Chapter 7: Lion Slash!

A game's map design required a vast amount of time, and spending a year or two on it was not surprising.

Gong Qiying, however, didn't have that much time; he could only stitch it together crudely and quickly.

After a brainstorming session, the new Sain Dungeon was completed.

The upper level fused Fran Fort with Sick Village.

Adventurers would roll through a poison pool and light three fire altars to open the fort and challenge the bosses inside—twin Stone Statue Ghosts.

[Stone Statue Ghost (indigenous monster)]

[Summoning Required Spiritual Power: 120]

[Life: C, Strength: D+, Intelligence: E, Endurance: D, Speed: D-, Overall Combat Power: D]

Successfully overcoming the challenge would allow access via the downward staircase to "Sick Village," a dilapidated village built on cliffs.

This area incorporated every treacherous design Gong Qiying could conceive, so much so that many traps from the middle and lower levels overlapped with the upper level.

He didn't place any bosses in the entire Sick Village, only a few surprises heavier than bosses.

He estimated the death rate in the upper level might reach around fifty percent.

The middle level merged Pokemon, Undead Town Outside the City, and Big Tree Hole.

Centered around Undead Town, teeming with animated corpses and other enemies, the periphery was a forest of sky-high trees with waist-high bushes, from which Pokemon would randomly pop out.

There wasn't a budget for bosses here either, so Gong Qiying arranged an extremely thick stone gate in Undead Town, impenetrable by brute force; only by navigating through numerous traps to two locations and defeating elite monsters to find two keys could one open the gate.

Beyond the gate lay Big Tree Hole, a map one kilometer high with multicolored branches entwined, where adventurers joyfully jumped on complex branches, a slight misstep leading to a fatal fall. Only those who survived to the bottom were worthy to challenge the lower level.

The lower level amalgamated underworld game designs from soul-like games, including remnants from Little Londo and various underground cemeteries and mines from Elden Ring, creating a super hodgepodge.

The final boss, naturally, was the Molten Furnace Knight, a C-level monster, the strongest type of creature Gong Qiying could currently use.

Defeating the Molten Furnace Knight allowed adventurers to pass through the Teleportation Gate back to the upper level and exit Sain Dungeon.

Gong Qiying, mimicking Gedwin's approach, also set up over a dozen complex decoding mechanisms before the hidden City Lord room, each guarded by trap monsters and underworld-designed dungeons that even sickened him.

But by doing so, at least his own safety was secured.

He arranged some rewards across the maps and was confident those rewards were unique to Sain Dungeon and would attract adventurers.

[City Lord Panel]

[Gong Qiying/Gedwin]

[Life: E+, Strength: E, Intelligence: E+, Endurance: E, Speed: E, Overall Combat Power: E]

[Usable Spiritual Power for Upgrade]

Gong Qiying stared at the panel for a long time but eventually didn't use the spiritual power on himself.

He might spend large amounts of spiritual power to hide more monsters and modify the map, but he would also save expenses by not upgrading himself.

In essence, he spent money where it made him happy.

"My personal strength doesn't matter; I also have mimicry ability,"

At the second level of City Lord Authority, he unlocked an ability named "Mimicry."

Besides arbitrarily changing his own shape, voice, etc., Gong Qiying could also spend half the required spiritual power to transform himself into one of the [Available Monsters].

Summoning a Molten Furnace Knight cost 800, but transforming into one only required 400.

The drawback was that each transformation could only be maintained for 24 hours. After reverting, the remaining time accumulated and could be used on the next occasion.

"That will do for now; it's not possible to get it perfectly right the first time,"

Having made the final changes, Gong Qiying sighed in relief and slumped over the altar.

His City Lord room was bare, with only an altar that lacked a statue, its purpose unknown.

After groping around for a while, he found a small, vaguely familiar-shaped notch at the bottom of the altar.

Gong Qiying suddenly realized.

The notch's shape exactly matched the City Lord's ring!

He inserted the ring into the notch and twisted it, and immediately, rumbling sounds emitted from the altar.

[Insufficient Authority]

The sound stopped.

Gong Qiying shook his head; it appeared he still needed to upgrade the Lord Authority to unlock the secrets of the altar.

"Teleport, upper level entrance,"

His figure blurred then reappeared in the upper level.

The dark environment, with a fortress faintly visible amongst the trees in the distance, his feet in the dark green mixed with dung yellow poison swamp bubbling and emitting a nauseating stench.

Anyone in such conditions would see their sanity rapidly diminish, but not Gong Qiying.

He even laughed.

"This is much more impressive than looking at a mini model!"

Experiencing firsthand the map that could only be seen in the game, Gong Qiying was momentarily overwhelmed with emotions, feeling like a dream had come true.

He spent some time observing every part of the dungeon and identified some problems—indeed, viewing the miniature model was insufficient.

