Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

At this moment, he felt his body rejuvenated, refreshed and filled with energy. He felt as if he had to come to a legendary place that soothed his heart and healed his mind.

Shocked, Simon opened his mind and examined the flowers and plants around him. If he was not mistaken, some of the plants and flowers around here should be the seeds that were brought in by the Forest Spring Spirit clan.

No wonder he felt a sense of familiarity, he had seen these plants before when he went to the Ancient Treants territory to get the Forest Spring Spirits.

The effects that he felt in the breeze just now was because of these rare plants and herbs. A unique effect must have been triggered when so many varieties of these plants and flowers were blended in one garden.

What these changes entailed, Simon had no idea but given the fact that Irene and Cecilia had a hand in it, he was sure that this place would become something incredible in the near future.

After the girls came back from their trip to the flower garden, the group slowly strolled towards the distant mountains which were allotted to Cecilia to grow mana trees. Standing true to her race, Cecilia delivered a lush and Verdant canopy of mana trees growing all around the mountains.

Even before the group arrived near the place, they could feel the vast amount of mana being released by those mountains. A thick amount of mist lingered around the place and covered the mountains, giving it a more mystical look.

"Hehe, Big Brother, everyone let's go up… I'll show you something," Cecilia said arching her nose high and started walking in front of the group.

Seeing her antics, Irene smiled probably aware of what she wanted to show to others.

'So there was something else up in those mountains other than the juvenile Mana trees?' Simon thought internally as he followed behind the little girl curiously.

It had only been around five months since the time he gave her the seeds of mana trees. During this period, the mana trees had not only grown from their seed to become sprouts, but turned into young juvenile trees growing up to a height of ninety meters on average.

Mana trees were extremely important for a dungeon as they produced and even synthesised mystical energy all across the floor. The density of mana inside a dungeon also indicates how closer it is to increase up a rank.

Naturally, the higher the rank of the dungeon, the denser the mana it has within it. And the denser the mana, the better the plunders. This is also the reason why high ranking dungeon are so lucrative to adventurers as it provides simply more rewards than a low ranking dungeon could.

In any case, if he wants to increase the rank of his dungeon, it is important that he plants Mana Trees all across the floors. Usually, the Mana Trees would have taken a long time to even grow into a sprout and producing and synthesising mystical energy would be a long dream, especially for a low ranking dungeon with limited features.

But thanks to Cecilia, a member of the forest Spring spirit race who is known for being close to nature and having the ability to manipulate it, the mana trees in his dungeon had grown at an astonishing rate incomparable to the ones growing in any other dungeon.

Although he knew how amazing Cecilia's abilities were, he was still a little amazed to see mountains full of young mana trees.

Following Cecilia's lead, the group trekked up the mountain and arrived in front of a cave. Seeing Cecilia stop in front of it, Simon couldn't help but ask "What is it that you want to show us?".

Seeing Juvenile Mana trees was already plenty surprising… could it be that there was still something inside the cave?

"Hehe, big brother weren't you discussing about materials required to produce those golems with Little Wisp? Guess what, some of it is currently growing inside this cave" the little forest spring spirit girl declared rubbing her nose.

Hearing what she has to say, Simon's eyes contracted for a fraction of a second. The materials needed to manufacture higher versions of Andromeda weren't something that are easily available and needs to be procured using various other means.

Simon believed that given enough time, his dungeon would naturally be able to produce some of it. However, even he didn't expect that he would be hearing that his dungeon was already producing some of it.

Without waiting for anyone, Simon stepped forward and walked inside the cave only to stand rooted the next moment.

All around him and as far as the eye could see, minerals were protruding out from this place like stalagmites and stalactites. They were in so much quantity that if one wanted to mine them, it would easily take quite a few weeks of their time.

Not to mention the cave was just starting out and looked very deep. As Simon walked further in, he was astounded to find the quality and quantity of the minerals increasing. There was not only one type of ores to be found here, but different varieties of it.

For example, there was BrightSilver, a mineral that was a little more stronger than WhiteSilver, Blackgold and Neo steel growing in it. NeoSteel was one of the materials required to create a higher version of Andromeda and although Blackgold would be a little difficult to process given the mechanism of the factory was yet to be fully built, it was a good enough substitute for now.

At this instant, Irene and the other also caught up with him and seeing his excited face, they couldn't help but smile themselves.

"Are these minerals what you were looking for?" Irene asked not understanding what was so engrossing about these inanimate stones. She had seen the golems and experienced its powers herself but it did not strike as much emotions within her as Simon which led to her wondering what was so amazing about those metal golems.

It was not only her but even the Maid sisters had blank or puzzled expressions in their eyes. It was only Cecilia that was having a genuine happy face. Though in her case she just wanted to be praised by her big brother.

Hearing Irene's question Simon nodded his head, these were indeed some of the materials needed to manufacture the Andromedas.

"How did this…" he asked, puzzled and delighted by the discovery.

"You should thank her for this, this little girl had altered the trajectory of the mystical veins and created a path that flowed internally through the mountain. Thanks to that, the mountain itself had drastically changed and transformed into one that produced minerals" Irene explained.

Since Cecilia herself did not know much about her powers, she was more or less clueless about it just like the other.

Hearing her clarification, Simon understood what had happened here, this forest spirit girl had once again used her incomprehensible powers to induce changes around her without herself being aware about it.

Simon looked at Cecilia who was smiling smugly and patted her head. Although she always did these kinds of absurd things, it had always ended up involuntarily benefitting him.

<strong>Mineral mountains Grade [C]-</strong> Mountains with a deposit of Mystical energy that produces minerals and ores over time. The larger the deposit of the mountain, the higher the quality and ratio of ores.

Simon could install these mountains from the shop, in fact, he even did so on some of the floors. However, the ones accessible to him currently in the shop, were all below grade [C] and only had WhiteSivler and low ranking ores growing on them.

Far from what he needed to build better marks of Andromeda. Simon was getting excited just by thinking how he would be able to have those powerful warmachines from that game at his disposal.

He was a game developer and game maniac in his previous life, of course he loved mechas.

"Big brother are you happy?" Cecilia asked wanting to be praised.

"Yeah, I am very happy, thank you Cecilia" Simon thanked Cecilia and along with the others, descended down the mountain. Now that he knew there were NeoSteel and BlackGold growing inside those mountains, he made a mental note to tell the third guardian about it so that it can send some of the Andromedas here to mine it.

Also, he would like to see if Cecilia can induce the same changes with the mountains on the workshop (the Third Guardian's floor).

Now that they had toured almost all around the main floor, it was now time to go check out the main showcase of the floor located at the centre. The pond of serenity and the beautiful tree of mana crystals around it.

The pond of serenity had always been the most mysterious and precious treasure on his main floor. Not only was it the place where all the mystical energy from the mystical veins are deposited, it was also the place that produced the serenity stone, scarlet mutation crystals and various other things that were yet to be discovered lying on the bottom of the pond.

The last time he dived inside it he was able to endure for as long as one minute, Simon wanted to test his limits and see how long he can endure inside the pond now that he was much stronger than before.

As the group approached the centre of the floor, the density of the mystical energy in the air became so high that it was palpable. A dense amount of mist lingered around this place produced by the pond endlessly and gave others a chilly yet pleasant sensation.

Amidst the mist at the centre where the multi-coloured lights were coming from, was a beautiful pond straight out of a fairy tale.