Chương 30: Maintenance Window

Late at night, after watching the last adventurer party leave the dungeon, Owen finally got his private time. Outside, most of the adventurers had already returned to their tents, and the Guild had officially ended today's challenge queue as well. Owen casually set the dungeon to closed to new challengers, just in case someone suddenly barged in during the middle of the night and interrupted his construction plans. He swept a glance over Cyrus and the others inside the confinement rooms.

Seeing that all five of those guys had drifted off one after another, Owen temporarily decided to treat them as breathing background decorations. As long as he did not actively switch his view over to them, those five were basically no different from quiet furniture. Good. At last, no one was running around inside the dungeon. He no longer had to watch one adventurer party after another enter and leave while shoving every construction plan to the back of his mind. New areas. New routes. New scenes.

He could finally start building all of them. Inside the Core Chamber, Owen's light brightened little by little. It was the kind of excitement only an engineer who had stayed up late and finally reached the maintenance window could understand.

"Maintenance window open." Owen first glanced at his current energy balance. One look was all it took for an excited cheer to ring through the entire Core Chamber. [Soul Energy: 21, 224] He quickly pulled up the revenue records. On the screen, a dense row of detailed entries flew past. They were the accumulated gains from adventurer parties constantly challenging the dungeon throughout the day. Looking at them individually, none of the gains were especially exaggerated.

There had not actually been as many parties that stubbornly fought until they were wiped out as he had imagined. Instead, the largest portion of his revenue came from the parties that entered quickly, lost members quickly, and retreated quickly. Each of them did not bring in an astonishing amount of energy, but they greatly improved the dungeon's party turnover rate. One party did not amount to much.

But over an entire day, as those scattered gains continued to pile up, they had actually stacked into the number now sitting before him, putting him in an excellent mood.

"Over twenty thousand..." Inside the Core Chamber, Owen's light brightened so much that it seemed almost ready to turn the whole stone chamber into daytime. However, he had not been happy for long before his gaze subconsciously moved toward another item. [Core Repair: Stage One] [Required Soul Energy: 15, 000] Owen fell silent. The light inside the Core Chamber visibly dimmed a little. Fifteen thousand. It was not that he could not afford it.

But precisely because he had enough energy to spend, the decision became even more painful. If he repaired his core right now, more than half of his construction budget would vanish in an instant. But repairing the core raised his upper limit. It could not immediately create new passages or new scenes, and it could not allow more adventurers to enter and challenge the dungeon at the same time. At least not tonight. Besides, who knew what would happen tomorrow or the day after?

He had already arranged with Cassandre and Rayne's party for them to come back in three days. If the area beyond the canyon was still blank by then, was he supposed to have Cassandre stand at the gate and tell them, "Under construction. Please wait another three days"? Just thinking about it made Owen feel awkward. Owen stared at those two options for a long time. Repair the core. Or expand first. Reason told him that core repair was very important. That was his true foundation.

Only when he truly grew stronger would he be able to handle stronger adventurers and bear greater risks in the future. But right now, what the dungeon needed more was a new area that could actually operate. As long as he built the area beyond the Bronze Gate first, Rayne's party could continue exploring deeper. The earlier areas could also be left for other adventurers to challenge repeatedly.

That way, the challenge routes could branch out, the number of entrants could increase, and not everyone would be stuck queuing over and over again in the first half of the dungeon. Naturally, his energy accumulation speed would become faster too. Decision made. Expand first. Then use the energy earned after the expansion to repair the core. The more Owen thought about it, the clearer the logic became. In the end, he could not help letting out a laugh.

"I really am one genius little rock!" Owen quickly switched the screen to the area behind the Bronze Gate. The narrow path that extended along the mountain wall still hung quietly above the deep valley. At the end of that path was the platform he had prepared in advance. If he had not been interrupted by Cyrus's group last time, he would have started construction here long ago. Now, he could finally continue expanding beyond it.

"Good." Owen looked at the empty platform, his tone practically bouncing.

"Next up, construction time." The platform was not especially large, but it was more than enough to serve as the first safe zone. He planned to build a church here. Not the clean, bright kind of church that made people feel at ease the moment they saw it. Instead, it would be a remote refuge with mottled outer walls and peeling brickwork, something that looked as if it had barely endured through wind, rain, and war.

In the background story Owen had set, this was the only place outside Sinner's Canyon where people could catch their breath. Refugees affected by the Demonic Tide had fled all the way here, and could only temporarily gather around this ruined church. Once Owen made up his mind, he moved fast. He directly called up the system interface, and as it turned out, he really did find a building category. Unfortunately, the situation inside was about the same as the monster panel had been back then. Completed structures?

None. Templates? Also none. A ready-made church? Even less likely. There were only piles of basic materials and adjustable structure options quietly waiting for him to put them together himself. Owen fell silent for two seconds. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Then his core lit up as if he had discovered treasure.

