Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 261 (Patreon)

Chapter 261 – How Far We’ve Come

Swamptown was busy, as it always was. Ever since the portal hub had been put in, there had been a constant stream of people moving through the town, and more and more permanent residents moved in. Actually, with just under two thousand residents, Swamptown could now be considered a small city.

With that change, the borders of Swamptown had grown, to accommodate the newcomers. Not only that, but the temporary prefabricated buildings that had once been a staple of the town, due to how they could easily be set up out in the swamp, were now gone, with even the military recruitment center getting a permanent building put up.

While officially Swamptown stretched a good four square miles, the majority of the businesses in town were located firmly in the corridor now known as Demon’s Due, which stretched from the entrance to the dungeon proper, past the portal hub and my cathedral, and on, to the spaceport. That mile of territory was the most hotly contested bit of land in the entire town. Businesses that could get on Demon’s Due were larger, and more successful, than those that couldn’t, but that didn’t stop other businesses from setting up elsewhere, and playing on the “We’re not like those big stores” rhetoric to get people in the door. And, of course, there were also all the businesses that did not need the visibility of being on the main strip to survive.

Obviously, that included what industry Swamptown had. Things like the Crankshaft Brewery, where Bill Crankshaft was turning the plants and materials from the dungeon into some of the best beer, ale, and other intoxicating beverages around. Recently, he’d hired a beekeeper, and got him to look after a few hives that they’d put in on one of the farming floors I let him and some other industrious people access. Apparently, he wanted to try his hand at making mead.

Of course, those ‘farming floors’ were just that. Separate floors, tended by monsters, but set as safe zones, so that people could grow crops. All these people needed a lot of food, and it was my goal for Swamptown to be completely self-sufficient, even if the portals could be used to jump all across the world. If Swamptown’s people were not reliant on anyone but me for their food, power, and other such things, then they would think twice about crossing me. The fact that dungeon-grown food tasted better was a happy bonus.

Actually, that wasn’t the only benefit from eating the food. I’d noticed that people who ate only food that came from the dungeon were leveling up more quickly than other people. When I looked into it, apparently the high mana density of the food aided in the gaining of experience. Not enough to be noticeable, of course, unless you made it your entire diet, but for those people, they were looking at a 5-10% increase in their experience gain. Even the merchants and people who focused on their professions were gaining levels more quickly.

Another benefit of the dungeon food was that everyone was healthier, and better looking. Oh, it didn’t change their stats at all, but people who ate mostly dungeon food were less likely to catch common ailments, and their hair and skin all looked healthier. At the same time, you had to really work at it to get fat off dungeon food, which was just another bonus.

That had led to the rise of another profession that did not require much visibility for success. About half a mile back from Demon’s Due was another strip. However, instead of normal businesses, the places on Red Street were all strip clubs and brothels.

You’d think that, with the nature of my dungeon, people wouldn’t need such establishments, but, well, not everyone was willing to take the risk of going into the dungeon, and there were always people stopping over from points around the portal network. And, because Swamptown was technically an extralegal haven, the only regulations on what could be done came from me. Those regulations basically boiled down to ‘no killing’, but most of the places had System contracts in place, to ensure that anyone who went too far paid the price. And, thanks to the food and magic, the girls (and guys) always looked the best, were clean, and there was no risk of getting an unwanted child support payment out of the mix.

Honestly, I was pretty proud of how the town had grown. Especially since all I had done was put in the infrastructure, and made sure to update things as the town grew. This wasn’t my design, but the natural growth of a community that wanted to be in my domain.

And it wasn’t like I wasn’t benefiting from this, either. Everyone in my domain gave me a trickle of mana and anima, just for being there. And over sixty percent of the population had converted to my church, and that number was growing, even with my strict command of never forcing any free person to convert. If a master forced a slave to convert, that was their business, of course, but I wasn’t going to do like some of those ‘light’ gods, and force people to follow me.

Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t a bit sneaky. People who followed me found that their time in the dungeon was more manageable, and so they grew in power faster. More importantly, everyone saw them gain levels faster, which only added more incentive. Add on the fact that my followers had a discount on services like cleansing and healing spells from the Cathedral, which was the largest church in town? Well, that made the smart play for those who stayed in Swamptown to follow me.

It wasn’t just the dungeon town that had grown. Kamyzny, the isolated town in Siberia, had seen a sudden boom in population, as people looking to get away from the Russian regime made their way to what was considered a haven, protected by my power. The oligarchs’ mining companies tried to make a play, but seeing their very expensive equipment get eaten by slimes deterred them. And I only had to leave one warning that any further attempts would result in ‘unfortunate accidents’ occurring to the ones actually giving the orders before they backed off. The fact that the warning was given by a mercenary company showing up in the oligarch’s bedroom without setting off any of his security was completely besides the point.

