Chapter 19 - Improving Time-Killing
With all that said, I quickly built the 11th floor and decided to leave the female knights to their own devices for about two years.
I designed the 11th floor with terrain and enemy types that would force them to physically train.
Think stairs so high you have to use your entire body to climb them, or turtles so heavy you have to flip them over and slice their bellies to defeat them. Yeah, it’s an area packed with situations that scream, “Hey, work hard and get stronger!”
It’s exhausting and requires a ton of muscle, but I made sure it wouldn’t be life-threatening.
Hmm, the bath after conquering this floor must feel amazing~. Not that I’d ever want to step foot in a place like this, though!
“Hey, Master, you said this is going to be a training period for the female knights, but... are you just going to sit back and watch for a while?”
Peta-chan makes a fair point.
You might think, “Well, since this is a dungeon where I can just shut off my consciousness, why not do that for two years?”
But dungeons have lifespans too. According to Peta-chan, ours is about 1,100 years.
Even though that’s over ten times a human’s lifespan, two years isn’t something you can just toss away.
Imagine if humans had the ability to shut off their consciousness. Would a Dungeon Master—a total NEET who never leaves their room—really waste a few months of their 80-year lifespan just because a game they want is coming out in a few months?
So, I decided to pitch an idea I’ve been thinking about to Peta-chan.
“Nah, I’ve got a fun way to kill time in mind!”
“Ooh, as expected of Master, a genius! So, what’s the plan?”
“During this period, let’s improve the No-Hunger Dungeon and have some fun.”
That’s right, we can’t just leave the male adventurers out of the fun.
If that dungeon becomes higher quality, it’ll boost the kingdom’s reputation and attract even more adventurers.
“Ah, I see! But you can’t use our points here for that, though... Since you don’t have master privileges over that dungeon.”
“Don’t even think about sneaking our points over there! You’re the one who’s gotta improve that dungeon, Peta-chan!”
“Eh...? I’m not too confident about that. You’ll give me advice, right?”
“Yeah, leave that to me. First, can you replicate the food you’ve been serving in that dungeon?”
“Huh? Well, yeah, I can. Munya munya… Here.”
With that, Peta-chan kneads the surrounding mana and creates something.
Hmm... it looks familiar. It’s that weird portable food the female knights often eat during breaks.
I take it, sniff it cautiously, and then take a small bite.
“Gross!”
It’s just some low-quality wheat flour, salted, baked, and dried into a hard block. That’s all it is.
“This is awful... Do they really eat this? Or is it just because you made it poorly?”
“I meticulously analyzed and perfectly replicated it from the belongings of dead adventurers using mana, okay?
If I served random food that turned out to be poisonous or deadly, no one would come anymore. So, I was super careful about that.”
Yeah, I get it.
Peta-chan only replicated the adventurers’ portable rations and had no idea about enjoyable food.
In that case, my knowledge from my past life should be more than enough to dominate here.
“Alright, I’ll use my past life memories to create some real food.”
I start by conjuring up some bread using mana.
Given the level of food in this world, something like sweet pastries might be too intense and off-putting.
For now, fluffy white bread should be enough.
“Here, try this.”
“No way.”
...Right, Dungeon Cores don’t have the concept of appetite.
“Then how about analyzing and replicating it like you did with the rations?”
“The time it takes depends on the complexity of the food. For the rations, it took about a year. Food is just so meaningless to me that replicating it takes forever.”
Seriously? It takes that long for each dish? What a drag.
Wait, hold on.
“What if I just eat a ton of food for a while? Eventually, you might develop an appetite and be able to eat too, right? Didn’t you say something like that before?”
“Ah, yeah, that might work. If I could eat food, I’d understand what humans want more easily. And if I could eat and understand it, I might be able to replicate it instantly like you, Master... right?”
“Then starting today, I’m gonna eat non-stop!”
I immediately start conjuring and devouring all sorts of dishes.
Curry, ramen… delicious. Even without hunger acting as a spice, I had no debuff of being ‘too full,’ so I could eat endlessly.
Fried rice, pasta, skewers, tonkatsu, steak, takoyaki, yakisoba, donuts.
I pulled out every dish I could remember from my past life and kept eating.
“So, Peta-chan? Has your appetite kicked in yet?”
“It’s not something that happens instantly, you know? At least give it a week.”
I see. It’s not about how much I eat, but more about consistency and time, huh?
...Back then, it wasn’t like I overdid it either.
“By the way... Master. I just remembered something. That desire you once triggered in me... what was that? It’s faded so much in my mind that I can’t really recall.”
...You had to bring that up, huh?
“...Never mind that. Focus on awakening your appetite.”
With that, I kept eating, pretending to enjoy meals I don’t even want.
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