Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 247 – Cad Dad Getting Ready for Dungeon Defense

“That will be 200 million PACTs.”

“Can’t you go any lower, munya?”

“Sorry. The cane of resurrection is too precious. Normally, we would never sell it to anybody. But in this case, your dungeon is located on the top of Anglerfish’s seal and the sanctuary, so we need you to be strong to protect this place. But still, our country needs funds to expand and strengthen our army.”

Xiaomao and Undine had been negotiating terms and the outstanding debt that the latter owed, and the price of war wasn’t cheap.

The Crystalized Karma of Poseidon was returned to Undine, and Xiaomao reluctantly paid 200 million PACTs to her. In return, Xiaomao got the Cane of Resurrection that John had been using and some ultra-rare set equipment for Andrew, Peter, and James.

After paying off the debt, the two mermaids excused themselves and traveled back to the Mermaid Kingdom with the money. Xiaomao went back to the dungeon core room to tamper with his dungeon. He didn’t notice that Cernun had been sneaking glances at him.

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“Are you worried, munya?”

Meowmeow was the only one who noticed Cernun’s thought. The cat patted the lizardman’s leg.

Cernun turned to the sealed dumpster, which connected to the sealed room of Anglerfish. He sighed and decided to be honest.

“Anglerfish is the cause of my death. Yes, I’m very concerned.”

“Want me to kill that MF for you, munya?”

“That can’t be a good idea either. Whenever one of the calamity-class fiends dies, its disciple or a relative will inherit the title and the power. I don’t know how many offspring of that blasphemous greedy fish has. I don’t want to risk it.”

“Mhm. That’s true. It’s that annoying game law.”

Meowmeow and Cernun looked at Taotie. This glutton calamitous beast laid on his back and showed everybody his belly, snoring and drooling.

Both the cat and the lizardman chuckled.

“Taotie has no child, right, munya?”

“Yeah. Xiaomao is technically his disciple, so the Law of Gluttony will automatically be passed down to him if THAT really happens.”

“But do you know the loophole of this law, munya?”

“THERE IS A LOOPHOLE?!” Cernun widened his eyes, deeply intrigued by the subject, “Is there a way to cheat this world’s law?!”

“Yes, munya. But this method requires Anglerfish’s cooperation. It also depends on Xiaomao if his foundation is strong enough to carry both SINS, munya.”

“Now that you mentioned it… His foundation is kinda…”

Cernun and Meowmeow looked at the treasure room’s door. Then, the former sighed.

“His strength may grow naturally because of this world’s law, but he doesn’t have enough combat experience.”

On the other hand, Meowmeow smirked, “Are you so senile that you forgot about Cathulhu’s bloodline abilities, munya?”

“!!!”

Mimir eavesdropped on the conversation and couldn’t help but ask them.

“Lord Meowmeow. What are Cathulhu’s bloodline abilities?”

“Hahaha! It relates to the absurd ability of Mao Miaomiao that made him what he is today, munya!”

Meowmeow wiggled his tail, and the entire boss room suddenly turned darker to the point that none of them could see any color but grey and black. All immortals widened their eyes in shock as they could barely move. Meanwhile, the gargoyle statues in the room looked around in panic as they suddenly couldn’t move.

“Have you ever heard of Pocket Dantian or a Dantian Universe, munya?”

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In the treasure room, Xiaomao operated the dungeon core and looked at its status. So far, the dungeon stabilized, and the second floor’s expansion was completed.

The B1 floor’s map expanded so wide that it covered over 10,000 square kilometers. Looking at the extension of the humongous maze, Xiaomao was amazed.

In the map, a thousand fire ants carried dirt and tools back to the boss room on the B1 floor, where Torrent and Fu De were residing. As for the ex-pirate and the vampire, they seemed to be getting along well since they were sitting in front of two 120-inch monitors, playing PC’s game “Fall Guy” and laughing at each other’s demise in-game.

Xiaomao couldn’t see their appearance or figure since the map only showed a rough icon and small images of the room. He wondered if Fu De and Torrent had recovered from their injuries.

“Those ants and mermaids turn my dungeon into a freaking backroom. Should I add a few Bacteria or Smilers to complement that, munya?”

Thinking of smilers, Xiaomao thought of the Dimensional Spiders that Yuan Shaoqing summoned into the palace. It had a similar characteristic, appearance, and threatening aura.

However, Dimensional Creatures were hostile to living beings. Xiaomao didn’t understand how Yuan Shaoqing’s underling managed to tame those creatures.

‘I guess I have to make do with those mannequins. Speaking of which, Andrew and Peter volunteered to work on them.’

Xiaomao checked the number of his dungeon’s residents.

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<strong>Slave Dungeon Status</strong>

Max Population: 100,000

Total Population: 51,250

Total Floors: 6

Max Mana Capacity: 100,000,000

Current Mana: 100,000,000

Mana Gathering Rate (Per Second): 5,000,000

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<strong>Dungeon Levels</strong>

First Floor – Cave Level

B1 Floor – Lobby Level

B2 Floor – Bridge Level

B3 Floor – Fire Ant Nest

B4 Floor – Residential Area Level

B5 Floor – Mermaid Lake Level

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Undine took care of his dungeon well. It looked nice at a glance, but the number of residents troubled Xiaomao as most of them were turned mermaids and mannequins.