"... Isn't that even better?" How could a ready-made structure be more interesting than something he assembled himself? Stone bricks, wooden beams, broken roof tiles, old benches, stained glass with missing corners, and a pile of materials that looked like scraps from the edge of a ruin were quickly dragged out one by one. The more Owen looked, the more energized he became. This was not construction at all. This was building with blocks.

And assembling things piece by piece was, without question, one of humanity's oldest and purest joys. Even if he was no longer human, that did not stop him from enjoying this happiness.

"Make the left side a little more collapsed."

"No, this part is too clean. Break it more. Yes, more broken."

"The stained glass can't all be shattered. If all of it is broken, it loses the atmosphere. Leave half of it intact so that when the light shines through, it has that sacred but ruined feeling." Owen muttered as he dragged materials around, his entire core glowing as if he had finally discovered the meaning of life. After a long stretch of patching and piecing things together, a shabby little church finally began to take shape on the platform. Owen looked at his work with satisfaction. Mottled outer walls.

A half-collapsed bell tower. A shattered stained-glass window with one corner missing. And that lonely feeling of something already battered beyond recognition, yet still barely holding itself up in the wilderness. Good. Very atmospheric. Most importantly, when he looked at the final cost, his entire core froze for a moment. [Building Cost This Session: 547 Soul Energy]"... Huh?" Owen stared at that line of numbers for several seconds. A little over five hundred.

A whole church like this had only cost a little over five hundred? Owen's entire core could not help growing excited.

"Wait."

"Are ordinary buildings this cheap?" After all, maintaining even one slightly capable combat unit was enough to make his heart ache. But this little church had atmosphere, could serve as the centerpiece of a safe zone, and could help establish the background story, yet it had cost only this much. The more Owen thought about it, the more worthwhile it seemed. Too worthwhile. So worthwhile that it made him want to build a few more.

"No. Calm down." Owen immediately pressed that dangerous thought back down. One church was enough. If he built too many, this would stop being a remote refuge and turn into a religious theme park. However, buildings alone were not enough. Since he wanted to design this as a safe zone, he could not fill it with monsters. But if the entire safe zone only had one empty church, that would be too strange.

He could not have adventurers fight their way through the canyon, push open the Bronze Gate, cross the cliffside path, and finally see an empty church before everyone just stared at each other, could he?

"No. Then why did I even build this?" Owen simply started browsing through the system interface again. The monster category would not work. The building category was not enough either. Then was there anything like NPCs? He had originally only been flipping through the interface with a let's just try it attitude, but unexpectedly, he really found a new category tucked away in an inconspicuous corner. [Interactable Units] Owen's curiosity was immediately hooked.

"Oh?" He opened the category at once. The next moment, the screen unfolded. And then— It was empty. Owen stared at the spotless interface and sighed.

"... No other tricks?" Naturally, the system did not answer him. On the blank interface, only two lonely basic options sat there quietly. [Add Unit] [Behavior Settings] No ready-made NPCs. No merchant template. Never mind a blacksmith template. Honestly, he had not expected much from this system anyway. In the end, he still had to rely on himself. At that thought, the slight speechlessness from earlier quickly disappeared. Owen's mood became excited again. Didn't this mean he could freely do whatever he wanted?

"Haha. If I had this system in my previous life, I could have played with it until the end of time!" Only after that excitement passed did he pause again. Interactable units. Behavior settings. Reward settings. And that damaged resurrection mechanism that had somehow been repaired. One by one, these functions looked less and less like things meant purely for killing people. Owen stared at the blank interface for quite a while, and a strange thought suddenly appeared in his mind.

So what exactly was the dungeon system originally meant to do? If dungeons were really just meant to devour adventurers, create monsters, set traps, and wait to kill every intruder who came inside, why would there be so many functions that could clearly interact with challengers? And why had most of the dungeons outside eventually turned into things that only mindlessly produced monsters and even unleashed Demonic Tides? Owen fell silent for several seconds. Naturally, the system would not tell him the answer.

In the end, Owen could only press that question back down for now. No matter what dungeons were originally supposed to be, at least right now, Blackstone Dungeon was his. And his dungeon absolutely could not be some crappy monster-spitting pit.

"A safe zone should look like a safe zone." Owen looked back at the blank interface.

"Let's start with the first NPC." Owen did not rush to create a merchant or blacksmith from the beginning. After all, those units were more complicated. For him right now, the best thing to test with was actually the simplest kind of unit. Refugees. People who had fled to the church after being affected by the Demonic Tide. They did not need combat ability, nor did they need complicated behavior logic.

As long as they could move around the church and occasionally say a line or two to challengers, that would be enough to keep the safe zone from feeling like an empty set piece. Owen immediately opened [Add Unit] and began trying to configure one. Ordinary appearance. Worn and dirty clothing. Exhausted spirit. Movement range: around the church. No active attacks against challengers. Brief conversation enabled. He filled in each line one by one, originally thinking the system might throw some outrageous price at him.

