Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Later that day, to celebrate the recovery of their lord, the Forest Spring Spirits threw a big party. Of course, all of his subordinates were involved in the preparation.

The Valkyries spared no efforts to cook all kinds of dishes showcasing their [Cooking] and [Housework] skills. Guided by the maids, Cecilia tried her hands at some new cooking too. Although she wasn't bad, the dish she created was just… let's leave it at that.

The forest spring spirits decorated the entire village making seem like a festive season. The town square was lit up with activity, people danced with their partners and enjoyed the food and drinks on the table.

Of course, Simon who was the man of the show, was also enjoying the entire thing. But he was also busy at the same time with families coming to him asking for his blessing.

"Lord Simon please bless our baby" A young forest spring spirit couple approached him with their newborn baby in tow.

They asked him to touch the baby's head who was soundly sleeping wrapped around a towel. It seemed like in their custom, they usually asked the patriarch of their clan to do it. Now that Simon had become a similar existence for them, they came to him asking for his blessing.

It was not only them, many new couples who had sired a baby, made a line behind the first to get the blessing for their babies too.

Since it was a good thing that the dwindling population of the forest spring spirits was growing, he happily complied. Although Simon had no divine powers, he prayed and wished for good health and prosperity for all the babies.

And just like that, amidst the festivities, the day came to an end.

The next day, Simon gathered all of his subordinates on the [Main Floor] and asked them about the current condition of the dungeon.

"What voice? Gifts?"

When he asked them for details, Simon was surprised to find out that the rank of his dungeon had increased. Dungeon Laplace which was a [D] tier low ranking dungeon before, has risen to become a [C] tier intermediate ranking dungeon.

Because he had spent the remainder of his day apologising to his subordinates after recovering his body, Simon had completely missed this point.

Now that he thought about it, he could feel the density of mystical energy on the main floor had increased tremendously. Not only that, there are numerous other changes that occurred on his main floor that Simon could take his time and investigate.

For now, he concentrated on the reports of his subordinates. The voice that they mentioned seemed to have come from the dungeon when it ranked up and the gifts that they received were similarly due to this cause.

Now that Simon had ranked up to a Demon Earl, he had inherited new memories. Hence after recalling, he understood what this Gift was.

Gifts referred to a special present bestowed by the dungeon to every individual when it ranked up. These presents can be in the form of new abilities, levels, improvement in aptitude, evolutions, skills…etc..etc.

Depending on their need, every individual received a different Gift. For example, the [Helpers] received new skills that allowed them to perform their duties better.

Some of them gained skills that allowed them to scout and observe the invaders of the dungeon more proficiently. While others gained skills that increased their hiding capability.

It was not only the low ranking members of his dungeon that received the gift, even the Bloodthorn Demonic warhorse, Valkyries, Cecilia also received gifts.

In the case of the Bloodthorn Demonic warhorse who was one of the major contributors in the dungeon defence, it not only received a ton of levels by killing thousands of adventurers, but the gift it received was in the form of a skill called [Nether Shift] where it can go into a form that allowed him to ignore all physical damages for a couple of minutes.

For the Bloodthorn demonic warhorse who was quick to charge into the ranks of enemies, the [Nether Shift] would allow him to cause even more chaos. Plus Simon could tell that the rank of the skill was not low, at the very least it was a Rare Ancient tier skill.

From the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse, he also learned that the former three overlords of the north, Berigard and a couple of Diluvian High Orcs and some who performed splendidly during the defence, also received some good gifts.

In the case of Cecilia, no evident change happened to her but she herself told Simon that her gift was in the form of aptitude. As could be seen from the way how quickly she manifested her hidden powers.

All of his subordinates received some kind of Gift; however, the ones who received the most benefits from this, would be the Valkyries.

Although they did not receive some fancy skills or abilities, their gifts were in the form of limit release. That is to say, Annette and the others who had their levels suppressed and locked when he summoned them from that bugged option, finally gained their original strength back.

They who were constrained at level 699, finally gained their original powers which increased their overall level to 750.

Of course, one cannot just simply only look at their levels to determine their strength after all, each of the valkyries also had their racial forms which further boosted their strength.

Nevertheless, it was the truth that the overall strength of the valkyries increased. Now, if they can also get their Heirlooms too, the valkyries would reach their peak setting, just the way he had created them.

Looking at all the incredible gifts that his subordinates received, it would be a lie to say that Simon wasn't jealous. Because unlike them, he had not received any gifts.

Of course, as the master of the dungeon and it being a part of him, Simon received a large amount of levels when the dungeon increased in rank. But due to him reaching his bloodline limit, those levels and experience points were stored away.

It was only after he ranked up to a Demon Earl, that the stored experience points started acting up. His ears buzzed at that time with the repeated notification of him levelling up.

Simon's level which should have been 501 after just ranking up, rose all the way up to level 535 in one go. It was just like the time when his dungeon ranked up for the first time. After killing Gelgar and his cronies who declared a dungeon war on him, his dungeon ranked up from [E] to [D]. At that time, he received a large amount of levels.

Well, in a way it can be said that his gift was levels. It was good thing. When he thought about it this way, Simon's mood immediately improved.

Of course, now that the dungeon had ranked up, there were a lot of new options and settings that opened up. Various new sections and items in the [Shop] that he could purchase before due to the limitation of the dungeon, became available to him.

Simon had no doubt in his mind that once he installed all those upgrades, his dungeon would become even more powerful. However, exploring with all the new upgrades came later, right now there were other pressing things that he needed to address.

According to Irene, close to two months had passed while he was lying in his bed unconscious. He needed to catch up with all the news and what was going around inside his dungeon. He needed to know about the current activities of the adventurers, the tower town and so on so forth.

"Coleus... tell me what's the current situation of the dungeon?"

When called out, Colues the leader of the [Helpers] stepped forward and reported.

"Replying to my lord, the current situation of the dungeon isn't very good. the new adventurers that were attracted to the dungeon a month ago, have already conquered the 50th floor and have been steadily making progress every day"

"Although miss Irene added new floors to delay the adventurers, it is unknown how long it would be able to stop them".

While he was listening to Coleus' reports, Simon's eyes simultaneously scanned the [Main Mneu] which was showing him the three-dimensional structure of his dungeon.

Irene who managed his dungeon while he was out of commission, indeed added few new floors from where he left that is to say, from the 56th floor. She added four new floors and shifted all the important floors below.

It was a good decision on her part to add more floors but the problem was that the floors she created were far too simple and wouldn't be able to contain the adventurers for long.

"Who are the ones that are currently keeping the adventurers busy?" Simon asked, he could see some allies that were represented by green dots on the 51st floor. there were quite a few green dots up there but there were also a lot of red dots that indicated they were facing the invaders.

Two months was a long time, Simon did not believe that his dungeon was capable of stopping the current batch of adventurers, especially if they were stronger than before. There had to be someone stopping on the 51st floor all this time or else, their conquest wouldn't have just stopped on the 50th floor.

"On miss Irene's orders, the Ogoraths have been stationed on the 51st floor. Sir Bloodthorn Demonic Warhose was also there a few moments ago. Other than them, the three disaster class beasts are also placed there to stop the advance of the dungeon at any cost".

So that's what was going on, it seemed that Irene had created a defensive wall of sorts on the 51st floor knowing that the lower floors won't be able to stop the adventurers for long.