"I see..."
Cain nodded in understanding as Rias and her group celebrated their victory. It was just as he thought; it seemed like the enemies in his dungeons would never win against the challengers for now, so the only way for him to get more Coins was through the 'emotional reward system'.
As long as people enjoyed their adventures in the Fun Fun Dungeon, the dungeon would absorb their emotions and turn it into coins. It didn't matter how many times they lost or got injured.
[Challengers have finished the dungeon.]
A system notification popped up in front of him.
"Choosing the first boss room means they want to end the dungeon on the first floor, though they don't know about that." He muttered. It was the end of the line. The system then displayed a screen, showing him the total number of Coins he gained from Rias and her peerage.
[Reward distributed!]
[Emotional Rewards:
Joy: +1000 Coins
Thrill: +500 Coins
Sense of accomplishment: +250 Coins
Curiosity: +100 Coins]
Cain had to read the information several times to understand what he was seeing. There were a total of 5 people entering the dungeon and they got a total of 1,850 Coins.
It was much more than what he thought. If he were to get this much money every time, he would have no problems maintaining the dungeon or upgrading it. But, of course, there was no way people would enter the dungeon every single day.
The reason he got such a huge sum of coins today was probably because it was their first visit, and that's why the excitement, joy, thrill and curiosity. The sense of accomplishment, however...
He opened up the system and checked his stats. There were several options available to him, like managing the monsters, items drop, dungeon floors, etc. But for now, he just wanted to check how much Coins he had earned from this group.
The amount displayed in the screen showed him that he currently had 2350 Coins in his possession, meaning he earned around 500 more Coins after the notification.
"This is great. Making a dungeon is fun!" Cain said.
He had spent a lot of his Coins on making this first floor. He wanted to see what kind of reaction the adventurers would have once they entered his dungeon and what kind of things he needed to do to improve the experience for everyone.
Now that the dungeon's first trial was completed, Cain wondered how to expand his dungeon.
"I should make another floor..." Cain muttered.
But before that, he watched how Rias' group reacted to the blue portal that suddenly appeared alongside a message window.
[Congratulations! You have finished the Fun Fun Dungeon first floor!]
[Because you chose the boss room, you can't advance to the 2nd floor! Please enter again when the cooldown reset.]
[Cooldown: 3 Days.]
The notification window appeared before the six people in front of a blue portal. Everyone stared at the window before they looked at each other. Then, one by one, their faces broke into grins and they began laughing.
"Did you guys hear that? We beat it!" Issei exclaimed excitedly. His eyes were sparkling. He seemed like he was ready to celebrate right away, but he quickly stopped himself when he saw Rias looking serious. She turned towards her friends with an expression that made everyone else stop smiling immediately. She spoke quietly yet firmly.
"I am satisfied. But this isn't enough for us to understand this place. We don't even know who or what is the creator of this place." Rias looked at her comrades seriously. "Let's take a break. After three days, we will come again and look around the second floor. This portal should be the exit."
Rias turned around and stepped forward. As she did so, a blue light engulfed her body and teleported her out of the room. Akeno, Kiba, Koneko, and Issei all exchanged looks, wondering whether or not they should follow their leader. After a moment, Akeno smiled gently and nodded to the others.
They walked through the blue portal and disappeared.
Only when the room was empty, the portal disappeared and Cain sighed.
"That was fun. Now that I have more coins, I can create a better trap and more monsters. Hehehe, maybe I can make a fan-service dungeon too in the future." Cain rubbed his chin as he thought of various ideas.
Based on what the system told him, he could connect more worlds in the future. Not only that, he could make more dungeons or copy the entrance to appear in different places too!
"Maybe characters from one anime can meet with another in my dungeon? Oh, I am getting excited. What if Rias meets with devils from another world like Vergil or Dante? Or what if Aqua from Konosuba met with other Gods? Oh, maybe The Hunter from Bloodborne met with Geralt from The Witcher?"
Many exciting characters to play around, many ideas that could be used to farm coins, many ways to enjoy this new life of his.
"I'm looking forward to the future. Hehehehehe."
He was a nerd, and he loved anime and manga. Now he was in charge of making a world that would entertain the worlds he loved.
Who didn't get excited over that?
"It's time to work!"
***
Back in the old school building, everyone gathered at the Occult Research Club room.
"What do you think, Akeno?" Rias asked, she sat on the club's president seat while Akeno brought her tea. She drank it slowly as she looked at her queen who sat on the seat across from her.
Akeno tilted her head slightly and said, "Hmm... To be honest, I have no idea. This is the first time I've ever seen something like this, so it's hard to say for sure. But isn't that similar to a game?" she mused.
"I agree. I feel the same way. Is there anyone else besides you two who knows about this game?"
"Ise, what about you? Have you played a game like this before?" Kiba turned towards Issei, hoping he could help answer their question.
"Umm... Well, yes. I have played games where you need to explore dungeons, defeat monsters and bosses, get items and treasures. But this is real! How could something like this happen?" Issei scratched his head and looked confused.
"This is the real world." Rias nodded and then added, "And we're not dealing with humans. It's a supernatural occurrence, which makes it all the more strange."
She put her hand on her chin and pondered over this mystery.
"Unlike the game, we also don't get a reward for killing the boss..." Koneko said as she took a rice cracker from her pocket and munched it down.
"Yeah, you're right. I expected a treasure chest or something after defeating the boss, but nothing came out." Issei sighed in disappointment. He had hoped that he could gain some loot or rare item drops. "President! Maybe we will find the answer if we beat the second floor! The doors at the end of the first floor must be an option! We chose the wrong choice, right?"
"That might be it, Ise." Rias smiled at him.
The door to the room suddenly opened and a young girl stepped inside. She was wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform, but unlike Rias, her hair was pure black instead of the red color. Her glasses were a perfect match for her serious face.
"Rias." The girl, the student council president of Kuoh Academy, Sona Sitri, said in greeting.
"Sona." Rias stood up, smiling as she greeted the younger girl.
"Do I need to ask or will you explain what's going on?" She glanced over to the other devils. Rias sighed softly.
"I was waiting for you to come here. Let's discuss the dungeon behind this old school building. We're still trying to find out what it is."