But when the final cost appeared, Owen froze instead. [Interactable Unit: Refugee] [Soul Energy Cost: 10]"... Ten?" Owen stared at that number for several seconds. Ten. That was not even as much as what some adventurers contributed when they stepped into a trap. The next moment, a middle-aged man in worn clothes and with an exhausted expression appeared near the side door of the church. He looked around blankly, then silently walked to the wall and sat down, as if he had long since grown used to fleeing.

Owen looked at that refugee, then at the cost. His core lit up slightly.

"Wait."

"Doesn't that mean I can place a few more atmosphere pieces without wasting too much energy?" The moment that thought appeared, Owen immediately became alert. No. A safe zone needed signs of life, but that did not mean it had to become a refugee shelter. Too few people, and it would feel empty. Too many, and it would obviously become too chaotic. Besides, if everyone looked about the same and even reacted in roughly the same way, that would no longer be atmospheric.

If someone saw that in a game, at most they would complain that the developers were being lazy. If someone ran into it in reality, they would just scream that they had seen a ghost.

"The number doesn't need to be high." Owen made his decision in an instant.

"But each person should have at least a little character of their own." And so, Owen kept the middle-aged man from earlier and added a few more figures. A haggard woman holding a child. An old man sitting silently beside a bench, repeatedly polishing a worn amulet. And a guard sitting with his head lowered on the church steps, his armor battered and his eyes hollow. The first three were only ordinary refugees, each requiring just ten Soul Energy.

As for that guard, because Owen had set him to Black Iron-level, the price jumped straight to eighty. Owen looked at the final cost, but was not especially surprised.

"Sure enough, the moment anything touches combat ability, the price starts climbing." Still, eighty was acceptable. At least it was much cheaper than the monsters truly meant to guard key points. The next moment, several faint white lights appeared around the church. The middle-aged man sat against the outer wall, gazing tiredly toward the distant canyon. The woman huddled in a corner of the church with the child in her arms, quietly soothing the child, who had already fallen asleep.

The old man sat beside a bench, polishing the amulet in his hands again and again, as if it was the last thing he had left. As for the guard, he sat silently on the steps, holding a badly nicked longsword in his hands. Only after a long while did he seem to finally snap out of his daze and raise his head to look toward the still-empty wasteland outside the church. Just by adding these few figures, the shabby little church that had originally felt empty suddenly seemed alive.

Owen looked at this scene, and his core brightened slightly.

"Yes."

"Now this looks like a refuge." Owen looked at those figures in satisfaction and was just about to continue studying the next interactable unit. Ordinary refugees were only atmosphere units. Next, the safe zone needed at least a few units with actual functions. A merchant who could sell simple supplies. A blacksmith who could repair equipment. Ideally, a priest who could both heal and manage this church. As for guards...

Owen's gaze subconsciously landed on the Black Iron-level guard sitting on the steps with his head lowered. No. Although this guard had some strength, Owen had actually still designed him as a refugee. His greatest use was to point adventurers in the right direction, while also making the refuge feel as though it was barely still holding on. But a true guard had to be someone who could hold the whole scene down. Just as Owen was about to continue designing, the system interface suddenly flickered slightly.

[Challengers have gathered outside the entrance.] [Today's reception period is about to begin.] [Resume accepting challengers?] Inside the Core Chamber, Owen fell silent. He slowly looked toward the expense records beside him. [Building Cost This Session: 547] [Interactable Unit Cost This Session: 110] [Current Total Cost: 657]"..."

"Fuck." The light of Owen's entire core stiffened.

"I haven't even spent a thousand points yet. How did time pass this quickly?" He had clearly only just built the church and tried creating a few atmosphere units. The actual merchant, blacksmith, priest, and church guard had not even been started yet. Strictly speaking, it felt like he really had not done that many serious things. That feeling gave Owen the illusion of having returned to his previous life and playing games again.

Originally, he had only wanted to briefly tidy up his base in the game and decorate it a little here and there. But by the time he came back to himself, everything in the warehouse had already been sorted into categories, an extra little house had been built besides the main building, and he had even casually laid down a path connecting both sides. By the time Owen finally broke free from that damned state of "this would have so much more flavor if I just changed this tiny bit here," the entire night was gone.

And now, the adventurers outside were already preparing to line up and clock in for work. Was this reasonable? This was absolutely unreasonable. Owen stared blankly at the system prompt for a moment. In the end, he could only let out an aggrieved sigh. He had to open. If the dungeon wanted to operate, it could not shut its doors during the day and hide inside to renovate. Besides, he still had to receive the adventurers. Otherwise, where would his repair fees come from? Who would pay for his renovation costs?

At the end of the day, these people were his patrons. Although thinking about it that way seemed a little immoral. However, Owen looked again at the Interactable Units interface. At least he could continue adjusting character settings. Appearance, behavior, dialogue, trade inventory, and activity range. None of these involved changing the terrain, and he did not need to immediately place any new units in front of challengers either. In other words, he could still keep creating people during the day.

As long as he saved them first and deployed them all together at night, it would be fine. At that thought, Owen finally calmed down a little.

"Fine." He looked at the system prompt, deeply reluctant.

"Open the doors first."

"But tonight, this church needs someone with enough presence to command the whole place."