Chapter 79: war incoming
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...
Tolu looked around.
"What is this?"
"Mine."
Tolu turned.
Folami shrugged.
"Well, technically, my family’s."
He walked toward the counter.
"My grandfather has been telling me that I should build my own force."
Tolu listened.
"I thought about it."
Folami leaned against the counter.
"And I realized something."
"What?"
"I’m always being told to build something of my own."
He gestured around the empty shop.
"So I decided to take my own advice."
Tolu looked at the building again.
"You’re starting a business?"
"Yes."
"Instead of working with your family?"
"Exactly."
Folami looked toward the herbs.
"I have no interest in spending my entire life working inside the family businesses simply because I was born into the family."
He looked back at Tolu.
"If I’m going to build my own future, I should actually build something."
Tolu nodded slowly.
That made sense.
Folami picked up the Emberleaf again.
"Although..."
His eyes narrowed.
"I don’t know where you got these."
Tolu said nothing.
"And I won’t ask."
Tolu nodded.
"But..."
Folami raised the herb.
"Do you have a continuous supply?"
Tolu nodded.
Folami stared at him.
"How continuous?"
"Enough."
"That’s not an answer."
Tolu shrugged.
"I can get more."
Folami studied him.
Then he sighed.
"Fine."
He placed the herb down.
"We’ll split the profit seventy-thirty."
Tolu blinked.
"Seventy-thirty?"
"You take seventy."
Tolu’s eyes widened.
"I take seventy?"
"Yes."
"And you take thirty?"
"Correct."
Tolu stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because you are providing the goods."
Tolu thought for a moment.
Then shook his head.
"No."
Folami frowned.
"No?"
"Let’s split the price instead."
"What?"
Tolu pointed toward the herbs.
"You sell them. You take thirty percent of the selling price and give me seventy percent."
Folami stared.
"That’s exactly what I just said."
"No."
Tolu shook his head.
"I mean we split the price of the herbs before profit."
Folami’s eyebrows slowly rose.
Tolu continued.
"You buy them from me for thirty percent of whatever you would sell them for."
Folami stared at him.
"You’re giving me these for thirty percent?"
"Yes."
"And I sell them for the normal price?"
"Or lower."
Folami looked genuinely confused.
"Tolu."
"Hm?"
"Do you understand what you’re saying?"
"Yes."
"You’re essentially giving me these for free."
Tolu thought about it.
"Not free."
Folami gave him a look.
"Close enough."
Tolu shrugged.
Folami picked up the Dreamgrass.
These might not be the highest-quality herbs on the market.
They might not even be particularly rare.
But they were still herbs that could be sold.
And he had no idea where Tolu was getting them.
More importantly, he couldn’t figure out how.
Unless...
Folami narrowed his eyes.
"You’re not stealing these, are you?"
Tolu stared at him.
His face was completely deadpan.
"Of course not."
Folami stared at him for another second.
Then nodded.
"Good."
He put the herb down.
"Because I don’t want stolen goods in my business."
Tolu said nothing.
Folami looked around the empty shop.
Then his expression changed.
"If I can get these consistently, we can sell them cheaper than the other shops."
Tolu nodded.
"Exactly."
"But there’s a problem."
"What?"
"Volume."
Folami pointed toward the street outside.
"Most cultivators who buy herbs don’t come here for one or two leaves. Alchemists buy them in bulk. Medicine shops buy them in bulk. Cultivation families buy them in bulk."
He looked at the small pile on the counter.
"This isn’t enough."
Tolu looked at the herbs.
"How much do we need?"
"A lot."
Folami laughed quietly.
"I mean a whole lot."
He picked up one bundle.
"If we want to compete on price, we need enough stock to make the lower price worthwhile."
Tolu considered it.
"I can try to get more."
Folami looked at him.
"Can you?"
Tolu nodded.
"I’ll try."
Folami smiled.
"Then we have a business."
Tolu looked around the three-story shop.
The empty shelves.
The unused counters.
The floors above them waiting for someone to fill them.
