Dhruv was still in the midst of trying to understand the long panel when a new one popped up in front of him. All these panels appearing out of the blue made him so comfortable that when a new one popped up he didn’t even flinch this time.

With a straight face, he read the notification.

[The Entry/Exit sigil will be activated in 48 hours.]

[Please summon monsters and a guardian to maintain the Dungeon.]

Reading it, he compared the information against the dungeon’s map and understood where the Entry/Exit sigil the notification was talking about was.

From his inherited knowledge, Dhruv knew that the Entry/Exit sigil is a passway between the dungeon and the world above. When a new dungeon spawns it gets some free time to prepare for the inevitable invasion.

’As for the guardian... these are the boss monsters that the invaders will face after clearing the normal monsters, and to reach the second floor... in a way this will be my last defense against the invasion...’

Not knowing what sort of requirements he needed at the moment, he looked at the last notification.

[You have received the item: Tier 1 Guardian Creation]

This time the notification didn’t come empty-handed as now there lay a clear, glass-like card in his hand. It shone faintly with a golden color.

As Dhruv looked closely, he found that at its center, silhouettes of creatures changed from time to time. At one moment it showed the figure of a human, at another something demonic. One could even vaguely see the figure of a dragon, fairies or elves.

"Isn’t this like a game..."

He couldn’t help but mutter, remembering how during his childhood he would create monsters with specific stats and skills to defend the castle. Only this time it was happening in reality.

"So something would appear from this... quite advanced I must say, cube."

Thinking the chances of getting a monster might be random, he pulled the stone close to his eyes and when the silhouette of the dragon appeared he shouted,

"I choose you.."

[Do you want to use the item: Tier 1 Guardian creation?]

[Yes/No]

Contrary to his expectation, instead of a dragon a notification presented itself.

"No luck...huh! Sure, let’s use the item."

[Select the method of using the item.

- Automatic

- Manual]

Looking at the options presented to him, something clicked inside his head.

’Don’t every master use the manual method... are they stupid? No, that can’t be... is it that not every master knows how to use the manual function? A dungeon is usually infested by monsters so the cube gives those who can’t decide for themselves another way... huh! Quite considerate for a peeping tom..’

Nodding his head, he clicked on the ’Manual’ option. A moment later a character creation menu popped up.

<---------------------------------------------->

[Creation Menu]

[Species: ...]

[Background: ...]

[Nature: ...]

[Affinity: ...]

[Energy: 100]

<---------------------------------------------->

Having played games, Dhruv instantly understood what each of these sections wanted from him.

’Giving the power of creation into the hands of a mortal... not wise of you, cube...’ Shaking his head, Dhruv tried understanding each of the panels.

[Species: Select a species of the being you want to create.]

[ Background: Write a descriptive background which will be considered as the history of the creation. The background can heavily impact the nature and affinity of the creation. The more descriptive the background, the better the result. -

[Nature: Decide what the natural tendency is. The selected species affects nature greatly.]

[Affinity: In which element will the creation hold the authority in?]

[ Energy: The currency you are given to use.]

’I can select the species, background... hmm! The background is its history and I will have to focus more on that... should I give him a traumatic past or should I give him a happy childhood...’

Thinking so, Dhruv began deciding what sort of history he wanted to give his creation. Making the final decision, he clicked on the species menu.

<---------------------------------------------->

[Species:]

[Available Options:

Skeleton - 10

Goblin - 15

Zombie - 15

.

.

Orc - 20

.

.

.

Half-Elf - 25

Imp - 30

Dryad - 40

.

.

.

Dark Elf - 40

Werewolf - 50

Lesser Elemental - 50

Troll - 50

.

.

Lesser Demon - 60

Lesser Small Drake - 90

Lesser Small Wyvern - 90

.

.

Vampire - 100

Basilisk - 100

.

.

Lich - 150

Greater Demon - 150

.

.

Lesser Adult Dragon - 500]

<---------------------------------------------->

"Woah! Woah!... shall we calm down a little?"

Dhruv muttered, looking at the long list in awe. It was long enough that it took him more than a quarter of a minute just to scroll from top to bottom. Impressed by the sheer number of them, he began reading about them all.

From the media Dhruv had consumed he had a little idea about a few of the species. And for the rest of the hundreds of species he hadn’t got a clue. For those he clicked on them and read the information that popped up.

[Goblin: At the bottom of the New World’s species hierarchy. Most goblins have an affinity for Greed and Lust. By nature, they are Simple-Spirited and have High Progeny].

[Zombie: An undying creature of the New World whose only..]

[Half-Elf: Considered a sin by many of the elves, the Half-Elf are the species of bastards..]

The more he read the descriptions of many monsters, the more Dhruv managed to figure out a few things.

"The species I will choose will greatly depend on the type of guardian that will be created... so I can’t just choose the one with the lowest energy expenditure..."

Shaking his head, Dhruv tried to find the best species with the least amount of energy. After half an hour of thinking and planning, he managed to thin the list to just three.

"Troll would be great for their endurance and as the last defense, it can buy me some time, but the adaptability of the elementals is no joke, not to mention the long arsenal of skills they can use. But...but... but these Lesser Demons are quite tempting..."

Muttering, he read the description of the Lesser Demons once again.

[Lesser Demons: Even amongst monsters, demons are hated the most. They embody the persona of the sly and crafty. With great physical strength, they are easy to train in the ways of magic and everything else.]

"The species is finalized, now comes the real deal."

Looking at the description, Dhruv muttered to himself and went to the nature section.

One thing he found surprising and delightful was that each species already possesses some nature of its own, and when selecting additional nature, if that nature corresponds with their natural nature, one could get some discounts in the energy spent.

Like so, trolls possess the nature of Regeneration and Endurance... so if he added the nature Hard-Skinned, he would have to spend less energy.

And the same is true for the opposite as well.

If he goes against the nature of the monster, then he has to spend more points. Like if he tried adding Graceful or Cowardly to trolls, then he would have to spend more energy than with other monsters.

After spending another half an hour experimenting with Nature, he couldn’t help but whisper.

"This is too tiring, the result better be good... or else..."

If it weren’t for the fact that his life depended on it, Dhruv wouldn’t have spent this much time nitpicking every minute detail. After spending more than an hour, he finally created the perfect guardian, in his opinion, at least.

In the end, the panel looked something like this,

<---------------------------------------------->

[Species: Lesser Demon]

[Background: Abandoned by everyone, you wandered the world alone. One day, you found a dungeon, and its kind master offered you a place to belong. Grateful for his mercy, you swore to protect him with all that you are.]

[Nature: Intelligent, Charming, Scheming, Loyal]

[Affinity: Blood, Curse]

[Energy: 0]

<---------------------------------------------->

’Let’s hope upgrading sly and crafty to intelligent and scheming bore some result. One can even get nature out of background...’ He thought, looking at Loyal.

During his creation, if he were to rate it, Dhruv would consider ’Background’ as the most important aspect of it.

’Ahhh... it’s finally done...’ he thought, looking at the panel below.

[ Are you satisfied with your creation?]

[Yes/No]

Nodding his head, Dhruv felt satisfied.

The moment he did so, the card in his hand burst into tiny golden fragments. Those tiny fragments flew from his hand and began gathering in clusters. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Faintly glowing in gold, the cluster grew in size and began to change into something that Dhruv couldn’t make sense of. Suddenly, everything was covered in a blinding golden light.

When the golden light subsided, he could see a trace of something humanoid kneeling in front of him.