Chapter 62: Daily Life of a Harem Lord

Deep behind the throne room was another large cavern. Bright crimson and violet flowers covered the ground and caused the air to be very rich in mana. Just by breathing it in, one could feel their body filling with vigor.

Finger-sized blood crystal bees occasionally buzzed around to tend to the flowers, both helping them breed and also brining the harvest back to turn into honey.

A small creek ran through the middle of the cavern with a small arched wooden bridge over the middle of it. A broken cobble stone path formed walkways in this peaceful place, either to a small hill overlooking the cavern off to the side, or the wood and stone mansion where Styx and the girls lived.

Styx was currently lying on the extremely large bed whilst surrounded by women in cotton pyjamas, some in disarray from sleeping.

He laid in the center of the bed while Elena laid on his left and Fiore on his right.

Styx's left arm was wrapped around Elena as her head rested on his shoulder. One of her arms was wrapped around his waist and one leg interlocked with his as she tightly pressed her body against him.

What was more erotic was Fiore, whose shirt had come half undone and her breasts almost dislodged from the loose fabric. She grabbed onto Styx's arm and held it tight against her body, her large melons pressing against his shoulders while she released steady, shallow breaths in the crook of his neck.

She also squeezed his hand between her supple thighs as she clung to his arm like a koala. Styx deeply appreciated the feelings his hand was giving him, even if her secret garden was just out of reach. He still pinched and rubbed his fingers across her inner thighs where they could reach, dangerously teasing to close the final distance and caress her lady downstairs.

These spots beside Styx were the two most coveted positions in the bed and were fought over every night.

There was an unspoken rule that whoever got it the previous night couldn't contest, while the others wrestled, gambled, or held various competitions to decide two winners.

Irie was also given an automatic spot as she was only ever here one night each week, sometimes not even the night, but that was the only exception.

Therina nearly always won whichever competition, so she would occupy one of these spots every second day. She was currently in Lagoon Porter City with Irie however, so the competition for the top spots became even fiercer.

The girls competed with cooking, Fiore coming in first by Styx's judgement, while Elena was in second. Niah had tried seducing the judge during the competition to get a more favorable score, but had only ended up being disqualified and left to take the outermost position on the bed.

The others, Kale, Klair, and Beatrice, were sprawled out on the bed in whichever position they found comfortable. Limbs crossed and heads rested against one another as the only sound were the shallow breaths of Styx and the sleeping dark elves.

They quickly woke up once Styx started stirring, Fiore being the first as she tightly squeezed her thighs around Styx's hand.

"Good evening," She giggled while leaning over and kissing him before getting out of bed and straightening her clothes.

Being dark elves, they normally sleep during the day and be active at night, but they occasionally still changed this schedule as many of Styx's activities coincided with the day. As they levelled up, the necessity of sleep also lessened, so they could easily stay up for 36 or 48 hours without any detriment.

Elena followed shortly after wards and gave a brief peck of her lips before Kale and Klair pushed her face into the pillow with a grunt as they climbed over her and started showering him with kisses.

"Show some dignity, you two," Beatrice sternly reprimanded them before also kissing Styx, yelping in surprise yet not resisting as he pulled her on top of himself.

Niah also flirtatiously stole some kisses before departing the room with a seductive sway of her hips. Fiore was in charge of breakfast this morning, but Niah was helping out to improve her skills and try not lose the next time they did a cooking competition.

Styx laid in the bed with the remaining girls sprawled over him and looked over his status. He had been getting huge amounts of experience compared to his early days, but even with this amount, it was only enough to level up three times.

