Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 117 - 113 Digging a Hole, But Definitely Filling It

Chapter 117: Chapter 113 Digging a Hole, But Definitely Filling It

At midnight, adventurers officially declared the first day of exploring the newly altered Sain Dungeon over.

Whether it be Ancient City or Bed City, both were brightly lit and bustling with crowds, as lively as a festival.

A rough estimate showed that the number of street vendors in and around the city had more than doubled, selling the day’s haul.

Almost everyone had new discoveries; everyone knows that the highest prices for items produced by the Dungeon are when they were first discovered, so adventurers hurriedly put various unseen curiosities up for sale.

Not all the goods on these small stalls were items — or rather, not many were truly useful, most were classic fashionable trinkets.

Someone carried back a few wooden racks from Fran Fort, yes, those used for binding people who failed the Wolf Blood test, and the vendor cleverly marketed the racks as a sacred item specifically effective against Wolfmen.

Looking at the exterior, it seemed to make some sense...

Someone brought back a handful of branches claiming they could be used as a Detoxification Potion, reasoning that these trees could grow undamaged in the highly toxic sewage of Fran Fort, so they must have detoxifying properties.

Gollum’s hard horns, the poison spat out by slugs, the tail of Dumb Beast, unknown wild animal droppings from the Forest Area, and even oddly-shaped stones, anything adventurers brought out with a bizarre story could be sold.

Looking at this thorough scavenging skill and capability, these adventurers placed in an RPG game would be top-notch protagonists—specifically referring to those who scour innocent NPCs’ homes.

These people’s customer base naturally wasn’t the experienced adventurers; as peers, they could easily tell whether these items were useful.

So the main customers were the affluent and idle big shots in the city.

Especially now with a large number of merchant convoys settling in Bed City, these people either buy the most practical or the most flashy items and then package these items to sell them afar to even wealthier and more idle big shots.

Adventurers have profits to earn, and merchants have profits to earn—a triple win situation, because the Dungeon has profits to earn too.

Even Gong Qiying hadn’t expected adventurers to start taking an interest in such trinkets, caught off guard after a long time.

The notice board in the center of Bed City was constantly refreshing its information, and the number of staff responsible for this task had doubled but still couldn’t keep up with the adventurers eagerly sharing information.

Everyone eagerly exchanged all sorts of information, from rough strategies for Elite Monsters to which patch of mud in the swamp feels as comfortable as stepping on milk when tread upon, the staff tasked with reviewing information often wondered if this bizarre information could actually be useful.

Due to the overwhelming number of people coming to exchange information, the leaderboard had to temporarily stop updating; it would wait until everyone’s contributions stabilized in a few days before proceeding with rankings and awards.

It’s bustling indeed, like a new activity suddenly started in a game.

Unknowingly, Sain Dungeon had gathered such a loyal "fan base."

It was unexpected yet reasonable within reason.

"Meeting time, meeting time!"

At the adventurer’s guild, second floor.

Maru clapped her hands, and everyone in the lounge turned to look at her.

At this moment, twenty or thirty adventurers were in the lounge, each one a Silver Rank expert; almost all heavyweights of Bed City’s adventurers were gathered.

The reason for choosing the lounge for the meeting was that this "meeting" wasn’t really official; it was just about exchanging some information and catching up with each other.

"Maru, is your boss not back yet? It always feels like something’s missing without Leon,"

"At least another half-month I guess," Maru pouted, still holding a grudge because Leon hit the road alone without the crew.

Drew changed the subject and placed a small booklet on the table, saying, "We obtained a thing called the Hunting Manual, which records the monsters of Sain Dungeon. Did you guys get anything similar?"

Half of the people in the lounge had it, and someone said:

"The information recorded here is quite miraculous, I didn’t expect that creature called Gollum to be allies of the Fran Undead Team. Based on this, it seems like they are actually the good guys?"

He unfolded his own Hunting Manual, and the information appeared:

[Hunting Manual: Monster Class]

[Name: Gollum]

[Gollum, descendants of Demons, residing in Fran Fort, chose to ally with Fran Undead Team, not only providing trials for those who voluntarily join Undead Team but also guarding various parts of the fortress, opposing the evil forces from the Abyss]

Below these lines was a lifelike sketch of a Gollum, wielding a spear and shield version.

"Don’t know if they are good or bad, but it scratched my face, killing it a thousand times wouldn’t be enough," a man with bandages on his face said indignantly.

"Why didn’t you use the Healing Skill?" Maru wondered.

"It’s to remind myself!"

"...You’re idle."

A curvy female adventurer flipped through the Hunting Manual while chuckling, "The stuff recorded here is quite interesting, I guess they will emphasize this book in the official meeting. How about we compete who unlocks more first?"

"Is there a bet?" Roger asked interestedly.

