The Shut-in Vampire Does Business in the Labyrinth - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Labyrinth Reset

TL: DDTL

The moment all ten Warrior Goblins, Gob included, hit an average of level 3, my Control Power grew stronger as well.

A whopping 50!

That meant I could command up to fifty goblins.

“Alright, kids, go out there and bite your friends!”

-Grrk!

-Grk

-Kyaaak!

I’d been sitting at home eating snacks. I unleashed the Vampiric Goblins into the labyrinth and went to sit at my computer.

Control Power at 50.

Fifty Vampiric Goblins.

Fifty times the food consumption.

“The delivery guy’s gonna lose it.”

I bulk-ordered groceries online.

If Vampiric Goblins were useless deadbeats, I wouldn’t have bothered increasing their numbers, but they definitely earned their keep.

Ruin Scrap, iron ore, Ruin Planks, fabric scraps, opened cans, red berries, and so on.

None of it sold for much, all junk items, but they shared one thing in common.

They all dropped from Labyrinth Layer 1, and most people threw them away.

The reason was simple: bulk and weight.

Most people who entered the labyrinth only brought back what was worth money.

Weapons and armor, accessories, various healing potions and buff potions, the occasional rare material.

Even just grabbing those was enough to fill a bag.

Sometimes high-ranking awakeners were said to use ether to create Subspace Bags, but that was a tiny minority.

Most people just strapped on a sturdy hiking backpack and walked into the labyrinth.

That said, those junk items weren’t completely worthless.

Scrap metal and iron ore were no different from iron found on Earth.

The planks weren’t made from Earth’s wood, so they were twice as strong as ordinary lumber.

Honestly, just hauling those out and selling them to a dealer on Earth would net about a day’s part-time wages.

But the labyrinth was a place you entered at the risk of your life.

Who’d risk dying for part-time pay?

“But I’m different.”

I didn’t risk my life, and I even had a storage facility to keep all the junk.

The ten goblins grabbed anything classified as an item without discrimination, stuffed it in their bags, and came back.

At first I’d nagged them to find valuable stuff, but with goblin-level intelligence, that was asking too much.

Still, even junk adds up to real money.

Who knew that pennies really could make a fortune.

Over the past few days, with the ten goblins farming around the clock except for eating and sleeping, an enormous pile of junk items had accumulated in storage.

I bought food online and scrolled through the Awakener Community.

-Holy shit, who took a dump in the Layer 2 underground ruins?

ㄴ lmaooooo did you step in it?

ㄴ OP: No I didn’t step in it but the smell was killing me.

ㄴ If it was on the ground then they were probably desperate. I opened a goddamn chest and it was INSIDE.

ㄴ That’s genuinely evil lol. Wait… it was inside a chest?

ㄴ Whoa, someone picked it up and put it in there?

-Watch out for Black Beach on Layer 3.

ㄴ OP: It’s insane. Looks like a random event triggered, seems like a monster riot.

ㄴ Rest in peace.

ㄴ OP: I’m not dead yet, I’m a Layer 4 player. Just passing through.

ㄴ Whoa, a ranker? Do you run into foreign rankers on Layer 4?

-Ugh ffs I got a Skill Quest and it wants me to find Clockwork Gear Fragments from Layer 1

“There’s my cash cow.”

ㄴ lol just go find them then.

ㄴ When am I gonna have time to hunt for those? Back when I was still doing Layer 1, I think I saw one maybe once.

ㄴ Should’ve stocked up when you had the chance, huh?

ㄴ Why would anyone stock up on useless junk? It just takes up space.

Labyrinth Layer 1 was a Private Layer where only the awakener and monsters existed.

The only threats were goblins, so the drop items were mostly low-value stuff.

Awakeners who seriously committed to running the labyrinth would quickly clear goblins, grow stronger, and move on to the next layer.

From Layer 2 onward, they entered the National Shared Labyrinth.

Environments that changed with every Labyrinth Reset, new and stronger monsters, and humans who might stab you in the back.

From Layer 2 on, you had to compete not just with monsters but with other people from your own country.

The difficulty skyrocketed, but so did the value of the drops, so most people started farming from Layer 2.

