Chapter 18: Danger Levels up!

It was the fourth day of the Dungeon Survival Game, and Nick Lee woke up early as usual. He stepped over the pangolin, Python, curled up in front of the tent, and went straight to the Rune Water Purifier.

Before resting, he had already poured all the distilled water from the iron container into plastic bottles. Aside from the one bottle he drank, he had filled four bottles with distilled water.

When Nick woke up, he went to the Rune Water Purifier. The distilled water in the iron container hadn't overflowed, exactly 5 liters, it must be noted.

After these two tests, he had a rough idea of the Rune Water Purifier's production capacity. Nick reached out and gently touched the fire rune; a slight residual warmth remained on its surface.

Adding 1 liter of pure water as a medium could ultimately produce 10 liters of distilled water. As for the fuel consumption, it was negligible, since the one thing the dungeon world wasn't short on was wood.

Receiving such good news in the morning brought a smile to Nick's face. The current remaining problem was the lack of containers to store the distilled water.

Without enough containers, it was impossible to maximize the efficiency of the Rune Water Purifier.

"The production capacity is pretty good... I need to find more containers."

Nick thought to himself. After a simple wash, he felt refreshed and sat down by the campfire in the camp, ready to prepare breakfast.

With sufficient survival resources, improving the quality of life would allow him to perform better during exploration.

Nick placed the instant beef by the campfire and added wood, which instantly burst into flames. During this time, he opened the chat interface on the black panel.

It had become a habit to gather useful information from the regional chat channel every morning, although the accuracy of the messages was debatable.

But at the very least, he could learn about the exploration progress of others.

However, when Nick saw the [Chat] function, his pupils inadvertently contracted slightly.

[Urgent Notice: The current regional BOSS, Stone Gargoyle, has been awakened, causing a riot among the regional dungeon creatures. Please pay attention to your own safety during exploration!!]

[Urgent Notice: The danger level of the current region in the dungeon world will increase to [level unstated] in 3 days. Players, please prepare accordingly!!]

[Urgent Notice: The current regional BOSS, Stone Gargoyle, has appeared and applied a Debuff to all players in the current region!!]

[Calamity (Debuff): Food spoilage rate +20%, water contamination rate +10%, dungeon undead creature overall strength +5%.]

The notices issued by the Dungeon Survival Game were pinned to the top of the [Chat] function, and in a very conspicuous red font. The situation was definitely more serious than imagined...

"Why... did the world danger level suddenly increase? And what the hell is this debuff?!"

The four consecutive pinned notices from the game left Nick confused. From his past understanding of other players' progress in the chat channel, his exploration progress in the dungeon world should be in the top tier.

Even so, with his current strength, there were still many dangers in the dungeon that he couldn't overcome. If the dungeon's danger level increased, the number of survivors in the area would likely be greatly reduced again.

It wasn't that Nick had the time to care about others, but if the difficulty of dungeon exploration increased, his exploration progress would likely be stalled.

"It must have something to do with this Stone Gargoyle."

But when Nick thought of the Stone Gargoyle, the face of that blond-haired guy floated in his mind. It seemed that that guy had opened Pandora's Box...

Thinking of this, Nick felt somewhat helpless. He had tried his best to avoid contact with other survivors, but in the end, he still suffered this unwarranted disaster.

He glanced at the world channel in the [Chat] function, curious. The pinned notices indicated the current region, and did not state that the entire dungeon world was included.

Perhaps increasing the dungeon world's danger level required triggering a specific condition, and this condition was likely to be awakening the Stone Gargoyle.

When Nick saw the chat interface of the world channel, it was as he had guessed. Most people were sharing their exploration gains, and only a few messages were discussing the issue of the increased dungeon safety level.

As for the people sending those messages, they were likely survivors in the current region.

After browsing the messages in the world channel, Nick focused his attention on the regional channel. The urgent notices were likely pushed out at midnight last night and required opening the [Chat] function to be seen.

Those who hadn't seen the urgent notices were probably in trouble during their exploration...

Nick looked at the number next to the regional channel. There were 797 people on the third day, but after just one night, it had dropped to 690 people.

This meant that just in the morning, so many people had died during exploration.

The regional chat channel was filled with despair.

Originally, it was already a struggle to survive in the dungeon world, and now the exploration difficulty had increased out of nowhere, and in three days, the dungeon's danger level would increase...

"Is this even letting people live!! I haven't even found a decent weapon, and the danger level will increase in a few days!!"

"Don't even mention it. This Calamity debuff can even speed up food spoilage. Isn't all the survival resources I've hoarded wasted?"

"In the time it takes to sleep, our region has already lost more than a hundred compatriots. Do you think we can really make it to the danger level increase?"

"Anyone want to team up?"

"I just explored a dungeon and encountered a two-headed dog. If I hadn't run fast... I would have become that thing's breakfast."

"If I am guilty, please punish me with the law, and not torture me in this way..."

Seeing the pessimistic messages from the other survivors in the regional channel, Nick's expression became serious. If, as they said, the dungeon creatures in the area were rioting, many problems would arise.

The difficulty of exploration would increase, and survival resources would be extremely scarce in the short term. Apart from braving the exploration, there was no other way to break the situation.

"Luckily... I didn't trade away that much meat."

Nick looked at the smoked python meat in the box and felt somewhat fortunate. The original flavor was only average, but it was plentiful.

Even without exploring, Nick now had enough survival resources to survive in the dungeon for half a month.

However, sitting and waiting for death was not Nick's style. With the help of hints, he could avoid many unbeatable opponents. Picking on the weak was Nick's advantage.

Moreover, in order to better cope with the increase in the dungeon's danger level, improving his own strength had to be the top priority.

The existence of the Stone Gargoyle was like a huge stone hanging over his heart. After all, this guy was near the palace, and Nick couldn't guarantee that this monster wouldn't suddenly visit his camp.

After a simple breakfast, Nick collected the camp and all his supplies with the miniature altar. He glanced at the energetic pangolin, Python, at his feet, and made a decision.

With ensuring his own safety as a premise, explore the dungeons as much as possible, collect survival resources, and improve overall strength.

Even if he encountered dungeon creatures that he couldn't defeat in all directions, Nick could use the Teleportation Rune to escape.

He bent down and gently rubbed Python's small head, transforming this invisible sense of crisis into the driving force for exploration.

"Let's go, little one..."