WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈
Chapter 6: Terra Burning
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Title: Rewards for This Wave
Author: newbie
【You have successfully defended against the Wave.】
【Rewards will be calculated according to the difficulty.】
【Difficulty is measured based on Points earned, the level gap with the highest-level intruder, and the number of intruders.】
【Calculation complete.】
【This Wave's difficulty has been rated Very Hard.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Your level has increased.】
【Points have been awarded.】
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LV. 10
Class - Dungeon Master
Dungeon Theme - Null
Population - 0/50
Device count: - 2/50
Point - 50,000
STR - 13
DEX - 13
CON - 13
MP - 13
UN - newbie
UC - dm_6_666666666
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Comments
newbie: I got these rewards. What do you think??
└op_ghost: Very Hard on the first Wave lol. Honestly, I was really worried when a Troll showed up, but you somehow pulled it off...
└sealedconq: Those level and Point gains are insane... Fuck.
└sealedphilo: What is this, Solo Leveling? Did you get bugged or something???
newbie: Isn't this the average reward for Very Hard??
└kongkong: Nooooooooo, absolutely not.
└squintychar: Very Hard rewards are fairly generous, but they don't give you this much.
└no_minions_4_me: Good, good. Let's keep this up!
└magichero: C-c-congratulations... Could you reply just once...
└newbie: I did!
└magichero: Thank you!!
Why did this person keep asking me to reply?
Most of the Gallery was congratulating me.
The Veterans told me to invest in Minions, traps, and growth, but what caught my attention was the Dungeon Expansion Feature.
'Dungeon Expansion, Dungeon Theme, Dungeon Minions... Ugh, why are there so many options? This UI is fucking garbage.'
I happened to notice it while looking through the traps.
It could add a second floor, expand the Dungeon's area, or build onto it in all sorts of ways. If I made the passageway run in a straight line, I could make it longer than I'd expected.
I also had the 【New Dungeon Master Bonus】, so I could install a long passageway worth a whopping 45,000 Points in my Dungeon.
No matter how powerful a monster was, it couldn't escape the swamp of thirst and hunger. If I topped that off with Debuff Traps using my remaining Points, it would be perfect.
Of course, it wasn't an accomplishment I achieved alone.
I'd asked the people in the Gallery beforehand whether this plan was viable.
Even during the Wave, I used the 【Surveillance Camera】 feature to upload live footage to the Gallery.
They gave me real-time updates on the Troll and Goblins, told me what I should do if a fight broke out, and even advised me on the right locations and timing to activate the traps.
Everyone said it had been a good idea, but honestly, it was all thanks to everyone in the Dungeon Gallery.
newbie: Thanks to all of you, I got through it safely... Seriously, thank you...
└tvhead: Don't be modest.
└no_minions_4_me: You did it. You should be proud.
└3mhamster: Seeing the rewards you got makes me a little jealous... But I'm happy there's another excellent Dungeon Master comrade, hehe...
Anyway.
The rewards I received from this Wave seemed to be much greater than average.
According to anonbutcher:
anonbutcher: We don't fully understand the System either.
anonbutcher: But based on the Dungeon Gallery users' experiences so far, the difficulties are broadly divided into Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Nightmare, and Madness.
anonbutcher: Wave rewards are granted in proportion to difficulty, so they are assessed relatively.
anonbutcher: In other words, the higher a Dungeon Master's level and held Points become, the lower the relative difficulty becomes, so the rewards feel smaller.
anonbutcher: Anyway.
anonbutcher: The Dungeon Gallery's rule of thumb was that Very Hard usually gave three to four levels and at most 10,000 Points.
anonbutcher said I'd completely shattered that rule this time.
I was supposed to be happy about that... right?
I'd gotten more rewards than everyone else, after all.
└orange★: Hmm...
└orange★: That means your growth rate is several times faster than average.
└orange★: Becoming a new Dungeon Master in the first place was strange enough. You're unusual in a lot of ways.
Come to think of it, there was something I wanted to ask.
└newbie: Head mod.
└orange★: Yeah.
└newbie: You said before that it wasn't possible for a new Dungeon Master to appear. Could you explain that?
I'd put out the immediate fire.
There were at least three days left until the next Wave, so I decided to clear up a question that had been bothering me.
└orange★: Let's say there's a huge warehouse, okay?
└orange★: It's a big warehouse, but it's completely full of goods, people, and everything else, with no empty space at all. Then suddenly, a one-ton shipment appears inside it out of nowhere.
└orange★: There's no telling how that shipment got in there lol.
└orange★: It didn't harm any of the goods or people that were already in the warehouse, either.
└orange★: And the shipment itself is still completely intact. That's fucking weird, right?
└newbie: Ahh.
└orange★: If I find out anything about it, I'll let you know.
└newbie: Okay, okay.
The head mod said Oblivion was the reason I could see the Dungeon Gallery and the hologram.
The warehouse probably referred to Oblivion.
To put it in gaming terms, it was like the server was full, no users had left, and yet I'd somehow forced my way in.
humanluvr: newbie!!
└newbie: Huh??
└humanluvr: What are you going to do with 50,000 Points...?? Are you going to choose a Dungeon Theme first?? T_T
Was this what it felt like to get easy rewards?
Honestly, I hadn't expected to gather 50,000 Points this quickly.
I wasn't sure.
I'd been told before that I should choose a Dungeon Theme once I gathered a certain number of Points.
