Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

'A sky above a sky, a power above a power' in truth, Simon was already aware of that since the moment he had reincarnated in this world. The encounters he had in this forest repeatedly told him that his powers were still far too weak and nowhere near enough to be considered strong.

His question earlier was just to test the water and see if he could find a way out of this.

"You are absolutely right; I'm in no position to reject your request. You are also right in that I met that disciple of yours back during one of the trips of mine to the deep regions of the Ghastly Winding Forest. At that time, she willingly imparted this technique to me and with it, I was able to achieve one of my objectives and since you are the creator of the Ancient Draconic Compel, that makes me owe you one".

Adalinda's smile widened a little when she heard his affable reply "Is that so?".

"However, before I agree to your request, can I ask what this aide is all about? What I mean is since you are all that powerful, why would you need the help of someone as weak as me. There is no way I can aide in something that even you are unable of".

He wasn't spouting nonsense, Simon was more or less aware of how powerful the little girl in front of him was. In terms of strength, she was a monster above all other monsters.

If there was something that even she couldn't achieve with her powers, how was he to aide her.

Crossing her arms over her non-existent chest, Adalinda declared "You don't have to worry about that, just your presence will be plenty helpful in finding that bratty disciple of mine".

Simon was stunned by her words. The help she was talking about was to search for her disciple who had run away from her home? If so then why was he needed?

There is no way he knew where that mysterious woman had gone after imparting him with this technique.

"Wait a minute… how am I supposed to help you when I don't know where that disciple of yours had gone to?" Simon couldn't help but voice out his doubts.

"As I said you don't have to worry about that. Your task is just to accompany me as for the rest I can handle it myself. That lass thinks that she can evade her master? Hmph, she is still too wet behind the ears".

Simon couldn't help but drop his hand in dejection, this little grandaunt was not willing to listen to him at all.

"Ah right since you will come along with me, pack your belongings and tasks that you need to complete. I'm willing to give you few hours of time for that… but don't make me wait for long" saying everything that she needed to say, she sat herself back on the chair cosily.

Too much, the little girl was just too much. She was unwilling to listen to others and just kept rambling herself.

What did she say about giving him some time to prepare? Does she think that a job of a Dungeon master was something so easy that it could be done in just a few hours? <br/><script>ChapterMid();</script>

How was he supposed to finish all of his tasks in the span of just a few hours? Simon felt a severe headache just by conversing with the girl. He exited the hall and left the little girl all alone.

There was no way he was willing to entertain her anymore especially when he only had a few hours to prepare. His first priority was to make sure that the last two floors of the dungeon would be absolutely safe even in his absence.

"What are you planning to do?" Irene who had exited the dining hall alongside him, asked.

Simon simply shook his head and replied "It's as she said, in this world only strength recognises strength. Without adequate power, I don't even have the right to decide. For now, I can only go along with her. Take care of the dungeon and the Forest Spring Spirits for me".

Irene locked her brows at his resolute words "There might be other ways. You do not have to deliberately put yourself in danger…".

"There is no other way… I know that you are concerned but believe me I will not let myself get killed so easily" Simon said flashing a gentle smile at Irene.

Her composure faltered for a second and she stopped in her tracks. Finally snorting in a cold and distant manner, she turned around leaving a few words of her own "Who said I'm concerned about you? Also you should keep your words and return alive after this".

"Haha" Simon chuckled before a serious expression dawned on his face as he opened the [Main Menu].

The [Archive] option of the [Main Menu] allows him to see each and every entity currently inside the dungeon no matter which floor they are. However, no matter how carefully he looked, there was denying the fact that the little girl called Adalinda who had barged inside his dungeon was nowhere to be spotted.

Even though the girl was currently sitting cosily on the chair inside the dining hall, the dungeon still failed to detect her.

What was going on? How can one elude the detection of the dungeon and appear so close to the dungeon core? If everybody could do it then was there even a point to make multiple floors for his dungeon to guard the dungeon core?

Simon did not have an answer but what he was sure of was that this kind of ability shouldn't be in the hands of many people and probably accessible to a handful of strong ones.

What sore his mood even further was the fact that even when such a strong entity had currently intruded his dungeon, he was not getting any Dungeon Points from it. He could only imagine how abnormal the numbers would be if only it was possible to get DP from that little monster.

What wasn't possible wasn't possible. Clearing his mind, Simon focused on the progress of the adventurers currently inside the dungeon.

He observed that the group which had managed to previously clear floor twelve were successful in clearing floor fourteen. However, they weren't in hurry to proceed to the next floor and seemed to be retreating for now. It was a rational choice considering that the difficulty of the floor increases the deeper they went.

Simon had to admit that this group of ten adventurers were quite balanced and perfect for dungeon diving. They look after each other's blind spot and overcome each other's shortcomings together.

Additionally, their clothes seemed to have an insignia embroidered which indicated that they are from the same guild. A bow and an arrow lit in fire was the logo of their guild.

Simon did not know where this guild was situated or what was it called but seeing their teamwork and the trust they had in each other, he knew that it would be quite the reputed guild.

This group of ten adventurers weren't the only one from their guild, there appear to be many other adventurers on the upper floors currently slowly making their way to the bottom floors.

Apart from the adventurers, there were also a team of miners, collectors who collected the slain monsters by the adventurers, merchants and caravans waiting outside of the dungeon who were from the same guild.

From what Simon could observe, it appeared that the guild traded in diverse goods.

"Hmm, the 15th floor huh… from the looks of it the Direwolves and the Stormwolves have recovered fairly well from the menace created by the Fire Eating Rats and the Fire Fanged Mouse" Simon commented looking at the 15th floor.

A couple of weeks ago, the place was turned upside down by just one Scarlet Mutation Crystal that he had placed on this floor. His initial intention was for the Storm or the Direwolves to consume the crystal; however, the Stormwolf that ate it succumbed to its death and its corpse was then eaten by the Fanged Mouse who should have been the prey of the wolves.

While the result was astounding and something he couldn't have asked for, it still cost him the lives of multiple wolves residing on this floor. Thanks to that, their populace was spread thin across the floor and was still recovering.

"Although their reproduction rate is not the highest, I should still spawn a few more of them just in case" Simon deliberated.

Now that he had to leave the dungeon and he did not know when he would be able to come back, he couldn't leave any stone unturned with the defence of the dungeon.

The adventurers might suddenly feel the difficulty of the deeper floor rising all of a sudden, but that wasn't Simon's concern. As a Dungeon Master, his job was to safeguard the dungeon to the best of his abilities.

The sudden rise in the difficulty of exploring the floors might cause many deaths among the adventurers and even lead to a drop in their motivation. But to tackle that, Simon also increased the number of treasures and chests, minerals/ores spawned across the floors.

That being said, his dungeon was still a low tier [D] rank dungeon and no matter how many monsters and trap he set, it still wouldn't be a problem for strong adventurers who are used to exploring medium rank dungeons.

Even after spending an hour and tinkering with the floors, Simon was still not satisfied with the defensive mechanism of the dungeon.