⠀

[

Species: Dungeon Core (Dungeon Master: None)

Name: Styx

⠀

Mana: 1,980/1,980

Exp: 57,432(+)

Level: 15

⠀

Abilities:

Dungeon Creation <Lv. MAX>

Mana Control <Lv. 24>

• Mana Infusion

• Mana Vein Creation

• Remote Control

• Mana Logic Construct

Dungeon Control <Lv. 17>

Dungeon Facility Construction <Lv. 16>

• Biomass Converter – 100 mana

• Breeder – 50 mana, 20 biomass

• Storage Crate – 10+ mana, 10 physical material

• Blast Furnace – 100 mana, 20 stone

• Storage Tank – 20+ mana, 20 physical material

• Rotary Mana Engine – 40 mana, 10 stone, 1 iron

• Material Refiner – 150 mana, 10 stone, 2 iron, 1 emerald, 1 ruby, 1 amethyst

• Alchemy Table – 200 mana, 5 stone, 10 iron, 1 ruby, 10 quartz

• Mana Constructor – 400 mana, 30 steel, 1 manasteel, 120x gears, 450x screws

• Stable Storage Crate – 100+ mana, 20 physical material

• Stable Storage Tank – 100+ mana, 35 physical material

• Magmaforge (BP) – 250 mana, 40 magmasteel, 5 lava, 0.2 brimstone powder, 5x brimstone flowers

• Soulforge (BP) – 1,125 mana, 80 stone + 5 tortured soul powder (*Soulium upgradable), assorted items

• High Pressure Water Cutter (BP) – 730 mana, 50 stone, 5 steel, 0.2 manasteel

• T1 Conveyor Belt: 1m (BP) – 40 mana, 2 stone, 1 steel, 8x gears, 12x screws

• T1 Item Picker (BP) – 70 mana, 2 steel, 0.1 manasteel, 30x gears, 50x screws

• Obsidum Mana-Saw (BP) – 550 mana, 3 steel, 1x obsidum blade, 1x engine, 20x gears, 30x screws

• High Speed Turbine Engine (BP) – 680 mana, 0.5x manasteel, 1x steel, 5x gears, 10x screws

Basic Dungeon Construction <Lv. 15>

• Scan – 10 mana/m3

• Blueprint Creation – 275 blueprints

• Blueprint Manufacturing – 275 blueprints

• Mental Projection – 1 mana/min

• Visible Projection – 5 mana/min

• Autobuild – 4 mana/s

Trap Construction <Lv. 14>

• Bait – 5 mana, 5 biomass

• Spike Trap – 20 mana, 10 stone

• Pitfall Trap – 10 mana, none

• Arrow Trap – 20 mana, 10 stone (5 on reload)

• Weak Poison Gas – 50 mana, 1 stone, 1 biomass (expendable)

• Chaotic Space Trap – 200+ mana

• Crushing Wall Trap – 30 mana, 20 stone, 2 iron

Internal Resource Storage <Lv. 17> (190,071/614,400)

• Physical Material – Stone (70,000), Dirt (50,000), Biomass (27,450), Ardonite (5,200), Manasteel (485), Wood (105), Steel (5,145), Obsidum (127), Gold (20), Celendine Clay (575), Copper (7,459), Tin (1500), Firesteel (115), Magmasteel (72), Soulium (2)

• Liquid Material – Water (21,458), Lava (358),

Mining <Lv. 29>

• Basic Material Identification

• Mineral Detection

• Auto-mine

• Overdrive

• Earth Fracture

Avatar Creation <Lv. 12>

⠀

Resources:

Stone – 2.5m

Ardonite – 1.1m

Oltrite – 18,452

Black Sand – 2,470

Dirt – 1.0m

Clay – 184,205

Celendine Clay – 748

Wood – 2,452

Water – 27,450

Iron – 72,102

Copper – 27,362

Tin – 7,558

Gold – 1.2

Steel – 34,847

Manasteel – 2,734

Wolfbone Steel – 102

+ Expand for more

⠀

Monsters:

• 134x Miners (<Lv. 4> x1, <Lv. 2> x78, <Lv. 1> x55)

• 14x Shroom Gnomes (<Lv. 3> x3, <Lv. 2> x2, <Lv. 1> x9)

• 72x Dirt Gnomes (<Lv. 2> x37, <Lv. 1> x35)

• 12x Forest Goblins (<Lv. 2> x12)

• 27x Stonerats (<Lv. 7> x27)

