It’s Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

---

There’s nothing really special connecting me to my original world.

After fighting and parting ways with my family, I haven’t had any relationships for a decade. In fact, I hadn’t even pursued romance since becoming an adult.

A life devoid of any stimulation, interest, or hobbies. Yet, despite that, I was slowly accumulating savings, envisioning a stable retirement.

I had actually been diligently investing and working various side jobs, enough to make a living until I grew old and kicked the bucket.

I worked like an ant, thinking just a little more profit would let me live richly…

“Damn it… can someone explain to me why this is happening to me?”

As a result, the feeling of loss after losing everything was honestly no joke.

For a while, I was unable to do anything, just sitting still. Later, I would deny reality, shouting “log out” or scouring for an interface.

It was at that moment that I felt a flicker of courage to face what lay before me.

“Greetings, Demon Lord Candidate! Welcome to the world of ‘Dungeon Lord’! I am the assistant who will help you, the new lord of this dungeon.”

“Do you really think I’ll be happy to see you… and you’ve even changed your name all of a sudden.”

What happened happened.

If I wanted to change something, I had no choice but to do what I could do now, putting in my best effort while creatively searching for another path.

The truth I had been feeling in modern times somehow made my body move.

Swish.

I naturally brushed back the hair cascading down my shoulders, realizing I had grown accustomed to the motion.

I had never consciously thought about it, but it seemed I adapt pretty quickly.

“Would you like to proceed with the tutorial?”

“Confirm / Cancel”

Or maybe this “system” did something to me.

By the way, a tutorial.

While there was a reward for lowering the initial entry barrier, I couldn’t completely skip it.

“First, ‘st…’”

“Status window.”

“Name – Libertus…”

After pressing “confirm” to answer the question, I was about to breezily continue the tutorial, but for some reason, I froze for a moment.

Because my current appearance was clearly reflecting in the status window.

I had customized it, but until I bought a mirror, I wouldn’t be able to verify, or so I thought.

“Small.”

Right now, I was much shorter and slimmer than my original self.

Of course, it made sense since I designed a female character to my taste. There surely are people who like women close to a height of 180 cm, but I’m not one of them.

I prefer women with a petite figure.

And now that preferred shape had become my body.

Damn it.

Swish swish.

I enlarged my appearance in the status window.

Having touched it slightly earlier, I now absentmindedly toyed with my hair that felt like it had already become a habit.

“It looks cute like this.”

My glossy black hair flowed down my back to my waist, while the sides reached my shoulder blades. The top fell elegantly to the side of my neck.

The layered wavy hairstyle showed no signs of split ends or tangled sections, perhaps due to the power of customization.

“…”

Beneath that, deep-set eyes gazed sharply at me with vivid purple irises, contrasted against skin so pale it looked ghostly.

The purple hues were neither violet nor indigo, just a completely cool feeling. Their direct stare sent a little shiver down my spine.

It was a relief that my actual base form looked somewhat delicate.

I was a bit on edge, given my current situation, but it seemed my eyes were sharper than usual.

“I’ve never seen purple eyes before in my life.”

They say there aren’t even a thousand people with purple eyes on Earth, so perhaps it wasn’t surprising.

Even if there are, they say it occurs in those with albinism, but without strong manifestations.

Pale skin, black hair, purple eyes, coupled with a somewhat fragile impression and slender body.

And lastly, what caught my eye.

“Gothic Lolita… Why did I choose such an outfit?”

I know well.

The cold yet soft dark princess.

An impulsive middle school fantasy led to a crazy base setting during customization.

Surprisingly, it felt somewhat comfortable considering it’s not as inconvenient as a real Gothic Lolita dress, but at any rate, it’s still a fluffy black dress that seems cumbersome to manage, let alone put on or take off.

As mentioned, it wasn’t inconvenient for movement, but I might start worrying about it later.

Surely, I can’t just lie here on my bed like this.

I might need to find a professional assistant or a maid with specialized knowledge ASAP.

Of course, I still had to proceed with the tutorial.

“And ‘dun…’”

“Dungeon information.”

“’Powe…’”

“Power information.”

“Cha, ‘stor…’”

“Storage.”

After that, I somehow rushed through the tutorial before other prompts could emerge.

All the functions were just as I remembered, so there was nothing difficult about it.

The only difference was that I had to call out windows I previously accessed through keyboard shortcuts verbally, and the functions yet to be unlocked didn’t show visible buttons, requiring some mental gymnastics.

What I checked was whether there were significant differences from what I knew.

Messages that had been smoothly flowing began to look stuttered, but I didn’t pay it mind.

“There’s no difference… huh.”

The result was a bit disappointing.

While the game’s entry barrier wasn’t too high, the “first wave” halfway through the tutorial was challenging.

