Chapter 13: Abandoned Palace!

The hint that appeared before him filled Nick with excitement. A few days ago, he had found the Ancient Hand Crossbow, a powerful weapon, in a simple storage room.

Perhaps in this abandoned palace, he would find unexpected treasures.

Nick looked at the pangolin beside him and said with a smile, "Python... you really gave me a surprise!"

Python stopped digging. As if it understood Nick's praise, its intelligent eyes showed joy.

Its sharp claws pointed to the ground, signaling Nick to dig.

With a mountain of gold in front of him, Nick naturally wouldn't miss it. He picked up his shovel and dug down forcefully. In just a short time, he had dug through the dungeon.

"..."

Nick jumped down lightly and landed steadily. Python, the pangolin curled into a ball, followed closely behind. He looked at the abandoned palace in front of him, his pupils constricting slightly.

The scale of this dungeon alone was unprecedentedly huge. Even the 400-500 square meter trading market was less than a quarter of the size of this current dungeon.

Nick estimated that the current dungeon was no less than 2000 square meters in size.

Although most of the palace had collapsed, the remaining main hall alone showed the palace's former grandeur and splendor.

He estimated that the overall height was nearly 10 meters, while the buildings surrounding the palace were slightly less impressive.

But it still brought great shock to Nick's heart. He took the hand crossbow from his waist. There was no information about safety in the hint, but in a strange and dark environment, it was always important to remain vigilant.

He walked along the broken stone brick ground to the front of the main hall. After confirming that the palace was not in danger of collapsing, he walked in.

With the help of the faint light, Nick saw a piece of parchment lying quietly in the center of the palace.

"Could it be another product of the dungeon civilization?"

The moment he saw the parchment, he remembered the [Rune Water Purifier] he had obtained earlier. If it was indeed a product of the dungeon civilization, it would definitely be an unexpected gain for Nick.

However, when Nick picked up the parchment and read the contents clearly, his shock was unparalleled.

The parchment did not record a so-called dungeon civilization product, but rather the expansion plan for this palace complex.

[Underground City]

Nick immediately noticed the location of the palace complex in the center of the map, occupying one-sixth of the map's size. It was also the core area of the [Underground City] construction plan.

Majestic city walls and numerous fortifications would be erected around the palace, and the buildings further out would be a free trade area for survivors.

On the outside of the parchment, there was a moat and the first city wall to defend against monsters.

Nick gathered his thoughts and quickly made a guess. The person who built this palace probably wanted to make it the safest and most magnificent city in the dungeon world.

"This undertaking... is a bit too grand, isn't it!"

Nick murmured softly.

The most core palace in the construction plan had already been completed. As for why the [Underground City] was not realized, it was probably because the owner of the palace had encountered some mishap.

But what he left behind was definitely a huge fortune for Nick. The palace, which had fallen into decline over the long river of time, was an excellent base.

As for the [Underground City] construction plan that the former owner of the palace had not completed, Nick quickly made a decision.

Since there was no chance to return to the real world, he would build his home in the dungeon world!

"Okay. That's it..."

After calming his excitement, Nick took out the miniature altar from his pocket. A black window popped up, giving him two options.

[Detected that there is no security threat in the current area. Do you want to set this place as a temporary camp?]

[Detected that there is no security threat in the current area. Do you want to set this place as a base? (After setting a base, you can dig back and forth without consuming digging attempts)]

"So I can dig back and forth?!"

After seeing the options given by the black interface, Nick was surprised but decisively set this abandoned palace as his base.

When Nick made his choice, a tent icon appeared out of thin air on the empty black attribute panel. He lightly tapped the [Home] icon.

Detailed information appeared on the black panel.

[Abandoned Palace (Unnamed)]

[Current Owner: Nick]

[Note: After repairing the palace, you can use the naming function]

"So I... successfully occupied it?"

Looking at the information on the black panel, Nick understood a few points. Although he had become the owner here, there was still a risk of being robbed.

The prerequisite for this kind of plunder was most likely the death of the current owner...

Nick wasn't particularly surprised by this setting. Instead, he thought it was a normal thing. If others wanted to snatch the palace from him, they would have to weigh their own strength.

Nick picked up his shovel and prepared to explore this safe abandoned palace. Python, the pangolin, didn't follow.

Instead, it rested near the tent. The continuous, rapid digging had also consumed a lot of Python's stamina.

"You stay here and guard the house... I'll explore the vicinity."

After saying this, Nick left the camp and prepared to explore the nearby palace. The person who could build the palace so magnificently and spectacularly would definitely not have left behind anything too shabby.

The exhausted pangolin understood Nick's thoughts and nodded its small head.

"I hope there's something good..."

Nick set his sights on the palace, which had mostly collapsed. After searching all the rooms carefully, he didn't find a single treasure chest, let alone any gains, except for the decaying wood.

He had wasted quite a bit of effort.

This made Nick even suspect that the builder of this palace had used all the resources on the construction of the palace...

After leaving, he explored the surroundings of the palace. Nick didn't miss any faint light on the ground.

But when he came to the back, looking at the large area of soil with a different texture not far away, Nick's lips twitched slightly.

If nothing unexpected happened, this place should be the farmland left by the former owner of the palace. After the baptism of the long river of time, the land was still fertile. It didn't even need fertilizer. With seeds and water, it could be cultivated directly.

But Nick felt somewhat helpless. He always felt that his dungeon survival development was a little different from others!

"So, this is telling me to farm? But even drinking water is a problem now..."

Nick shook his head slightly. Although he had had this idea, with the current precarious survival situation, he could only put it aside.

However, when his gaze swept over the dried-up pool not far away, he initially didn't think there was anything unusual. But when he recalled the appearance of the [Fire Rune], he suddenly turned back.

Because on the wall, there was a Rune with a similar shape embedded!