• 14x Forest Assassins (<Lv. 9> x1, <Lv. 8> x5, <Lv. 7> x8)

• 47x Midnight Guards (<Lv. 8> x3, <Lv. 7> x44)

• 9x Treant Spirits (<Lv. 11> x3, <Lv. 10> x6)

• 4x Carnivorous Vine (<Lv. 13> x1, <Lv. 12> x3)

• 15x Stone-Tailed Foxes (<Lv. 15> x1, <Lv. 13> x5, <Lv. 12> x9)

• 2x Harpy (<Lv. 12> x2)

• 6x Stone Bramble Queen (<Lv. 14> x1, <Lv. 13> x5)

• 3x Lava Foxes (<Lv. 17> x1, <Lv. 16> x2)

• 4x Living Golem(<Lv. 15> x4)

• 4x Shadow Leaper(<Lv. 19> x1, <Lv. 18> x3)

⠀

Inhabitants:

• 1x Blood Crystal Bee Queen

• 185x Blood Crystal Bee Royal Guard

• 5,680x Blood Crystal Bee Worker/Warrior

⠀

Titles:

Level Suppressor, Lusty Dungeon, Dungeon Lord, Monster Breeder

]

⠀

[

Monster Breeder

⠀

Effects:

+ 1 initial level of bred monsters

+ 10% Stats to all bred monsters

+ Increased breeding options

]

⠀

Piri was playing tag with the three slave children in one of the dungeon's farmland areas, a large cavern with long stalks of faintly blue tipped wheat covering multilayered fields. Stone paths led through these fields with wide roads to allow monster drawn carriages to pull wagons through.

There were lots of dark elves tending to the fields, checking on the health of the crops and controlling large arrays to feed water into an overhead aqueduct. These array were extremely simply for Piri, whom already had a better education than the others, so the farmers often asked her how to use them when they were confused.

At the moment, she was running through the wheat field with her head ducked low, the only sign of her whereabouts the shuffle of wheat as she ran passed by.

"I'm going to catch you!" Felix called out while laughing, frequently popping his head above the head of the wheat to see where the where someone was moving amongst it.

Piri stifled a giggle to avoid exposing herself even more and fled in a different direction. She broke out of the wheat field and rapidly glanced around for a spot to hide.

On the other side of a blue tipped grassy field was a harpy's nest, a construction of sticks and even entire branches forcefully bent into shape.

Her eyes gleamed with light as she sprinted across the field as fast as her legs would take her and dove into the nest.

The harpy, an almost humanoid bird like monster with wings for arms, razor sharp talons and a screech which could cause a person's brain turn to paste, tilted its head and looked at the young girl in its nest. It quickly observed her as a dungeon resident and went back to pruning its feathers.

Felix, who was 'it', burst out of the wheat field shortly afterwards and looked at the harpy nest with obvious fear. The harpy looked back at the boy, wondering whether the human wanted to get into its nest as well.

The boy was spooked and quickly went in a different direction, not checking the nest for the hiding Piri.

"Hehe, thanks Mr. Harpy… or is it Miss Harpy," Piri cheerfully said and hugged the monster before departing.

The harpy barely paid it any mind and continued about its daily life when not hunting or killing intruders.

~~~~~

⠀

"I can't believe you were hiding in the harpy's nest! That's so unfair!" Felix complained with a look of grievance plastered on his face.

"Well, you are the loser, so now you need to accept your punishment~" Piri giggled mischievously to herself while the other two slaves, Avora and Thomas, looked at her in confusion.

"Okay, okay, what is the punishment?"

"You just need to eat these."

Piri presented a small cluster of raw wheat kernels. These weren't normal wheat grains, but the ones filled with mana.

Felix looked at her in shock.

"W-wait a second. We're not allowed to eat those, they could kill us."

"Don't worry, a little bit won't hurt. You may have an upset stomach though, hehe. I'm telling you to eat them."

Avora opened her mouth to say something, but Felix's slave crest had already activated and he was forced to eat the wheat grains with a pained expression.

The slaves were told to do whatever Piri told them to, so naturally when she told Felix to eat, he had to eat.

"Hey, what are you kids doing?!" One of the farmers ran over in shock after seeing Felix eat a mouthful of raw wheat grains, which was actually more dangerous than eating cooked wheat. "Damn it, get him to see Styx or one of his wives immediately!"

Felix's face began sweating heavily as his face rapidly flushed red. Piri stood back and watched with a stunned expression as he was carried off by the farmers.

Avora and Thomas looked at her guiltily and were about to say something when Piri ordered in panic, "You two are not allowed to talk about this, okay?!"

Their slave crests activated and they both silently nodded their heads, unable to say anything about the incident again unless Therina, whom they were technically the slaves of, commanded them to.

