Chapter 13

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 13: Watchtower, Forging Room, and Harvest

Tasha was quite busy, with new features in the dungeon appearing one after another like a new model airplane, there was still a lot to learn.

After the first connection to the surface, a building called a "watchtower" was unlocked. Tasha could build poles above the ground, allowing her vision to no longer be limited to underground. Her perception spread to the surface, though only within a radius of a hundred meters around the watchtower. The higher the tower, the more she could see, but the trees nearby were only so tall, going higher would lead to discovery.

Compared to the watchtower, this building was more like a periscope on a submarine on the water’s surface, and could be made long and thin like a utility pole. After consuming some plants and soil, and analyzing these materials, the dungeon could simulate the vegetation of the nearby plain. The watchtower looked completely like a tree, ordinary people standing next to it wouldn’t see any problems, and even making a few cuts with a knife wouldn’t reveal any flaws. Of course, if these severely damaged and deprived of magical supply gadgets were directly cut down, they would turn into black smoke and dissipate, just like any other dungeon creations.

"Look, how convenient!" Victor said as she created the trees, "One swallow and done, with no irreparable loss."

As long as she had swallowed a tree once, creating them only consumed magical power, like infinite copy-pasting in the real world. Victor’s implications were quite clear, obviously urging her to take action against the Worgen girl or others, to create a cheap army by swallowing them. At this stage, a clone army was indeed a very attractive idea, but Tasha had a different perspective.

"That’s why destroying a dungeon is so easy." Tasha said, "As long as the Dungeon Core is destroyed, all dungeon creations will disappear in smoke, one decapitation action could destroy a city."

Maybe that’s why there are only a few bones in the dungeon, Tasha guessed. The previous dungeon master was probably a supporter of traditional dungeons, and all the staff in the dungeon were magical creatures created by devouring creatures from the Primary Material Plane. After the Dungeon Core was extinguished and scrapped, everything returned to dust.

Tasha thought this design was pretty silly, like it was made as a weakness for the hero team. Imagine, a heavily defended scary city, an endlessly replenishing army of clones, a long war that never seemed to end… All it took was a few agile teams sneaking in, getting to the core, and victory was as easy as striking a rock with a sword. It’s like ending a bio-crisis by flipping a switch or stopping a world war by throwing a ring into a volcano.

"But you’re a Nest Mother, right?" Victor was surprised and said, "If someone destroys the core, you’re done for sure. And you’re worrying about whether others live or die?"

"At least it makes others think about the cost of beheading me before they act. The higher the cost they anticipate, the lower my risk." Tasha said, "Besides, if I’m doomed anyway, knowing that my enemies will join me soon is at least a little comforting."

Victor fell silent for a moment, then chuckled. He said, "I kinda like you now."

"No, thank you." Tasha politely declined.

Tasha didn’t want to die or be a city forever. She missed the taste of food, the feeling of grooming soft and fluffy pets, the comfort of a soft bed, the sensation of walking on grass fields, feeling the breeze on her face, and the scent of flowers. Tasha was curious about the new world, she wouldn’t give up everything she had to become human again or go back, but at the same time, she wouldn’t trade all she had for being bound to a building and coexisting with a rock.

Using a contract instead of devouring gave Tasha a glimmer of hope, she wasn’t sure how exactly to proceed, but she would figure it out.

After nearly a hundred living beings moved in, the dungeon’s magical reserves not only didn’t decrease but actually increased. Slimes were easy to feed, like fungi, they multiplied quickly when there was food, producing more Magic Stones than needed to make magical food – strangely, magical food couldn’t be directly used to feed slimes, probably because they were of the same origin? Tasha was briefly puzzled by the magical reality where the law of conservation of mass cried, but ultimately decided not to waste brain cells on unscientific things.

If there are no external threats, Tasha thinks she has enough creatures on the Primary Material Plane to run a dungeon. She feels a bit like ants farming aphids, creating an interesting mini ecosystem in the dungeon.

Magic is like the currency here, with magic, everything is easier. Tasha has placed many watchtowers in strategic positions to create a ground surveillance network. The gnomes are now more daring in digging tunnels to find out where to go on the surface. Tasha now has a total of ten gnomes (not including Ahuang). It’s not that they are not efficient in mining, but the dungeon area is a bit large now. It’s not convenient to move the miners from the east to the west, so it’s better to have some in all directions.

Earlier, a gnome found an iron mine.

When Tasha obtained the first piece of iron ore, the forging room in the dungeon was unlocked, but it couldn’t be used yet. The description of the forging room is as follows, "Forging room, a place for providing forging tools, currently no craftsmen selected, unable to forge. There is a small note below: Do you think throwing iron ore into the room can make weapons? Don’t be silly, this is not magic."

…Is it magical to create food out of thin air in the kitchen?!

Forget it, don’t argue with such inexplicable things.

Speaking of which, chefs can also be stationed in the kitchen. The current basic kitchen can only produce white bread, grilled meat, and cucumbers. The guests are grateful for their meals now, but eating the same food every day will get boring eventually.

