Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"You… what did you call me?" Simon asked pointing at her. Cecilia tilted her and repeated "Master! Should I not call you that?".

Simon scratched his cheek and said "Master is bit…" how can he allow a five-year-old girl call him master. Though he was not even a year old after he got reincarnated in this world and theoretically that made Cecilia older than him, but his soul was still more than forty years old.

"Then what should I call you?" Cecilia looked at him with her bright emerald green eyes and asked. Simon deliberated for a while before replying "How about big brother? That way we would be a family and you wouldn't have to feel indebted to me all the time".

Seeing that Cecilia was looking at him with wide-open eyes which were about to erupt in tears, he hastily said "If you are not willing then leave it, address me in whatever way you want". Cecilia wiped her tears and said, "Uhuh… Im happy, big brother is too good to me. Is big brother really a demon?"

"…." Simon was stunned and didn't know how to answer that. Hurriedly forcing a cough, he changed the subject "Alright from now we are a family, and I'm your big brother… so stop crying already. As your big brother, it is only natural that I save the clansmen of my little sister".

Cecilia continuously nodded her head as her heart warmed up and she did her best to hold back her tears. She didn't want her big brother to see her as a crybaby.

Seeing that the knot in her heart has finally opened, Simon sighed in relief. Just when he turned around, from the corner of his eyes, he saw Irene silently standing there smiling.

Irene was an otherworldly ethereal beauty and when she smiled, Simon felt like the whole world became radiant for a second. He didn't know why but to him it seemed like Irene had changed quite a bit.

"Was she always like this?" Simon wondered. When he summoned her first time, she was cold and detached from everything around her and had an air of icy cold beauty. Now though she was still an icy cold beauty, there was still some warmth to her.

"Why are you smiling?" he couldn't help but ask. "Why can't I smile?" his question was met with a question of her own. Seeing that he had no answer, Irene's lips drew a slight curve but she quickly concealed it.

Changing the subject, Irene said "It looks like the intruders have stopped descending after the 8th floor".

Simon nodded and opened the [Main Menu]. He could see a group of humans on the 8th floor and apparently, it seems they have decided to stop their exploration and ascend back outside. He didn't know why and how the adventurers have spotted his dungeon, but he knew that this group of people was not connected to ones that had subjugated Cecilia's village.

After these adventurers entered the dungeon, they resided more than four days inside his dungeon which had netted him a significant amount of DP. Each of these adventurers was more than level 200 and the amount of DP each of them provided was quite large.

They didn't seem like they were here to conquer the dungeon and were here just to explore. This group didn't care about their pace and was just mining and exploring the dungeon leisurely.

The twenty-five or so dots represented in his screen seemed to gather near the entrance to the 7th floor "They are retreating back".

Irene nodded and said, "It appears so".

The dungeon had already recognized her as one of the guardians, hence she is able to use some of the functions of the menu. On that note, a few days after he brought Cecilia to his dungeon, he got a message from the dungeon saying:-

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Name- Cecilia

Race- Forest Spring Royal Spirit

Has fulfilled all the conditions for a Dungeon Guardian. Do wish to add Cecilia as one of the Guardians of the dungeon?

YES/NO

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Bringing out the message once again, he swiftly pressed YES and Cecilia became the second Guardian of his dungeon.

The role of the Guardians is to protect and manage the dungeon on behalf of the dungeon master. Though Cecilia was unable to protect the dungeon with her strength, her abilities lied somewhere else. It was to the point where even Irene had praised her, Simon couldn't wait to see the full potential of a [S] rank Forest Spring Royal Spirit.

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Chuck and his team descended till the 8th floor. Unlike the previous cavernous floor, the seventh and eighth floor was a wide mountainous area. Even the monsters lurking around such as the battle bears and warring mandrils were much more stronger.

After the rank of the dungeon goes up, the level of the spawned monster also rises which makes even the weakest monsters on a high-rank dungeon difficult to kill.

Therefore the stronger guild usually decides to tackle the higher rank dungeon to earn more treasure as well as to level up.

Whenever a strong guild like the top five guilds of the Ellesmere kingdom decide to send adventurer teams on a high-rank dungeon, the expenditure of mobilizing the manpower, resources, equipment, and such is very enormous.

Hence if they do not tackle a higher rank that gives higher rewards, they wouldn't even be able to break even the cost they incurred.

"Alright, you guys pack up. Leave all the items we cannot store in our space rings or bags behind. I don't want you all to let your guard down until we get out of the dungeon. The monster on the above floors might have spawned again, we shall maintain our formation and ascend up" Chuck quickly gave out orders.

The adventurer quickly did as they were told and hurriedly kept the things they needed and discarded the ones they had no space for.

It took them one whole day to ascend back up to the first floor. Though they already mined the Silver crystals on the 4th, 5th, and 6th floor, the crystals had already started to grow back again.

The adventurers maintained their formation and swiftly dispatched any monsters that attacked them on the way. After reaching the first floor, they rested for a while before deciding to exit the dungeon.

Feeling the fresh air and sunlight through their skin, they shouted in delight.

"Hehe, we are finally out. I missed the sun and the fresh air" Lisa exaggeratedly said as she spread her arms to feel the warmth of the sun and the blowing fresh air.

Looking at the girl who was happy to see the sun once again, Chuck couldn't help but shake his head "Don't be melodramatic, we have only been inside the dungeon for less than a week".

Lisa pouted when she heard what he said and angrily pointed at him "Leader please don't ruin my fun. The dungeon was so dark and we always had to be on alert all the time. Compared to that the outside world is so better, ah how I longed for it".

All the adventurers laughed as they heard their exchange.