I woke up from my nap, getting up from the hammock that was gently swinging left and right from the weight of my body. I yawned, some tears escaping my eyes while I gently rubbed the dust gathering around it.

I checked the Dungeon Menu for a quick peek at the status of my dungeon. The monkeys were all replenished, and no blood stains, or even corpses were left from the last fight, except for the things they brought along that were lying around where they all died.

Spoils of war? Probably… I had the monkeys take them and let them use it as weapons. Thankfully, they were intelligent enough to understand my task, and took the weapons as they examined them on how to use them. The gorilla, I had it take the shield and club that their tank used, one of the chimps I had them grab the bow and arrows, while the other one I had him grab the short sword their thief/rogue was carrying.

I also had one of the chimps grab the staff and robe and had it don them. I checked to see if it was able to use magic, but sadly, it did not know how to do so. I’ll have to learn magic so I can teach the monkeys. The mandrill will have to wait for some gear whenever new trespassers arrive.

All of this I did within the confines of my Dungeon Core room, relaying commands through the Dungeon Menu. Think of it as some kind of RTS (Real Time Strategy) game like Starcraft, only this time, your orders are limitless in options.

But since the monkeys have no idea how to use them properly, I had to teach them, so I got up from my lazy ass and went towards the passageway that led to the other room full of monkeys.

The passageway was like any other cave corridor, stalactites hanging from the cave roof. The passageway was bumpy and rocky, like any ordinary cave, and when I arrived at the end, green fauna greeted my sight as I took in the miniature garden within my vision. I saw the monkeys eagerly awaiting my orders, eyes full of stars as if their idol just descended upon them.

“Boss!” the gorilla yelled as it showed its respects toward me. The other chimpanzees also greeted me with a fear grin as they looked upon me with respect, while the Mandrill bared its teeth against me.

“Boss, we fight trespassers, won.” the mandrill said towards me, teeth still bared. From what I recalled in the internet, when a Mandrill bares its teeth, it is showing friendliness. I nodded and the mandrill beamed at me.

I’ll have to think up names for these monkeys…

“Okay, first thing’s first, do you all have any idea how to use the gear I gave you?” I asked them in fluent monkey language, which I think are grunts, groans, and some hand movement.

All of them shook their heads collectively. Figures… Well, time to show them, after all, monkey see, monkey do.

I took the shield made of iron and iron club from the gorilla, who I’ll name later, to which it… No, it’s a he… To which he gave respectfully. I showed him how to use the shield by hiding behind him and asking him to strike me. He hesitated, but he did it anyway and struck me, his hand crashing against the shield, causing him to yelp and groan in pain. While he was distracted in pain, I brought the club up and bonked him on the head, eliciting another surprised yelp of pain from the gorilla the same size as me.

I gave the gear back to him after his pain faded and I immediately did the same to him. He responded like I did, my hand crashed against the shield and the gorilla tried swinging the club at me, which I dodged and bonked him on the head with my hand when he was open.

I grinned, and the gorilla pouted.

“Like that, you block with shield, then smash enemy with club. If he dodges, don’t get distracted and try to block the enemy attack again, and try to smash him again,” I said while the gorilla nodded with excitement.

“Got it boss, block attack, smash enemy,” the gorilla said back while doing some hand gestures. Next, I head towards the chimp who was looking at the two of us while sometimes staring at the short sword it… No, it’s a she… She was holding.

“You, however, have a different role to play,” I said as I told her to follow me. I stood beside the gorilla and asked him to only block my attacks, and don’t attack.

“I will attack him, and when he blocks and he can’t attack, you will try to attack the enemy while they are distracted,” I hand her a stick in favor of the short sword so there would be no lasting injuries in this practice session.

I attacked the gorilla while he tried to block, and when I gave an obvious opening, she dived in while poking me with the stick. I grinned in return as she quickly returned to back where she came from.

“Good, do it with the sword when against trespassers,” she nodded with a smile. Weird how the smiles of the monkeys make me happy.

“Now, you,” I looked at the chimp who held the bow and arrows, “You are going to provide support against enemies when they are vulnerable.”

The chimp, whose gender was a male, nodded while he tried to copy what the archer did when he shot one of the chimps… Hey, wait a second…

“The ones who died?”

“Me and him,” the chimp holding the bow said while pointing at the chimp who was holding the staff. I nodded in understanding as I then looked at the other chimp wielding the staff.

“Sorry, but I need you to give it to me for the moment since you can’t use magic,” I said as the chimp looked sad a little bit, but relented and gave me the staff. I then looked at the mandrill who was just observing me do leader things in silence.

“You, I’ll give you gear next time trespassers come,” I said as the mandrill nodded a little bit dejectedly, but understanding.

“Yes, boss.”

“Now then, before I go, I need to give you names if you don’t have one,” I said as all of the monkeys perked up in happiness and glee. Apparently, they didn’t have names, and was probably waiting for me to name them.

I named them in this order, gorilla as Gong, chimps as Chia, Chip, and Chin with them holding the short sword, bow and arrow, and barehanded respectively, and the mandrill as Manny. All of them were happy to receive names and I left them frolicking in happiness in the miniature garden to celebrate the bestowal of their new names.