Before dutifully following the Veterans' advice, I asked a question in case I could exploit a loophole in the System.
└newbie: You said this place is the Lowjinrat Great Mountain Range, right?
└humanluvr: Yep.
└newbie: Wave rewards are granted in proportion to difficulty, right?
└humanluvr: That's right.
└newbie: Then isn't it fine if I don't prepare anything right away?
└newbie: You said Trolls were the only things I had to watch out for here. I can stop Trolls well enough with the Dungeon as it is, so if I prepare anything, won't the difficulty go down and only reduce the rewards I get?
└humanluvr: Lol, I get what you mean.
└humanluvr: But difficulty is also decided with your currently held Points factored in, so it doesn't matter whether you spend them or not...
So much for that trick.
That was a little sad.
humanluvr: Trolls are known as the strongest race in Lowjinrat, but that's old information. A lot of time has passed since then. You never know what could happen, so even if it comes from the Gallery, it's better not to trust the information completely. Always be thoroughly prepared!!
└newbie: Then I should start preparing now...
└humanluvr: Right! Our newbie is so smart!
But just how much did humanluvr like humans?
Ever since I revealed my race, she'd been in constant head-patting mode twenty-four hours a day.
I didn't mind it, but judging from how she treated other users, she didn't seem like she was normally that cheerful.
It was kind of scary.
newbie: There was something I wanted to ask you all anyway.
└dip: Ask away.
└golemking: I'll gladly answer whatever I know.
newbie: What's a Hidden Theme??
└dip: ?
└golemking: ?
└antqueen: What's that??
Huh? Even these Veterans didn't know?
newbie: After I killed the Troll this time, a message saying 【Hidden Theme - Anomaly has been unlocked.】 popped up, and it was added to my Dungeon Themes.
When I uploaded a screenshot as proof, my post fell silent for a while, like one of the announcement posts controlled by the head mod.
"What is this, some 0.01-second Domain Expansion...?"
I scratched my cheek.
* * *
The aesthetic of a Dungeon was fear.
It was something the Dungeon Master known as anonbutcher in the Gallery, and Swordfiend Ataraxia to the world, always insisted.
Today, she once again cut down a fearless intruder who had barged in with a single stroke.
Blood always stained her hair, as smooth and beautiful as black silk.
Her blade, the same color as her hair, was no different.
The name of her Dungeon was Tomb of Swords.
True to its name and reputation, every Minion who followed her used a sword as well.
Ataraxia flicked the blood from her sword and sheathed it.
Then she stared intently at the image newbie had uploaded.
"Oh?"
A new part had recently been added to her daily routine: reading through one user's posts from beginning to end.
"You've brought something interesting again."
Ataraxia disliked unnecessary communication with people.
For someone who rarely visited the Dungeon Gallery, this was surely a very unexpected change in behavior.
"A hidden achievement? Has Oblivion always had a System like that?"
Her Minions found it very strange that Ataraxia was staring into empty space, rubbing her chin, and muttering to herself, but they couldn't say anything.
If they upset her, they knew very well what their end would look like.
newbie: The other Dungeon Themes are free, but the Anomaly Theme has a selection cost.
newbie: I have to pay a full 50,000 Points... What do you all think?
Ataraxia rubbed her chin.
The Gallery's reaction was explosive.
A mere newcomer had uncovered a new rule that even Dungeon Masters who had been active for a long time had never known.
no_minions_4_me: I've seriously never seen an Anomaly Theme before.
└dm_disappointed: Hmm... What the hell is this?
└sealedphilo: Interesting... newbie becoming a Dungeon Master and all, strange things have been happening a lot lately lol.
└sealedconq: If it were me, I'd choose the Anomaly Dungeon Theme.
└psychward_mvp: It's a Hidden Theme lol. It's too tempting to resist.
└magichero: H-h-honestly, I think it suits you, newbie...
└worldiscold: Could the power of Anomaly wipe out all the elves in this world??
A Hidden Theme.
One that required a full 50,000 Points to select.
It was a mysterious phenomenon the Gallery had never dealt with before.
The Veterans left comments excitedly as if it were their own business.
└whaleyeah: Still, shouldn't you choose your Dungeon Theme carefully?
└squintychar: Following a path someone else has already revealed is more stable than blazing a new trail.
└golemking: But Steampunk is really good... I could make learning about it more fun than anyone else could...
└dip: Let's go with Winter.
antqueen: newbie, would you like to lay eggs too?
└newbie: Excuse me?
Personally, Ataraxia hoped newbie would choose Anomaly.
What newbie showed in this Wave aligned with the aesthetic Ataraxia pursued.
Overwhelming fear.
Making it clear that intruders would never dare to invade.
A Dungeon Master had to show that their Dungeon was never a place filled with dreams and hope.
That was how a Dungeon Master protected both their Dungeon and their life.
Oblivion was an entity that always guaranteed a clear return.
Even if Dungeon Masters had not chosen it of their own will, it gave them power and Dungeons in exchange for their memories.
When they successfully defended against a Wave, it rewarded them with Points and levels.
It couldn't be giving rewards for no reason.
And if it was newbie, who had shown such ingenuity this time...
└anonbutcher: Go with Anomaly.
└anonbutcher: I think you'd use it well.
The choice was newbie's to make.
Still, Ataraxia wrote the comment with her own hopes in mind.
Then, a short while later.
newbie: Thanks for all the good advice.
newbie: This time, I'll go with what feels right to me.
Footnotes:
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