I woke up to find the clock already pointing to the afternoon.
Lunchtime had already passed.
Thanks to that, my stomach was rumbling and churning with a huge sound.
“Maru, food-”
I habitually tried to ask Maru to make me food, but then I closed my mouth.
The memory of Maru’s cooking last night, ramen, made me too scared to speak.
‘I need to re-educate him.’
I never expected him to teach himself by watching videos of bone broth being simmered.
He even used a smartphone freely…
I newly realized that the undead were a more intelligent race than I thought.
“If you do anything strange again, I’ll be in trouble.”
That’s why I planned to teach Maru how to cook himself.
It’s not that Maru’s cooking tastes bad, it’s just… a bit off, isn’t it?
“By the way, is Maru doing chores?”
I could hear the vacuum cleaner running beyond the door.
Maru had become an indispensable existence to me.
He perfectly handled basic cooking like ramen, as well as washing dishes and cleaning.
And that wasn’t all.
He also operated the washing machine on his own, hung the laundry, and even folded the dry clothes and put them in the closet.
“He’s truly a capable homemaker!”
Lately, he had been showing daily improvement, even to the point of vacuuming and mopping.
Maru diligently followed my instructions and completed tasks.
Thanks to him, I no longer had to do chores myself.
Everything ran smoothly without me lifting a finger.
“Should I bring in some more skeletons while I’m at it?”
The current level of my dungeon’s altar was 2.
Naturally, I couldn’t summon high-rank monsters.
“Maru was originally a 1-star, too.”
Now he was 4-star, but Maru was originally a 1-star Skeleton Soldier.
It was the demonic sword that Celia offered as a sacrifice.
And through that demonic sword, I gained skills.
In the end, Maru was able to evolve to 4-star by utilizing the demonic sword and skills.
“Should I make a skeleton army this time?”
The all-bone army would be fully deployed for housework.
Unlike ghouls or zombies that reeked of decay, they didn’t need to consume anything or sleep.
Skeleton monsters were beings that worked 24 hours a day.
Weren’t they beings born to do chores!
“Now that you mention it, I should bring one more.”
Before upgrading the altar, I could only summon 1-star Skeleton Soldiers.
But now, the altar level was 2.
‘Who would be good to bring?’
Since they were going to be assigned to housework, it didn’t really matter.
Soon, Maru and I were going to actively venture into dungeons.
At that time, I needed someone to handle the chores.
“If the altar is level 2…”
Perhaps I could even summon a 2-star this time?
I immediately grabbed my smartphone and started the game.
[Eldorad]
Tapping continuously, I quickly skipped the unnecessary screens and entered the dungeon.
[1st Layer, Sector 1]
– Sub-boss: Death Knight (★★★★★)
As soon as I saw Sector 1, I checked the skeletons first.
“Hmm.”
It’s natural for everyone to have greed.
As I looked at the monster list, I felt a bit greedy.
“2-star feels a bit disappointing, doesn’t it?”
Maru was now 4-star.
Not to mention 1-star, even 2-star felt a bit underwhelming.
Who knows?
Even though the altar level is 2, maybe I could bring a 3-star monster.
“Let’s just check.”
I immediately tapped the 3-star Skeleton Knight.
And I commanded it to come to the altar in the center of the dungeon.
I remembered that last time, I tried to sacrifice Maru, but he was summoned.
This time, it would probably change from sacrifice to summoning.
The Skeleton Knight soon arrived at the altar.
It would be great if it worked, but since the possibility was low, I also brought the 2-star Skeleton Swordsman with me.
“Alright, would you like to step onto the altar?”
The moment I clicked on the altar to sacrifice the Skeleton Knight.
“?”
Suddenly Celia appeared, cut in front of the skeleton, and stepped onto the altar.
– The altar level is extremely low to sacrifice Celia (★★★★★★). Please upgrade the altar.
What is going on?
Why did Celia suddenly step onto the altar?
“Does it have some meaning?”
Celia just stood there on the altar.
My head tilted in confusion at the sight.
