Chương 82: Chapter 81: A Dungeon Inside the Dungeon

Half a day had passed since Rockspring Dungeon was conquered. The Guild in Rockspring Town had announced the good news while also revealing the truth behind the fishing season event. While the entire town was still in an uproar over the revelation, Gern had arrived early at the inn where Roderic and the others were staying. Roderic had just come down from the second floor when he spotted Gern sitting at one of the tables on the ground floor.

There were still wounds on Roderic's face, and bandages were wrapped around his head, but the moment he saw Gern, he broke into a smile.

"Mr. Gern! May the Silver Vow watch over you. What brings you here so early?" Gern picked up the wooden beer mug on the table and took a long drink. Then he hauled a heavy wooden chest out from beneath the table and set it down on top. A bulging burlap sack had been stuffed inside.

"What's this?" Roderic pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked at Gern.

"The magic crystals we collected from Rockspring Dungeon after you finished clearing it yesterday." The moment Roderic's face hardened, Gern hurriedly waved his hands.

"This is only part of them! I know you said you only wanted whatever the core dropped, but we can't seriously give you nothing else!" Roderic opened his mouth, only to swallow whatever he had been about to say. After a long silence, he finally nodded to Gern.

"I understand. Thank you very much for your gift. We will remember your generosity."

"What gift...?" Gern rubbed the spot between his brows and sighed. If it had been the Radiant Dawn Church that came here today, Rockspring Town might not have gotten any share of the proceeds at all. They might even have ended up paying extra money to those greedy clergymen instead. Well, that was not entirely fair. At least the more eccentric ascetics among them were not like that. Most of those people stayed in frontier cities, though. They were rarely seen in the wealthy and prosperous interior.

Just then, another series of footsteps came from the staircase. Gern looked up. The other five members of the paladin squad were coming downstairs one after another. All of them were already fully dressed and equipped. They even had their packs strapped to their backs.

"You're... leaving already?" Gern's expression changed slightly. He still remembered the state these people had been in when he brought them out of Rockspring Dungeon yesterday. Every single one of them had been badly wounded. Maeve and Roderic especially. The fact that the two of them had still been able to stand on their own at the time had already been ridiculous enough.

What confused him even more was that they had actually refused the treatment offered by the Guild afterward and holed up together in some secluded little inn. Was it because they were people who had come out of a dungeon, so they simply thought differently from people outside? Or were all members of the Church of the Silver Oath... Pah! Pah! What was he thinking? These people had rushed all the way here and solved the problem of Rockspring Dungeon for them while asking for almost nothing in return.

How could he think that way about them, even in his own head? He shouldn't even be thinking things like that! In any case, from today onward, if anyone dared say a single bad word about Blackstone in front of him, then he, Gern, would fight them even if it cost him his life! Suddenly, something seemed to wave back and forth in front of his eyes. Gern flinched backward in alarm. Only then did he realize that Maeve had somehow walked up to him and was gently waving a hand in front of his face. Damn it!

He had gotten too lost in thought!

"Sorry! I spaced out for a moment." Maeve patted him gently on the shoulder and smiled warmly.

"It's all right. You must have been worried these past few days too, Mr. Gern. Please remember to take care of yourself." Gern stared at her smile. A faint blush crept across his cheeks. He instinctively reached for his mug to take another drink, only to fumble it and spill beer across his chest instead. He hurriedly grabbed a cloth from beside him and began wiping at the stain in a fluster.

"I know! But you people are the ones who should be taking better care of yourselves!" Gern kept wiping at the beer on his chest while carefully avoiding Maeve's gaze.

"Of course. But Mr. Gern, will you be returning to Blackstone with us? Or are you planning to stay in Rockspring Town?" Gern's hands paused. Only then did he finally turn to look at her.

"O-Of course I'm going back to Blackstone! My students are all still there!"

"Right, right." Maeve slowly retreated to Roderic's side. The others stood there quietly looking at Gern until he felt as though his entire face was about to catch fire.

"Aren't you leaving? What are you all still standing around for?" Roderic tilted his head slightly, then lightly clapped his hands together.

"Of course we're waiting for you! We might as well travel together and look out for one another on the way!" Gern slowly let his gaze pass over each of their faces, taking a moment to commit them all to memory. Only then did he mutter under his breath,"Fine. Give me a moment. I'll be ready soon." A scattering of quiet laughter immediately filled the ground floor of the inn. ◆ ◆ ◆ Inside Blackstone Dungeon's Core Chamber, Owen stared at the chest of magic crystals on the table.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The blue light across his core flickered again and again, making him look almost like a glowing eye.

