“Not bad at all. So far, these three weaklings haven’t even used up a single point of Mist’s energy.”
From the moment Reg’s group of four triggered the Bonfire all the way to the door of the Trap Room, Truth had been watching them with a god’s-eye view, checking to see if her designs—difficulty, rewards, and various mechanics—were reasonable.
Up to now, the three First Tier Demon Hunters had slain a total of nine Skeleton Soldiers, granting the Mist 2.5 energy points in total, meaning each Skeleton Soldier contributed about 0.3 energy.
Feels like a small amount, right? But what if you could exchange a single energy point for twenty Skeleton Soldiers?
As trash mobs that even an ordinary villager could defeat barehanded, the Skeleton Soldiers’ worthlessness was obvious.
But they were just so cheap that Truth decided to see if she could turn garbage into treasure, and in the end, she really did.
Truth first adjusted the Skeleton Soldiers’ stats, allocating nearly everything to attack power, and then equipped them with rotten, rusty longswords, each with a built-in Tetanus Enchantment.
Even better, these weapons didn’t cost Mist any energy to issue.
Trash paired with trash—utterly fitting.
The reason for all this was simple: Truth wanted the Adventurers who came to challenge the dungeon to realize one thing.
Against mobs inside a dungeon, you must go all out.
The moment you let your guard down, that Skeleton Soldier with over 1000 attack power would hit you with a triple slash.
Sure, Adventurers could take out a Skeleton Soldier in three strikes, but the Skeleton Soldier could also inflict serious wounds in three hits, not to mention ruin their healing supplies.
And just as Truth expected, after Reg’s three First Tier Demon Hunters discovered the Skeleton Soldiers’ absurd attack power and tendency to ambush, they attacked with full force every time, bringing Mist a handsome stream of energy.
Previously, investing ten energy points would only yield about twelve or thirteen in return, but now it was different—an investment of ten points could bring in almost twenty, nearly a 1:2 ratio!
“Excellent. Once this dungeon passes testing, I’ll make fifty copies for open beta. If too many Adventurers pile in, the difficulty and energy income efficiency will plummet… Now, where were we? Oh right, the Revival Mechanism!”
Truth looked at Kruger, who was still lying on the ground, hesitating over life and death.
Seriously, how could he still not have chosen?
Looks like I’ll need to add a ten-second countdown later.
Otherwise, some Adventurers might never choose, and unexpected bugs could crop up.
And everyone would pick the first option, right? Who’d willingly become a Female Knight in a Goblin Nest?
Even if they did, there’s no way I could make that dream come true for these Adventurers.
“I pick the second one…” At the door of the Trap Room, Kruger rasped weakly. He chose to be reborn as a Female Knight in his next life.
“What?!”
From her god’s-eye view, Truth’s pupils contracted in shock. Wait, how could this muscle-bound brute make such a choice?! To become a Female Knight and let the goblins paint you with… ugh!
Hmm… This guy’s the type who, if he became a Magical Girl, wouldn’t just fail to defeat the Evil Faction, but would probably let the villains catch him and do all sorts of embarrassing things.
He’d resist on the surface, but secretly enjoy it…
“Alright, I’ll respect your choice… Daga kotowaru!”
Without thinking, Truth flatly rejected Kruger’s wish. It wasn’t discrimination; she simply couldn’t manipulate people’s reincarnation like that.
With a thought, Truth displayed another prompt in front of Kruger:
[Server busy, please try again later. ‘Resurrection Option’ selected automatically.]
“Uh, what… No! My dream of being reborn as a beautiful girl!”
Kruger shouted weakly. As long as he could become a beautiful girl in his next life, even if he had to fight his way out of a Goblin Nest, he’d do it!
But Mist didn’t respond. Instead, Healing Mist began to lift him and float him toward the Bonfire at the entrance.
Since the teleportation mechanism inside Mist hadn’t been unlocked yet, Truth could only use this straightforward way to send people back for now.
“Huh? What’s up with Kruger? Where’s that cloud of mist taking him?!”
“While those two Skeletons are still dazed, let’s hurry and follow!”
“Elder, wait, look over there—how did Kruger’s equipment end up at the Trap Room’s door!”