"Raise this cliff a bit higher, hide two goblins below, and place a white light point near the cliff edge to attract, ugh, to attract adventurers."

"Dong... Dong..."

Somewhere, a bell rang again, interrupting Gong Qiying's train of thought.

Reluctantly, he closed the architectural interface. Once the dungeon officially opened, he could no longer modify the terrain, only change the distribution of monsters.

"Let's look forward to today's income,"

————————

Bed City, a city built next to the Sain Dungeon, gathered people who harbored dreams of becoming adventurers.

For a long time, the Sain Dungeon had been offering a sense of achievement to new adventurers with its simple difficulty level. Moreover, when some were unable to challenge other dungeons due to lack of strength, they turned to the Sain Dungeon for solace.

Thus, it became a spiritual haven for many, a place in this dangerous world where only the Sain Dungeon could provide a sense of security.

But that sense of security was now gone!

In the adventurer's guild, the hall was in total chaos.

"Wow, my Sain Dungeon, why did the anomaly have to happen to it?"

"Damn it, does this mean there are no dungeons left that I can clear? Maybe I should just go back to farming..."

Aside from some pathetic wailings, the more capable adventurers were already forming teams.

A new anomaly meant new opportunities. Information about the dungeon's map, monster types, minerals/herbs were all lucrative data, especially since the adventurer's guild had dispatched a mission to all members, offering substantial rewards for exploration.

So, those confident in themselves were already gearing up eagerly.

But the more cunning ones had already rushed to the dungeon with a Teleportation Crystal!

For example, a Copper Level adventurer, Jack.

"Hehe, lucky I brought a lot of cannon fodder; no matter how strong the traps, human lives can brute-force through!"

This despicable guy then concocted various schemes to gather nine partners, and when faced with traps or ambushes, he ruthlessly sacrificed others.

Using his cunning, he managed to open the doors of the fort and even desperately overcame the Stone Statue Ghost, becoming the first adventurer to reach Sick Village!

Now, with no cannon fodder left to use, he decided to stop here.

"I've fully memorized the map of this area and I know the types of monsters like the back of my hand. Selling this information will definitely make me a fortune, even if I get beaten up by those nine cannon fodders, it's worth it! Hehe, and if someone hires me to explore together, I can even point out the trap locations, but as for the price... hehehe…"

Before heading back the way he came, he carefully searched the fortress once more, unfortunately, it was large and empty inside, seemingly designed just as a boss arena for the two Stone Statue Ghosts.

However, Jack "luckily" found a chest hidden in a corner and quickly opened it.

It emitted a precious purple light. Picking it up, he was stunned.

"Is this... a Great Sword?"

It was just a Great Sword without any distinctive features, and other than feeling overly heavy, it didn't give Jack any other impression.

His face turned sour, "After all that effort, to only get a Great Sword, the reward's too stingy!"

"Oh well, seeing that the craftsmanship is decent, selling it should make some money,"

But something strange happened.

When he gripped the handle of the Great Sword with both hands, a peculiar sensation crossed his mind.

Then, he lifted the Great Sword and cleaved downwards fiercely, his body using the force to leap high and roll in the air, attacking with strength far surpassing his own!

The ground shook, leaving deep scars.

"What, what did I do..."

Jack stood dumbfounded for a long time, staring at the Great Sword, "Did I do this? Is this the power of a Combat Skill?"

Combat Skills were techniques mastered by martial artists after relentless practice; even the simplest of Combat Skills required a significant amount of time and inherent talent to learn, which meant only a few could use them.

For a bottom-tier adventurer like Jack, who lacked both the talent for learning Combat Skills and the perseverance to practice, his skills were limited to mere lock-picking and barely-passable stealth techniques.

Even though he had given up on himself, deep down he still yearned to use Combat Skills like the strong ones, striking down foes in exhilarating battles!

The moment he held the Great Sword, knowledge of a Combat Skill called "Lion Slash" appeared in his mind, and with a mere thought, he actually executed it!

This Great Sword enabled its wielder to use a Combat Skill!

No practice needed!

No talent required!

All one needed were hands to hold the sword!

Realizing this, Jack trembled with excitement.

"Treasure, this is a treasure! I've never heard of a weapon that comes with its own Combat Skill!"

"Now I'm going to be rich!"

His every reaction was monitored by Gong Qiying, using a Crystal Ball.

The observer in the dungeon revealed a thin smile of "as planned."

"I bet right, a weapon that comes with a Combat Skill is indeed rare in this world,"

"Next, it's clear what I need to do—wait for the news that 'Sain Dungeon produces weapons with Combat Skills' to spread, and I won't worry about visitors anymore, achieving spiritual power freedom is within sight!"

[Great Sword]

[Combat Skill: Lion Slash]

[Rating: E]

[Spiritual Power Required Per Unit: 10]