Edited By: Sebas Tian

  [Name : – (F)]

  [Race/Position : Crazy Ant / Princess Ant]

  [Class : Evil Spirit (Low Rank)]

Maybe it's because they haven't been registered as a spirit, but when compared to the Goblins that he saw for the first time at the Virtual Space, there were a lot of sections that weren't shown.

'They're definitely a kid.'

Since they were a young princess, their potential related to development was quite low. However, they had a lot of development routes and since their current skills were really low, their growth rate was pretty big.

'What's emotion?'

He had an idea, but it wasn't convincing enough.

Yong-Ho waved his finger into the air and checked each other development route of the Princess Ant. There was a bit of a difference, but above the Princess Ant that currently looked like a 12-year-old, there was a silhouette of a girl that was slightly more mature.

'Will she grow up once she evolves?'

There must be a development route after she evolves, because there were two boxes of light above the Princess Ant's head. He could probably confirm it after registering them as a spirit.

Yong-Ho deactivated the Power of Evolution after thinking about the Queen Ant for a moment. It's because he felt someone behind him.

"Did you call for me, sir?"

"I was out for too long, huh?"

Yong-Ho jokingly asked as he turned around. Eligor answered with his usual warm smile.

"You came back just in time. You've been pushing yourself to the limit, so you should rest well."

It went along smoothly. Yong-Ho waved at the Kobold again and left the prison with Eligor. He spoke as they walked towards the throne room.

"How's the constructions coming along?"

"We've finished installing the basic traps. There are more advanced traps, but since we didn't have the material, we just cleaned it up so that we can quickly install it when we have the materials."

Traps and spirits were needed when it came to defending the dungeon.

The dungeon facilities and traps were like the castle walls and the spirits were like the soldiers that protected the castle.

Yong-Ho decided to focus more on the traps and the dungeon facilities.

If the castle walls are tall and thick, then the weakest soldiers can hold off the enemies.

They arrived at the throne room faster than they expected. Catalina had been waiting in front of the throne room and she opened the door.

Yong-Ho walked across the large room and after sitting on the throne, he lightly stretched his body. He asked Eligor, who was standing next to the throne.

"What do I need to buy?"

"First…I created a budget sheet based on the traps that you instructed us to build."

Eligor took out a piece of paper that was in his inner pocket and gave it to Yong-Ho. It was a list of materials that they needed in order to build the various traps.

"And this is an assumption that I made regarding the gold mine's current worth."

The second document contained the depth of the mine, the amount of gold that was currently there, how much gold they'll be able to obtain in a month and the total worth of the mine based on the previous information.

The dungeon's gold mine was similar, yet different, from the one in the human world.

The fact that there was gold in the mine was the same, but the mining method was different.

In the human world, it's normal for people to go into the mine and keep digging until they find the gold, but in the dungeon's gold mine, mana is used to mine the gold.

'Dungeon Facility : Gold Mine' was what was registered and now they were able to freely activate the room. After it's been activated, mana is continuously poured into it and it automatically mines the gold.

On the surface of the mine, lumps of gold are created, just like crystals. It automatically mines the gold when it's completely filled and it slowly repeats the process.

That's why, the dungeon's gold mine needed someone to collect, not mine.

When the owner from three generations ago didn't collect the lumps of gold, the Queen Ant, who devoured various ores and mana, ate all of it, so they had no choice but to produce new gold.

After analyzing Eligor's reports, Yong-Ho made sure the Spirit of the Dungeon memorized the list of materials as well as the various details. They were materials he needed to get during the "bargaining" session he'll have with Sitri momentarily.

'Mana potion.'

Sitri was right. Even if the weapons were high-quality, if there wasn't any magic casted on them, trading in 20 weapons wasn't enough to purchase one bottle and it was understandable.

It was an item that recovered mana instantly and it even strengthened it too.

But Sitri gave Yong-Ho four bottles of mana potion without any hesitation.

Sitri said it was a 'fair trade,' but Yong-Ho didn't agree.

In some ways, it was a debt.

"You know, when I first ascended to the throne."

"Sir?"

Eligor and Catalina both looked at Yong-Ho. Yong-Ho asked Eligor.

"Was it a coincidence that Sitri came as the witness?"

In order to ascend to the throne, there needed to be three witnesses, but since they couldn't call anyone, they contacted the dungeon shop and asked them to send someone.

When he first ascended, it was something he heard from Catalina.

He thought nothing of it until now. But when he saw how Sitri acted, he didn't think it was a coincidence. The fact that she was close to Kaiwan, the owner from three generations, was proof.

Eligor remained quiet for a moment and then answered.

"It was the will of the owner from two generations ago. To visit when the dungeon is about to collapse. That they'll help at least once….."

They were definitely someone that visited the House of Mammon often. Yong-Ho kept asking.

"The previous owners never saw Sitri?"

"When the previous owners ascended, Sitri visited the owners once."

Based on that information, there's a high chance that she participated as a witness when Kaiwan ascended.

Yong-Ho touched his chin.

"How did the previous owners treat her?"

"They didn't treat her in a special way. From what I know, when they visited the Virtual Space to trade, they never saw her."

The previous owner and the owner before that were walking down road to ruin.

Did Sitri not help those two owners?

Sitri expressed her emotions regarding Kaiwan. In Yong-Ho's eyes, the emotion that she had was a form of attachment.

Kaiwan. The owner from two generations ago and the previous owner. Yong-Ho himself.

Yong-Ho organized his mind. He hit the handle of the throne and spoke.

"Great, they say to strike while the iron is hot. Shall we get started?"

When he spoke cheerfully, a bright expression appeared on Catalina and Eligor's face. Out of the two, Yong-Ho kept his eye on Eligor.

"But before that."