Everyone who set foot in the labyrinth had already put their lives on the line.

Everyone except me.

I sent the post’s author a message.

ShutInVampLord: Hey, did you find the Clockwork Gear Fragments?

Stop Machine: Ooooh you have some? You have some?

ShutInVampLord: Yeah I got em. I’ll sell if you’re buying.

Stop Machine: Sure sure. Name your price.

“…You’re the one who needs them and you want me to go first.”

But I let it slide.

It wasn’t like I was desperate.

ShutInVampLord: 100,000 won each.

Stop Machine: Seriously? That’s junk nobody even buys. Fine, whatever. I’ll take them all.

ShutInVampLord: All of them? Tell me how many you need.

Stop Machine: I said all of them, didn’t I? I need a ton for my quest.

ShutInVampLord: I’ve got about 230. You buying all of them?

Stop Machine: Are you insane, why do you have that many? You a Layer 1 grinder or something? No, even then, 230 fragments is…

ShutInVampLord: Buying or not?

Stop Machine: I’ll take a hundred.

100,000 won times 100. Ten million won.

Normally that amount would never sell, but that 100,000 won was the price those people placed on their own time.

I immediately got up, opened the door, and stepped into the outpost.

“Gruk? Gruuk?”

“Yeah, good work. Sort what you’ve collected and put it in storage, then head out for another run.”

“Gruuk!!!”

I headed straight for the storage.

Among the many chests, I opened the one where the gear fragments were stored and listed them on the community’s one-on-one trade window.

With this many, even listing them was a chore.

ShutInVampLord: Here. A hundred.

Stop Machine: These are real… alright, sending 10 mil. Good doing business.

ShutInVampLord: Smooth deal. Thanks, take care.

For awakeners who ran Layer 2 and above, ten million won was pocket change.

If it saved time and earned them a skill, it was money well spent.

Ten million won had just been added to my community account.

Combined with the Ruin Scrap I’d luckily sold before, the total came to twenty million won.

All earned in just four days.

And that was just from items farmed by ten goblins.

There was still far more unsold loot.

Farming with ten was already absurdly powerful, but now fifty would be roaming Labyrinth Layer 1.

[A goblin has used Bloodsucking.]

[Would you like to proceed with Thrall Making?]

“Yeah, go ahead.”

That brought my Control Power to 11.

Thirty-nine left to fill.

“If it weren’t for the whole garlic disaster, this would be the ultimate ability.”

Ten goblins farming already produced results like this. I couldn’t even imagine what fifty would yield.

And on top of that, the original ten goblins were steadily growing stronger.

“Grukkruk!!!”

“Oh, Gob, you’re back?”

“Gruruuk!”

Gob came dragging along a bewildered-looking goblin.

That’s my firstborn Gob for you. Always on top of things.

“Give it a weapon and a bag and send it out to farm.”

“Gruuk!!!”

Our Gob, singularly brilliant compared to the other goblins.

And for good reason. The average level of all the goblins right now was 3, but…

[Gob LV 5]

-Class: Goblin Warrior

-Strength: 9

-Agility: 12

-Intelligence: 9

Gob was already level 5.

His intelligence had more than doubled from its initial value of 4.

By now, Gob was smart enough to go out and farm on his own without me having to give specific orders.

He handed a weapon and a spare bag to the new goblin and started chattering away in some kind of exchange.

“Gruuk!!”

“Kyak?”

“Gruk gruk gruuk!”

Were they actually communicating?

But sure enough, the new goblin, Number 11, nodded as if it understood and dashed outside.

“Kyaak!”

“Good job.”

When I praised him, Gob nodded happily and walked up to me.

“Foop!!”

“…Fine, wait here.”

Feeding all the goblins was a job in itself.

How was I supposed to handle fifty now?

***

“Grrrk!”

“Grrulk!”

“Kyak?”

The labyrinth outpost turned into a madhouse of Vampiric Goblins in no time.

Going from ten to fifty happened in the blink of an eye.

A Vampiric Goblin bit a wild goblin to make it a thrall.

The bitten goblin then bit another wild goblin to create a new thrall.

