Chapter 3 The Day of Summoning, The Moment of Risking It All

When it comes to the dungeon of a Demon Lord, what comes to mind first?

Huge and complex labyrinths, sinister and terrifying traps, and... powerful and terrifying monsters.

Yes, that's the key point. Any Demon Lord would have a large group of monsters serving under them. Even the other Demon Lord candidates are the same. The Black Knight Corps under the command of the eldest brother, Klein, is the most elite force in the demon world, while the dark elves and succubus legions controlled by the second sister, Lillisia, are the bloodless killers in the darkness.

As for the Black Dragon Corps commanded by the fourth sister, Vivian, it is even more terrifying. The devils that run rampant in the demon world would cower and shiver from their earth-shattering roars. Even Naberius, the relatively gentle fifth sister, also possesses the powerful force that could easily flatten any power in the underworld.

This is also the orthodox route consistently followed by each Demon Lord successor—after they start building their own dungeon, the Demon Lord successors would command their armies to sweep through all the intelligent races around the dungeon like a whirlwind, taking them as slaves or guards.

In a way, it's somewhat similar to the Age of Exploration, where the old empires started by crossing the oceans with invincible fleets to explore new continents. Therefore, even if they encountered indigenous people who would scream and shout, a few cannon shots would be enough to send them running in all directions. Whether to capture slaves or establish colonies would then depend on their mood.

However, Zane was completely poor and started from scratch. This is not surprising, as the demon race respects strength, and without showing enough power, how could he easily gain the loyalty of his subordinates?

Fortunately, Zane was very clear about this and didn't think about seeking help. Otherwise, he would probably end up being sidelined as a puppet.

Unable to gain assistance from the outside, Zane could only hope for the summoning crystal inside the dungeon. In fact, at the beginning, Zane did have a chance to build a summoning crystal. However, unfortunately, he was still in the demon world at that time and couldn't start building his dungeon. Therefore, in the end, Zane gave up on building the summoning crystal and instead summoned Enoa.

This proved to be a very wise decision for Zane.

However, the summoning crystal still needs to be built. To expand his forces, naturally, more guards are needed. Zane couldn't rely solely on himself and the mining goblins to protect his dungeon. He looked down on the low-intelligence half-orcs and terror claws. Therefore, after completing the daily tasks given by the system and regaining the right to build the summoning crystal, Zane immediately chose to build the summoning crystal without hesitation.

And then, the day of fate arrived.

"Master, the summoning crystal has been built..."

After carefully checking the summoning crystal again, Bix stood up and timidly spoke to Zane. The Bix standing before him was no longer the dirty dwarf slave from before. The dirty robe had long been replaced by a black and white maid outfit, coupled with white stockings and deer leather boots, truly resembling a maid.

If this were on Earth, Zane might have been arrested for employing child labor—although, logically speaking, the girl who looked about ten years old in front of him was actually nearly eighty years old.

"Very good."

Hearing Bix's report, Zane waved his hand, and Bix lowered her head, retreating to the side with a joyous expression.

On the surface, this dwarf seemed no different from before. But Zane knew that after receiving his demon race's imprint, Bix had changed.

Unlike a mage's contract or mental control, the demon race's imprint is not about brainwashing, turning the other party into an idiot who knows nothing but their master. Instead, the demon race's imprint is more sinister, cunning, and harder to break.

It doesn't force the imprinted to be loyal and obedient, but rather slowly exerts influence in the depths of their heart, suggesting that the person in front of them is their master, and that completing the tasks given by them will make them feel very happy and content.

And when the imprinted completes a task, they would feel a strong sense of happiness and satisfaction. This would make them work even harder for their master, and as this gradually becomes a cycle, the imprinted would willingly fall into it without needing any brainwashing, becoming the most loyal subordinates and servants of the Demon Lord.

Moreover, the imprinted's personality, knowledge, and memories would not change at all.

Just like Bix, she still clearly remembers her hometown, her parents, her friends. Her feelings for them have not changed. But she no longer thinks about returning to her homeland. Under the influence of the imprint, serving her master is now the most important thing in Bix's heart.

Compared to this, returning to her homeland is almost negligible.

This is why there are no records in all of history of those who have fallen to the demon race being able to repent and return to the right path.