Suffice to say, Kamyzny was thriving. I demolished the power plant and replaced it with my System-based power generation, and did the same for the satellite company. Kamyzny was now effectively self-reliant, like Swamptown was. And, of course, they could easily commute to Swamptown to help in the farms, which were large enough to support them, as well as Swamptown. So, everyone had food to eat, even when winter was at its worst.

Of course, I wasn’t going to turn Kamyzny into an industrial powerhouse. The people didn’t want that, first and foremost. And I was fine with that. It helped that I had no need of the rare materials that the mining company wanted. Turned out that the material was Mithril, and a dungeon can create mithril, once I took a sample. I had regenerating nodes of mithril and other ores in my mines, and the goblins and lizardfolk turned out to be competent miners, when properly equipped and organized.

The amount of ore they collected was not really ‘industrial scale’ by modern standards, of course. There’s only so much that you can do with hand tools, after all. However, I had enough to start upgrading the gear my minions had, and start selling some to local metalworkers, both in Swamptown and Kamyzny. Their artisans were already starting to make impressive works, once they got used to the material, and mithril was much easier to enchant than steel was.

Of course, between the higher quality gear that adventurers were either making, buying, or gaining from the dungeon, and the levels they were earning thanks to constant battles, the number of people who had advanced to the cusp of Tier 2, or even surpassed it, had grown. In fact, at least one or two groups every week were clearing my dungeon now.

That meant it was time to expand the main part of the dungeon again. But, if I was going to expand, I needed to come up with a new theme. So far, every three levels of the dungeon had a theme to them, save only floors 7 through 9. Those floors were the Rest Floor where Shannon, Freyja’s priestess resided, the Ranger’s Mansion, along with the haunted woods outside, and the Black Temple. However, floors 1-3 were basically slime and plant monster swamps. Floors 4-6 were sentient (or at least sapient) monsters, with the Goblins, Lizardfolk, and Vurlocks enjoying the spotlight. And floors 10-12 were the Atlantean Ruins, culminating in the Arena which was my current final floor.

If I was going to expand, I wanted to make sure my next three floors had a theme. But what theme did I want to go with? I mean, I could repeat a theme from an earlier floor, but that felt cheap, like a tv show retreading the same few plots again and again until no one cared any more. No, I needed something new. Something different.

Wait a minute. Did I really have to reinvent the wheel? I had plenty of options from the creatures and sources I already had that I wasn’t using. Yes, I’d done swampy settings for most of my dungeon, but I wasn’t a Swamp dungeon. I could change that, easily enough.

So, what if I started doing three floors at a time of different environments? That way, I could throw different hazards at the adventurers, and not just be retreading ways of making a swamp dangerous.

With that in mind, what environment should I do first? I was tempted to do arctic or volcanic, since the local adventurers would be completely unprepared for something like that, but it would be rude to just throw them into something like that. And I really wanted them to be accustomed to the idea of elemental floors before I hit them with three straight water levels. No, I should pick something easier for my first featured environment.

In the end, I decided that the best choice for the next three floors would be a Desert motif. And, with that in mind, I decided that each elemental ‘set’ would include a slime/plant floor, a monster floor, and an undead floor, though not always in that order. That way, I could keep some internal consistency, as I moved through the different types of terrain.

Better still, having the different creature types being the star of each floor would allow me to easily use all the different features of an environment, without unduly disadvantaging my creatures. Slimes would do just fine in the open sand, but goblins would prefer a cliff face, near an oasis. And undead could be placed in a fallen fort, or even an ancient crypt, full of mummies and other horrors.

I was about to start designing the new floors when an alarm went off, interrupting my flow. Ah, yes. I was supposed to go and have a talk with the Fimaazro Ambassador, because she’d been hearing about all the things going on over on Bluemountain. I guess she was worried that I was starting religious wars, or something, since that could make for all kinds of complications for her.

I sighed, and put aside my design plans, resolving to return to them just as soon as I put the good Ambassador’s fears to rest. I dressed in all black, but kept my ‘demon’ form, rather than a more human guise. With a thought, I turned to black smoke, and transferred myself to my shrine in Tokyo. I had enough believers there that I could just make it to the Embassy without straying too far from my territory.

I still had some time to spare before the meeting, so I manifested myself near the shrine, appearing out of a puff of smoke. Startled a few of the locals, but Tokyo residents were built differently. Other than a couple brief looks, everyone just continued on their way, intent on getting to their destinations.

I smiled as I walked down the street, and slipped my hands into the long, black trench coat with holes for my wings to slip through, and my symbol on the back. I really ought to get out, among the people more often. Maybe once the floors were designed, I could pop over to Kmyzny, and chat with the locals directly? Probably be good PR to be seen asking their opinions about what the town needed.

Ah well, no one told me that being both a dungeon and a god would be so much work, but at least I got plenty of fun to go along with it!