……
At the Bonfire, Kruger was gently placed down. As long as someone hadn’t died instantly in the dungeon, Truth could heal them completely here—this was her home turf, after all. If she wished, she could turn the entire Mist into Healing Mist.
This was also why Truth currently didn’t welcome Second Tier Adventurers.
Her level wasn’t high enough, and First Tier Mist Healing Art couldn’t guarantee stable revival for a dying Second Tier Adventurer.
Most likely, they’d reincarnate directly.
So for now, it was best to keep farming First Tier Adventurers.
[Healing injuries… Leaving the Bonfire will end healing effects. Your equipment has dropped at the location where you fell.]
[Notice! Insurance of Life is now on cooldown. Next time you’re near death, it will not trigger. To reactivate, you must defeat five Slimes in a row.]
Two prompts appeared before his eyes. Kruger then struggled to sit up, letting the Bonfire’s warmth shine on his dazed face.
Before he knew it, five gigantic, two-meter-tall, water-blue Slimes had gathered near the Bonfire.
“A dungeon like this… truly unheard of…”
Anyone from Deya knew Slimes were harmless to humans, just moving medicinal ingredients.
So Kruger didn’t pay much attention to the hopping Slimes.
Thinking back to what just happened, Kruger felt it was unreal.
This was the first time he’d seen a dungeon where you could choose to revive after dying.
“Wait, my equipment!”
He quickly checked himself. Aside from a basic Demon Hunter’s light armor, he had nothing left. He’d lost almost eighty percent of his equipment.
“Didn’t it say random half of my equipment would be lost? How come I’ve got nothing left but my clothes?!”
“Huh?”
Truth was stumped, too. She’d clearly set the rule as losing half the equipment, so how did Kruger lose almost all of it?
She’d need to test more. If this kept happening, she’d change the rule to losing most equipment instead.
Back when she was in Junction Land, dying once meant losing all your possessions. This rule was already merciful.
Then again, if they went by Junction Land’s rules—”lose all possessions”—would that include Adventurers’ stash of private savings back home…?
“Kruger, are you alright?”
Elder and the others returned to the Bonfire just in time, starting to question Kruger about what had happened. He told them everything.
“Insurance of Life? There’s something like that?”
“It seems everyone has this Insurance of Life. And after using it, you have to defeat five Slimes in a row to reactivate?”
“Five Slimes? Those over there? Then that’s just a walk in the park.”
As soon as Elder finished, he slashed one of the nearby Slimes, leaving a deep mark on its surface.
But then he realized something was wrong.
“Wait, why are these Slimes so tough? They’re almost taller than I am!”
That’s right. These five Level 15 Slimes had their stats specifically adjusted by Truth.
This time, she’d maxed out their HP so the Adventurers could enjoy a good brawl—and also had no choice but to fight, since otherwise revival wouldn’t be available!
She couldn’t let them revive for free, could she? She needed to squeeze some energy out of them!
“Hey, how come those Skeleton Soldiers we just killed revived again? Damn, my equipment is still back there!”
Kruger glanced at the Skeleton Soldiers scratching their heads in the distance, deciding to join his teammates to deal with the five Slimes first.
This little problem took nearly twenty minutes to solve.
Because the Slimes were higher level and had tons of HP, Kruger’s group had to fight until they were nearly exhausted before reactivating Insurance of Life:
[Insurance of Life activated.]
After a short rest, the four set off again, defeating another seven Skeleton Soldiers along the way and arriving once more at the Trap Room door.
This time, they decided to lure out the Skeleton Soldiers hiding on either side and finish them off.
“Clang, clang!”
Now that they knew where the enemies were hiding, it was easy to deal with them.
Still, after the psychological trauma, Kruger didn’t dare step into the Trap Room until he’d confirmed it was safe.
Then, he retrieved his gear, and Elder opened the chest:
[Obtained eight Sylvia Gold Coins.]
The reward was plain and simple—pure gold coins, which no one expected. But it was worth it to them.
After all, what Truth had in abundance was gold coins. But as for what kind of rewards to give newbie Adventurers, she wasn’t sure.
Standard weapons, maybe? She’d need to study that more.
Otherwise, flooding the place with cash could easily ruin the Dea Plateau’s economy.
