Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

They had already been forced to flee from their village once and had to live a life of fugitive under the protection of the Ancient Titan Treant. This time, they were not going to flee anymore and defend their village and people with their own power.

Simon carefully observed the expression of each of them and surprisingly each of their conviction mysteriously got conveyed to him. The adventurers this time were not a problem and the upper floors were prepared enough to halt them.

Just when he was about to say that there was no need and the dungeon was adequately prepared, the new feature of the [Dungeon] option came to his mind.

The new feature allows the Dungeon Master to designate aides for the dungeon called [Helpers]. The job of the [Helpers] is to assist the dungeon master in completing various small tasks that are crucial for the functioning of the dungeon.

The [Helpers] also enjoy some of the limited functions of the dungeon menu (now Main Menu) such as the teleport option, making slight alterations on the specific areas of the floors etc.

Basically, the [Helpers] assist the Dungeon master by taking off some of their load. They enjoy slightly more privilege than an ordinary inhabitant of the dungeon.

The new feature got unlocked after the dungeon ranked up to [D] but since he did not have any inhabitant living inside his dungeon at that time, the function went unused. Now though there were more than forty Forest Spring Spirits living inside his dungeon.

He could use this chance to elect some of them as the [Helpers] and at the same time see how useful the function was.

Making up his mind, he looked at Fennel and told him to select five people that have the best potential and bring them here.

"They don't need to be the best fighters, just good at using their abilities" Simon added.

Fennel quickly replied with a yes and hurriedly went to execute his orders.

Irene frowned, she thought over his actions before opening the [Main Menu] herself. Guardians were ranked second in the hierarchy after the Dungeon Master. That is to say, they were the second-highest authority inside the dungeon after the dungeon master.

Although not all, they have access to most of the functions of the dungeon menu (now Main Menu) which included the [Dungeon] function itself. It didn't take much time for Irene to realize that Simon wanted to use this chance to set up some [Helpers] for the dungeon.

Before long, Fennel brought over five individuals whom he thought in his view had the most potential. The five people entered the house and swiftly bowed before him.

Looking at all of them, Simon spotted two familiar faces. They were the two eldest children called Maya and Jared amongst all the children that he had saved previously. These two were the ones who had left a lasting impression on him when he met all of them for the first time.

One was quite mentally mature despite being just eight to nine years old while the other had the courage to stand before any adversary.

Simon had to say that Fennel had picked some excellent ones. The other three were adults he had brought over from the Ancient Treants territory. Out of the five, two of them were girls.

"Lord Simon as you have told, I have brought over five individuals who have the best potential from our Forest Spring Spirit clan" Fennel reported as he walked from behind them.

Nodding his head, Simon acknowledged his efforts before speaking towards the five "I know that you might have no idea as to why I have summoned you all in front of me. But know that I don't plan on being unreasonable. If you don't like the proposition I am about to put forth, you are allowed to reject it. With that being said, the reason why I summoned you all here is to assign the five of you the role of [Helpers]".

Everybody present excluding Irene, tilted their heads in confusion.

"[Helpers] is a role that is assigned to those who assist the dungeon master in various small jobs around the dungeon. Their job is to keep the dungeon functioning and become the arms and legs of the Dungeon Master. Once you become a [Helper], you will be able to teleport to most of the floors, extend command over some of the spawned monsters and more" Simon elaborated to clear the confusion masking their faces.

Everybody looked as if enlightened, the same goes for Cecilia. The little girl had even forgotten that as one of the chosen Guardians, she is able to access the [Main Menu].

"So that's why big brother suddenly asked grandpa Fennel to bring them here. Maya, you should become one of the [Helpers] that way you can come to the main floor and we can meet any time" Clasping Maya's hand, Cecilia said in delight.

At this moment, Maya had a stunned look over her face. She could hardly believe what she just heard. According to their lord, [Helpers] was someone who would aid the Dungeon master in keeping the dungeon functioning.

From what she could interpret was that it was a very important role and Simon had chosen the five of them suitable for it. The position he had inside the hearts of these Forest Spring Sprits was already above their own patriarch not to mention he was personally asking them.

Her mind had already become blank from all the shock. It wasn't only her; the same could be said for the remaining four of them.

"Does Maya not want to become one of the [Helpers]" Cecilia asked in a downtrodden manner. Being awakened by her sudden voice, all of them woke up from their daze and immediately knelt down.

"We graciously accept this offer from Lord Simon to become [Helpers]" they spoke in unison.

Being able to show their fealty so well mannerly and orderly, it must have been drilled into them by Fennel. From the corner of his eyes, Simon observed the old man. Although he did not care much about this kind of mannerism and conduct, but it seems that this was their way of showing their loyalty.

Just to make sure they are accepting this out of their own will, Simon added "Just so you know, you can deny this offer. I wouldn't mind a bit".

To his surprise, none of them wanted to change their mind and insisted on becoming a [Helper]. Jared who seemed to have the most courage out of them all, replied for the rest of them "Lord Simon had already given us huge honour by electing the five of us to be at your service. There is no way we would waste this opportunity by needlessly throwing it away".

Fennel who was behind them continuously stroked his beard and nodded his head. 'The boy is quite tactful and his talent isn't quite bad, an excellent find amongst the children' he thought internally.

"Lord Simon the abilities of these two children might be lacking compared to the three adults but their talent is not bad and they excel at other aspects" Fennel stated, his voice contained a tone of appreciation.

Even without him pointing that out Simon was already aware of that. "It appears to be the case. Alright from now on I'll be assigning the five of you the role of [Helpers].  The position also allows you to access some of the functions of the [Main Menu] including the teleport function" Simon said.

He called forth the [Main Menu] and swiftly used the new function called [Delegation] and designated the role of [Helpers] to the five Forest Spring Spirits.

As soon as he assigned them the roles, the five of them felt their body heating up for a moment before a spiritual mark appeared within them. When they tried focusing on this sensation, a plain window that had a few of the functions of the [Main Menu], appeared in front of them.

Another thing of note was that the moment he assigned them as his [Helpers], Simon subtly felt a connection getting formed between them. Through this connection, he knew where their position was anytime and if he wanted to, he could even control their action.

Simon vaguely felt that the connection that was established wasn't that simple and there was more to it than just that. He made a mental note to experiment on that factor later.

Also from today's exchange, Simon realised that he needed to install a teleport gate inside the village that connected with the main floor. It would be quite inconvenient for them if every time they had to send Cecilia or the [Helpers] to get in touch with him.

With the installation of the teleport gates within their village, Fennel and the others would be able to traverse to the main floor whenever they needed to get in touch with him.

A circle-shaped construct made out of peculiar stone appeared near the centre of the village where the pond of serenity and the huge obsidian slate was. The circular stone slowly rotated and a portal soon formed that connected this floor with his main floor.

Unlike the teleport gates on the other floors, the one on the Forest Spring Spirit floor was many times bigger, grandeur and special since it is connected with the main floor.

Precisely because the teleport gate here was connected to the main floor, the cost of installation was also high. It took 1,000,000 DP to establish one.

As soon as the construct appeared, it caused a commotion within the Forest Spring Spirits and Fennel was forced to step out.. Rushing towards the place where the commotion erupted from, he was astounded to find a ring-shaped gate at the centre of the village.