He thought of the obelisk towers in the guild war.

‘I wish I had those towers in my dungeon. Placing it behind the bridge sounds nice.’

Xiaomao sighed and shook his head, getting rid of the useless thoughts. He continued operating the dungeon OS and brought out the blank deed that he had.

The blank deed had multiple usages in his previous life. By submitting the deed to one of the kingdoms, the deed’s owner could obtain a fief or a castle for free!

However, dungeon masters could also use the deed as a free ticket to expand their dungeon floor size, establish a country, or create a new dungeon floor. Xiaomao hesitated about what he should do with the deed.

Facing a dilemma, Xiaomao closed his eyes and concentrated. He began using the elimination process.

‘I need to prepare for potential war and a dungeon raid. Pangu and Odin probably won’t leave me alone.’

As soon as Xiaomao thought of Pangu and Odin, a global announcement sounded, and he received messages from the game system.

DING

<Global Event!>

<A calamity-class fiend has been residing on a rural island, north of Seaside Town. Eyewitnesses said that there was a Gnoll Dungeon on one of the islands, and the fiend might be residing there.>

<The ruler of Asgard, Odin, has formed an alliance with the Church of Pangu. They are launching a crusade against the calamity fiend Taotie, and they are recruiting aspired warriors to join them!>

Seeing the announcement, Xiaomao had a rough idea of what he should do.

Currently, Gnoll Island’s surface was a mountain and a forest. Surrounding the island was shallow coral reefs and the vast sea. The ideal defensive structure would be a hybrid port-fortress, surrounding the island with layers of walls and citadels.

Xiaomao didn’t need a deed to proclaim the island as a part of his territory. As he belonged to the Mermaid Kingdom, he could ask for a deed of the island and the necessary material to construct a fort on the surface. Unfortunately, the project was impossible to finish in 7 days.

This left Xiaomao with an obvious choice – expanding and strengthening his dungeon. Now, Xiaomao had to pick between a floor’s expansion and creating a totally new floor.

Xiaomao glanced at the map of the B1 floor. It was a chaotic maze with traps and patrolling mannequins, which might not be enough to stop the Asgard and the Pangu Church, let alone, the players.

‘I need a dummy floor to stall for time.’

After a long thought, Xiaomao made his decision. He held the deed and pressed the [Build New Floor] button.

DING

The OS prompted him with four options to pay for the expansion. He could pay with PACTs, a blank deed, the dungeon’s mana, or sacrifices.

Xiaomao never knew about this feature since no dungeon master disclosed this type of information. He checked the requirement for the expansion, wondering if he could avoid using the blank deed.

Paying with PACT was slightly expensive. It cost one million PACT for a one square kilometer floor. If Xiaomao wanted it bigger, the price increased according to the size and proportion.

Dungeon Mana seemed a lot cheaper, considering that Dungeon Mana was free. Similar to PACT, it cost a million mana for one square km.

Looking at the value and the mana regeneration rate of the dungeon, using the Dungeon Mana seemed to be a better choice here.

Xiaomao already made his decision to use the dungeon mana for now and keep the blank deed for another occasion. However, he was curious about what the sacrifice requirement was. He read the description.

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<strong>Sacrifices</strong>

Corpses of residents, invaders, and guests of the dungeon are automatically consumed by the dungeon. Whenever someone dies in your dungeon, you will always obtain DP, aka Dungeon Points, which can be exchanged for Dungeon Master’s skill books, spellbooks, and many goodies that can improve the dungeon!

The amount of obtainable DP depends on the quality of the sacrifices. For example, if a level-100 invader or guest dies in your dungeon, you will obtain 100 DP as a reward. However, if a level-100 resident dies, you will obtain only 1 DP.

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Noticing that he could gain skill books and spellbooks with DP, Xiaomao was excited.

“Okay! For now, I want a 100 square km floor, munya!”

RUMBLE

After pressing the button, Xiaomao inserted the newly created floor between the B1 and B2 floors, pushing down the existing levels lower. A blank floor appeared under the LEVEL-0 Backroom.

Xiaomao patiently waited for 20 seconds, allowing the dungeon to regenerate its mana. Because of the sacred water, the mana recovery was abnormally quick.

After 20 seconds, the mana pool was full. Xiaomao turned his attention to the expansion option of the new B2 floor.

The price was steep. After expanding a floor to 100 square km, that same floor required ten times the amount to expand. The B2 floor could only be increased by 10 square km at a time.

Xiaomao didn’t care. He expanded the B1 floor and waited 20 seconds. Then, he repeated the process until it reached the size of 1,000 square kilometers. Then, the increment kicked in.

Now, it cost 100 million mana for one square kilometer.

Xiaomao stopped there and shifted his attention to the other levels.

“This is how you use your dungeon mana cheat, munya!”