On the other side, now well-rested, Su Shisan finally began the post-dungeon settlement.
Too lazy to move over to the large screen, she simply lounged back in her beanbag chair and gave the command, “Display settlement.”
The screen shifted in response, and a massive, translucent blue panel popped up, displaying her performance in the latest dungeon.
[Dungeon: Shisan’s Perfect Companion Play (Assessment Dungeon)]
Number of Players: 6
Number of Player Deaths: 6
Death Rate: 100%
Achievement Medal Earned: Newbie Meat Grinder (Equippable)
Reward Points: 1200
Reward Item: Item Seal Talisman (Click to view)
Dungeon Level: F → E
Constructor Level: F → E
The settlement rewards were important, and Su Shisan began to study the panel seriously.
“Equip medal.”
Once she equipped the medal, its effects were immediately displayed:
[“Newbie Meat Grinder”]
Achievement: Complete party wipe in an assessment dungeon
Effect: While equipped, Intimidation +10
Su Shisan raised a brow. “What’s this ‘Intimidation’ about?”
“It’s a rare stat for dungeon NPCs,” the system dutifully explained. “The higher the intimidation, the more fear the player experiences upon encountering them.”
Now that Su Shisan had passed her assessment, she was officially a Dungeon Constructor in the game Terror Survival, and the system was now bound exclusively to her.
Hearing this, Su Shisan thought for a moment. “Can someone else equip it?”
She had no plans to keep playing the role of dungeon NPC herself.
“Medals can only be equipped by you or NPCs within your dungeons. They can’t be transferred or lent out,” the system clarified. “However, the reward item listed at the bottom can be used freely.”
Following that cue, Su Shisan checked out the reward item’s description:
[Item Seal Talisman]: Permanently disables the use of a specific item type within a dungeon.
Useful, but not by much. If nothing unexpected happened, items like this would likely have substitutes.
More importantly, Su Shisan had no idea what kinds of items players could even use yet. She decided to shelve it in storage or sell it off.
With both items reviewed, she turned to something reportedly very important—points.
“So how are points calculated?”
Because her soul had been unstable at the beginning, she’d started building dungeons before fully understanding the game. She was still mostly clueless about its finer mechanics.
Now that she’d signed on officially, it was time to ask everything she needed to know.
“In assessment dungeons, each player death earns 100 points. If the whole party dies, you get double,” the system explained.
“After a dungeon is completed for the first time, every subsequent use grants you 5% of the total points earned.”
Su Shisan could understand the need for dungeons to be reused.
The system had mentioned that officially contracted constructors were less than one-thousandth the number of players.
If every dungeon could only be run once, even exhausting the constructors wouldn’t be enough to keep up.
But 5%? That was way too low. A 1200-point dungeon would only net her 60 points afterward.
Noticing her dissatisfaction, the system offered a tempting promise:
“It’s a long-term income model. Once you reach C-rank, the split increases.”
“And who plays the NPCs in these duplicate dungeons?” Su Shisan quickly changed the topic, knowing she wasn’t strong enough to fight this particular battle.
That question was easier to answer. The system displayed another “NPC Shisan” on the screen.
“They’re projections based on the original rules and your behaviors.”
These projections weren’t as agile as real people and didn’t actively try to screw over players—but the benefit was they didn’t drain anyone’s time or energy.
Before she could ask another question, the system dropped two new updates.
“Would you like psychological counseling? This is a free service. Each time a constructor successfully builds a dungeon, it becomes available.”
Given how calm she’d been during the earlier questions, the system doubted she needed it. But protocol was protocol.
As expected, Su Shisan shook her head. “No need.”
She was emotionally detached by nature and only found enjoyment in others’ fear. A psychologist had once diagnosed her with an antisocial personality disorder.
But later, Su Shisan found her calling—writing horror scripts. It satisfied both her financial needs and her psychological ones.
Now, she’d found an even better profession. That’s why she hadn’t hesitated at all when the system extended its recruitment offer.
After finishing the questions, the system moved on to the next step:
“Now that you’re an official Constructor, the Constructor Marketplace and Forum have been unlocked. Would you like to check them out?”
Marketplace and forum? Those did sound useful.
But instead of opening them immediately, Su Shisan asked curiously: “Are there any features I haven’t unlocked yet?”
“Yes. The Constructor Capital and Player Capital. The former opens at D-rank, and the latter at B-rank. Also, there’s a Player Forum, accessible from D-rank.”
As for constructor rankings, the system had explained this back when Su Shisan built her first dungeon: To level up, you need to construct three dungeons of the same level and pass an evaluation.
Alternatively, if the dungeon’s death rate is high enough, it can level up automatically and pull the constructor along with it—just like what happened with Su Shisan this time.
However, only assessment dungeons could be promoted by a full wipe. Other dungeons required at least ten reruns to calculate an average death rate and determine eligibility for promotion.
