WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

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◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈

Chapter 16: Dungeon Expansion

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【Doppelganger (★3)】

【Price: 25000P】

【Tags: Anomaly, Immortal, Activation, Cannot Be Developed】

【It splits its body to replicate intruders. The replicated intruder remains until the Wave ends or the intruder leaves the designated area. It cannot create another intruder until the replicated intruder dies. Target condition: liquid must be on the original.】

Ta-da.

This was my Minion that had contributed the most during the Manticore Wave.

To put it simply, it was an absolutely massive gelatinous mass.

If our Malrang grew up nice and big, wouldn't it end up looking just like this?

Normally, it slept soundly in the Core Room, but once the Wave began, it was the hardworking type.

The Living Maze was an excellent trap too, but it took a long time to repel intruders, and it wasn't completely invincible.

The Manticore had tried every possible way to uncover the maze's secret, hadn't it? The Living Maze needed at least one partner.

That was why I bought the Doppelganger.

There were plenty of appealing options, of course, but it worked well with our maze, where liquid dripped from the Sprinkler.

The more I looked at it, the more I was reminded of doppelganger horror stories.

Did you know about those kinds of stories?

The kind where someone discovers a being identical to them, becomes consumed by anxiety, and eventually decides to kill the doppelganger, only for the doppelganger to be thinking the exact same thing. It all ends in a horrifying mutual murder.

"Who's a sneaky little thing?"

"Zzz..."

I petted the Doppelganger.

This bastard isn't going to transform into me later, right?

Unlike traps, Minions couldn't be removed once purchased, so that was a little scary.

Hmm.

Part of me wanted to run an experiment someday, but I only had one life.

I knew what it could do, so the Doppelganger and I wouldn't be killing each other.

For now, I should play it safe.

I had to be careful not to make a mistake.

Anyway, I was thinking of expanding the dungeon soon.

If the area with the Living Maze and Doppelganger combo was Area 1, I was going to create a new place called Area 2.

The reason was simple.

humanluvr: Newbieee!

humanluvr: It's good to prepare thoroughly! Investing in all sorts of things is good too! But never put all your eggs in one basket! (Seriously important)

humanluvr: You know what I mean, right??

humanluvr: I'm not saying there's no point in working hard on one thing, but yeah, if that collapses, everything goes down the drain.

It was an investment saying about diversifying your portfolio.

Of course, raising a dungeon wasn't the same as putting money into the American stock market, but it made sense.

The strength of my dungeon was how creepy and unsettling it was in the first place.

My specialty was dragging things out as long as possible so intruders couldn't get their bearings.

If I crammed every Minion and trap into the maze, it felt like the drawbacks would outweigh the synergy.

Area 1 wasn't complete yet.

The Doppelganger and maze alone still felt a little unreliable, and I planned to reinforce it later.

After considering all the pros and cons, though, I concluded that creating Area 2 came first.

I had gained a full 100,000 Points this time, after all.

"What should I put in there to get people throwing out upvotes and saying I really nailed it?"

Dungeon Gallery had something called Best Posts.

Posts that received a certain number of recommendations made it there.

★Manticore Wave Live Report Part 1, Dungeon Gallery Newbie! Finally Faces a Fucking Human!

★Manticore Wave Live Report Part 2, Fucking Human! Brought to Tears by the Maze Made by a Fucking Human!

.

.

.

★Manticore Wave Live Report Finale, Doppelganger, and the Manticore and Old Mage

Maybe it was newbie privilege.

For some reason, my posts received a bizarre number of recommendations and comments.

So aside from question posts, nearly all of them made Best Posts.

From what the Veterans said, they found it fun because they were curious about the Anomaly theme, because a newbie was desperately holding back intruders, and because of the bizarre, grotesque anti-intruder systems they had never seen in any other dungeon.

Some people thanked me because my live reports brightened up their boring daily lives, or something like that.

If the head mod held a contest with a theme someday, I might start in a pretty favorable position as a well-liked regular.

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Title: Head mod, I've actually got something I want to tell you... I've liked you for a long...

Author: newbie

Good morning, everyone. Hi.

newbie is looking for trap recommendations.

After gathering your opinions, I decided to leave Area 1 with the Doppelganger and maze for now,

and start with Area 2. Hehe...

