《New Earth- The Dungeon of Madness》Chapter 138: Changes
Advertisement
"Shall we go have a look?" For the first time, Harriet spoke and woke everyone from their daze.
Soon, the small party arrived at the crashing site. The once dense and lush forest completely disappeared, replaced by a large burnt clearing. At the center of the open space was a large fuming crater.
Five curiously took a step toward the crater. He could see the debris of the meteor scattered around. They were dark shiny shards that emitted a faint aura. Intrigued, Five grabbed the small piece at his feet. An information window appeared.
[Helyum]
Crafting Material
'An unknown crafting material... I suppose my knowledge of crafting is too shallow to find a use.'
Similarly, the Shamans picked up the black shards and inspected them. They all wore confused expressions. Five smiled to himself. At least, he was not the only one clueless about the use of Helyum.
'Anyway. The meteor should have attracted the attention of enough people. That was my main goal.'
"Five. I think you should stay away from the Meteor itself. I feel an energy coming from it. It should be harmful to your body as you are too weak right now," said Harriet.
"My level is too low? Then can you go there to have a look then?" asked Five. As he took a few steps forward, he indeed noticed his HP decrease by one. He quickly retreated back to safety.
At his side, the Shamans were unaffected by the radiations of the meteor. However, after just a few steps, Lovin came to a halt as he felt the harmful energy. Similarly, after covering a few more meters, the elders were also unwilling to continue forward.
Five could not see the elders' level but he knew from Harriet's behavior that she was the strongest of the group by far. The Harpy Queen opened her wings and flew above the crater at a reasonable distance. She then gently flew down and disappeared in the crater.
A few moments later, Harriet flew out, carrying a plain white egg. She swiftly landed next to Five and handed him the egg. "The meteor was split in two. There was this egg in the middle. I think it would be useful to the dungeon."
Under the stares of the Shamans, Five hesitantly took the egg. It looked like a regular chicken egg but oversized.
[Nerubian Egg]
Hatching condition: Unknown
'What a pleasant surprise. It looks like the system placed a small safety net to deal with the randomness of the Cube of Resourcefulness. Even if the meteor crashed onto my dungeon, I would have received some form of compensation in the form this egg. Well, it is definitely worth the 550000 DP paid by that guy.'
...
In the distance, Dreidus rode a Bonemare, leading the undead army and the beasts back to the dungeon. They were in high spirits. They have won the battle. They lost a few undead monsters and beasts, but the majority of the losses were the skeletons. Most of the high-level monsters were still alive; their swarm tactics had been very effective.
Advertisement
Aside from the undead and the beasts, seven gnomes were also riding the Bonemares. They were the prisoners of war but a few hours earlier, Dreidus felt the connection being built between them and the dungeon core.
They were only level 10 and their profession was still Grade 0. It was clear that they had just been summoned which is the reason why they were not completely loyal to their previous dungeon master. When they were in danger, they defected to the winning side to survive.
Dreidus was constantly monitoring the surroundings. He had long detected the presence of scouts in the distance thanks to the Wraiths. He was not worried that they would be traced back. On the contrary, this is what Five wanted. As long as they were not attacked, there was no need to take any actions.
At the pace they were going, it would take two more hours before they reach the dungeon. Although he was eager to go back to see Lyra, Dreidus did not press the Undead monsters. They could not get tired, but the beasts could and were already showing signs of fatigue.
As Dreidus was peeking through the eyes of the Wraiths with [Dead Mind], the sky suddenly got brighter. He stared at the giant ball of fire in the sky. He was not alarmed at first and only considered it to be a beautiful scene but as the Meteor got closer to the ground, Dreidus soon realized that its crashing site would be very close to the dungeon!
"Beast Kings. It's time to pick up the pace!"
...
At the Tolden Encampment, Iron Shark and his friends were checking their inventory one last time before going to sleep. On the next day, they would leave the town and go for a round of trades with the different barbarian tribes.
Having done several successful transactions, Iron Shark's status soared in Blue Lagoon and now, a total of a hundred elite players were allocated to his team. The weakest one was level 22.
"Check the new Caravans well. Bring in as many varieties as you can. We don't know what those barbarians will want this time." Iron Shark commanded his men to load the caravans. Not only did his team grow bigger, but he also used part of his profit to purchase five caravans that had three hundred inventory slots each. One caravan could carry as much as ten players. The most important part was that he could bring a wider range of products.
However, his success did not only bring him good things. Two new members who joined his team were actually the son and daughter of an elder of the guild. While the daughter was fine, the elder's son was full of himself and would often order people around, causing a lot of discord.
Advertisement
"We brought in a lot of exotic fruits, herbs, metal ores, and dyes. Is that really what the barbarians want?" asked one of the players.
"Yes. They already obtained enough food from our previous trades. The Black Iron Tribe asked for more crafting material this time. Don't worry. Even if the trade fails, those materials are precious and should be easily sold to the player base here."
Suddenly, two players barged into the warehouse. "Iron Shark. We have just witnessed a meteor crashing right in the middle of the barbarian’s territory."
"What? A meteor? What is it? Could it be an event? Explain properly," asked Iron Shark with a puzzled expression.
"We don't know but we did not receive any notifications and there is no announcement. We were on the city wall when it happened, and the guards made quite a commotion. If I am not wrong, the new Baron should try making an expedition to inquire about the meteor but due to their treaty with the barbarians, they are not allowed to go on their territory. Maybe it is an opportunity for a quest. What do you think?"
...
While several parties were alarmed by the sudden appearance of the meteor, Five lived carefreely in his dungeon. Two days have passed since he activated the Cube of Resourcefulness and a lot of changes took place in his dungeon.
