«The advantage of a labyrinth-type dungeon is that inciting strife inside the dungeon will spur the evolution of the monsters.»
"That sounds fun!"
Teto's eyes gleamed hearing the story of Dragon Grandpa while munching on sweets.
«Indeed. After repeated evolution, what's born are intelligent monsters capable of understanding words like Dire Wolves or Red Dragons. It depends on what a Dungeon Master requires, so not just monsters, some even manage to turn the challengers who died in the dungeon into Liches or Brave Spirits — given they have the necessary aptitude to become one — and then use them as handymen. There were also instances where Dungeon Masters summoned spirits and devils and left the management of the floors to them.»
"Oh?...... Now that's something unexpected, I didn't realize one could leave the dungeon floor management to high-ranking spirits...... You learn something new every day, huh? That sounds quite convenient."
Erneah-san chuckled, finding something new from Dragon Grandpa's story. Given it was her, who loved to skip work, she must be internally rejoicing at finding a new way to relegate her duties to others and getting away from them.
However, I was surprised by the revelation that such powerful monsters had been born inside dungeons, and even more so that the dungeon masters managed to control them.
I mean, I did not doubt that Dragon Grandpa could take down any monster attempting to break the contract and attack him, but it was a bit hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that some magicians employed devils, who could have done the same to their summoners, without fearing the consequence.
However, he further explained there were also cases during devil summoning where the summoner got tricked by the honeyed words of the crafty devils into forming a disadvantageous contract and then getting killed right before the contract could be bound.
In all likelihood, the devils had managed to twist the contracts for their benefit over time and devised provisions that were advantageous for them, like «Demonic Possession» of an evil cultist to strengthen themselves in today’s age—— such was the guess of Dragon Grandpa.
«There were also some outliers who created miasma-filled floors. Their way of defending their dungeon was leaving bones or corpses in the miasma. This would resurrect them in the form of undead, or, in some cases, the lingering attachment would cause the remnants of the dead to turn into ghosts though it wasn't easy to set it up and I was never fond of the method.»
"Well, I guess there would hardly be anyone who would like it......"
Miasma-type dungeons were formed by releasing a great number of actual monsters that had low summoning costs inside the dungeon, and by making them go through the cycle of breeding and cannibalism, the the result of this process was a high concentration of miasma.
Miasma was also just another, albeit cursed, form of mana so if its accumulation crossed past a certain threshold, it, too, was capable of birthing new monsters.
This was how they managed to produce mutated monsters that were otherwise not available in the dungeon's features.
Besides, miasma was harmful to the human body so that in itself served as a trap for the most part as well. However, there was no one way to produce miasma. For example, an impure environment would also be able to replicate the same thing.
I think the abandoned mine in Lariel's managed territory had gone through the same process, it pretty much checked all the boxes on how to turn a fine place into a miasma-filled region with disgusting monsters. I absolutely didn't want to have something like that inside my dungeon even by a long shot.
«Majou-dono has the world tree, which to be honest is an exception among exceptions when it comes to mana production. Had there been no world tree, the type of biotope Majou-dono would want to make would have to start small scale, which means less mana as well—— which was the typical case in dungeon creation.»
Erneah-san, too, assertively nodded at Dragon Grandpa's words.
«In normal cases, by carefully maintaining the food chain balance, which in turn would help the monsters propagate inside the dungeon, it is possible to obtain mana. You start by breeding weaker creatures that feed on plants, then limit their numbers with predatory creatures, and so on, working your way up step by step. That is one of the ways to secure mana.»
"It is indeed plausible and would work just fine. But what about the risk of stampedes in case their number ended up bloating?"
«This again goes back to a matter of balance. You can start by culling the monster population in moderation. The sole difficult aspect was how to keep higher species monsters in control, which can be achieved by putting actual summoned monsters in the group as their leader as the quasi-lifeforms will automatically move in a coordinated manner under the leader's orders.»
And when their numbers crossed the set threshold, you could naturally thin them out by giving orders.
A great trick indeed. Since actual monsters had their own free will, there was indeed the possibility of them trying to escape, but if it was just one of them, this would keep the situation under control, and pairing them with quasi-lifeforms was one way to control their breeding.
Well, they might be monsters, but thinning out their numbers would be enough to feed the surviving ones so it wouldn't cause any discontent among them as well.
"Interesting...... I would never have been able to come up with such tricks. Still, if we order to eliminate excess monsters, then......"
Following the same trick, we wouldn't have to be afraid of sea creatures having a population boom in the sea-type dungeon floors. Introducing suitable quasi-lifeform predators would be enough to balance out their population.
The biggest advantage of a quasi-lifeform monster was they were bound to follow the Dungeon Master's orders.
Well, this was the perk of having seniors in dungeon management I guess. Speaking of which,
"I have one question, do you happen to know why there are so few facilities to install in the beginning?"
«When a dungeon is born, it incorporates the materials of the surroundings and determines its characteristics based on the information of the absorbed magical power and materials. So based on what kind of monster mana it has perceived, the changes the land it has been born into has gone through, and the prominent elements from the land's history, matching facilities and objects would be available in the beginning.»
"I see......"
Well, that explained why there was a 'wilderness' option in the settings of the initial floor creation. For a long time, this land used to be a huge barren wasteland. All the grasslands and forests that could be seen today were the results of our hard work over the past few decades. So it was bound to have it following that logic.
«It takes time to get used to anything new. Besides, what a lot of dungeon masters find themselves at their wit's end with is the lack of materials they could use to feed the dungeon for replication. In contrast, Majou-dono's «Creation Magic» is basically the elusive key that turned this head-scratcher into child's play.»
"Well, we've already tried incorporating various things into our dungeon."
"Majou-sama created lots of things which increased the objects the dungeon can create!"
Listening to our report, Dragon Grandpa chuckled in amusement.
"We also had a headache initially and fumbled around a lot. We even sent the elves outside of the forest just to gather materials to create the facilities we wanted."
Erneah-san said with a reminiscing look in her eyes. I guess our conversation awakened memories of the hardship-filled days she went through in the beginning to manage the dungeon.
As we were immersed in our conversation, a silver-haired, tanned-skinned Dark Elf approached us.
"Erneah-sama, I'm here to fetch you! You had enough of a rest already! It's time to return!"
"Gah, Altair...... I can't escape, huh? Fine, then everyone, I bid my goodbye here."
A look of reluctance appeared on Erneah-san's face after seeing Altair-san, who had come to pick her up, accompanied by Baretta, though she didn't make any excuses this time and quietly returned with her.
I turned to glance at Baretta, who averted her gaze after seeing that. I guess she must have decided Erneah-san had enough rest and called Altair-san.
Well, knowing Erneah-san, she would have sulked and thrown a tantrum if Baretta called Altair-san immediately after her arrival.
«Since Fairy Queen-dono is leaving, I will take my leave as well. It was an enjoyable time, Majou-dono.»
Following his words, Dragon Grandpa spread his wings and flew in the direction of the Dragon-Demon settlement, where his nest was.
Hmm, I also managed to learn many new things and deepened my knowledge about ancient dungeons. Now, I could finally move on to create dungeon floors without reservation.