With all her questions answered, Su Shisan turned her attention back to the unlocked functions.
“Open Constructor Marketplace.”
The marketplace loaded on-screen, with four categories on the homepage:
[Item Shop]
[NPC Shop]
[Constructor Exchange]
***
She tapped into the item shop first. It was filled with various dungeon-related items. Flipping through briefly, she found that most were out of her price range.
Inflation seemed severe on the constructor side—many items cost hundreds of thousands of points.
Her “Item Seal Talisman” was also listed—at 500 points each. But if she wanted to sell it back? A mere 50 points.
No wonder they had a separate Constructor Exchange section. It seemed the game encouraged player-to-player trading.
With that in mind, Su Shisan stopped browsing the shop. Why get ripped off in the system’s store?
Next up was the NPC shop, which was much simpler. NPCs were divided into four grades—A, B, C, D—and searchable by tags and traits.
For example, selecting tags like “ghost,” “phase-shifting,” and “A-grade” would pull up a few suitable ghost-type NPCs to choose from.
But the prices? Astronomical. Even the cheapest D-grade NPC cost 10,000 points.
“Can newbie constructors really afford these?” she asked, though her tone made it clear she already knew the answer.
They obviously couldn’t.
But NPCs would still be needed eventually, so there had to be other ways to acquire them—like those players with zero points the system mentioned earlier, or the “Constructor Exchange” down below.
“Constructors can also work part-time as NPCs in other people’s dungeons. There’s a dedicated board for that in the Exchange. Plus, the NPC shop occasionally features limited-time discounts.”
Su Shisan had already guessed the first part. The second piqued her interest.
“Why would an NPC be on sale? Are they defective?”
Just as she expected, the system blinked at her.
“They’re NPCs dismissed by other constructors. If no one selects them in time, their souls decay into ghosts, endlessly summoned and destroyed by this space.”
That would mean being trapped here forever. To avoid such a fate, one had to ask:
“How are NPCs formed?”
“From disqualified players or constructors,” the system replied briefly, withholding further detail.
That kind of knowledge only came after disqualification.
“Disqualification” naturally meant losing one’s identity—players whose points dropped to zero, or constructors who consistently failed to create viable dungeons.
Without commenting further, Su Shisan clicked into the last category—the Constructor Exchange.
This place was bustling. There were listings for hiring NPCs, exchanging items for other items or points, and even…
Public recruitment ads for boyfriends and girlfriends?!
Even someone as emotionally detached as Su Shisan couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
“That’s allowed?”
“Constructors get lonely after a while,” the system said with a lewd chuckle, its eye curving in a disturbing smile.
Expressionless, Su Shisan gave a polite half-smile and opened the forum instead.
The forum was chaos incarnate. The constructive dungeon-building discussions she’d expected were in the minority.
Most threads were rants about players, blacklist warnings for shady constructors, and various posts looking to make friends…
[Player Hate Leaderboard—Constructors, Nominate Freely!]
[Dr. Qin, Are You Even Human? You Promised I’d Play a Nurse, But I Spent Two Days in the Morgue!]
[Seriously Looking for a Boyfriend—Details Inside]
Thankfully, Su Shisan was mentally prepared. After skimming briefly, she quickly spotted a pinned thread at the top:
[Beginner Constructor Starter Guide]
It was marked in red, likely endorsed by the game’s developers. The thread was authored by a user named “Draw King of Ties”, whose avatar was a hammer.
A small red “S” sat in the corner of the profile picture—indicating they were an S-rank constructor, the highest level and thus highly credible.
[Beginner Constructor Starter Guide]
By: Draw King of Ties (S)
“Just became a constructor and feeling lost? Don’t worry—I’m here, your benevolent senior, to point you in the right direction!” (Disclaimer: This thread won’t cover how to build dungeons.)
First, daily life. Besides building dungeons, we do have other things to do.
For fun, check the gossip forums, or buy novels and movies from the system.
Once you reach D-rank, you can enter the Constructor Capital, which has full entertainment facilities.
For daily needs, take up NPC gigs in other dungeons. It’s a good way to earn extra points, gain experience, and even have some fun.
Socially—don’t trust other constructors too easily. There’s no formal competition, but ideas can be “borrowed.”
FYI: Copying is strictly forbidden in Terror Survival. If your dungeon is too similar to someone else’s, it won’t be published and you’ll be penalized.
But here’s the catch—your dungeon has to be published first. If you tell someone your idea and they publish before you?
You’ll be the one punished for plagiarism.
As for players—watch out for those on the “Player Hate Leaderboard.”
You can even set up alerts for them. These guys love breaking dungeons.
If they find a loophole, your dungeon might get taken down. But don’t worry—newbies usually don’t run into them.
About NPCs… be careful who you hire. Some are dumb, others even help players!
And the virtual NPCs generated by the game?
They rarely harm players, but they sure love to screw over constructors. Every constructor has cursed at one at some point! 👍”