Honestly, the waiting and preparations had dragged on long enough that any further delays probably would have driven D-29 into madness.

According to the little system, if past upgrades were anything to go by, then there would likely be even bigger quality-of-life improvements the moment the dungeon level increased.

More importantly, they currently had more than enough CP not only to purchase the things they expected to appear, but also whatever unexpected items might accompany the upgrade.

Still, the excessive preparations were understandable.

Unlike before, Luca was no longer managing only a small number of people.

Now they had beasts. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

A lot of beasts.

Both domesticated and wild.

And while the intrinsically escapist goats alone already challenged the sanity of even the most determined individuals, the ones requiring the greatest amount of monitoring were actually the wild beasts living in the sanctuary.

See, if their assumptions were correct, then the dungeon-linked space would likely expand in size once the upgrade began.

And while the whole thing was majestic and beautiful, that process was not exactly peaceful for those caught in it.

None of them would certainly want to be caught outside while the dungeon rearranged itself.

Because of that, they could not risk allowing the beasts to roam freely once things started.

Granted, they weren’t sure whether the upgrade would actually harm them or if the dungeon had safeguards in place for situations like this, but they also didn’t want to regret leaving everything up to chance.

Hence, all the effort and hard work just to get to this point.

Herding the mature beasts underground was not too difficult since most of them already understood that cooperating with the humans generally resulted in food and comfortable living conditions.

The issue was the younglings.

And the eggs.

Because apparently, the beasts had become comfortable enough to start reproducing.

Unfortunately, many of them decided that random burrows, nests, cliffsides, and suspicious holes were excellent places to leave their offspring.

So if strong tremors really accompanied the upgrade, then what if the nests collapsed?

What if the eggs got crushed?

And honestly, nobody even wanted to begin discussing the fish.

There was absolutely no way to retrieve all of them alive, eggs included. And while successfully accounting for every aquatic creature was technically possible... What were the chances of actually keeping them underground with everyone else?

Minuscule. Around the same chance of Luca suddenly turning into a bad boy.

Still, they could at least safeguard some.

So, yes.

It was a tremendous amount of work.

Especially because all of this also had to be coordinated alongside properly timing harvests and relocations.

Thankfully, since they had started preparations early, all that remained today were the final checks.

Everyone had to move underground together with the beasts, who were currently being kept docile by one extremely overworked tortoise.

Tortie, for his part, had already been promised a larger payout for the exhausting task of glaring intimidatingly at everything that moved.

Obviously, that was extremely effective on its own, so yay for all of them.

But perhaps the trickiest issue they had to navigate around carefully was the fact that even the guild’s Day Care had to be temporarily shut down for maintenance.

Uh huh.

The beloved Day Care.

Closed.

Allegedly for housekeeping.

But more realistically, it was because they needed all hands on deck.

After all, they were upgrading two different sectors, and who knew what could happen?

More importantly, the purification chamber would be out of commission, and they couldn’t be certain whether it would upgrade into something they’d need time to tinker with first. Therefore, they decided it would be best to momentarily close down while the upgrade was in full swing.

Safe to say, the people of the Empire nearly lost their minds.

Star Net became flooded with discussions almost immediately.

Some argued that the workers deserved a proper rest after everything that happened during the Annual Expo.

Others, however, became deeply concerned and suspicious.

And honestly, the concerns escalated rather quickly.

There were people discussing the possibility of attacks, while others compiled "evidence" regarding the guild’s recent behavior, like conspiracy theorists who hadn’t slept in days.

But it couldn’t be helped when, to most people, DG’s movements really didn’t make sense.

Not only had the victors isolated themselves and refused ceremonies, interviews, and various public appearances, but now, even the Day Care had suddenly closed despite remaining operational during the Annual Expo itself.

Granted, it had only run on a skeletal workforce back then.

The cadets had been absent.

Tortie had also been absent.

But it still remained operational even with heavily reduced services.

This time, however, even military personnel would not be permitted entry for healing.

At least for today, for hopefully just a day, as interruptions wouldn’t be good for the contaminated soldiers.

And honestly, that was the biggest issue they had to account for.

Thankfully, Marshal Julian was around.

At the very least, he could soften the blow while handling Curtis, who was probably already on the verge of demanding to know whether DG was truly alright.

__

Then again, despite how nerve-wracking the impending upgrade was, it was also incredibly exciting.

Especially for the first-timers who genuinely had no idea what was about to happen.

And honestly, there were a lot of them, even including the Duchess herself.

Most of the newer members had never personally witnessed a major dungeon upgrade before, since the previous ones happened long before they arrived.

Sure, they had seen facilities like barns, coops, and various amenities appear almost overnight, but hearing that the very land itself would move and expand still sounded like something straight out of a storybook.

"Ah, but that’s really what happened last time, you know!" Ollie exclaimed excitedly.

The blonde, who seemed to have revived himself entirely through sheer enthusiasm alone (coaxing from his beloved), enthusiastically gestured while recounting the earlier upgrades.

"Even seeing the Energy Stabilizer Pylons rise out of the ground was shocking! Especially now that you all know how we spent literal days manually installing those things at the aquaponics facility!"

He looked deeply traumatized by the memory.

"Though... come to think of it, that was also when we started thinking about eventually making giant domes outside the space!"

At this, Jax nodded in agreement.

"In my case, I had to move all my children around," he said while crossing his arms. His family had grown a lot, and it was impossible to keep everyone inside.

"But honestly? I don’t regret it because every dungeon upgrade so far has been ridiculously exciting."

And to be fair, he was not entirely wrong.

It was just hard to believe all the tales when Luca, the central figure of the entire event, currently looked like he was moments away from collapsing.

The golden-eyed cadet’s finger remained hovering over the button for more than a full minute now.

Trembling.

Shaking, even.

But really, who could blame him?

That single press alone would cost ten million CP.

Ten million.

Just thinking about it made nearby money-grubbers, as in Noah and Theo, feel phantom pain.

Thankfully, the dungeon itself seemed to understand the gravity and financial trauma associated with such an expenditure.

Because this time, the notification did not remain visible only to Luca.

No.

This one appeared directly in front of everyone.

[INITIALIZING: DUNGEON UPGRADE TO LEVEL 4...]