New Earth- The Dungeon of Madness 207 Going to the hub

It did not take long for Five to decide how to allocate the Flame Nests. He initially wanted to give one to Ignis and the Flame Sisters. However, doing do would not be ideal. Although the Flame Sisters were powerful monsters with the same bloodline purity as the harpies, they only cost ten thousand DP like the harpies. Their real cost came from the amount of DP they consumed daily to survive.

Using the Flame Nest on them would only be equivalent to receiving ten thousand DP per day, it was better to save it for a more expensive monster.
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"As you wish. I will inform Ishan later. He will be pleased; it should lighten his mood a little bit," answered Dreidus.

Five nodded and took out another item he had yet to use: the Premium Monster Lottery Ticket. He had already made a decision on what attribute to choose. He wanted a water-type monster. It was time to develop the aquatic biome. The Volcanic Biome had more or less been finalized with Ishan helping in making the floors. All the monsters unlocked after absorbing the Core of Flames were now defending the floors of the Volcanic Biome.

Five activated the Premium Monster Lottery Ticket and entered his preferences. The same screen that appeared when using a regular Monster Lottery Ticket was displayed. The only difference was that the screen was emitting a golden glow. The small yellow box moved through the different icons.

Five nervously tracked the movement of the yellow box. It has been a while since he felt that way. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the small yellow box landed on an icon.

[System prompt: Congratulations Player Five. You have unlocked the monster: Level 35 Hippocamp, this monster can now be purchased at the dungeon shop. One Hippocamp is ready for summoning]

'A Hippocamp? Is it something like a sea horse? I thought I would get a societal monster,' thought Five as he checked the information about his new monster. After checking the description of the Premium Monster Lottery Ticket, he understood why.

'So it's either one of them. I guess I should not complain too much.'

"I unlocked a Hippocamp. I will summon it afterward once we add a few floors to the aquatic biome," said Five.

With the Premium Monster Lottery Ticket out of the way, there was just one item Five had yet to use: the portal!

The portal was not explicitly mentioned in the contract but it did mention that the Hurricane Alliance would provide him with a means of transportation to the Hub. The portal acted like a gateway through the void; by inputting the appropriate coordinates, one could connect to another portal.

Five already had the details he needed in order to connect to the Hub. For safety measures, he decided to build a separate room where the portal would be placed. It would be built at a reasonable distance from the Core of Madness.

"I'll have to go there alone this time. The rules state that only dungeon masters can go to the Hub; monsters are not allowed," said Five.

Dreidus nodded. "We will take care of the dungeon in your absence. But be careful. I know you are protected by your contract but it is better to be safe."

"Sure." Five opened his inventory and took out the portal. It was very easy to set up and after a few seconds, a giant blue vertical spiral appeared, floating in the middle of the room. It was connected to the Hub; all that was left was for Five to enter the portal.

He looked one last time at Dreidus. The lich bowed lightly, "Be safe."

Five nodded and without a word, entered the portal.

...

On the other side of the portal, when Five opened his eyes, he was greeted by a large crowd. The dungeon masters were already aware of his arrival. He needed to request permission in order to teleport here and as a result, the dungeon masters had enough time to come and welcome him. It was quite a large event for the alliance.

The Hurricane Alliance had slightly more than eight hundred members after the last trial. But this number was showing no signs of increasing. Most of the players have already joined an alliance, to be able to recruit even one additional dungeon master was quite uncommon.

Five felt uneasy as he was facing the crowd of players. Judging from their expression, they gathered here against their will for the welcoming ceremony. They had better things to do; to them, it was just a waste of time.

"Welcome to the Hub! My name is Psycho, nice to meet you." A woman stepped forward and shook Five's hand. She had a tall and slender figure. Her short brown hair matched perfectly with her classy outfit.

"I was tasked in showing you around. Follow me, you will have time to meet the others later," enthusiastically said Psycho as she brought Five out of the Portal Room.

The latter nodded to the other players and followed his guide. The players nodded back, acknowledging him; they seemed quite relieved that the welcoming only lasted for a few seconds.

Psycho led Five into a large open room. Standing at the doorway, Five saw the giant room with a high ceiling. There were players everywhere, some were sitting on couches and chairs discussing among themselves, others were sitting at a bar, drinking and laughing heartily.

"This is the main hall. You will always find a few people here, feel free to chat and mingle with the other dungeon masters. The food and drinks are free but don't abuse it. Also, at the very end of the room, you'll find ten pseudo-dungeon cores. You can use them to make a few changes to the room if needed but you will have to pay with your own DP. The same rules apply here; you cannot do anything that will harm the alliance in any way."

Psycho explained and waved at a few players. She led Five to the stairs on the side and brought him to the next floor.

"This is the second floor. It is just like the first one but here, you have some privacy. You can rent these small rooms or offices to discuss. It's all free like for the first one. Most people like to stay in these rooms with their friends when they are at the hub."

"There are two more floors above but these are mainly private quarters. You can build a room for yourself and only you will have access to this room. It is like having a second place to live if ever you want to take a break from your own dungeon. Everything is done using the Pseudo-Dungeon cores on the first floor."

Five nodded but displayed a confused expression. "Is that it? Are there no monsters here to defend the dungeon at all?"

Psycho shook her head. "I thought the same thing at first. There are no monsters nearby. The dungeon is located somewhere underground in a barren land. There are no living creatures and the odds of someone finding the dungeon are extremely low."

"The Sub-core was purchased with the collective effort of the alliance. To prevent the owner from taking advantage of it, there is a rule that no monster can be brought here or summoned. It is only in case the dungeon is attacked that an exception will be made."

"I see," replied Five. He was quite surprised by how small the Hub was. It was actually really large judging from the size of the open space but in terms of floors, it only had four. In the end, the Hub was only an overrated meeting place where dungeon masters could socialize and build their network.

"Do you know where Merlin is?" asked Five.

"Merlin? How did you hear of him? I don't but you should stay away from him," answered Psycho with caution.

"He was the one the first elder asked me to contact. Why?"

"The first elder? I don't see why he would do so. Merlin is kind of being ostracized by the others because he is going against another player called Kronak. Kronak is the first elder's student and also a seeded dungeon master who receives a lot of resources from the alliance. Apparently, he is also the owner of the sub-core used to control the Hub."

"The players are kind of divided into two groups. Those who are happy here and want to stay at the alliance, and those who want to leave and find a way to break their contract. Kronak is said to lead the first faction while Merlin represents the second one."

Five frowned slightly. 'Is that Anarchy?'

"Do you have any questions or do you want me to accompany you downstairs to meet a few people?" asked Psycho.

"That's fine. For now, I would like to know where I can get some information about what is happening in the empire and where I can find the requests being posted."

"Oh, let me add you to the private forum thread. People post regularly about what is occurring in their area. As for the requests, there is a group chat or you can go downstairs near the pseudo-dungeon cores, you'll find a board where all the requests are posted," said Psycho. She opened her interface and added Five to the forum and sent him a friend request.

The latter promptly accepted the request. "Thanks."

"No problem. Send me a message if you need help. But remember something. We were all imprisoned before coming here. To some extent, all the dungeon masters are double-faced individuals, including me. Be careful to not be tricked," said Psycho.

"Don't leak information about your dungeon too. Many players will try to obtain information from you. It is fine to share intel about your surroundings but be careful that they do not take advantage of it." She waved lightly and quickly disappeared upstairs.

Five scratched his head and made his way back to the open space to meet his future teammates.

Chapter end