Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 269 - 210 Where is my exit key?

Chapter 269: Chapter 210 Where is my exit key?

"You’re not instructors from the academy, are you?"

Santa Claus—no, I mean Curry—looked at Gapar and the others, saying:

"It doesn’t look like you’re students either. Well, it seems you won’t attack me; do you want to buy something?"

He was sitting quietly behind the counter of a street-side house, truly resembling a merchant.

A faint noise came from inside the house; was it a Monster lying in ambush? In reality, it was just the mount he used for carrying goods, resembling a donkey.

[It’s a residual shadow.]

Turci’s voice suddenly appeared in everyone’s minds.

[Seems like he’s selling things; should we buy something?] Roger’s voice followed, [But what currency should we use? I didn’t bring any money with me]

A residual shadow selling goods wasn’t unusual in other Dungeons.

But in other Dungeons, selling items often only served as a prerequisite for triggering the next event. The required currency varied: some wanted money, others shells, and some just needed Monster materials; there was no standardized system.

The vast majority of Dungeons saw no need to conduct business with adventurers anyway.

[Let’s buy something and see what happens next,]Turci considered Curry to be another residual shadow that relies on selling things to trigger events.

"What good things do you have? Bring them out and let’s have a look." She walked up to the counter and knocked on the damp countertop.

"Please have a look." Curry handed her a somewhat worn handwritten list, and everyone gathered around to check.

"Tool pouch, Fire Grease, anti-magic liver jerky, robust jerky, sweet brewed fruit, Forging Stone... What do the numbers after Forging Stone mean?"

The list had quite a few items, but a closer look revealed that different types of greases and livers were used to expand the list. Just dried fruits alone took up three lines, but the truly distinct items weren’t that numerous.

"What is anti-magic liver jerky?" asked Turci.

"It’s made from wild beast livers. Eating it can temporarily increase resistance to Magic." Curry answered truthfully: "In the past, instructors strictly prohibited selling such items, but it’s not so taboo now."

"Why?" She pressed him, but he remained silent.

Only when asking about other products would he speak, and he would just repeat the descriptions of the same item.

Turci and the others exchanged glances, then suddenly, she sighed in relief.

Repeating words indicated that this Curry was genuinely a residual shadow; after all, if the event was not progressing further, nearly all residual shadows in Dungeons would eventually become emotionless repeating machines.

Like Solar in the Painting World - Wolf Knight, he appeared quite intelligent, almost like a living person, which was mentioned in reports from adventurers who had visited this Painting World before. Those who entered afterwards would deliberately converse with Solar to find out when he would start repeating.

But so far, Solar hadn’t shown any repetitive behavior, leading people to speculate whether residual shadows in the Painting World might be different from those outside?

"The currency is souls," Roger said. Each item was labeled with the required souls; the tool pouch was the most expensive, needing a whopping five thousand souls, while the cheapest was Roya Fruit Dried, with just ten souls needed for a "handful," seeming like it was meant to sate the hunger of the poor.

Well, who would buy these non-special items in a Dungeon? Even if they were starved, they could still go back and have a hearty meal once the Dungeon closed.

Then he saw Gapar buy a handful of Roya Fruit Dried, stuffing a handful into his mouth and chewing before spitting it out with a "wow."

"It’s not tasty, indigestible." Gapar furrowed his brow and spat repeatedly onto the ground.

Because this stuff was meant for horses and such mounts that could be acquired later, humans couldn’t digest it. The real edible items were those jerky types.

After asking about the effects of all the goods and feeling satisfied, Turci thought the residual shadow before her was novel, as it looked genuinely like it was selling items without triggering any other events.

"These goods do have some unique features," she muttered to herself, then splurged five thousand on the tool pouch.

According to Curry’s introduction, this was a Magic Tool that would automatically produce finished products from raw materials thrown into it, but if random items were stuffed inside, the raw materials would turn into garbage residue and damage the pouch, reducing its lifespan.

As a bonus, he gave Turci the recipe notes for [Anti-Fire Liver Jerky], which required any wild beast’s liver, Roya Fruit Dried, and a Fire Star Butterfly.

Turci tried stuffing some randomly collected materials inside; indeed, she ended up with a pile of garbage...

Roger also bought some small items; everyone purchased anti-magic liver jerky. In the world created by Magicians, having a means to resist magic damage was highly precious, a fact well known to everyone.

Once everyone had made their purchases, Curry spoke again.

"My name is Curry, born from a nomadic tribe, traveling and doing business along the way."

"The Magicians of Reyalucaria moved their land into this enclosed space. I was traveling here at the time and didn’t manage to escape, so I was trapped here."