For those who have accepted the demon race's imprint, no matter how you try to awaken them, it's meaningless. Because they are not being controlled or brainwashed, but are willingly submitting to their master. What can you do with such people?

Unfortunately, the demon race's imprint is not without its flaws. It can only be implanted if the other party is willing or if the difference in strength is too great to resist, otherwise, it would be neutralized. Otherwise, if the demon race's imprint was really so powerful, the demon race would have long since emerged from the dark underground to unify the continent.

But for Zane, the demon race's imprint had another use...

Enough of the idle talk, let's get to the point.

Looking at the summoning crystal before him, Zane sighed softly. Then he raised his head and glanced at the system display in front of him, showing oil, aluminum... cough, silver, and crystal gems, and then frowned.

"The day of summoning, the time to gamble. Whether to bring forth demons or omens... No, that's not right, whether to summon demons or omens depends on this moment."

Although he spoke tragically, Zane's mouth curled into a strange smile. The reason was simple, he had already thoroughly understood the dungeon system's summoning mechanism.

Although he couldn't precisely control what resources would summon what troops, Zane could easily adjust resources to increase the chances of obtaining the rare troops he wanted, a result of thousands of trials and calculations.

He just didn't expect that because of the abnormally high rare summoning rate, he would be targeted by the game company, who then used the excuse of an irrelevant auto-click script to ban his account. It's not like this is an MMORPG where you control characters to move around, even using an auto-clicker gets you banned?

But it didn't matter, because before being struck by lightning and transmigrated here, Zane had already increased the rare summoning rate in the main server system to one hundred percent. Hahaha, he really wanted to see the game company's face when they discovered that all players, whether free or paying, were summoning rare troops like they were free... Wait a minute!

At that moment, Zane paused.

Because just now, he suddenly realized something very important.

He was struck by lightning and transmigrated here after modifying the system, so... does this mean that his current system is also modified? Does this mean he can summon rare troops with a one hundred percent chance?!

Thinking this, even Zane couldn't help but get a little excited. Although there are many rare troops, and some are strong but dumb, even the dumb ones are rare troops! Wouldn't any of them have higher stats than regular troops? And since he has his own system, he doesn't have to worry about the game company changing it back!

If he had known this would happen, he would have changed all the system's attributes to 99999...

Now Zane was somewhat regretful, he only changed the rare rate to vent his frustration and annoy the other side. If he had known he would end up here, he would have modified all the data, and by then, it would have been unstoppable... Well, there's no point in talking about this now.

Thinking this, Zane quickly regained his composure. Whether it's true or not, he just needs to experiment. So, without further thought, Zane extended his hand, and with a swipe through the air, a system prompt appeared.

[Summoning crystal activated, please input summoning materials]

Even if he could summon rare troops with a one hundred percent chance, there's still a choice of races, and only through a certain ratio of combinations could he summon the race he wanted. Zane did want to summon strong troops like bone dragons or vampires, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough resources, nor did he have a treasury or graveyard, so even with a one hundred percent rare summoning rate, it would be impossible to summon the corresponding troops.

Moreover, given Zane's current situation, even with a one hundred percent rare rate, he couldn't just want any rare troop. Although rare troops are powerful, they also consume a lot of resources. Zane's dungeon is currently poor and lacking food. It's fine for him to eat, but if a few big eaters come, everyone will starve to death.

So, the best choice would be troops that eat little, have low consumption, and can fight... decided, it's you!

With that thought, Zane had already made up his mind. He moved his fingers in the air, and quickly, the resources were adjusted.

[Ore (15) Mercury (10) Gems (15) Crystal (9)]

[Summoning resource input confirmed, proceed with summoning?]

Summon!

The summoning crystal began to tremble.

Three vertically arranged rhombus crystals emitted a gentle magical glow, as if sending out some kind of wave. Soon, in the center of the "品" shaped crystal pillars, a dark, deep space rift slowly opened. Howling cold wind blew out from it, echoing in the narrow space. The air became cold and moist, and a layer of white frost appeared on the ground...

The whispers of the dead rang in the ears, and at this point, Zane finally showed a smile on his face.

It looks like he gambled correctly.