Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 287 - 222: The Latest Intelligence of the Lake District

Chapter 287: Chapter 222: The Latest Intelligence of the Lake District

Under the watchful eyes of her fellow elves, Steeran "volunteered" to share her experiences in the Sain Dungeon.

Like how she and her companions joined forces to defeat the Molten Furnace Knight, became a Sun Warrior of justice, punishing invaders while helping the weak adventurers...

Of course, she only chose to talk about the good parts. Who would openly share their hardships and suffering in front of a large audience?

Under this portrayal, she became a resilient warrior who grew amid setbacks and adversities, an image so noble and commendable, it could qualify her for this year’s "Touching Bed" top ten personalities.

Anyone hearing this would feel the same way, assuming they hadn’t read the letter Steeran wrote in extreme misery to deceive others into coming...

It’s like Ace Ultraman saying Terrible-monsters have no pain sensation; if you are a Terrible-monster, you’d think this person is talking nonsense.

Those who had read the letter now looked at Steeran—who was intent on speaking only of the good and completely omitting her sufferings—with pity.

Poor child, striving hard for her own pride.

Even Lizna couldn’t bear to burst Steeran’s "bubble of lies" and covered her mouth.

What’s with your eyes, and what’s with your expressions, don’t look at me with that kind of expression!

Steeran spoke with less and less energy, even though what she was saying was true, it somehow seemed different in this atmosphere.

"It’s okay, Steeran," Vienma, viewing her with pitying eyes, said, "If you want, come home with me, you don’t have to fight anymore."

No, I want to fight!

Steeran felt an immense frustration that she couldn’t vent, a frustration that ten invaders could only begin to soothe!

However, her demeanor was misinterpreted as being downcast, hence Vienma, as an elder of the Elf Clan, was bound to show some protective inclination.

Gently consoling Steeran, she immediately decided —

Once Steeran had rested well, they would all enter the Sain Dungeon to claim back her dignity! To avenge her grievances!

And perhaps dig into Sain’s magic (whispers)

After reading the manuscript brought back by Roger and roughly understanding the incidents related to Sain Dungeon from Ceder — in other words, filling in the narrative gaps — Vienma also became interested.

She wanted to see for herself what kind of Book Pages could instantly teach magic to a fool.

Moreover, since Professor Seth and others were also here, she intended to find out their true purpose and perhaps throw a wrench in their plans.

After all, her departure from the Magic Association was not unrelated to these people.

With permission, Steeran ran home as if escaping, and the others also left one after another.

"Merca, you’re not leaving?" Vienma looked towards the butterfly, correction, Merca, who had just sobered up from her drunken stupor.

"It’s over?" Merca yawned leisurely, scratching her belly, "Well, I’ve also figured out the purpose of those professors coming here, nothing new."

Vienma nodded for her to continue speaking, but then she noticed a small figure hiding behind a pillar.

"Lizna," the Elf aunt sighed helplessly, "If you want to listen, then come out openly."

"Clever of you."

Just as Lizna finished speaking, a myriad of vines suddenly emerged from the ground and tightly bound her, squeezing out a trace of charm from her steely physique.

Her face instantly turned crimson, almost ready to put on a suffocation play.

"You should really wear a silencing mask for that mouth," Merca said, displaying a schadenfreude grin.

"But it’s not really your fault, you got cursed by the Poison Tongue Evil God, what others hear is completely different from what you actually intend to say."

"She seems rather pleased with herself,"

Vienma remarked, deadpan, but ultimately she let Lizna go.

As Merca said, Lizna when she was a child, was kidnapped by cultists and nearly became a sacrificial offering in a ritual.

Though she was rescued in the nick of time, she was cursed by the Evil God and her words often got misunderstood as harsh dialogues by those who listened.

Thus, she lost her friends and eventually her facial expressions. Before her speaking function deteriorated, she fortuitously met Steeran.

The girl had a carefree and competitive spirit; ordinary harsh words couldn’t hurt her but rather ignited her fighting spirit.

Therefore, Lizna often went to "chat" with her, and these were some of the rare moments she could relax.

"Right, are you still depositing money into the green card at the Forest Bank every month?" Merca looked at Lizna, her tone rising, "But Steeran never uses the card you gave, and surely doesn’t know about it, you better keep the royalty fees to yourself."

Lizna rolled her eyes at her.

"Mind your business, a failed sister who can’t maintain a good relationship with her sibling shouldn’t spoil our bond out of jealousy."

"She doesn’t have any goddamn bond with you!"

Watching the two bicker below, Vienma’s smile twitched.

Keep calm; these are the people she has trained, no matter what, she couldn’t despise them.

Besides, these fellows were already the most decent among the elves, the others were even more...

She covered her eyes and felt a movement in her skirt, believing that the Elf Clan’s end was inevitable.

————————————

Steeran actually rested for three days this time, clearly showing she was indeed exhausted.

Normally, physical fatigue could be relieved after a day’s rest, but now it was more about mental exhaustion, and she didn’t even want to step outside.