“Could it be that the command got mixed up somewhere?”
It had been going well so far, but suddenly the command got mixed up?
That possibility seemed unlikely.
“Ah, could it be rebellion?”
Did I do something to displease her? I closed my eyes and thought hard.
Of course, there was one thing that came to mind.
No, it seemed like more than one thing.
“Did I overwork her?”
Perhaps I made Celia do too much work?
For a moment, I felt that way.
Celia was in the position of Chief Administrator.
She had to manage not only the current dungeon but also the four subordinate dungeons.
She already had plenty to do, and there was a shortage of personnel to handle the work.
The solution to that was the Subordinate Officer system.
“The problem is truly the subordinate officers.”
The current subordinate officer under Celia was a worm-like monster.
Its name was Squirmer.
I didn’t even know where to use it, and even if I put it in the subordinate officer position, it was useless.
A worm couldn’t do work wriggling around, could it?
It was essentially a showy subordinate officer.
In the end, it probably didn’t help Celia.
“Hmm…”
Thinking that, I felt a little sorry.
But I had one excuse.
Actually, the last thing that came out of the subordinate officer gacha was Squirmer.
The problem was that a warning appeared stating that if I rejected even Squirmer, the price of subordinate officer gacha would double from then on.
The price of subordinate officer gacha was currently 10,000 jewels.
If it doubled from here, it would be a whopping 20,000.
Given that 5,000 jewels cost 110,000 won, it was quite a high price.
Of course, with my current abilities, I could earn that money quickly.
But I had to look at the future, not the present.
There was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be such disadvantages in the future, and the price might even continue to rise.
‘I’m sorry, Celia, but choosing Squirmer was the right decision.’
If there was a desperate need or a specific monster was required, there might be a situation where refusal was necessary.
At that time, it couldn’t be helped, but not now.
Celia looked somewhat dejected and stepped down from the altar.
“Since I feel sorry, I should do something for her.”
For example, a gift.
But I had something else to do right now.
“Shall we try again?”
The Skeleton Knight climbed onto the altar where Celia had stepped down.
– The altar level is too low to sacrifice the Skeleton Knight (★★★). Please upgrade the altar.
“…”
As expected, it wouldn’t work.
It seemed like 3-star monsters were out of the question with altar level 2.
“Just how high do I have to raise it?”
I wasn’t asking for 5 or 6 stars.
It would be best if I could reliably summon at least 4-star.
If I could go further and open a portal that allowed free passage, that would be great, but the possibility seemed slim.
Even if there was, the level would have to be exceptionally high.
“Wait a minute.”
Then, wouldn’t it be enough to just raise the altar level?
Come to think of it, I had upgraded the Dungeon Core, and there should still be offerings left.
As that thought occurred, I immediately took action. A new window appeared before my eyes.
– Trait “True Dungeon Master” has been activated.
First, I activated the trait.
– Absorbed offerings exist.
– Please select items to be rewarded with the absorbed offerings.
1) Dungeon Core Upgrade (Cannot be selected)
2) Dungeon Altar Upgrade (Cannot be selected)
3) Create Empty Dungeon
However, I couldn’t select them.
When I selected an item to see why it was unselectable, another window popped up.
– Insufficient number of offerings to upgrade this item.
There were not enough offerings.
Ultimately, I had no choice to make right now.
“Tsk.”
It couldn’t be helped.
Since it turned out this way, let’s move on.
The Skeleton Knight on the altar came down, and next, the Skeleton Swordsman went up.
– The altar level is too low to sacrifice the Skeleton Swordsman (★★). Please upgrade the altar.
No, this won’t work either?
“Huh…”
I didn’t expect even 2-star to fail.
This is really a disaster.
My deliberation didn’t last long. I knew that dwelling on it was meaningless since it wouldn’t work.
What was left was 1-star.
Since I had only considered skeleton types from the beginning, the choice was quick.
“Let’s go with the Skeleton Soldier.”
The 1-star monster that used a worn-out sword.
This time, the Skeleton Soldier stepped onto the altar.
– Sacrificing Skeleton Soldier.
