CHAPTER 26: THRONE OF LUST

"Larry! How are you not getting it!"

Vale was currently staring in disbelief at the little Worker, who had a befuddled expression on its tiny red face.

"Baduh?"

Vale held both of his hands up and pointed a finger, then drew an imaginary curved line connecting them.

"Like this!"

Even if Toy returned with news of success, they still needed a way to at least transport water. So, Larry had been given the, apparently, herculean task of making a damned bowl.

Vale had discovered that, as long as a Worker was handling the stone, it wouldn’t disappear upon contact with the ground. This opened up a myriad of potential for the little artisan.

’Larry could even invent the wheel!’

But his current task right now was bowl.

If Larry were able to create this bowl, it would hopefully lead to the generation of larger and more efficient vats that could transport water. Even though anything this imp created now would have many drawbacks, Larry was steadily improving. Though maybe steadily was saying too much...

Larry studied Vale, then slowly mimicked his action with a toothy smile. Holding up its claws and pointing two outward, then connecting them in an arc.

"Yeeeesss! Thaaaat!"

"Baduh!"

The imp screeched, then immediately went back to biting a rock until it split in half and broke.

Larry immediately shrieked in sadness at its failure.

"Baduhhh..."

Vale wasn’t expecting much, but for a being who was labeled as a Worker, its sheer inability was astounding.

"It’s not like I’m asking much, you waif!"

Larry snarled, then picked up another rock and went back to shaving it down with its claws and teeth.

Vale sighed, then decided to focus on his primary task at hand.

Preparing for Level 1.

As for what Level 1 was...

When Vale sat on the throne of Lust, he was given a prompt if he’d like to challenge Level 1, as well as the strength and number of the foes he’d be facing.

If what Wrath said was correct, then it would function just like the Goblins of Lust in the tutorial. These enemies would be summoned with the sole goal of killing his Dungeon Core.

Of course, nothing was forcing him to comply and challenge these Levels, but at the moment, he had no source of Aether or way to get items. These Levels were key to sustaining the dungeon, but they were also dangerous.

Level: [1]

Enemies:

[Nascent Aberrants: 20]

[Would you like to challenge the Level?]

"Tch."

While the opponents were at the bottom of the barrel in strength, facing twenty foes wasn’t going to be easy. Especially not when Vale wasn’t any stronger than they.

As Vale was sitting on the throne in deep contemplation, another sound of a shattered stone falling to the ground reverberated throughout the chamber.

Vale sighed and rubbed his temples while taking a deep breath, then screamed:

"How hard is it?!"

Larry pouted while looking at the remains of his multiple failed creations, then picked up half a stone and threw it to the ground in frustration.

"Baaaduuuuh!"

If the little imp could cry, it would be creating a river right now.

Yet, Vale didn’t really care for the imp’s feelings, if it even had any; he was only concerned with results right now. And the current results were... lackluster.

’Maybe I should’ve had Sizzy do this task...’

Vale shot out of his throne and began gesturing the outline of a bowl again, and Larry, despite its grievances, paid close attention.

Larry copied all of Vale’s movements repeatedly, then paused, shook its head up and down, then picked up another stone and let out a stalwart scream:

"Baddddduuuuuuh!"

Vale had to admit, even if the little red guy was a bit brainless, he was at least determined.

Vale stifled a laugh at the pitiful beast as he sat back on the throne and began his other task: theorizing the future layout of the dungeon.

At the moment, the layout was simple. There was the alcove and the four rooms. One room served as a hub that connected the other three, and the current core room was the largest, having been hollowed out by the workers for the longest time.

While this initial design wasn’t terrible, it was hastily created and weak.

Now that Vale didn’t have a timer ticking down in the corner of his vision, he could truly take his time to map out a labyrinth where he could maximize the Core’s protection. Of course, the Core still needed to be somewhat accessible for now, since the Workers had to go in and out to transport material. So, making the floor plan a maze wasn’t necessarily the best option.

Instead, Vale planned to make a reasonably long path and an expansive room at the end. This room would serve as a logistical hub and the center of a complex network with numerous exits. Each exit would serve as a distraction from the one leading to the core, while also serving as a workroom for the Workers, traps, or whatever else the room needed to be.

That vision wasn’t going to be realized overnight; it would probably take months, but it was his goal.

Then, the next step would be floor two, which would be unlocked once he and his Dungeon Core ranked up.

"This is going to be quite the arduous process."

The moment Vale spoke the phrase to himself, another sound of stone dropping to the floor reached his ears. He slowly gazed in the imp’s direction and found Larry throwing around its shattered, failed creations in a tantrum.

"Is my vision even possible with these ingrates at the helm?"

Larry’s head cocked to the side and locked in on Vale as if Vale was the source of its failure. Then it sneered and kicked a rock toward him.

"Baduh!"

Vale just closed his eyes, brought his head down, and sighed.

It was when he did this that a sound he actually liked was spoken in the chamber. Salome was standing at the edge of the corridor with her arms folded over one another, covering her breasts.

"Vale, Toy has returned."

Vale smirked.

"Finally, something good. I was getting tired of watching this idiot..."

At Vale’s remark, Larry was sent into an outrage and began hurling stones left and right, but Vale ignored the unruly imp, only gifting it a slight snicker as he followed Salome out into the initial alcove.