Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 278 - 216 New Version Beginning_2

Chapter 278: Chapter 216 New Version Beginning_2

The next moment, not only Gapar, Hades and Turci also walked back.

Apart from Hades who wore a hood and whose face couldn’t be clearly seen, the other two were staring at the Teleportation Gate with complex expressions.

Gapar took a deep breath and entered the Teleportation Gate again.

Then he walked back again.

Repeating the previous deep breaths, entering again, and coming back, until finally, only half of his body was left poking into the gate.

Strangely, Turci was also doing the same thing, synchronizing perfectly with Gapar.

Seeing both of them exuding contemplative expressions, Leon finally couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

He was a professional adventurer, usually not prone to laughter unless he couldn’t help it.

What could be more delightful than seeing the renowned Sword Saint showing a bewildered face?

Absolutely nothing!

Listening to the burst of laughter behind him, Gapar didn’t feel embarrassed; rather, he realized how outrageous the situation he was facing actually was.

Exiting from the Teleportation Gate, what he saw wasn’t the bustling Ancient City above the Sain Dungeon as usual, but...

A bare yellow piece of land where not even grass grew?

An endless land, with hardly a weed in sight, only by looking far away could you spy a hint of green.

It seemed like a place that had suffered a horrific war; the thick air of death deterred even the toughest weeds from growing.

And this place looked somewhat familiar.

Rubbing his eyes, Gapar saw the large crater caused by the Meteor Star on the ground and the deep sword marks...

It was confirmed, this was the ruins of Val City!

Both the meteor and sword marks were caused by him and the professor; how could he possibly forget!

The Val City Ruins wouldn’t usually be surprising, but why it would connect here from the Sain Dungeon’s Teleportation Gate was indeed astonishing.

"Yeah, why is that...?" Turci murmured to herself, encountering such a situation for the first time.

Had the Sain Dungeon expanded to this area?

In his astonishment, Gapar had another concern.

The distance from Val City to Bed City... this was even shorter than walking back from Lake Lienia to the Fire Transmission Ceremony!

"What on earth is going on?"

He looked back at the crowd still laughing incessantly, intuitively feeling that they must know something.

"Hahaha," Leon laughed loudly because he had the same expression the first time he went out. Seeing such expressions on others, especially on his respected and ordinarily serious teacher, made it impossible for him to hold back.

"Bang!"

Not until he got a sizable bump on his head, comic-style, from the Sword Saint did Leon finally quiet down, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes as he said:

"Sorry, sorry, I really couldn’t help it, haha..."

"#"Gapar’s forehead veins popped"Still laughing?"

"No laughing anymore."

Leon quickly gestured, voluntarily asking Drew to perform a calming technique on himself, and then spoke calmly:

"We aren’t clear on what exactly is happening either. Actually, we discovered this place because, after dying, we were teleported nearby inside the ruins of the Resurrection House."

Ruins of the Resurrection House? There shouldn’t be a Resurrection House in Val City. There is no dungeon here, so what’s the use of building a Resurrection House?

Adventurers are transported out by the Teleportation Crystal after each death, and the reason their transport is precise to the Resurrection House is due to something called "Crystal Pillar," which can be understood as a coordinate; within its range of attraction, all Teleportation Crystals are drawn to it.

It is a standard equipment in every Resurrection House, without it, it can hardly be considered a Resurrection House.

This seemingly simple device, however, was turned into a spectacle by a group of humans with extraordinary intelligence decades ago.

Once, a heated Dungeon attracted many adventurers with its generous rewards, which was beneficial for the surrounding towns.

But there were two cities next to it!

Since these two cities were not far from the Dungeon, the nobles from both cities, in order to compete for the Resurrection House business, set up their own Resurrection Houses and Crystal Pillars. The more Crystal Pillars one had, the greater the attraction to the Teleportation Crystals.

This led to both sides continuously expanding the scale of the Crystal Pillars; resurrecting for adventurers each time was like opening a mystery box, with no one knowing which city they would resurrect in next.

Eventually, the adventurers were enraged and tore down both Resurrection Houses.

This led to the later development of a "one pillar, one crystal" solution, which simply involves binding the Teleportation Crystal with a specific Crystal Pillar, and unless it exceeds the effective range of the Crystal Pillar, it would not be taken by other Resurrection Houses.

But such Teleportation Crystals are more expensive than ordinary ones, as they require special processing.

When Count Charon took office, he issued a subsidy for adventurers purchasing Teleportation Crystals, but only for ordinary crystals.

Since there are no other Resurrection Houses nearby competing for business, using ordinary crystals won’t teleport you to unfamiliar places.

"The previous Count Val and Count Bed have always been at odds; he came up with a sinister plan to use the Resurrection Houses and Crystal Pillars to snatch adventurers from Sain Dungeon."

"That’s pretty stupid," Turci couldn’t help but sharply criticize, as this would provoke a strong rebellious spirit in adventurers.

"Yes, it’s stupid, so the plan was abandoned before it could be implemented, and later it was discovered that the previous Count Val was born with intellectual disabilities due to inbreeding."

Leon shrugged his shoulders, "But the Crystal Pillars weren’t removed; instead, they were buried underground, fortunately not destroyed by the recent battle."

This explanation seemed to justify why they were resurrecting nearby, but there were still many questions.

First, isn’t the Resurrection House of Bed City the closest to Sain Dungeon? It’s unlikely that the Crystal Pillars of Val City would attract anyone, unless the region of Lake Lienia has geographically drifted away from Bed City?

Second question—

"Who resurrected you?" Turci asked.

"Mr. Naba, he was investigating near the ruins of Val City."

Naba? Who is this guy with at least four-digit combat prowess?

"It’s him."

Turci showed a resigned expression, "He told me he had something to do and left; I didn’t expect him to come here."

Naba, the last of the four Magic Professors who came to Bed City, specializing in resurrection and large-scale aggressive magic.

It’s quite fortunate that Leon and his group encountered Naba and were opportunistically resurrected.

Thank you, Professor Naba, and thank you, previous Count Val.

"So what should we do now?"

Roger asked while drawing a cold breath, feeling that the situation was evolving in an uncontrollable direction.

He thought it was just an ordinary Dungeon exploration, but now how did it suddenly involve Val City?

"Let me think."

Gapar rubbed his temples, closing his eyes in deep thought.

"I need to think carefully..."

As he was lost in thought, Maru suddenly heard the sound of flapping wings from afar, and upon looking up, indeed, it was the Luminous Stone Dragon Smag.

But with the appearance of the Luminous Stone Dragon, a purple light point quietly lit up in the Dragon Nest, indicating the Academy Phosphorite Key.

Since Gapar and his group took the last key, exactly two hours had passed!