For the first time, he realized something.
His dungeon didn’t only have the potential to make him strong.
It could make him wealthy.
Not through some magical treasure appearing out of nowhere.
Not through a convenient reward.
But through patience.
Plants had to grow.
Ore had to form.
Creatures had to live.
Resources had to be harvested.
Then someone had to sell them.
It was work.
Real work.
But that was exactly what Tolu wanted.
Something he could build himself.
Folami looked at the small collection of herbs and smiled.
"Bring me more."
Tolu nodded.
"I will."
....
Tolu returned to the dungeon the following morning.
The moment his feet touched the familiar stone floor beside the Dungeon Heart, he could already feel the difference.
The dungeon was quiet.
Not empty.
Never empty.
Small creatures moved through the darker passages, their movements faintly registering at the edge of his awareness. Roots had begun spreading through the fertile sections he had prepared. Moisture gathered naturally in the deeper parts of the dungeon, and the air carried the earthy scent of growing things.
Tolu looked toward the garden.
Several of the plants he had harvested previously were already beginning to recover.
He smiled.
"You’re actually growing."
The Dungeon Heart’s feminine voice answered from behind him.
"Of course."
Tolu turned toward the crystal.
"I wasn’t talking to you."
"I know."
He smiled.
Then he crouched beside the garden.
There was still work to do.
He carefully harvested the mature Emberleaf first, taking only what was ready while leaving the younger leaves untouched.
Next came Clearroot.
He loosened the soil around the roots before removing the portions that had reached maturity.
Then Dreamgrass.
He was more careful with those.
The flowers were delicate, and damaging the plant unnecessarily would slow future production.
Once he had finished harvesting, Tolu moved to another section of the dungeon.
He had brought seeds.
Not many.
But enough to expand the garden.
He knelt and began planting.
One seed.
Then another.
Then another.
He spaced them carefully, making sure there was enough room for the roots to spread.
He watered the soil using a small amount of dungeon energy rather than flooding it.
The work was strangely peaceful.
There was no fighting.
No monsters trying to kill him.
No cultivation breakthrough.
No desperate battle.
Just dirt beneath his fingernails and the quiet work of building something.
After several hours, Tolu finally stood.
He wiped the soil from his hands.
"The herbs are the top priority."
The Dungeon Heart remained silent for a moment.
Then it answered.
"That is reasonable."
Tolu looked toward the crystal.
"How much can we produce?"
"If you maintain the current cultivation areas and harvest responsibly, a batch comparable to your previous harvest can be produced approximately every three days."
Tolu’s eyes brightened.
"Three days?"
"Yes."
He smiled.
"That’s actually pretty good."
"It could be faster."
Tolu’s smile faded.
"How much faster?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"Dungeon wars."
Tolu stared at the Dungeon Heart.
There was a pause.
Then he sighed.
"Of course."
The Heart continued.
"Your dungeon’s current energy reserves are sufficient for its present size, but increased production requires increased energy."
"Which comes from dungeon wars."
"Among other sources."
Tolu looked around.
He already understood the problem.
If he wanted the dungeon to become a serious source of wealth, he couldn’t remain at its current level forever.
He needed more energy.
More territory.
More creatures.
More resources.
And eventually...
More power.
"Then I need to prepare."
"Yes."
Tolu walked toward the darker part of the dungeon.
"How many creatures do we have now?"
The Heart answered immediately.
"Four Level Two creatures."
Tolu stopped.
"Only four?"
"Four that have reached Level Two."
He nodded slowly.
"What about the others?"
"They remain below Level Two."
Tolu rubbed his chin.
"So we’re going into a dungeon war with four Level Two creatures?"
"For now."
Tolu wasn’t particularly reassured.
He remembered the last dungeon they had entered.
That dungeon had been weak.
Its creatures had been poorly organized, their movements predictable, and their intelligence limited.
Even the stronger beasts had mostly relied on instinct.
"What kind of dungeon are we fighting?"
The Heart’s glow pulsed faintly.
"A dungeon slightly larger than yours."
