A Reincarnated Demon’s Life of Wonder

The 14th upper floor of Damavand-Volcano. Unlike the other floors, including the 1st-to-13th and the 15th upper floors and the underground 1B-to-7B floors, there is technically nothing here for the invaders to make use of.

How this is possible is thanks to Flint's simply nasty layout of the Dungeon. The invaders have to start at floor B1, go down to B6...then have to climb up to floor 13. The reason for how Flint managed to make the invaders go through floors B1-to-B6 twice is that he divided the large, 5-kilometer-big floor into several passages that are separated from each other by walls or large pools of magma. 

As for the 14th floor, Flint made it so that people can simply pass it to reach the 15th floor, the top of the volcano...where they have to descend a path to reach floor B7, the real final floor of the Dungeon. 

Due to that, the 14th floor is pretty much hidden from the invaders. So Flint decided to make this whole floor his workshop. The whole floor. He's made a big forge, a test area, a tool shed, and lots more. All are made of jet-black steel that can sustain the heat even from the magma that flows through specially made canals. 

However, I had only one thing to say to this gigantic work of metal and flames:

"Goddamn hot!!" - Garami

"It is the inside of a volcano after all," replied Flint as he handed over some drinks from some cooler-like contraption. I drank it with vigor and got another one right away. GM is KO-ed from the heat already and dismissed. I'm quite envious of Mira who can stand this heat with close to no problems right now...

Taking another look over the hidden smithy, I could see several of the monster smiths wearing close to nothing else except protective equipment made out of fireproof leather. Someone, bring me a cold drink! Another one!

"And as you can see, I would like it if we could prioritize obtaining new monsters that could withstand the heat while also having the ability to forge." - Flint

"Got any candidates in mind?" - Garami

Flint didn't waste any time and started to point out his recommendations from the spawnable-monster list:

"The Lava Mousemen would be excellent for anything in the Volcano that requires opposable thumbs. After that would be the Volcanic Vamp and Vesuccubus, but they may be better for tasks within the service industry." - Flint

"They got anything special to them?" asked Mira who looked better for wear than me in this scalding heat.

"Volcanic Vamps are the evolved race of Volcanic Bats, a humanoid-ish one if I may add. Calling them "vampires" would be too much, but they are close to that image. Vesuccubuses are Succubi of the Magma attribute. Never seen something like them before, but it would not hurt to have some." - Flint

Ah, that's one of the races I designed while in Limbo. Forgot all about them. Maybe I should take the [Memory] skill...

"Okay, I'll prioritize having some lower-ranked versions trained and evolved. What about the other Magma creatures?" - Garami

"Ah, there's no haste with their recruitment. They're hard workers, even if only as spawns." - Flint

"On a different topic, what's the talk of "service industry" all about?" - Mira

Those words caught my attention as well. Spill it, you old reptile!

"Simple thing. We've cut off some more locations on the first and second floors so that tourists, not invaders, can enter. They are planned to become safe areas where we can put various facilities to attract customers. This is a volcano-type Dungeon after all. A hot spring here and there won't feel out of the place." - Flint

"Rather, it would be stranger not to be any! You're a genius!" - Mira

Stop letting your desires rule your judging abilities. I agree that it's a good idea though.

"But you haven't prepared those areas yet?" - Garami

"As you say. It's only empty slots of land at the moment. I prioritized the parts of the Dungeon that we shall use for defense, or production of weaponry." - Flint

"Their importance is in the opposite order, weren't they?" - Garami

"What smith wouldn't care for their smithy most of all? If you want a dutiful Territory manager, you should go look at Ciara or Karnel." - Flint

"Hold your horses. I get why Karnel is among there, but Ciara?" - Garami

"Believe it or not. She was complaining to me the other day that the coronation Quest prevented her from decorating the first two floors of the Seaside to her tastes." - Flint

"She's dedicating only two floors to her tastes!? The world is ending..." - Mira

"The big bad Overlord is scheduled for a walk pretty soon. Jokes aside, what's Ciara doing over at the sea?" - Garami

"Puzzles. And tons of them. She said something about trying to recreate as many puzzles from her "video games" or whatever they were called...something from her old world, apparently." - Flint

Nice idea. If Ciara has played even half the games my poor memory remembers, then she should have quite the library of puzzles to copy from. Even I managed to sneak in a few troublesome traps for the invaders in Damavand-Core. The Seaside should be fine.

"Then what about Karnel? You spoke like you had some idea of what was going on at his place." - Mira

"Yeah, we hit off while waiting for you girls. Started to report our progress to each other. Karnel said he had recreated his previous Dungeon theme with more traps than before. Even managed to fit in some floors dedicated for food production." - Flint

"You don't say." - Mira

That's pretty useful. Can never have too many veggies. 

And Karnel's previous Dungeon...the gauntlet of traps. I ran through it, but that was when the Dungeon was level 2, wasn't it? And now he's using Damavand's fantastic Facility: [B] stat traps...