With the sudden increase in visitors, his profits skyrocketed from about 70000 DP to 300000 DP daily despite the nerfs to the dungeons. With the massive expansion of the dungeon, three hundred barbarians were barely enough to fully exploit the resources of the first six floors.
As he received a large influx of DP, Five put his plan in action. He started by shaping the existing floors of his dungeon into a hexagonal shape. In the large room at the end of the first floor, there were now four staircases instead of one. The original one still led to the labyrinth, but the new ones led to completely new areas.
There were six monster attributes, namely: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Darkness. And there were six sides to the hexagon. Five started by building other hexagonal rooms attached to the existing hexagonal dungeon. There were now seven separate hexagonal rooms. Since he already started with a dungeon dedicated to Undead Monsters, Five decided that the central hexagon would exclusively house the dark attribute monsters.
Similarly, each hexagon would house monsters of specific attributes. Five decided to call the hexagons: Biomes.
As for the last hexagon, Five would not allow adventurers to access it. It would serve as a back room, for the transport of food and resources.
Developing all the different attributes at the same time would be extremely costly. As a result, Five was now focusing on using the resources he already had in hand.
The second-floor level where the labyrinth was located now had three additional rooms which could be accessed from the labyrinth or from the previous large room on the first floor.
One room consisted of a giant 5m deep pond. Aside from the algae, several low-level aquatic animals could be seen swimming in the clear water. There were level 1 Gold Fishes, Level 2 Anchovies, Level 2 Sardines, and level 3 Salmons. They were all extremely cheap monsters as they had no fighting power.
The barbarians had already discovered this area and quite a few started to learn to fish. The Salmons were a great source of food that the barbarians previously did not have access to. They were quite fond of the fish.
The second room was an underground forest. Aside from trees, cheap plants could be seen everywhere such as mushrooms and berries. The animals roaming through the forest were mostly herbivores: Level 2 rabbits, Level 1 Squirrels, and level 3 raccoons with the exception of the level 3 Fox.
This room was very similar to the forest outside the dungeon. However, it had the advantage of not being affected by the weather. Even as winter was coming close, the number of animals in the forest would not decrease. The room was very attractive to the children who just started to learn to hunt.
The third and final room was a mountainous area. There were a few bushes, trees and shrubs but the area was mostly full of rocks. The animals living there included the Level 2 Lizards, Level 3 Alpine Snakes and the level 4 Mountain Goats.
When the barbarians discovered this room, they did not immediately attack the fat Mountain Goats. Instead, the barbarians took care of them and even started to feed them wheat and look after them. The reason was simple, they were a great source of milk!
Five had several discussions with the Shamans and in the end, they expressed the desire to start rearing a few animals. They wanted him to summon the animals for them but Five had a better idea. Why did they not rear the animals in the dungeon itself? It would mean more barbarians in the dungeon!
Five did not know what kind of rubbish the Shamans told the barbarians, but it seemed that they were really considering the dungeon as a safe place to gather resources; they were even starting to raise cattle.
Advertisement
- In Serial11 Chapters
Exile's Gambit
Exiled to a distant island and living only at the usurper's pleasure, Keranta's greatest hope at reclaiming what is rightfully his may also be an unexpected enemy. Back in the capital, the princess Bariti plots against her half-brother for the survival of her household.
8 182 - In Serial12 Chapters
The Fate Eater
What might a man really do if he found himself reincarnated into a fantasy world as a dragon prince? How would he come to terms with his new nature, his larger-than-life family, the agendas of warring factions, and the destiny he never asked for? This is a story that intends to defy some isekai tropes, but play into others. It's mainly about exploring a rich hand-crafted world, full of its own history and mysteries. Its characters have their own lives and aspirations, and our protagonist is but a piece of the greater tapestry. This story is not about right and wrong, or good and evil. It's about a dragon-man being tested by fate, power, and time. It's about what it's like to live as an outsider who lost their home. But perhaps the most central theme is freedom. What does freedom really mean? What will it cost and how much might one be willing to pay for it? Does it even truly exist? Let's find out together.
8 340 - In Serial225 Chapters
To Midnight
*CURRENTLY ON A SHORT HIATUS* Without warning, a giant, black obelisk appears in the center of a local park in Maryland. No one knows where it came from, how it got there, or even what it’s made of. The great obelisk foretells that a great evil, known as “The One” is about to descend upon the world. In addition, it warns the world that superpowered people called Resonators are also going to appear around the world, and among them is “The Chosen” who must locate the other obelisks to learn the truth of the world. After finding a shard that claims that he is The Chosen, Vincent Huron sets off and travels around the globe in order to save the world. With the help of his friends, Zander Nenmos and Eliot Zanes, Vincent will discover his destiny, uncover the mystery behind these strange obelisks, and come face to face with the truth behind The One. New chapters every Monday and Friday!
8 173 - In Serial146 Chapters
Notes in My Locker
When Natalie James Arthur, goes with her brother to the gym, someone catches her eye. As the weeks go by, Natalie decides to join the gym to be around him more. As the day finishes, she opens her locker to see a note in it. A Javon "Wanna" Walton FF Started: February 15th, 2022 Ended: March 3rd, 2022
8 146 - In Serial18 Chapters
Heart of Creation
What would you do, if given the ability to recreate yourself? To live in a world where anything is possible, and all dieties reside together. Tasha Heart has been given the chance to do just that, as a champion of Demeter. But how will she handle her new found life when what she agreed to is no longer relevant, and the other pantheons start fighting over her soul for her reincarnation?Follow her as she tries to recreate herself, and to keep from repeating her old mistakes.
8 152 - In Serial23 Chapters
Diego x Reader - Dare
Was originally part of my One-Shot book, but has become a full book
8 108

