Chapter 26: New Mechanisms, New Gameplay

What's going on here?

Steeran, puzzled and uncertain, noticed another line of small text appearing before her eyes:

[Current Soul Count: 5677, available for leveling up]

Leveling up!?

At this thought, a panel suddenly opened in front of her, giving her a shock.

[Steeran]

[Life: 3]

[Strength: 3]

[Intelligence: 1]

[Endurance: 1]

[Agility: 1]

[Perception: 1]

[Souls Required for Leveling Up: 644]

"What is this thing?" She turned helplessly to Gong Qiying, as this was beyond her comprehension.

"This is the surprise I was talking about,"

Gong Qiying said while clapping her hands: "Congratulations, defeating the Giant Curse Frog means you've cleared the upper area, and now you can explore further down. More adventures are waiting for you."

"Thank you... No, wait, I'm asking about this thing!"

"That thing is a reward for those who clear the upper level," Gong Qiying explained. "I don't know much, but I can tell you a little."

"Every time you clear a level, you'll encounter a bonfire. Resting at the bonfire allows you to quickly replenish lost stamina and also upgrade using souls. Regardless of how strong you are, everyone starts at level one by default."

"Where do the souls come from, you ask? They are dropped by monsters you kill,"

Gong Qiying said: "This is a unique mechanism of the Sain Dungeon. After killing monsters, you receive varying amounts of souls, and with these souls, you can level up at the bonfire. Yes, leveling up is about getting stronger, and the enhancements remain even after you leave the Sain Dungeon."

Steeran's breathing became heavier as she realized something, saying, "So you mean, as long as I keep killing monsters, I can become stronger?"

"That's the idea,"

She hurried over to examine the panel, wondering why Life and Strength were at 3 while the rest were at 1. Was it because she used the Giant Curse Frog's soul?

"Life and Strength are easy to understand. Intelligence is different from what you might think IQ is; it's related to the damage you deal with magic. Higher intelligence means more powerful magic. Endurance is linked to energy. The higher your Endurance is leveled up, the longer you can hold a Big Shield,"

"Agility speaks for itself, and you can see Perception as luck. The higher your Perception, the more likely you are to obtain items from monsters you kill,"

Steeran was stunned for a moment and muttered to herself, "This is indeed... an unheard-of mechanism."

In that instant, she realized the potential of the bonfire mechanism—if one could continue to level up, wouldn't everyone in the world flood this place?

"Try leveling up your Endurance and see,"

Endurance turned to 2. She shook her hand, feeling no significant change.

[Souls Required for Leveling Up: 807]

Once Endurance reached 4, Steeran finally felt a change in her body—an indescribable sensation, but essentially she felt stronger.

She then leveled up a point in Strength, a point in Perception, a point in Agility, focusing on balanced development.

[Souls Required for Leveling Up: 1899]

[Current Soul Count: 78]

Out of money...

Steeran, not yet satisfied, regretfully closed the panel. The fascination of becoming stronger with just a simple touch was truly captivating.

And yet, it defied the heavens.

If she relied solely on training, the time needed to become stronger would be measured in years, but in the Sain Dungeon, she only needed to kill Monsters!

She couldn't even fathom how crazed those who hit a bottleneck in their cultivation would be upon learning that they could level up here so easily and quickly!

"Right," Steeran remembered to ask Gong Qiying for his thoughts after leveling up, "Any suggestions for leveling up?"

Gong Qiying thought for a moment and said, "First, increase your hit points to forty."

"Ah, is there a reason for this?"

"No, just to increase your survival rate,"

"Okay..."

Steeran was about to say something when she suddenly widened her eyes, pointing at Gong Qiying and speaking incoherently, "You, you, you,"

"Me, me, me?" Gong Qiying tilted his head.

"Your body is disappearing!"

The originally golden Spiritual Body of Gong Qiying was gradually becoming transparent, and in just a few more seconds, he was going to vanish!

"It's normal, assistants like me will return after helping you defeat the final Boss Monster of the domain. Don't worry, it's not like I'm dead,"

After understanding, Steeran was no longer panicked. She took a deep breath and shouted, "Thank you for your help!"

Gong Qiying waved his hand and his figure completely disappeared from her sight.

"He really disappeared..."

Looking at the empty room, she felt a tinge of loneliness for a moment.

But this feeling of loneliness was quickly replaced by the novelty of discovering a bonfire. She walked around the bonfire, examining it from all angles.

"Should I continue collecting souls by killing Monsters on this floor, or should I move on to the next level?"

After careful consideration, Steeran thought that the meaning of life lay in progress and exploration, so she resolutely entered the middle layer.

Before long, Gong Qiying saw that the spiritual power collected by the dungeon had increased by over two hundred—it seemed Steeran had bitten the dust in the middle layer.

He looked at the growing spiritual power, thoughtfully.

"Indeed, adventurers who have leveled up can burst more spiritual power, even doubling,"

The bonfire and soul mechanisms were something he stumbled upon by chance.

Initially, he was just looking through the list of available buildings when he found the bonfire from the world of Dark Souls. Upon placing it, the entire Sain Dungeon underwent mysterious changes.

Simply put, this change meant that killing Monsters could now yield souls, and with enough souls, one could level up at a bonfire.

Accidental willows will grow, and the mere placement of a bonfire could bring about such an earth-shattering change, which was indeed a pleasant surprise.

Gong Qiying was confident that with this mechanism, even more people would be lured into the Sain Dungeon!

Because becoming stronger was the ultimate temptation for everyone!

Adventurers got stronger in the Dungeon, and when they died, they dropped more spiritual power—a win-win situation.

He had been worried before, feeling that the Sain Dungeon lacked an ultimate lure to attract adventurers, but now, it seemed that the bonfire mechanism had perfectly solved his problem.

"That being said, I hope no adventurer wants to be the next Ten-Mile Slope Sword God,"

To prevent adventurers from only farming souls in the upper layer, he arranged for the free Monsters to be of little value, weak in strength and dropping fewer souls. Perhaps adventurers could farm them at first, but as they leveled up a few times, the amount of souls needed would increase significantly.

Therefore, to level up faster, adventurers would have to venture into the lower areas to explore, challenging stronger Monsters!

And then to die, turning their spiritual power into nourishment for him, Gong Qiying, and this Dungeon!

To prevent the strong from leveling up too easily, once an adventurer reached a certain strength level, the amount of spiritual power needed to level up would become so high that even if they killed all the Monsters in the Dungeon and farmed day and night, month after month, they wouldn't be able to level up much at all, less effective than training on their own.

Controlling the numbers was very important.

"Hopefully, Steeran will spread the word,"