I was experiencing firsthand why plagues spread so fast.

And so, a Vampiric Goblin squad of ten Warrior Goblins and forty regular goblins was complete.

And what that Vampiric Goblin squad was doing…

“Hey, hey! That’s not the right chest!”

“Gruk?”

“Hey! If you mix those together, how am I supposed to sort them? When do you think I have time for that?!”

“Grorok?”

…was farming.

“God, you thickheaded idiots!!!”

“Gruuk!!!”

They couldn’t understand a word I said, yet somehow they had a sixth sense for when they were being cursed at.

The goblin folded its arms, looking offended.

But the moment I shot it a glare…

“Keng…”

It immediately tucked tail and scurried off, bowing and scraping.

One thing I’d learned from living with the goblins was that the Thrall Making skill was far more powerful than I’d initially thought.

The might of Thrall Making, the only skill that shared my EX awakening grade, was nothing short of absolute.

Any creature that became my thrall through Bloodsucking could never defy me, even on pain of death.

After running a few experiments to test my abilities, I’d found that if I ordered the goblins to die, they would genuinely try to kill themselves.

I stopped them before they could attempt suicide with a dagger, of course.

“Gruuk!!”

Just then, Gob came running over and flicked the offending goblin right on the forehead.

“Kyaaak!”

“Kek….”

“Kyak!”

Gob, the first goblin I’d personally bitten and my very first thrall.

His growth was in a league of its own.

[Gob LV 7]

-Class: Goblin Warrior

-Strength: 11

-Agility: 15

-Intelligence: 13

While the other Warrior Goblins were just hitting level 4, Gob was already at 7.

I didn’t know exactly how goblins gained experience, but Gob, who managed the others from the outpost, was leveling up the fastest.

“Gob, train these guys a bit. They’re too stupid for me to give them any tasks.”

“Kaaada.”

“What?”

“Foop!”

With his rising intelligence, Gob had been increasingly trying to mimic human speech.

But the only word he could actually get across was “foop,” which meant he wanted food.

Still, the silver lining was that Gob now understood everything I said perfectly.

“You can feed yourself now. I stacked the food over there.”

I pointed to the pile of provisions in the corner of the outpost.

Instant noodles were too much trouble to cook, so I’d switched to factory-made bread with a relatively long shelf life.

But Gob stared at the bread with a look of clear dissatisfaction.

“Grk, foop! Foop! Slurrrrp!”

He made a sound like he was slurping up noodles.

Wait, was he seriously asking me to make ramen instead of bread?

“When the hell am I supposed to cook ramen for each and every one of you?”

“Gruuk…”

Gob’s ears drooped.

This little punk was being picky about his meals.

“…”

Should I sneak Gob into my room and quietly make him some ramen?

He did help me with more things than I could count.

Just as I stood there mulling it over while looking at the dejected Gob, a system window appeared.

[Your thralls’ average abilities have reached the target threshold.]

[Your outpost level has increased!]

“Oh? The ones outside must have leveled up.”

Gob and a few goblins were at the outpost, but most were out farming.

It seemed the average level of all goblins had risen enough to meet the conditions.

[Labyrinth Outpost Lv2]

[Outpost Facilities]

-Outpost Gateway

-Simple Storage Lv1 (Level-up available)

-Defense Wall Lv1

-Outpost Lodging (Unlockable)

-Outpost Mess Hall (Unlockable)

“Lodging? A mess hall?”

With the outpost’s level increase, things I’d never seen before had appeared.

For the moment, the only visible change to the outpost was a single large chest that had materialized next to the Outpost Gateway.

What was that?

I checked the Simple Storage section first.

[Simple Storage Lv1]

-Ruin Plank (0/200)

-Ruin Scrap (0/200)

-Rusted Parts (0/100)

-Used Adhesive (0/50)

-Broken Glasses (0/1)

“Ah, so it’s telling me to gather materials and put them in there?”

The new chest that had appeared beside the gateway with the outpost’s level increase was apparently a deposit box for quest materials.

Nothing about it was hard.

I already had all five of those items in storage.

“Gob, round up the others.”