"Hmm... the right to dine with me?"

"Tsk~" Roger suddenly lost interest.

"Hey, even if you don’t like it, don’t make it so obvious!"

This female adventurer named Antili, a high-level Beast Tamer, had always dealt with ferocious beasts; her personality and attire were both fiery, and her certain parts nearly popped out as she bent over to scold Roger.

However, there was not a trace of worldly desire in Roger’s eyes. He said, "If you let me borrow your ferocious beast for a night, then I’ll consider betting with you."

"Hiss..." Antili gasped and measured Roger up, not sure what she was thinking.

"Give up, Uncle. He’s only interested in monsters," Maru barely held back a laugh.

"Speaking of monsters, oh, I just got news about some," Antili clapped her hands excitedly, "My apprentice told me that in Food Paradise there appeared a group of monsters that won’t attack people actively. I’m planning to go check it out tomorrow. What do you think? Do you want to come with me?"

"Oh?" Roger immediately sat up straight. "Then I must go, and I’ll bring my apprentice too."

Once the topic of monsters came up, the two of them immediately became like long-time good friends, happily chatting away.

However, they only chatted briefly before they went outside and started fighting.

"The Cang Scale White Dragon is the strongest of the Flying Dragon Species, what do you, a foolish woman, know!"

"Nonsense, the handsome and powerful Red Flame Red Dragon can smack it down on the ground! No one understands Flying Dragons better than I do!"

Drew said expressionlessly: "Ignore them, let’s keep to our own conversation."

The most exchanged information among the adventurers was about Fran Fort, focusing on practicality.

Things like the poison in the swamp getting stronger, hidden monsters becoming more powerful, and changes in the locations of items. When they got excited, they even took out paper and pen to draw maps on the spot.

However, everyone’s map turned out differently, leading to first staring at each other wide-eyed, then bickering ensued about "my map is right, yours is garbage."

The topics of interest varied greatly. Some discussed the physical structure and fighting techniques of monsters, some speculated about the habits of monsters, and others debated whether the weapons and Combat Skills obtained from monsters were practical.

The richness of the topics here was much higher than the miscellaneous content on the bulletin boards.

After chatting back and forth, everyone converged on one topic – the hidden stories of Fran Fort.

Based on the current information, everyone knew that it was an organization resisting a force called the Abyss, with seemingly tragic past events, but no further details were known.

So after chatting for a while, they started talking about other things.

Someone mysteriously said:

"I’ll let you in on some news, but don’t spread it outside,"

"All mysterious, come on, spill it."

The person paused, then whispered, "Apparently, traces of the Demon Clan were found outside the city, and someone was killed in a nearby village."

Drew furrowed his brows and asked, "Where exactly?"

"It seems to be to the southwest, near the direction of Val City, now both lords over there have headaches."

"Southwest direction..."

Maru suddenly remembered something, her gaze searching through the crowd. She couldn’t find the person she was looking for.

That person’s name was Dal.

Ever since being dispersed by the Monster Tide, they had not regrouped, and even after leaving the Dungeon, had not met.

During a casual chat, she heard Dal mention that his family seemed to... live on a farm outside the city to the southwest?

Outside Bed City, to the southwest.

A nondescript farm adjacent to the forest, it wasn’t large, and the crops that were grown sparsely didn’t look very good, apparently, the owner wasn’t much concerned about them in usual days.

Normally, a farm owner would have one or two dogs as pets for home protection.

However, if a dog dared to enter this farm, it would surely be terrified out of its wits.

Because the scent of wolves was thick in the air.

Inside the dim, lightless farmhouse, Dal curled up in a corner, his expression somewhat miserable.

Every now and then, a pair of eyes would light up inside the farmhouse, but the gaze looking at him held no malice, only concern for a companion.

"I’ve done a cowardly thing,"

Dal stroked the soft fur of the beast beside him, who whimpered in response.

If a torch was lit, one would see that the farmhouse was...

Filled to the brim with wolves!

Dal chuckled, his companion always provided timely care.

Looking at the wolf pack in front of him, a memory flashed in his mind – something he had seen before leaving Sain Dungeon.

An ancient wolf lying dormant, a tombstone with blurred inscriptions.

It was the Ancient Wolf of Fran!

He had passed through the cave and before leaving Sain, he had seen the Ancient Wolf of Fran, feeling an invitation from it to become one of the Fran Guards.

Accepting the Wolf Blood would grant him immense power, and theoretically, he might even match the legendary Fran Undead Team.

But... he ultimately chose to flee.

"I really am a coward, clearly having the chance to gain power for revenge, yet scared of turning into a monster..."

Dal felt his face getting wet; it was the wolf licking his face.

It must be comforting him.

He chuckled softly, embracing the furry body of the creature, and muttered to himself:

"As long as you are here, I feel at ease."

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