I'd be very grateful if you left some good suggestions...

I'll remember every one of them, and if I meet you in real life later, I'll give you something nice.

For reference, I earned around 100,000 Points this time and gained exactly ten levels. Hehe.

The difficulty was Nightmare... Don't curse me out for flexing...

It's not like I got more because I wanted more...

I shouldn't say that, should I?

*Comments

└orange★: ?

└psychward_mvp: If you're the head mod who got excited for a second, upvote. LOL

└antqueen: I think you imagined yourself pushing a stroller... Yeah...

└whaleyeah: You guys are going to get temporarily banned at this rate;;;

└worldiscold: I'm going to kill myself.

└op_ghost: This is already your fifth suicide attempt this season. When are you actually going to do it?

└dm_disappointed: Even if they die, it'll be at an elf's hands... At this point, that's devoted love...

└tvhead: At this rate, worldiscold's going to get surpassed by newbie!

└magichero: I-it was Nightmare...? Then the Manticore must be around the Fourth Circle...

└cowhead: Those rewards are sweet LOL

└nightraven: If I were at newbie's level, I really would've died this time... Amazing... bb

└anonbutcher: The more I look at them, the more fascinating they are.

└humanluvr: I almost quit the gallery... Hehe...

└no_minions_4_me: Why is she having a menhera breakdown...?

└3mhamster: Honestly, I came here to see this person's reaction...

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I didn't really need to stir things up this much, but this was more fun.

I had discovered the joy of trolling.

└newbie: So, what should I buy, everyone?

└no_minions_4_me: Why aren't you asking about Minions?

└skullbones: Aren't you going to pick a trap first, gather opinions, then ask again? That seems cleaner.

skullbones had a point.

There was a formula for getting the best efficiency.

The most efficient formula was Minion + trap, but for Area 1, the maze was the main course.

If the maze was grilled pork belly, the Doppelganger was doenjang stew and a bowl of rice.

I planned to make a trap the focus of Area 2 as well.

Not every Piece was like that, but there were quite a few worth making the main attraction.

└anonbutcher: Hmm, I read through all the descriptions, and this is the one that feels most appealing.

└humanluvr: I think so too. Hehe...

└golemking: This one feels similar to the Living Maze too. You designate an area, and some bizarre space appears in proportion to its size, yeah.

└kingslayer: Is Dreamland a dungeon that favors academy graduates? People familiar with stuff like this usually have an advantage LOL

└golemking: What a filthy world where even clearing a dungeon is judged by academic credentials. T_T

└dip: If we entered newbie's dungeon, I think this would be the end for us... T_TTT

└psychward_mvp: LOLLLLLLLLLLL. Honestly, the title alone guarantees it'll be a blast, agreed.

└humanluvr: I have a dream now.

└newbie: What is it?

└humanluvr: Going on a date with newbie in this place.

└newbie: Monsters come out, though...

└humanluvr: That makes it thrilling.

There were actually a few other 3-star traps that got good reactions.

This trap got an especially strong response.

└magichero: F-f-first of all, it works really well with the Minions we saw before...

└golemking: It gives Minions located inside the trap a specific gimmick and evolves them. It even has buff effects. This thing is fucking broken...

└worldiscold: newbie, I'll give you the Points I worked so hard to save, so could you please install one of these in my dungeon?

└orange★: Like that would happen.

└newbie: Hehe... Sorry... If I can do that later, I will...

I'd be happy to give one to worldiscold, who was suffering at the hands of elves, but there was no way to do it right now.

Good.

There was one thing I needed to point out here.

Most Anomaly-theme Pieces, meaning Minions and traps, could only be purchased once.

In other words, duplicates were impossible.

The Doppelganger was like that, the Living Maze was like that, and so was the trap I was about to buy.

There was always an exception, though.

【Weeping Person Statue】

The one Veterans called the neck-snapping yandere.

It snapped your neck the moment you looked away. Its effect was powerful, but since it was a statue, it couldn't move and had all sorts of restrictions, so it had been pushed down the priority list.

It was cheaper than other Minions too.

It seemed like it would have decent synergy with traps.

└dip: Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

└golemking: GOGOGOGOGO

All right, let's do this.

Footnotes:

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