"Enough about the other places. Flint, did you finish it? A sword that can withstand my full strength?" - Mira

"So that's the real reason you're here! Wait, I'll bring it out." - Flint

After that, Flint brought a huge sword lying on a plate carried by two...robots. No, Identification says they are drones, despite looking like boxes with wheels on them. 

The sword is a single-edged broadsword. It's around 1.5 meters long, I guess? Its backside has a jagged edge, so it could prolly be used as a saw if enhanced by some skill. The blade is made from a jet-black metal that has a particular luster that makes me think it's alive, even if I don't know why.

The handle is made of black wood and golden-colored metal, but there are no accessories or gems on it, giving it a simple appearance while also showing that it's likely a valuable piece of weaponry, but a real appraiser would probably know better than me.

"It's still a prototype that I built in haste, so don't complain if you don't find it satisfying." - Flint

"No, this is a goddamn broken sword, for God's sake!" - Garami

An STR-increase of 660!? Granted, it's only if you have a second-tier [Swordsmanship] skill, but this is the highest value of any weapon I've seen since the System Update, and the updated weapons' stats are more than likely not at this level either!

And don't get me started on the special effects! Even if that weight-related one does look bad. Is it a negative to allow the other effects to be added?

But that thought was blown away from my mind as I saw Mira starting to spin the sword around like it was some baton. That's right, that girl can alter the weight of her weapons...

"This child is great! If feels like it was born to be held by me!" - Mira

"That's a relief. It's the first successful case of a Meteor Iron weapon after all. Despite its size, you should be able to cut through things as if it was a katana or use it as a bludgeoning weapon as you do with a bastard sword." - Flint

"Is it a sword or some universal key for swords?" - Garami

I couldn't stop myself from speaking out loud. It's stronger than my Carnwennan/Deathcalibur, has tons of effects that are beneficial for Mira, and it is even flexible to use. Come on...

"There's still some possibility of adding new effects to the blade, but I need some decent materials...Garami? What's wrong?" - Flint

"Why're you overwhelming my Unique Items so easily!?" - Garami

After some wailing, Mira started to explain the circumstances regarding my newest items, and...

"Seriously? That's broken." - Flint

"How so!?" I cried to the sarcastic lizard.

"If you want to enhance something that's already been made, you have to invest quite the amount of materials, money, and time into it. Failing an enhancement can lead to the item becoming weaker than it already was due to floundering in the reforging process or if the materials were of bad quality. The item could outright be destroyed, even if was of an Ex-rarity!" - Flint

"Huh!? Flint, you want to risk destroying this child!?" shouted Mira as she hugged her new sword as if to protect it from Flint.

"No, that one's fine. It still has "space" left in it for a new ability or two to be added without destroying it." - Flint

The description of the sword did say it's unfinished. Flint must have wanted to show it to us before doing the finishing touches. 

"Your "Nightmare Demon"-series, was it? They can add any new ability based on the materials used, and without any demerits. And from what I can see, you only need to alchemize the materials into the items, so it won't take an hour to complete it." - Flint

Not to mention that I get more slots with the more levels I gain. That is almost convincing me that the huge material drain is worth it...almost. 

"Then could you hand over some of the Darkness Dragon's materials that remain? They gotta give some nice effects if I give up some Darkness skills." - Garami

"I wouldn't say that. Dragon materials are strong, sure, but to create a decent ability for your equipment, you would likely have to sacrifice high-tier Dragon-type skills of a similar nature to the material that's being used." - Flint

Ugh, that sounds bad. Those types of skills are damn valuable for my usage, so I don't wanna let go of too many of them.

"My suggestion is that you obtain materials specifically used for enhancement of items. Like the "Loong's Jewel", which increases the effect of Lightning and/or Cloud attribute abilities, depending on what the item in question is capable of." - Flint

"...meaning, I should let the skills say what the new effect should do, then gather tailor-made items that can enhance the planned effect?" - Garami

"That is the safest method I have to offer. Better start treasure hunting." - Flint

"Old man, sometimes you have the best ideas I've ever heard!" - Mira

She used to have the Treasure Hunter class before upgrading it to Phantom Thief...

I ignored the two sword-idiots fooling around as they named materials that sounded like they all would be Legend-rarities to take a look at the workshop again to kill my boredom when I noticed a strange sword being locked inside a solid glass case. And this is?

"Hey, Flint! Why're you making bombs disguised as swords here?!" - Garami

"Oh, that one? It's another thing I prepared for Mira and her Extra Skill. If she is already making copies of swords, why not make full use of that trait? Got plans for three more similar swords." - Flint

"Really~? Tell me more~." - Mira 

Aaaand the sword-idiots are in their little world~. Let's rob Flint's material storage as payback...

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Skill List:

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Kigal-Note/Humanoids/Reptiles: Fire Lizardman