The meeting came to an end. The monsters quickly left to attend to their own duties. Only Venus remained; she did not have anything important to do during the day. Without anyone else to witness her, the succubus strode to Iris and playfully placed her hands on her mistress" shoulders. She gently started ma.s.saging Iris.Iris did not try to stop the succubus. She was already used to her playful acts. No matter what she said, the succubus would never listen and always push the boundaries. Furthermore, she had to admit that Venus" ma.s.sages were very relaxing.
"Was it Chris who sent you a message earlier? You guys don"t chat that often," whispered the succubus.
"Enn. It was him."
"What was he saying this time?"
"Nothing much. I just told him that I revealed his dungeon location to Vultex; he did not seem too upset nor happy about it. You know we are both busy with our own dungeons. We have only been sending each other one message per day. It"s quite funny; it"s as if we are both avoiding each other."
"What are you planning to do then? I hope you are not going to sell off the dungeon to him," said Venus.
Iris lightly laughed. "Does it look like I am going to do something like this? This dungeon is mine. We might work together with him in the future but I will still retain control of it. Besides, I am not crazy about him or anything."
"Kimmy, I have eyes, you know. I think it is quite amazing for you to not have moved on after two years."
"Well, it"s mostly due to the fact that I did not get the opportunity to. After they got rid of him, my family prevented me from leaving the family house. I was like a bird in a cage until the day I was forced to marry into the Penmark Family. I did not meet anyone else; he was the only person in my heart. But now, the situation is different. He holds a special place in my heart but I don"t know if we will end up together again." Iris" expression changed as she let out a sigh.
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"My parents approved my relationship with him because they could use his contacts to develop their own business. Once they established their own ties and found a stronger backer in the form of the Penmark Family, they plotted to separate us. The wish I used might look like a big waste to you, but to me, it was more of a way to pay Chris back for everything he did. It is thanks to him that my family developed to this point and I could live comfortably."
"I don"t owe him anything now. What happens next will be up to him." Iris let out a faint smile. "I am waiting for him but now, I am no longer in cage; I can also meet other people."
Venus quietly listened to Iris" story while gently ma.s.saging her. "Humans are really strange creatures. You said you are willing to meet other people but you always act so distant with them and refuse to talk to them. It is obvious that you only think of him. Is that what you call love?"
"Maybe? You"ll understand one day when you find someone special. He might do silly things, be clumsy and have a bad temper but somehow, you will still want to be around him," answered Iris with a relaxed expression. The succubus was slowly numbing her senses; she felt comfortable and completely safe.
"But I already know that feeling. That"s why I am staying with you," answered the Succubus with a playful expression.
"Mmm" Iris did not bother to answer. She knew the Succubus was just teasing her. She did not want to move from her seat but the next second, she was forced to:
[System Announcement: The third trial has officially come to an end. Congratulations to all dungeon masters who pa.s.sed. Rewards will be distributed according to the Destruction Points acc.u.mulated. Please make good use of your reward. The next trial will begin in twenty days.]
[System prompt: The quest "The Third Trial" has come to an end. Evaluating performance...]
[System prompt: Final result: 13528/10000 Destruction Points. Final Rating: Pa.s.sable]
[System prompt: You have been awarded a Phantom Core.]
Iris mumbled and quickly straightened her back. "Venus. The third trial has just finished. I received a reward too."
She took out the Phantom Core and showed it to the succubus. The Phantom Core had a similar appearance to her own dungeon core but the insides of the core were completely hidden by a thick white mist.
Venus grabbed the Phantom Core with curiosity. "It is the first time I am seeing something like that. Do you know how to use it? Maybe we should use your own dungeon core?"
"Maybe. The player system did not give any explanation on how to use it," acquiesced Iris.
They quickly left the meeting room and entered the secret tunnel, leading to the depth of the dungeon. Iris" dungeon did not consist only of the town, the whole area under the surface had also been rearranged into different floors. These floors were used for various purposes; each race had at least one floor dedicated to them where they could rest away from the town.
Iris" dungeon core was located on the very last floor. If an invader wanted to get his hand on the dungeon core, he would have to go through several floors full of monsters before reaching it.
Venus happily led the way. She hopped along the way, chatting with the monsters they encountered. Iris had a more reserved and calmer att.i.tude. She briefly greeted the monsters and tried to engage in conversations. She tried many times to break the wall between them but her efforts were in vain; aside from her boss monsters, all her monsters still treated her as their mistress rather than their friend.
They soon arrived at the final room. As soon as they opened the door, they saw the dungeon core excitedly flashing on the table; it had sensed the presence of the Phantom Core. Iris felt the Phantom Core jumping out of her hands. She did not stop it and the Phantom Core quickly flew right into her own dungeon core and was absorbed in an instant.
[System prompt: Congratulations Player Iris. The Core of Matriarchy has been upgraded to Grade 1]
[System prompt: The Core of Matriarchy can now display an additional effect: [Matriarchy]- Increase all the stats of female monsters by 1%.]
[System prompt: A new monster has been automatically unlocked in the dungeon shop. The Clay Fairies can now be purchased directly. One Clay Fairy is ready to be summoned.]
...
At the same time, Five received a similar series of system prompts:
[System prompt: The quest "The Third Trial" has come to an end. Evaluating performance...]
[System prompt: Final result: 32554/10000 Destruction Points. Final Rating: Good]
[System prompt: You have been awarded two Phantom Cores, One Premium Monster Lottery Ticket and One Drop of Universal Blood.]
Five froze as soon as the system prompts sounded. He was sitting alone in the meeting room, staring at the interface of the dungeon core. The dungeon returned to its original state; the monsters fought against the barbarians as usual but the overall mood of the dungeon was gloomy. The monsters knew some changes were coming and they did not like it.
The dungeon core flashed at the end of the announcements. It seemed to have detected the presence of the Phantom Cores. Five maintained a straight face despite the dungeon core"s excited expression.
"What? You want those Phantom Cores? You think I forgot about [Surrender to Madness] and how you tried to get my soul? What is the point of feeding you if you come back to bite my hand?"
The dungeon core flashed. It looked pitiful and seemed to whimper but Five"s stare did not soften. In the end, the dungeon core did not get its hand on the Phantom Cores. Five did not feel any need to improve the grade of the dungeon core. On the contrary, it might create more trouble for him if Lavenus became strong enough to plot more complex schemes. He would rather wait to find a solution to this problem before upgrading it. He might antagonize the Mad King Lavenus, but the latter was the one who made the first move.
Five left the two Phantom Cores to rot in his inventory and took out the other two items.
[Premium Monster Lottery Ticket.]
Activate to unlock a random monster in the dungeon shop. The monster is guaranteed to be above level 30 or is guaranteed to be a societal monster. The user can also select the attribute of the monster.
[Drop of Universal Blood]
Use on any monster to trigger its bloodline. The monster will have a chance to evolve. The chances of evolving successfully will depend on the level of the monster and the purity of its bloodline.
"Mmm. That"s it for the rewards? Disappointing and my final rating is only "Good"? I wonder how well the other dungeon masters did."
"Now, it is going to be a ha.s.sle to choose who to give the blood to. I suppose I have to check the chances of success first."
Five clicked his tongue and looked at the empty meeting room.
"Perfect timing. I will also use the opportunity to announce the new system." He stood up and went to look for the Boss Monsters. After a few days of thinking, it was time to announce the new way the dungeon would function.