"Whoa! A whole chest that big! How much Soul Energy could all those magic crystals be worth?" A huge shimmering puddle instantly appeared across the stone pedestal, only to vanish again a moment later. Then Owen glanced at the additional upkeep being consumed while Roderic and the others remained outside the dungeon. His excitement immediately faded a little.

"I wonder if those magic crystals will even be enough to offset the extra upkeep from sending Roderic and the others out." Then he noticed that their injuries had still not completely healed.

"As for the trip back, there's no need to rush them. They can take their time." The hexagonal crystal core slowly tilted upward. Roderic and the others really had done him an enormous favor this time. He had not expected whoever was behind the Rockspring core to be capable of transferring energy from a distance. The whole mission had nearly ended in disaster because of it. Owen felt as though someone had played him for a fool.

His entire core turned faintly red for several seconds before gradually returning to its usual azure color.

"Next time I have to send people outside, I'm playing it safe! I'll send the strongest people I have!" Owen bobbed vigorously up and down, then recorded the rule in the system memo so he would not forget it again next time. Speaking of which, he had only gotten a brief look through Roderic's eyes at the gemstone that had formed after the Rockspring core was split in half. But that single glimpse had been enough. An endless wave of desire had erupted from somewhere deep inside his core.

Even now, whenever Owen remembered that image, the craving would surge up again completely beyond his control. At the thought, Owen's entire core shuddered. Either that thing was something unbelievably valuable... Or it was some kind of narcotic that was super effective against dungeon cores. He really hoped it was not the latter. He had finally dealt with one huge problem. He did not want to turn around and immediately stumble into an even bigger one.

"Come on... Can this world seriously not let me rest for one day?" Owen looked at the dense cluster of light screens in front of him. One showed Roderic's perspective. Others showed Rayne's party and Harlan's party. There were also screens showing Sinner's Canyon. He felt like he was working three shifts all by himself, constantly switching from one screen to another to check how every group was progressing.

"Help! At this rate, I'm going to go bald!" Owen suddenly went still. Wait. He probably did not have to worry about hair loss anymore. A faint sense of melancholy slowly rose from deep inside his core.

"Why did I transmigrate to another world just to still not get any proper rest?" Come to think of it, where was his cheat power? Why had he never gotten the standard cheat every other transmigrator seemed to have? Owen could not help sighing as he slowly settled back onto the stone pedestal.

"Whatever. What's the point in worrying about it? I've already made it this far, so of course I'm going to keep going!" He rolled from side to side a few times across the pedestal before letting out a quiet chuckle.

"Come to think of it, Uncle Gern and Roderic's group are getting more and more comfortable around each other. Good, good. Looks like beings created by the dungeon really can make friends with people from outside. Hehehe." Owen carefully checked the current layout of Graywood Town. It was basically finished! The monsters in the bell tower had been set up, and so had the side quests throughout the rear district. Now all that remained was to let the adventurers explore to their hearts' content.

Which meant he could finally start planning the next area! Since the theme of his dungeon was a post-apocalyptic world in the aftermath of a Demonic Tide, of course there had to be a section where the adventurers actually raided a dungeon too! And if he wanted to simulate the real risks involved in challenging other dungeons, he would need to add some corresponding restrictions.

"Trial Return alone probably isn't enough to make them properly understand how dangerous other dungeons really are." Owen thought about it from every angle atop the stone pedestal. Eventually, the whole rock gradually turned ashen gray before collapsing onto the pedestal and going completely still. Only after a while did he slowly float back up and return to the light screens to continue observing the dungeon.

"Damn it. I've got nothing. Might as well see if there's anything else I can improve first." Owen pulled up the current clear rates for the three bosses in Sinner's Canyon. A full seventy percent of successful parties had cleared the Chainbound. Bonecrusher accounted for almost all of the remaining twenty-nine percent. As for parties that had successfully defeated the Whisperer, there were pitifully few. That was only natural.

The Whisperer had always been intended as a high-difficulty challenge, and it was currently the only boss in the entire dungeon capable of dropping a Skill Book. Ever since Rayne's group had gotten one, though, a second book had yet to drop. Owen's core slowly tilted to one side.

"So few people can even beat it. You can't blame me if the Skill Books don't drop..." As things stood, anyone who wanted to pass through the Bronze Gate needed more than just a boss token obtained by defeating one of the bosses. They also had to gather a certain number of Prisoner's Tokens. Those tokens had a relatively high chance of dropping from the elite monsters throughout the canyon, while ordinary monsters had only a very low chance of dropping one.

Parties that chose to defeat the Chainbound needed to gather an additional twenty Prisoner's Tokens. Those who defeated Bonecrusher only needed fifteen. As for the Whisperer, Owen would simply consider anyone who defeated it qualified to clear Sinner's Canyon. There was no need for them to remain in the earlier area slowly farming tokens. Obviously, that was because Owen acknowledged their strength!