“Eight coins—so how do we split it?” Elder asked. Then, behind him, the “Instructor” Reg cleared his throat:
“Ahem.”
In the end, everyone got two coins each and moved on. The group wound through two more big turns, taking out more Skeleton Soldiers, until they reached a clearing full of thick flower bushes, where several familiar dungeon monsters stood in the center.
They were Soundseekers—at least five of them.
“That many… there’s no way we can beat them,” Elder, still wounded, whispered.
“How do you know if you don’t try? Don’t forget we have Insurance of Life,” Kruger replied.
The two immediately disagreed and started arguing. After five minutes of quarreling, Kruger simply charged forward!
And immediately triggered Insurance of Life, returning to the Bonfire.
Along the way, all the Skeleton Soldiers respawned, forcing the other three to go back, pick up unequipped Kruger, and fight another five Slimes.
All Kruger had to say was:
“Sigh, why still won’t you let me reincarnate…”
After their third Skeleton Soldier clean-up, this time Elder decided to lure out the Soundseekers one by one, hoping to pick them off and grab Kruger’s dropped gear.
But he forgot Soundseekers were extremely sensitive to sound—he attracted all five at once, and the three of them were wiped out.
Only Reg managed to easily defeat all five Soundseekers.
But after the three triggered Insurance of Life, the Soundseekers respawned.
Luckily, Elder’s longsword wasn’t lost, so the three of them fought their way through another fifteen Slimes and cleared the Skeleton Soldiers for a fourth time before making it back to the Soundseeker area.
Truth noticed that these three had already earned her more than ten energy points—the Slimes in particular were yielding lots of energy.
Maybe she should require ten Slimes to reactivate Insurance of Life next time?
Maybe just set up a whole Slime Plaza…
“That insurance actually healed my wounds as well. I feel invincible now!”
After re-equipping himself, Elder decided to try challenging all five Soundseekers again.
At this point, Truth couldn’t take it anymore. These three weaklings had been stuck on this stealth tutorial for over an hour!
She immediately prompted Reg to give the trio a hint:
“Actually, you just need to sneak through the flower bushes. Soundseekers can’t spot you in the flowers.”
“Really? Aren’t Soundseekers supposed to be super sensitive to sound?”
“Really.”
Reg nodded earnestly, so the three tried sneaking through the flowers.
Just as Reg said, the Soundseekers ignored the noise from inside the bushes, letting them walk right under their noses.
Truth had set this as a rule for the monsters—if the Adventurers stayed hidden in the flower bushes and didn’t attack, the monsters would ignore them.
Still, she realized her guidance needed work:
“There are always rough edges the first time you make these levels. Next time, I’ll just pop up some prompts when Adventurers get here. Although, if I don’t give them hints, I seem to earn more energy…” ……
Once the four passed the Soundseekers, a fork appeared ahead.
Following the time-honored principle of ‘left for men, right for women,’ they immediately chose the right path, only to find a door that required a key.
With no key, the four turned left and soon ran into a particularly unique Soundseeker, standing guard before an iron door.
“Is that the King of Soundseekers?”
“Doesn’t really seem like a boss—just an elite.”
“Who cares if it’s a boss? It’s blocking our way, so we gotta fight it!”
Once their plan was set, the three engaged the elite Soundseeker.
Using their Demon Hunter skills and knowledge, they managed to barely defeat it without Reg’s help:
[Dropped item: Dirty Key.]
“A key? Is this for the big door up ahead?” Everyone was delighted.
Normally, rooms that required keys to open were treasure rooms.
After patching themselves up, they tried the key on the right-side door at the fork, but it didn’t fit.
“It’s not? Is there another key? This dungeon is really complicated.”
“Let’s try the iron door the Soundseeker was guarding.”
With high hopes, they approached the iron door, praying it led to a treasure room. After all, they’d just beaten a tough enemy—they deserved a reward, right?
But there was no keyhole on the iron door. A gentle push swung it open, revealing a familiar scene:
Ahead, aside from a pile of junk, there was only the conspicuous Bonfire.
Further beyond, another heavy iron door, and to the left, a long, dark corridor.
“What the hell…” Elder cursed aloud.
After brushing with death so many times, they’d actually gone in a huge circle—only to end up right back at the starting point!