“So, new information, summons that die can be resummoned again… Good, then they can learn through death,” I muttered as I made my way back to the Dungeon Core room, which I then prompted to check the Dungeon Menu for the new things that popped up after the defense, such as the free spin, and the DP.

For now, I’ll do the free spin…

Spinning… Spinning… Spinning… Gold prize rewarded!

A gold gift box appeared from the air and landed in front of me. So… gacha then? How do I get those free spins anyway… Ugh, its times like these that I wish the tutorial was more thorough in their explanation…

I opened the gift box, and what lied within was a set of threatening armor. What was read on its label was ‘Armor of the Primates’.

… Monkey armor? Cool, I guess, but I really would like to know its stats… Is their an observe feature in my system?

I waited for a good moment, only for nothing to come up. Hmm… I probably need to do something… How about injecting mana to my eyes…

I tried to feel the mana within my body, erasing all thought of action. I tried my hardest, but still nothing. I guess I’ll have to get the book from the Market then.

I opened up the Market tab and searched for an ‘Observe Skillbook’ and lo and behold… It was expensive as hell!

Observe Skillbook – 1,000,000 DP

No way in hell am I affording that with my measly budget… Hmmm… Anything that can observe the stats of armor… How about…

Equipment Identifier – 5,000 DP

Still too expensive. Looks like I’ll have to shelve that idea for the moment. The combat dummies are still beyond my grasp, so I’ll save my DP for the moment. Now then, back to grinding my skills…

[][][][][][][][][][][][][]

~ Third Person POV ~

Within the city of Kazanpan in the country of Arcelon ruled by its monarch, a huge and tall building stood imposingly among the various buildings and architecture that surrounds it. It is also the building with the most traffic of humans going in and out for various other businesses. This is a building known as the Kazanpan branch Hunter’s Association.

The Hunter’s Association is a large group, consisting of members from all over the continent. They are mostly mercenaries, who would receive jobs for cash, be it dangerous or safe. The jobs ranges from gathering and escorting, to investigations of suspicious places, and even helping garrison a fort during a Monster Surge, or even during a war.

And in this building, a certain someone was waiting for a report to come in about a cave a few miles East of here. He was the manager of this branch, Nicholas Gallagher was his name. He stood at an imposing height of 175 cm, with a build that would put bodybuilders to shame. His tanned skin coating his body wrapped in a tight suit of leather and cotton.

“Sir Nicholas, it’s been 3 days and there haven’t been any word from them yet,” his assistant, a blonde-haired beauty by the name of Alexa in what looked like formal wear, reported with a stoic gaze. Nicholas sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Mark them missing until evidence have either found them deserting, or dead,” Nicholas said with a stern face. “As for the quest they took, raise it up two ranks and let’s see what would happen.”

“Understood,” Alexa replied and bowed, before heading back outside to follow his commands.

“… This is probably another new dungeon,” Nicholas muttered as he opened a cabinet beneath his desk and brought out a bottle of alcohol. Taking a swig, he closed the cap and placed back inside the cabinet lest he got caught on the job. “New dungeon, huh…?”

At the same time, down on the first floor, another party of Hunters came in full of smiles and excitement. Their group consisted of 2 female elf twins, a male dwarf, a human couple, and a male demon.

“What quest are we gonna take today?” the human female asked as she glanced at her lover, who was busy looking over the quest board with a scrutinizing gaze.

“I want an easy one for the moment. Nothing too crazy like our last quest,” he said this as he glared at the male demon, who was smirking at him in amusement.

“What? At least it was fun,” he said with mock laughter while the human man just glared at him further.

“It almost got us all killed,” he replied with barely repressed anger.

“Oh, come on, lighten up,” the demon responded with a serious face this time, “you chose this path, at least learn to embrace it.”

“He is right you know,” one of the elf twins said while looking over the quest board.

“Becoming a Hunter is dangerous work, the two of us have fully prepared ourselves for when the time comes for us to meet our demise,” the other elf twin said somberly. The rest of the party just stared at the two with sympathy.

After all, all of them were birds of a feather. Kicked out of home, abandoned, left to rot, that kind of stuff. All of them were once labeled useless, and here they were, trying to turn their life around for the better.

“Aye, ’tis be the time for jolly cooperation!” the dwarf encouraged the party with a bearded smile. “I be drinkin’ them fine alcohol once we get back from our quest, yeah?”

“… Alright, alright… Come on, we still need to find a job for today’s earning,” the female human said while hugging her lover’s arm. It was then they found a quest about investigating a cave a few miles east that was the same tier as their Hunter ranks.

“D-rank investigation quest? In a cave no less?” the human male said incredulously.

“Probably a new emerging dungeon,” the demon said while his eyes were narrowed.

“So, what do we do, accept it?’ the female human asked with concerned eyes. The pay was good, better than the pay on their last quest, and they were really stripped for cash right now, so they needed the money.

“… We’ll accept, but we need to be ready for anything, agreed?”

All of them nodded in response, and thus, the D-rank Hunter team Last of Abandonment accepted a quest that would lead them towards the monkey cave.