It involved using just one basic unit out of a few types, properly setting traps in a basic dungeon, and, if possible, incorporating wild monsters from outside to take out the first wave of adventurers.

Being the first part, it meant dealing with just one user avatar who hadn’t acquired any powers or skills yet along with a basic unit.

“I hope it’s random… it’d be great if it were a slime.”

If I was unlucky, it could be a wild dog or a zombie; if I was lucky, a slime.

After all, the basic unit couldn’t ever become stronger than a person with a sword, but obtaining a slime would mean extreme luck.

They were weak enough to burst from a single magic attack, but slimes rarely appeared in the first wave, and they took almost no damage from slashing or stabbing.

While it wasn’t impossible to get a goblin, I’d prefer…

But there it was, a difference from my thoughts.

“Alpha tester special! You can set the desired species for your first summon, and thereafter, summoned units of that type will receive a modest benefit!”

“… Here?”

I never expected a special feature right when I entered this world, but if it was going to happen, I thought it would occur when I entered the main game.

Now things were different.

If I could choose it instead of it being random, I could select based on my preferences and knowledge.

“Goblin.”

“Shade.”

“Kobold.”

“Skeleton.”

“Zombie.”

“Ghost.”

“Slime.”

“Gremlin.”

Each represented fundamental units of Green Skin, Fallen Spirit, Were Beast, Undead trio, Monsters, and Demons.

While they were weak as basic units, they still held unique traits.

“Their costs are high and they eat a lot, but each one is strong.”

Fallen Spirits or Demons have high summoning costs and maintenance costs. However, they often yield powerful mutations or elite specimens as the game progresses.

Both types have high intelligence from the start, follow strategic policies well, but the Fallen Spirit is generally stronger in firepower, while the Demon is more tricky.

“They eat a lot but work well for what you feed.”

Green Skins and Were Beasts are very low in summoning cost but have high maintenance costs.

You actively lure hostile targets from outside into the dungeon, but in return, you can summon many to overwhelm an enemy in one go.

The Green Skin side has slightly higher costs, allowing fewer summons, but they are also stronger.

Were Beasts are loyal and have minimal costs, allowing for the control of many at once.

“They’re the ones that die if you don’t know.”

Monsters starting with a slime and undead beginning with a ghostly undead have multiple ways to achieve victory through strategies.

Just as slimes are resistant to physical attacks, there are magic-absorbing specters among the ghostly undead.

There are also ghosts hiding underground to strike or large rats that spread colorless, odorless poison, melting their targets.

While they can be tricky to manage, the returns are significant.

“They’re hard to obtain but not worth eating.”

The other two undead types require a “corpse” to summon and have significant summoning costs, but this means that their maintenance costs are virtually non-existent.

They can even restore or enhance destroyed units through their corpses, making it feel like there’s hardly a maintenance cost.

Thus, I could also spend the leftover funds to reinforce the dungeon or the Demon Lord Candidate, and the undead wouldn’t disappear until completely destroyed, making them enduring survivors.

Skeletons excel in collective tactics, while zombies are robust individually.

“But… I’ve made up my mind on what I’ll choose.”

The first unit is essentially the identity and growth direction of that Demon Lord.

For instance, getting a slime might make it easy to clear the initial stages, but it would become harder in the mid-game, leading to a standard tech tree tied to “Monster Lord.”

Each basic undead unit leads to different paths: “Necromancer,” “Vampire,” “Dreamwalker.”

It’s not just about determining training direction based on the randomly generated units—the class itself is decided.

When it was still a game, I’d reroll to choose a character that suited my tastes.

Those tastes are…

“Skeleton.”

Necromancer.

… Yet, choosing this without hesitation proved to be difficult.

Because, in this world, it feels like reality or a world similar to reality.

Choosing undead means I’ll have to live among those corpses for a while. There’s no comparison between a 2D, deformed character and the reality of a monster before my eyes.

Rather, if I went with a living being like a Beast, Were Beast, or Demon, I might at least create a pet to alleviate some loneliness.

Green Skin? Monsters? They’re not my preference from the outset.

The vampire from a zombie isn’t bad, but I can’t imagine what erotic developments would occur if a ghost became a succubus, so that’s out of the question.

Moreover…

“If it’s the undead, I know them inside and out.”

Since the most important issue at stake is ‘survival,’ it makes sense to choose what I’m best at.

Farewell, cute spirits. Gentle demons that might exist.

Of course, I can still obtain units from other categories later if necessary, so it’s not a complete farewell.

“You have selected Skeleton, ‘Undead – Skull’ class. Your path as a Dungeon Lord will now be fixed to ‘Necromancer.’ Will you decide on this?”

“Confirm / Cancel”

“Decision.”

Ding -!

To solidify my resolve, I spoke the word “confirm” out loud as I hit the button.

With a sound reminiscent of a temple bell ringing, the summoning began.