However, they don’t seem like they will get tired of it anytime soon.

Tasha saw the Worgen girl sneaking back, sneaking around the dungeon, meeting with guests, and talking secretly about how to escape. Marion was very careful, had good skills in hiding from sight, but she didn’t realize the whole dungeon itself was Tasha’s eyes and ears. How do you deceive the building itself? Tasha just raised an eyebrow, shifting a bit more focus over there.

"Look, look," Victor said slowly, "the ungrateful little dog is trying to take away the chickens."

His tone of voice was particularly annoying, it was a common thing, whenever he saw Tasha in a disadvantage, he would dance around, trying to prove himself right.

"What made her change her attitude? Oh, it must be the tree sprite, he’s hiding somewhere underground, you didn’t even think to look for him. You should have gotten rid of him from the beginning, tree sprites become more stubborn as they get older." Victor shook his head disapprovingly, managing to show disapproval with the body of a book.

"Sorry, I have eyes and a brain." Tasha sighed, "Quiet, you’re bothering me."

Victor grumbled and complained, but Tasha pretended not to hear.

Marion did a good job, but the people she was protecting were not very cooperative. They whispered to each other, looking reluctant to leave, completely different from how they acted when they first arrived. Some were afraid of the humans on the surface, opting to hide underground as they felt it was safer there. Some had already decorated the bare rooms with flowers and twigs, like birds preparing to build nests, reluctant to leave when they heard they had to, trying to take all the little things in the room with them. Others sneaked into the cafeteria, grabbing food as if it were a delicacy, feeling they would miss out if they couldn’t eat it in the future.

"The longer we stay, the more dangerous it becomes!" Marion tried to convince them, "The human army has only temporarily left, when they come back to surround this place, we won’t be able to escape!"

"Can we bring it with us? It’s so cute!" someone said as they dragged Ahuang inside. Tasha had been raising this creature underground, it had been having a great time with the guests recently, very popular among them.

Marion looked like she was about to cry in frustration.

"What’s going on with these people, are they Italians?" Tasha whispered to herself, but unfortunately no one heard this joke.

"Yakdalley? I’ve never heard of this race," Victor said. "From their size, they probably have a mix of dwarf, or Hobbit blood. Thinner blood than a small dog, basically just regular small people."

Dwarf, Hobbit? Tasha was confused for a moment, she thought these three titles were just different translations. Victor sensed her curiosity and said eagerly, "Just eat one, eat one and you’ll know which race they are!"

Such a blunt and useless suggestion.

Meanwhile, Marion finally managed to convince everyone. They reluctantly abandoned most of their heavy load, took some food, and avoided gnomes everywhere as they set off on the ground. The people involved were very nervous, but from Tasha’s point of view, it all looked quite comical. She patiently waited for a while before these people finally left the dungeon.

"You just let them go like that?" Victor said angrily, "Haven’t you thought about the secrecy issue? Letting a bunch of weak fools who would confess under interrogation run out, instead of turning them into resources? And that little dog you made a contract with, I told you…"

"I told you too," Tasha interrupted him, "I brought my brain."

Not long after, a figure appeared at the entrance, it was Marion.

She pursed her lips, with a stern face, and returned underground as if accepting the inevitable. The worgen girl’s steps were heavy but not slow, Tasha watched her slowly move forward, until she stood in front of the ghost.

Dungeon’s gaze glanced around the entire underground space, while the ghostly figure remained still, staring at the graveyard as if frozen since parting ways with Marion. Tasha stood in place for a long time, while Marion stood silently outside the graveyard, neither speaking nor leaving. After about ten minutes, the ghost turned its head and silently floated towards Marion.

Marion blinked her eyes rapidly, a habit she had when feeling nervous. She spoke first, saying, "They have already left, thank you for your hospitality, you saved our lives."

"Is that so?" the ghost said, "You should have let me know beforehand."

"Sorry, it would have caused a commotion, we have troubled you enough. They have migrated to the big city and won’t come back, thank you very much," Marion said stiffly, as if reciting lines. She took a deep breath and went on, "But I will stay, forever stay here. I belong to you now. I will, I will work hard to repay your kindness, to settle their debts, I will be very obedient… very obedient."

She ended with a forceful nod, emphasizing her words. She stuttered through her speech, which seemed to be her true ability. Tasha watched her for a moment, standing tall and confident, but with her furry ears flattened against her head, as if prepared to be scolded.

"It’s okay," Tasha said, reaching out to pat her head, "You are my greatest reward."

Marion perked up her flattened ears, staring blankly at Tasha, unsure of what to do. Victor let out a groan in Tasha’s ear, "You must be joking!" he said, "She let a bunch of chickens escape, and you call her the greatest reward?"

Tasha was serious, everything unlocked by her contract with Marion proved to be highly beneficial, surpassing countless resources. From the skills unlocked, she even found a path to the future – although this path was still uncertain, it would be dealt with later.

Moreover…

Who said those people could get away?