Yong-Ho closed his eyes and instead of connecting to the Virtual Space, he stood up. He placed his hand on top of Eligor's shoulder.

"I said I'd evolve you when I came back, right?"

Yong-Ho activated the Power of Evolution. Eligor's development slowly filled up, but it was finally at 100.

Eligor looked at Yong-Ho with a nervous look and replied in a slightly quiet tone.

"I ask that you develop my stamina."

"Your reason?"

"My body has been aching lately…"

Yong-Ho smiled at his realistic, yet practical reason. Catalina, who experienced it twice, looked at Eligor excitedly.

"Close your eyes and just relax."

Eligor closed his eyes and relaxed his body. Yong-Ho grabbed Eligor's shoulder and gathered the mana and Catalina, her gleaming eyes disappeared when she noticed that something was odd. She slightly opened her eyes.

Yong-Ho closed his eyes as if he was trying to ignore it. He poured the Power of Evolution into Eligor.

  &

Yong-Ho opened his eyes. Since he visited the Virtual Space several times, it felt familiar to him.

"Oh…"

But when he looked around, he couldn't find Sitri. An infinite, white space was the only thing that was here.

"We welcome you to the dungeon shop's Virtual Space."

"Please select your desired trade."

Letters of light that he's never seen before appeared before him.

Yong-Ho kind of hesitated for it bit because the message sounded like something he saw at an ATM machine. But he turned his attention to the list under it.

And in that moment.

The letters of light split into two and a darkness appeared. It looked as if a savage beast used their claw to cut apart a white, Korean traditional piece of paper.

Sitri appeared within between the dark space and when she entered the white space, the darkness disappeared completely as if it never existed.

"Valuable customer, you should've contacted me ahead of time."

A bitter smile appeared on his face when he heard Sitri's criticizing words.

"Is there a way for me to contact you?"

"Let's see, if I'm in charge of the House of Mammon, then I should've provided you a way to contact me."

Sitri replied with ease as she flicked her finger. A comfortable chair appeared behind Yong-Ho and Sitri.

"It's nice to see that you're safe. Have you recaptured the gold mine?"

"I've succeeded thanks to you."

"Then, I guess you're here to do a trade."

Their conversation flowed naturally. Maybe it's because he's seen her a couple of times, but Yong-Ho was able to remain calm in front of her.

"I would like to purchase some items by using the gold mine as collateral. Also…"

"Also?"

"I want to pay the proper amount for the mana potions."

Sitri didn't answer right away. She slightly opened her eyes as if she was looking into Yong-Ho's mind and looked at him. She spoke with a faint smile on her face.

"I guess you really liked it."

Yong-Ho didn't disagree. The mana potion was extremely useful. The fact that it recovered mana within seconds was more important than how it strengthened it. When he thought about how Aamon released a stronger fire the more mana he had, it was a special item that helped increased Yong-Ho's fighting strength.

And he received four of those.

He was unsure of his relationship with Sitri, so the four bottles of mana potion was debt.

Sitri stretched her shoulders.

"It is important to properly recognize an item's worth. If you were trying to obtain it based on desire…I don't think I can properly call it greed. I've said this in the beginning, but I'm starting to like you even more."

Kaiwan was the same. That sharp child wasn't different.

Sitri didn't reminisce. She looked at Yong-Ho in the present.

"But like I've explained on that day, it was a fair trade. And it was a piece of information that was more important than you think. So don't worry about it. I won't be providing you with mana potions from now on anyways."

Sitri straightened her back after being straightforward. She immediately changed the subject.

"Let's talk about the gold mine. I'm sure you've obtained information about the mine's current worth, right?"

"Currently, we've estimated it to be worth about this much."

Yong-Ho also didn't show any regrets. He waved his finger into the air and showed Sitri the information he asked the Spirit of the Dungeon to memorize.

"Hm. It's more than what I expected."

Kaiwan, the King of Distortion, disappeared not long after they found the gold mine.

Not long after Kaiwain's younger sibling ascended to the throne, the Crazy Ants took the gold mine, so there was a lot of gold stored in the mine.

"Your estimation of the current worth is quite reasonable. But you can't purchase items with the current estimation. There will be a slight calculation. And we have to actually inspect it from our side as well."

A pawn shop, where they would lend you money based on the item's worth, didn't exist.

In terms of stability, the House of Mammon's current gold mine wasn't the best. It's because they had to prepare themselves to guard the dungeon soon.

Within moments, Eligor's calculation regarding the worth of the mine dropped by almost half. But Yong-Ho didn't care. After accepting the fact that it was within the expected range, he raised his finger again and spun it in the air.

"These are the items that I would like to purchase."

The list had materials that Eligor requested for the traps and it also had various items to help them live in the dungeon.

"You still have a lot of money left. Will you be using the remaining to purchase a spirit?"

Of course he was thinking about purchasing a spirit. But, there was something else he had to purchase before that.

Yong-Ho leaned forward a bit. The distance between him and Sitri closed a bit and he spoke.

"I want to purchase information."

"Are you talking about Foras's information?"

Sitri asked right away as if she was really interested.

Yong-Ho pulled his body towards the back of the chair.

He definitely wanted to know about Foras and their spirits. But what Yong-Ho wanted was something more basic than that.

"Why is Foras trying to attack the House of Mammon? What's causing his movements? That's what I want to know."

The House of Mammon was pretty weak when the last two owners were alive, but Foras didn't do anything then. So, why were they making their move now? Was it simply because the owner died and the shield weakened?

The Imp explained.

That if the Orcs failed, then they'll bring an actual army and attack the House of Mammon's dungeon.

Foras made a firm decision. And there had to be a reason as to why they were making their move.

Sitri slightly opened her eyes again. A long grin appeared on Sitri's face as she looked at Yong-Ho.

End.

Chapter end