However, although she did not go out, she was still gathering external information through her own methods, with a keen focus on the news about the Magic Classroom and the Lake District, in order to arrange her upcoming journey as thoroughly as possible.

"Bam, bam!"

The window was knocked. She took down the miniaturized statue of Madar from the windowsill—it was specially commissioned— and opened the window, only to see a White Eagle standing outside.

"Thank you for your efforts." She took a small bundle from the White Eagle, fed it some jerky, and after the Messenger left, she opened the bundle and checked the items inside.

Papers with different handwriting, a variety of materials, and even several Image Stones.

These were sent by her companion, Danya, who obtained this firsthand information through the Shadow Brotherhood, which likes to stir big events; these items essentially represented the most advanced progress in the strategy of the Sain Dungeon.

After checking them for a while, she gained a general understanding of the current situation.

Over a week had passed since Luluwo and the others made the information about Lake Lienia public.

In this time, the leading adventurers had all obtained Transfer Tokens, enabling proficient movement in and out of the classroom area and beginning exploration of the Lake District.

The prevalence of Transfer Tokens among core adventurers is also steadily increasing, with some ordinary people also becoming holders.

Within a month, or at most two months, the prevalence of Transfer Tokens will reach a high level, enough to let almost everyone bypass the fake classroom area.

If that area becomes obsolete, it doesn’t matter; the Black Hand behind the scenes will take action, perhaps even directly recycling this area.

Although the acquisition of Transfer Tokens has increased, those who can truly Teleport through the Seal to Lake Lienia are still in the minority, because they cannot defeat the guardians.

Not to mention Mugram, even the Calia Knight poses a significant challenge for many people.

During this time, Luluwo has figured out the Combat Skills and Magic used by Calia Knights and analyzed their action routines to some extent; if one could get her guide and remember it well, the challenge level of the Calia Knights could be reduced to D+ level.

Two kinds of Calia Knights may appear, one looking like Mugram and the other being a Mountain Monster Knight, both similar in strength, but adventurers are obviously more adept at challenging the larger and relatively slower-moving Mountain Monster Knights.

So, a certain Black Hand slightly adjusted the appearance rate of the Mountain Monster Knights.

Now there is a problem; wasn’t Val Underworld initially marketed as a habitable dungeon where normal intelligence could learn Magic? Why prevent people from entering?

Because if they can’t win, they can choose to flee to Val City’s Teleportation Gate and just go directly; no one will stop them.

Moreover, not only the classroom area, but the Lake District also has simplified Tutor Hats, albeit with fewer and fixed options for tutors, but it allows bypassing the Calia Knights, which is the best fit for the general public, it just hasn’t been discovered yet.

During this period, the first batch of people who chose to flee had already reached Val City Ruins and successfully entered Lake Lienia through the Teleportation Gate.

Since Gapar and his group lit the bonfire, those who entered Val Underworld for the first time were Teleported near the Academy Gate Town; anyone not blind could see the smoke drifting from the bonfire.

Heading towards the bonfire and defeating a few insignificant Monsters can lead them to a large safe zone—Academy Gate Town; once entered, the next Teleportation will bring them directly inside.

"So the types of Monsters have also been summarized," Steeran flipped through the information, first encountering the lobster family: small/medium/large/different-colored/Overlord lobster.

"...after all, aren’t these just lobsters?"

This is probably Material Reuse, but the people of this otherworld do not know this term; in the understanding of the people of this world, the appearance of the lobster family implies that Sain Dungeon has finally presented a ’systematic’ Monster system, drawing more similarities with other Dungeons.

Can this really be considered systematic?

Not sure if it was an illusion, but after reading the information on Monsters, Steeran always felt something was amiss.

After thinking carefully, she realized that there was surprisingly little sighting information about the Big Lobster capable of using Super Long Range Water Cannon; not just Big Lobster, but Big Crab, Big Octopus, various many-armed ghosts, and other Monsters that had given her and Leon a hard time were relatively less frequent in these reports, with adventurers encountering relatively easier foes.

What was going on?

It certainly couldn’t be that adventurers rarely encountered these Monsters. But when Steeran and others were exploring the Lake District, these vile creatures were everywhere.

Perhaps the composition of Monsters in the Lake District had changed during the period she rested, seemingly lowering the danger levels.

Not much information on the map; the Lake District is vast, and currently, few adventurers are staying inside, leaving many things undiscovered.

"What’s in this Image Stone? This is my first time receiving one."

Steeran infused Magic Power into the Image Stone, and instantly, a square image projection appeared in the air.

It was broad daylight, and the ample sunlight made the image a bit distorted, so she tightly drew the curtains and opened the Image Stone again.

"Is it recording?"

Luluwo’s beautiful face appeared in front from a deathly angle in the image.

"Has it started? I haven’t thought of my lines yet, cough, um, hello, esteemed sponsors and friends who purchased the Image Stone, welcome to watching the Skyrim Strategy Group’s... hey hey, what’s that word called?"

"Live streaming," came Berto’s reminder from outside the frame.

"Yes, welcome to watch our adventure live stream!"

"Directly filming the Image Stone is way easier than writing a guide (muttered sotto voce)."