Conquering His Cold Heart

"Aqua if you would be so kind?" From the difference in tone and the fawning expression on his face it was obvious to everyone that Dark preferred his daughters over his sons, he wasn\'t even bothering to hide his favouritism anymore.

"Happily father, what goodies do you have for me today?" Knowing full well the power she had over their father Aqua leaned into the fawning, giggling under her breath and batting her eyelashes in his direction. Several of the male Dungeon cores visibly grimaced as they saw the smile on their father\'s face grow and grow in response to their sister\'s playful antics.

"Of course I saved the very best of goodies for you my dear Aqua." Dark\'s sudden turn to a completely doting father earned him the ire of pretty much every other Dungeon core in the room bar Aqua. The old man thus ended up on the receiving end of some very harsh glares and... "Cough, cough" feeling the shame building he loudly coughed before returning to the task at hand.

"Aqua for ranking 2nd I\'m prepared to offer you a very special item, one that\'ll pair well with your beauty and add to your royal endowment." Aqua\'s eyes sparkled upon being complemented for her beauty, her interest in the upcoming reward reaching a fervour.

Dark waited a brief moment, dragging out the suspense before summoning a crystal covered chest that screamed luxury. All the Dungeon cores that cared deeply about beautiful objects couldn\'t help but drool in anticipation.

"For you my dear Aqua I grant you the tiara of the oceanic queen, a piece of headwear forged from rare metals found only in the deepest parts of the northern oceans and inlaid with shimmering celestite.

A peak 4 star piece of equipment that not only automatically protects its user from danger with dense shields of water mana but greatly improves their natural mana regeneration." Contained within the crystal chest was a tiara that not only provided impressive defensive capabilities but looked like a work of art.

Aqua grasped hold of the tiara with trembling hands, a sliver of drool quickly forming at her lips as she wasted no time placing the item upon her head. Immediately she felt a wave of comfort and power flowing through her veins and subconsciously she adopted a sense of valour and command, before Frost and his siblings was no longer their big sister Aqua but a queen of the ocean.

Dark\'s choice in reward was very apt, even Frost couldn\'t help but feel himself drawn to his sister\'s beauty a fact that Aqua very much revelled in.

"How do I look Frost? isn\'t your big sister just stunning?" Unable to form any words Frost simply nodded his head as though in a daze. Normally this would be something that would spark Maya\'s jealousy given that his eyes were drawn to another woman, but she wasn\'t doing any better. Aqua was already stunning, adding on that radiant tiara was just overkill.

Even Sylph who\'d normally be the first to rain on Aqua\'s parade found herself staring in awe.

Dark repeatedly nodded his head, his heart full of pride as he saw Aqua show off her beauty but there was still work to be done so after allowing for a couple minutes of showboating he reluctantly asked her to return to the stands so he could hand over the next prize.

"Frost, congratulations. You may not have moved up the most ranks, but you claimed one of the hardest. 3rd place, the top 3 amongst all your siblings, very, very well done my son." Dark was all smiles as he praised Frost, he was particularly proud of this 7th son of his after all.

Not only did he run a tight ship in regards to his Dungeon but he truly explored the outside world, he found friends, rivals and even started a family plus he was the first to stand against him, to openly declare his own desires. Now the question was what to reward this filial son with.

He already had access to a strong weapon and a blacksmith girlfriend, so equipment would be a poor choice. An oddity would have been good, but he\'s already got an earth ranked cold flame on loan. Free monsters and environments won\'t do by themselves so there needs to be something, something that truly speaks to Frost, a unique item that shows he put some thought into it.

"..." Dark frowned and stroked his chin in thought for a good few minutes before finally pulling something out of that addled brain of his. "Alright I\'ve got it.

Since you\'ve got that blacksmith girl with you I\'ll grant you a free 4 star mine as well as a single improvement to your regenerating robes." After loudly clapping Dark announced the reward he came up, something that took Frost\'s personal circumstances into consideration.

"..." Frost silently processed his father words before a smirk developed on his lips and a glint formed in his eyes. "Have I ever told you how much I love you father?" Frost absolutely loved this reward, not only was it beneficial to his Dungeon and personal safety but would likely see him rewarded in other ways by that blacksmith girlfriend of his.

"Hehehehe not often enough son." The father son pair laughed in a knowing manner before an iron ticket was exchanged and a silver light embedded itself within Frost\'s robes, upgrading them to the next level of durability.

Bonk!

"Ow!" The moment Frost returned to his seat however he received a harsh slap across the back of his head.

"Pervert." Maya openly chastised him with puffed up cheeks knowing full well what was going through her boyfriend\'s mind the moment he received his reward.

"Hey, I am my father\'s son, and I don\'t see you complaining when it\'s you occupying my mind." After long grown into his own Frost boldly retorted, his right hand skilfully finding its way around her waist, pulling her in close. A blush quickly adorned Maya\'s face as people started looking over, why did she have to get involved with such a pervert?

After the top 3 it was time for those ranked in the top 10 to receive their rewards. The six of them however had to all go up at once making it far less personal, their rewards were also a degree or two lower.

For example Indra who was ranked 5th got two free 2 star environment tickets while Gaia received a gacha draw worth 10,000DP and a free F-rank spawner. Pyro nearly blew a gasket when he received a rather mediocre reward and a not so subtle dig from their father, chastising him for his earlier behaviour.

Among the six only Terra received something special and that was because in addition to ranking 9th he had successfully jumped more than 20 places since the last ranking. .net

Dark granted him an egg similar to the one he gifted Yami for ranking first last time. As long as Terra provided the egg with an abundance of earth aspected mana it could grow into a powerful S-rank spirit, though it would require a great deal of time and luck to do so. Yami\'s egg was still yet unhatched after an entire year of effort.

Following the top ten and Terra\'s special exception was Collete, Dark had chosen to reward her specifically because she had jumped the most places since the last ranking. From the very low rank of 91st to the middling rank of 47th, Collete had jumped a total of 44 places, outshining the 2nd place improver by 13 spots.

Dark wanted to reward and encourage such competitive spirit thus Collete was granted something rather spectacular given her ranking.

"Collete for your inspiring efforts over the past 11 months I\'d like to grant you 3 things, first a one-time injection of 50,000DP." Just the first prize alone caused many Dungeon cores to sharply suck in their breaths, a lot could be done with 50,000 especially in lower ranked Dungeons.

"Second a 4 star fan and finally two E-rank spawners. With these I hope you\'ll be able to stand tall in battle and further develop your Dungeon\'s defences." The prizes may not have been all that unique (bar the fan, a very unusual choice in weapon but one Collete was most skilled in) but to Collette\'s Dungeon that spanned just six floors it was a literal godsend.

E-rank monsters were her Dungeon\'s bread and butter, to get two of them for free allowed her to save tens of thousands of DP.

"Thank you so much Dad!" Collete was a bundle of excitement and anxiety. She felt awkward being the centre of attention but hearing the list of rewards sent her mind into overdrive, she had plans, big plans for the DP and spawners while the fan would ensure her personal level of equipment for quite a while.

Unlike Frost, Indra and the other battle focused cores she was still piddling around early maybe mid C-rank, so a 4 star weapon was almost too good.

"You\'re welcome Collete, you\'ve earned it." Dark was all smiles again as he watched another daughter jump in joy and call him with affection.

A few moments later however once Collete had calmed down there was a change in the atmosphere, and everyone suddenly felt colder and less joyous.

"Now for the punishments and forfeit challenges."