Tolu frowned.
"Slightly?"
"In population."
"How many creatures?"
"More than yours."
"How many Level Two?"
"That information will become clearer when the war begins."
Tolu sighed.
"That’s not very helpful."
"The enemy dungeon will be stronger than the Level Two dungeon you encountered previously."
Tolu’s expression became serious.
"How much stronger?"
"Significantly."
He looked toward the four Level Two creatures.
"And you still think we can win?"
"Yes."
Tolu raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Because you possess an advantage they do not."
Tolu waited.
The Heart continued.
"Intelligence."
Tolu stared at the crystal.
"...What?"
"Intelligence."
He frowned.
"Isn’t the Dungeon Heart intelligent?"
"No."
Tolu blinked.
"Wait."
He walked closer.
"You’re telling me dungeon hearts aren’t intelligent?"
"Not naturally."
Tolu stared at it.
"Then what are they?"
"Most Dungeon Hearts are tools."
"Tools?"
"Interfaces through which the Dungeon Lord interacts with the dungeon. They possess limited instinctive responses and can provide information related to the dungeon, but true intelligence is different."
Tolu’s expression became increasingly confused.
"Then what level does a dungeon heart become intelligent?"
The crystal’s glow remained steady.
"Only Dungeon Hearts belonging to dungeons above Level Four possess true intelligence."
Tolu froze.
"Above Level Four?"
"Yes."
"Then..."
He slowly pointed at the crystal.
"How are you intelligent?"
Silence.
Tolu waited.
The Dungeon Heart didn’t answer immediately.
He narrowed his eyes.
"You’ve been talking to me since I became a Dungeon Lord."
"Yes."
"You explain things."
"Yes."
"You understand questions."
"Yes."
"You have opinions."
The Heart remained silent.
Tolu’s eyes narrowed further.
"So how are you intelligent?"
The crystal’s light flickered once.
"I wasn’t always Level One."
Tolu’s expression changed.
"What?"
The Heart said nothing.
Tolu stepped closer.
"What level were you?"
Silence.
He waited.
Nothing.
"Told you I wasn’t going to let that go."
Still nothing.
Tolu crossed his arms.
"Come on."
The Heart remained silent.
"What level were you?"
Its glow pulsed softly.
"Those answers are for the future."
Tolu frowned.
"That’s convenient."
"It is necessary."
"Why?"
"Because you are not ready."
Tolu opened his mouth.
The Heart spoke before he could.
"For now, prepare well."
Its voice became quieter.
"We will be going to war soon."
The words settled heavily in the dungeon.
Tolu’s expression became serious.
Dungeon war.
This wasn’t a training exercise.
It wasn’t an expedition where Folami could sit nearby eating an apple while watching them fight.
This time, the dungeon itself would be at stake.
The creatures living here would fight.
His dungeon would fight.
And he would have to lead them.
Tolu looked toward the garden.
Then toward the deeper passages.
Then finally at the Dungeon Heart.
"All right."
He nodded.
"We’ll prepare."
He gathered the harvested Emberleaf, Clearroot, and Dreamgrass.
The gemstones and ore he had collected were placed into separate sacks.
He checked them one final time.
Nothing was wasted.
The younger plants remained in the soil.
The seeds he had planted were left undisturbed.
The dungeon would continue growing while he was away.
Tolu lifted the sacks.
"Don’t let anything happen while I’m gone."
The Dungeon Heart’s glow pulsed.
"I am the Dungeon Heart."
Tolu smiled.
"I know."
He focused his energy.
The familiar connection between himself and the dungeon strengthened.
Then, in the blink of an eye, his surroundings disappeared.
He reappeared outside the dungeon.
The sacks rested against his side.
Tolu looked back at the entrance.
A strange feeling settled in his chest.
He had come here originally because he wanted power.
Then he wanted wealth.
Now he had something else.
Something he hadn’t expected.
A place that was his.
A place that depended on him.
Tolu tightened his grip on the sacks.
"Time to get ready for war."
Then he turned and walked away.