It seems he’s an unlucky fellow, everyone thought.

"Luckily, I could still do some business. Having souls around means I won’t lose my sanity. However, it has been a long time since the town was abandoned and I haven’t had customers. You all came just in time, please take care of me in the future."

"What caused the abandonment?"

"I’m not sure. One day, people just started to dwindle, and neither instructors nor students appeared anymore. Perhaps something happened to that academy."

He pointed toward Reyalucaria Magic Academy on a distant cliff, saying:

"If you are going to explore there, it is best to choose during the day, because Magicians are night owls and are particularly energetic at night. It’s just my advice though, saying all this because I want you all to buy more of my stuff."

Curry gave everyone a piece of jerky, "But my original intention is to hope that important guests can survive."

Wow, this person is quite nice.

The residual shadows of the Dungeon were once living people, and a kind-hearted person could earn the respect of Gapar and others.

However, they really dare not eat the jerky that is made from unknown animal meat.

Turci tried to continue the conversation, only to find that Curry turned into a parrot next.

"What would you like to buy?"

"Back again? Welcome."

"Goodbye, it was a pleasure doing business with you."

No new dialogues, is this really just the residual shadow of a merchant?

This is still the first purely "merchant" discovered by people, and the currency required for transactions is also very uniform, not feeling out of place at all.

It has a recorded value.

"Let’s check other places." As she was turning to leave, Curry suddenly spoke.

"Did you see the huge bonfire in the town center? Light it up, the firelight will drive away beasts and evil ones."

"What?" Turci turned around and stared at him.

"That place was originally a site of blessings, but many people cannot see it, and that magicians fled here also has something to do with blessings, so they hate blessings and turned it into a bonfire visible to everyone."

A bonfire...It truly fits the setting of the Sain Dungeon.

The group headed towards the center of the town, and on the plaza shallowly submerged in water, they saw the huge bonfire, which was ten times larger than a normal bonfire and probably could roast the people nearby if lit.

The flames had already been extinguished, not sure if it was doused by the lake water or due to lack of fuel.

Three Magicians took action together, using Earth Attribute magic to raise the plaza slightly, allowing all the approaching lake water to flow away, and although rough, it should not collapse when used temporarily.

Anyway, it would return to normal the next day, it was good enough for a temporary solution.

"Boom!"

As the magic-created Fire Star touched the bonfire, a majestic blaze burst forth, and the huge Spiral Sword made crackling noises.

Along with the flames, a sense of safety arose in people’s hearts.

Even Gapar had to admit, from the moment he heard from Curry that there was a bonfire at the town center, he felt relieved.

Since entering the Magic Classroom area for exploration, they hadn’t seen a single bonfire all the way, and he even had a feeling of emptiness the deeper they went.

Flames represent safety, a place where one can rest worry-free, not like the previous pavilion that was attacked by a Monster.

For Gapar, the bonfire means a resting place; for ordinary adventurers, the bonfire is a lifesaver, seeing it brings more excitement than seeing a loved one.

Not sure if it was an illusion, but when the bonfire was lit, the whole temperature of Academy Gate Town seemed to rise a bit, the cold of the lake was driven off, leaving only warmth.

When Gapar saw the dry ground, he then realized it wasn’t an illusion!

The lake water of Academy Gate Town had receded!

As the ground returned to its dry embrace, this became a suitable place to live, at least there wouldn’t be excessive dampness.

"Judging by the time, it’s about time the Dungeon closed."

Turci had been silently keeping track of the time, by now it was deep night at Lake Lienia, and surprisingly, the sky here corresponded to the external world’s time, synchronizing with the color change.

"It’s time," said Gapar as he sat down beside the bonfire, he doesn’t fear getting roasted by fire, only finds comfort in it.

"Today has indeed been a great advancement, and the harvest quite abundant."

The origin story of Star Magic, Magician’s Set, Caelia Small Badge, Initial Exploration Research Zone, tool pouch...

Thinking about it, they really did quite a bit today; other adventurers might need ten days or half a month to accomplish these.

We are indeed strong.

Everyone sat down by the bonfire in the most comfortable posture; Turci was still somewhat reserved, while Roger simply lay on the ground, with Hades wearing a luminous stone mask staring at the moon, wondering what the genius was thinking again.

While soothing their fatigue quietly waiting for the Dungeon to close, for adventurers, this was a rare moment of leisure in the day.

The sound of the burning bonfire always brought calmness, as if all troubles had disappeared, no matter what, nothing could stir up people’s emotions again—

"Wait, why haven’t we been teleported out after all this time!?"

Roger shouted in surprise.

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