“Grk!”

I headed straight for the Simple Storage.

I opened the chests and pulled out the needed items one by one, handing them to the goblins.

“Put these in that chest over there!”

“Grrrk!”

“Grokgrk!”

“Kyak!”

Under Gob’s command, the goblins lined up single file, received the junk items from me, and carried them off.

With this many workers, a task like this was done in no time.

The material items were all sucked into the central chest as if drawn in.

[Conditions have been met.]

[Simple Storage is leveling up!]

Flash.

The moment all the materials went in, the Simple Storage was engulfed in light.

It gradually expanded in size, and when the light faded, the level 2 Simple Storage was revealed.

A clean, neatly organized warehouse like a logistics center appeared, with a desk and a single chair set in front of it.

“What’s this?”

I approached the newly appeared desk.

Why was this in a storage facility?

When I touched the desk, a system window appeared before my eyes.

[You may assign a Storekeeper.]

[Storekeeper (0/1)]

So it was saying I could assign dedicated personnel to manage the storage?

What made it different?

My first thought was to give the job to Gob, but…

“No, he’s too valuable for that.”

“Grk?”

“You’ve got more important things to do.”

“Grrrk??!!”

Gob had far too much on his plate already.

He was too precious a talent to park in a storage room. Not a human talent, a goblin talent.

“Hey, you there. Come over here for a sec.”

As a test, I called over one of the newly arrived regular goblins.

“Gruk?”

Sure enough, it tilted its head dumbly and waddled over.

“Assign Storekeeper.”

[Assigning Storekeeper.]

[Please bestow your blood.]

“…Blood again, seriously.”

I was a vampire in name, but at this rate I’d get anemia from handing out my own blood.

I pulled a dagger from storage and pricked the tip of my finger.

Seeing that, the new goblin scrambled to its knees in a panic.

I let a single drop of blood fall onto the goblin’s hand.

Flash!

The goblin’s form began to change in a burst of light.

It grew slightly larger than a normal goblin, and its head swelled bigger too.

Why did its head get bigger?

When the light faded, what stood before me was a goblin wearing glasses.

[Goblin Storekeeper LV2]

-Strength: 6

-Agility: 6

-Intelligence: 15

-A goblin specialized in organizing storage.

-A goblin is a goblin. Don’t expect too much. But it’ll be better than a regular goblin.

“Gruuk!”

The newly minted Goblin Storekeeper delicately pushed its glasses up with a fingertip.

“So that’s why broken glasses were in the materials list…”

“Grok?”

Its strength and agility had dropped to average, while its intelligence had spiked dramatically.

In terms of intelligence alone, it was even higher than Gob’s current score.

“…Alright then, go do your job.”

“Kaaada!”

Perhaps because of its boosted intelligence, the Storekeeper goblin was trying to mimic human speech just like Gob.

After hearing my order, the Storekeeper gave a dignified nod and walked toward the storage area.

“Grorok! Grok! Grok!”

The Storekeeper rushed over to a goblin that was putting items into a chest after farming.

“Gruk? Gruk?”

“GYEEEEK!!!”

They started communicating among themselves and sorting the goods.

Following the Storekeeper’s directions, the goblins began organizing the farmed items.

“Oh? This is actually pretty good.”

This meant I didn’t have to be glued to the storage area anymore.

Watching them work, they were doing a better job than I’d expected.

Sorting by type, separating weapons from armor, neatly slotting everything into the storage.

At this point, I was getting excited about the next features.

The mess hall and the lodging.

Just as I was about to check out the two new functions…

[Warning! Layer 1 reset is approaching!]

[Please evacuate the labyrinth immediately!]

A system window appeared, and enormous numbers materialized in the sky.

[06:00:00]

“Oh right, today’s Sunday.”

[05:59:59]

A countdown in blazing red letters, like a ticking time bomb.

I used Thrall Third-Person View to alert all my thralls.

“Everyone, stop what you’re doing and return to the outpost or evacuate.”

-Grrrk!

-Kyak!

-Grol!

The Labyrinth Reset, which occurred once a week for Layer 1.

My very first reset since becoming an awakener had arrived.