"It definitely isn't because I don't want those people hanging around the early area farming low-level monsters and wasting my Soul Energy..." Most adventurers were still struggling against the elite monsters scattered throughout the canyon. A few groups, however, had quickly discovered that repeatedly challenging the same boss could also earn them Prisoner's Tokens. And each victory could award more than one. Then Owen watched one such attempt unfold.

A party that had only successfully defeated the Chainbound yesterday had eagerly come running back today to farm it again. The shieldbearer at the very front was immediately yanked off his feet by a chain. The swordsman beside him tried to rush forward to help, only for another chain to hook around both his legs. He slammed face-first into the ground and lost consciousness on the spot. The apothecary and archer in the rear had it even worse.

Before either of them had time to react, chains wrapped around them and bound them tight. In the blink of an eye, only two members of the six-person party were still able to move freely. Owen watched those two desperately run in circles around the cramped circular prison chamber while the Chainbound chased them. Two teammates lay on the floor nearby. One was unconscious. The other could do nothing except shout anxiously from the side. Owen felt like his whole core was about to pass out just watching them.

"What kind of clown squad is this?! How the hell did they clear it yesterday?" See! He had only just started worrying that Trial Return might gradually make these adventurers careless, and immediately one such party appeared right in front of him. What if they carried that attitude into a normal dungeon? Suddenly, it was almost as though a bright, sparkling exclamation mark had popped up above Owen's hexagonal core. Everyone entered dungeons for one of two reasons. Either for rewards, or to train themselves.

So if he made sure they received no reward after failing, and even temporarily took away their right to challenge again... Wouldn't that solve the problem? The more Owen thought about it, the better the idea seemed. Of course, he did not mean banning adventurers from entering his dungeon entirely. He meant when they were challenging a dungeon inside the dungeon... Ugh. Why did that sound so convoluted? His core was practically overheating just trying to think about it.

Owen swayed from side to side before finally managing to straighten out the mess of thoughts in his head. In short, he would make adventurers pay an actual price for failure. For example, if they died once inside, they would be barred from challenging it again for a week. If they accumulated three deaths, they would permanently lose the right to challenge it altogether.

"Hehehe! You'd better be careful when the time comes! If you dare get this careless again, you can sit outside and watch everyone else while you drool with envy!" After thinking it over more carefully, however, Owen decided that challenge eligibility for each inner dungeon should be tracked separately. That way, even if someone permanently lost the right to challenge one of them, they could at least try another inner dungeon. They would still have another chance.

"But I'm definitely not telling you that ahead of time!" Owen let out several mischievous little hums.

"I'll let you experience despair first, then suddenly discover there's still hope! Maybe you'll appreciate the opportunity a little more after that!" Since the strongest monsters in Graywood Town had already reached Gold-level strength, the bosses inside the inner dungeon naturally could not be any weaker than that. Not only that, even the regular monsters inside needed to be stronger than the ones in Graywood Town.

The overall difficulty had to be raised another notch so adventurers could keep training against steadily tougher challenges.

"And then I can tie the whole thing to bell tolls or chimes somehow... hehehe!" Owen had no intention of placing this inner dungeon too close to Graywood Town. Instead, he deliberately left some distance between them. Once adventurers made their way through the maze of cluttered alleys in the rear half of town, they would be able to follow the road all the way there.

"First I'll excavate an underground level. As for the entrance... maybe I could put a church here?" Following Owen's thoughts, the ruins of a church gradually emerged on the surface. It looked even more dilapidated than the Silver Oath church, perfectly concealing the entrance to the inner dungeon within.

"Come to think of it, is it a little weird to hide a dungeon entrance inside a church?" The thought did not trouble Owen for long. This was his dungeon anyway. He could build it however he wanted. Even if the adventurers ended up completely confused, they would probably invent some perfectly reasonable explanation for it themselves. Just as Owen was enthusiastically throwing himself into construction, he suddenly noticed movement in the two small windows at the upper-right corner of the light screen.

At some point, the views showing Rayne and Harlan's groups had actually overlapped. Owen hurriedly enlarged the image. Only then did he realize that both parties had gathered near the entrance and seemed to be discussing something.

"Ooh! Are they planning to team up and challenge the rear district together?" They had not officially entered yet, but merely imagining what was about to happen already had Owen eager to see what came next. He continued working on the decorative objects he would need for the new area while leisurely waiting for Rayne and the others to finish their discussion. Quite some time passed before the two parties finally began to move.

Owen immediately dropped what he was doing, settled back onto the stone pedestal, and stared at the light screen.

"Hehehe! The strongest parties are joining forces! Let me see how far you can make it this time!"