~~~~~

⠀

Styx entered the production side of the dungeon, which had increased in scale once again with all the new inventions.

Aura was sitting inside simply staring at everything in endless curiosity, and action which have been going on for the past ten hours.

"Surely it can't be that interesting," Styx commented with a sigh.

"It is."

Most of the processes were now automated. Raw ore was shipped in on the final, complete T1 conveyer belts, where long lines of magmasteel furnaces where waiting.

T1 item pickers waited for the raw materials to arrive. They were arm-like contraptions on top of a double layered, six-pointed magic array. This magic array detected when new materials arrived at the designated location, which the conveyer passed over.

The arm was then controlled to grab this item and move it to the designated location on the other side of the array.

This sounded simply, but each array had to be fine tuned for how the particular item was to be picked up, and how it was to be placed back down, along with everything in between.

Automatic arrays were installed in the furnaces next, which melted down all the raw metals and refined the product. Before pouring it out a shoot into a shallow, flowing pool of molten metal. Runes engraved on the side of this vat controlled the metal as it flowed into other area and was hardened and rolled into large plates and sheets of various sized, or turned into rods for further processing.

Styx had more T1 conveyers take these to different areas, where they were further processed into screws, cogs, and other items.

Giant high pressured water cutters had a triple layer array around the water jet, which created enough water pressure while protecting the nozzle to even cut through obsidum, which had proven notoriously difficult to work with due to its hardness factor. It was even harder than diamond, making Styx employ multiple preparation processes to enable him to simply fabricate cutting blades out of it.

Large high speed turbine engines rotated and functioned as lathes, multiple triangular arrays rotating around them and controlling them to complete merely several processes each.

From where Aura was watching, she could see all the arrays light up like stars in the night sky as materials were constantly refined and processed, the finished products being shipped off elsewhere for storage.

These were items that Styx either set aside for future use, to sell, or to be freely available to the elves. There were a couple of dark elves whom had taken up interest in being magic engineers, but they had very little knowledge on the subject and were merely blindly fumbling in the dark.

It wasn't so simple as a few processes though, as conveyor belts ran throughout the processing area in an orderly fashion, item pickers constantly grabbing items in constant rhythm. Giant stone pillers were spread throughout the area, and it appeared Styx would have to replicate this room several times as output of the base materials increased.

There were arrays which served as sensors to prevent the conveyors from overflowing and making a mess, but clogged up conveyers were highly inefficient.

As for the gnomes and other monsters. All these conveyers and magic arrays required power. While fields of flowers behind heat repelling wards constantly released mana into the air, it was nowhere near enough.

The gnomes worked on routine in changing all the mana gems installed in the conveyors and the central battery construct, an octagonal pillar with slots for mana gems over all eight surfaces, while mana lines were installed on the ground and rant to every machine.

When they weren't replacing the gems with fully charged ones, they observed all the machines and ensured there were no errors. They wouldn't be able to tell anyway, but Styx would, and he could immediately control that monster to correct the issue.

The soulforge still had its own room and was manually manned by more advanced monsters, but Aura had more interest in industrialism rather than anything else.

"As long as you're happy."

Styx sighed to himself once again and secretly wondered what kinds of thoughts ran through the wolf-eared Monster Lord's head.

⠀

[Pictures attached in paragraph comments]