for monster carcasses. And to his surprise, there were a lot of them listed. After narrowing down his search, he even found the monster carcasses that came from him, which were mainly goblins, and it was already marked as bought.
"Monster corpses have many uses for high-level dungeon masters. The demand is always greater than the supply, leading to all new monster carcasses that get offered being bought up an instant later."
"What about price inflation?"
"Nothing of the sort. Since the dungeon core always sells items for what they're worth, there's no fluctuation whatsoever in the cost."
...
Time passed, and midnight quickly passed. After deducting the upkeep of the dungeon, Ein still had over 10,000 DP remaining.
Ein then created a new mine floor and detached it from the main dungeon. Then he placed its entrance about half a kilometer to the left of where his dungeon's entrance was. It was along the same cliffside wall, although facing northwest.
Then, after confirming the successful creation of the mine, he quickly added a summoning circle for goblins. After buying some mining tools, wheelbarrows, and mining helmets with flashlights, he asked Lilith to store the items temporarily before they headed toward the mine.
"This is bigger than I thought," Ein thought, staring at the over 5-meter-high cave entrance.
In front of the cave, about 20 goblins lined up neatly. Although they couldn't speak, they could skillfully use their arms. And, with the additional intelligence gained from being a part of Ein's dungeon, the goblins could follow his instructions to a T.
"I want you all to continue mining nonstop. For now, do not come out of the mine as you may be seen by someone. The yield from the mine will be collected by the wolves, so just leave them by the entrance. That's all." Ein finished all his instructions in one go.
After passing all the mining implements, including backups, Ein and Lilith returned to the dungeon master's room.
"So a human dungeon's property is intelligence?" Lilith was surprised.
She noticed how the slime and wolves were smarter than their normal counterparts. Given that the goblins were similarly sharp-witted, it was fine to conclude that this was so.
"I think so too." Ein nodded.
This was already his third set of monsters. Given that they, too, displayed the same level of intellect as the wolves, it was safe to assume that Ein's initial theory was correct.
The two just passed the time lazily, talking with each other. More accurately, it was Ein asking Lilith things regarding the dungeons.
As the two were immersed in their discussion, the first batch of minerals arrived. In just one hour, the 20 goblins managed to fill the 1-meter-cubed crates with precious stones. After sorting, he found that they also dug five sets of mana stones. The remaining ones were mainly crystals and gems with equal ratios.
After receiving the five mined mana stones, Lilith snapped her fingers, and voila! The mana stones turned into some sort of crystal ball.
"Wait, that's too fast?!" Ein couldn't help but interject.
With just a snap, the mana stones turned into some sort of magical artifact. Ein even felt sorry for Lilith earlier after reading the plan, thinking that she would be working on the artifacts as a normal person does. However, he forgot one thing.
"I'm a being that is more powerful than 13 demon kings combined. Making simple items like these is as easy as breathing for me," Lilith gallantly declared.
Ein released a long sigh, remembering just how powerful the being before him was. Without wasting any more time, he quickly picked up the five crystal balls. Each was just a few centimeters across, enabling him to carry all five in one hand.
As Lilith instructed, Ein sold all five to the dungeon core. All the crystal balls he was holding vanished in an instant, and in return, a voice was heard echoing inside his head.
[Selling Magic Enhancer (random) x5: +4,000 DP]