– Warning! This monster is confirmed to belong to Master’s dungeon.
– Collision! This monster will be changed from sacrifice to summoning.
– There is a history of summoning belonging monsters before.
– [Monster Summon] has been unlocked.
– You will receive the Skeleton Soldier soon.
As expected, I can only summon 1-star for now.
Although it was disappointing, there was one major gain.
‘Monster Summon.’
Looking at this system, I realized that I didn’t need to bring the monster to the altar.
I just had to touch it, and the summon window would appear.
Furthermore, there was a set limit on the number of summonable individuals.
[Monster Summon] – (2/5)
– Maru (★★★★)
– Skeleton Soldier (★)
The total number of summonable individuals right now was five.
However, the purpose was not for combat but simply for housework.
“I don’t need to summon any more for now.”
Immediately after, a strong light emanated from the smartphone.
Having experienced summoning Maru, I quickly placed the smartphone on the floor.
Then, after a moment, the light disappeared, and a Skeleton Soldier appeared on the smartphone.
“Clap-!”
As soon as the soldier saw me, it bowed at a right angle.
“…”
What should I say?
Like Arch Lich and Maru, they all acted excessively.
‘Is this a characteristic of the undead?’
But I couldn’t say anything.
The soldier had just been summoned to Earth. It must have been bewildered by everything.
In such cases, it was necessary to assign a good senior.
“Maru.”
When I called out his name, Maru quickly rushed into the room.
“New recruit.”
I introduced the Skeleton Soldier next to me to Maru.
“By the way, it needs a name, right?”
Since it would be living at home with us, it needed a name.
“Hmm.”
This time, my deliberation was long.
Naming is always difficult, so I was cautious.
“How did I name Maru?”
I must have thought of him like a well-behaved dog…
“Yes, I’ve decided! From now on, your name is Coco.”
The new recruit immediately got a suitable name.
Maru and Coco.
It was a fitting name.
“Maru, please handover to Coco properly.”
Maru saluted and took Coco out of the room.
Now, if Coco also became proficient in housework, there would be truly nothing for me to worry about.
“Is this the life of a ruler?”
I lay on the bed for a moment and looked at the ceiling.
“Now, I just need to focus on getting stronger.”
Soon, I would enter the dungeon with Maru.
One regret was that Maru’s rank was 4-star.
It was equivalent to a B-Rank Hunter, but I wished it was a bit higher.
“Well, that’s a happy problem to have.”
*Crash*
Suddenly, I heard the sound of a dish breaking from beyond the door.
But I didn’t pay much attention.
‘They learn by doing that.’
While I was having such a meaningless thought.
*Ding-*
An alarm rang.
What is it?
I immediately looked at my smartphone.
– A Special Mission has occurred!
A Special Mission?
I immediately touched the screen.
– Dispatch Maru (★★★★) to the dungeon “Evil God’s Nest.”
– Reward: Maru (★★★★) 5-Star Transcendence Scroll
– Time Limit: 4 Hours
“Dispatch?”
After skimming the details, it was a mission to dispatch Maru.
The problem was the destination.
“Evil God’s Nest is my dungeon, right?”
It was the name of my owned dungeon.
Why would they send Maru there?
‘Is it in danger?’
But even so, Celia was in my dungeon.
Celia would be able to stop most intruders.
I wasn’t worried at all.
“I really can’t figure it out.”
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand why such a mission appeared.
But one thing was certain: the reward was good.
“If Maru reaches 5-star, it would be amazing.”
It would be almost like having an A-Rank Hunter by my side.
The problem was that I had to send Maru.
Based on my past dispatch experiences, there was a very low possibility of Maru returning right away.
“Should I live without Maru for a while?”
The fortunate thing was that I had brought Coco as Maru’s successor.
What’s more, there were still 4 hours of leeway until the Special Mission.
*Crash*
I heard another sound.
*Crash*
The sounds continued. I immediately got up and left the room.
“This is not the time for that.”
Something urgent came up.
I had to educate Coco for 4 hours with Maru!
