Upgrading the Core

The birth of the first Contract Adventurer.

Made everyone else feel a sense of urgency!

"Lord!"

"I want to apply for a contract!"

"I'll make do with a Two-Star Essence Soul contract first!"

"Lord, I have a Charger Essence Soul here. I request an immediate contract!"

"..."

Another seven or eight adventurers applied for contracts.

They either bought souls from other adventurers at high prices or pooled and borrowed Soul Essence resources to initiate reclamation. As soon as they had scraped together 100 Contribution Points, they immediately applied to become Contract Adventurers of Miracle City.

No Five-Star Essence Soul?

It actually wasn't a big problem.

They didn't necessarily have to use a five-star one.

The new Dungeon did not have many slots to begin with.

The contract slots in a quality Dungeon were even more precious.

Who cared what kind of Soul Essence it was? They had to get contracted and get on board first!

An adventurer could only construct one Natal Essence Soul per rank. Different Life Soul combinations produced different effects and had an enormous impact on an adventurer's ability system. However, that did not mean a Life Soul could never be changed once it had been set.

Once a Dungeon developed to a certain point,

There would naturally be facilities and services for replacing Life Souls.

Replacing or reorganizing a Life Soul would cause a loss of cultivation,

But it would not be too severe and remained within people's tolerance.

If they did not want to replace or reorganize their Life Souls, there were other ways to obtain Five-Star Essence Souls. For instance, they could use special facilities to forge and enhance Soul Essences, achieving the effect of increasing their stars.

In short,

There were plenty of ways.

An adventurer's abilities were not so rigid.

The urgent priority was to board Miracle City's ship as soon as possible!

The adventurers' enthusiasm somewhat exceeded Qi Ji's expectations.

Nan Xi Li Ya was also astonished by the scene. She understood adventurers very well and knew that, to them, choosing which Dungeon to contract with was a major matter.

It concerned their career planning and future development!

To attract adventurers into contracting with them,

New lords generally had to offer enormous benefits and make many sacrifices at great cost.

These adventurers bought over with benefits were also the most likely to defect and flee when they found a better Dungeon or another lord offered a better deal!

And now,

There were no benefits.

They even had to pay out of pocket.

Yet they were rushing to sign contracts?

This was the greatest recognition and trust in Miracle City!

Nan Xi Li Ya seemed to understand why Boss Qi had created the Dungeon secret realm this way.

Only by putting care into crafting a Dungeon like a work of art could one earn adventurers' heartfelt and voluntary support!

However,

Faced with such enthusiastic adventurers,

Qi Ji did not accept them all.

Contracting adventurers required Mental Strength, and spending too much at once would affect Territory Construction.

Besides,

The slots were limited.

They could not all be used up at once.

Only then could he keep the adventurers wanting more,

And make them farm souls and donate Soul Essences more eagerly!

Qi Ji therefore announced that, starting today, he would only contract five adventurers each day. If there were more than five candidates, they would be admitted according to their total accumulated contributions!

In other words,

The greater an adventurer's contribution,

The greater their chance of receiving a contract!

Qi Ji successively chose Black Stone Hammer King, Pig King, Lone Wolf, and Sleeping in the Wind for contracts.

Black Stone Hammer King and Sleeping in the Wind both contracted Two-Star Hunters as temporary measures. Lone Wolf contracted a Smoker, while Pig King contracted the Three-Star Charger in his possession.

A total of 120 Mental Strength was consumed.

Lonely Swordsman said, "Sigh, Young Master Feng, why put yourself through this? You originally had a Four-Star Natal Soul, but now you've switched to a two-star one... If the Other Shore Flower Leader finds out, she'll surely fly into a rage. We probably won't be able to explain it to her!"

"It's fine! There's no need to explain!"

Sleeping in the Wind said breezily, "The quality is a little lower, but it's only a temporary measure. No one will tell my sister, so she won't notice for a while. And I'll prove that I made the right choice, because I believe in Lord Qi Ji!"

When adventurers severed their Dungeon bindings, they would inevitably suffer a severe loss of cultivation.

But there were two different situations.

The first was passive unbinding, such as when the bound Dungeon was destroyed. In that case, their cultivation would almost completely disperse and return to zero!

The second was voluntary unbinding, such as abandoning their original Dungeon to form a contract with another one. This was equivalent to using a new soul to overwrite the old one. Since the new soul absorbed the old soul's energy, roughly half of their cultivation could be retained.

For this reason,

When a Dungeon's downfall became inevitable,

If its Contract Adventurers were not loyal enough, they would cut their losses and flee at the first opportunity. Most of the time, one should not expect these bastards to live and die alongside the Dungeon. This was also one of the reasons lords hated adventurers most!

The Chaos Tide was about to recede.

Today's earnings were as follows:

Soul Crystal income reached 1,255.

Gross Mental Strength income was as high as 2,470.

Soul Essence reclamation and production figures were:

One-Star Zombie Soul Essence: 138/211. Two-Star Zombie Soul Essence: 4/12. Three-Star: 1/4. Five-Star: 1/1 (used).

Passive Mental Strength Expenditure: 353.

Contract Adventurer expenditure: 150.

Current remaining Mental Strength: 2,564. Soul Crystals: 1,339. Material Essence: 751 portions.

Another day of bountiful harvest!

Qi Ji placed the Soul Essences into the Territory Warehouse.

Then he took out 1,000 Soul Crystals, 500 Mental Strength, and 500 Material Essence to upgrade the Territory Core.

Upgrade successful!

Current Territory Core rank: Second Order!

The cost was substantial, but necessary.

A Second Order core could increase adventurer capacity by 100.

That was no small number.

But that was not the key point.

Most importantly, a Second Order Territory Core could operate a 5,000-Mental Strength secret realm!

Only then could he create the already planned Third Level and Story Mode, or develop story content and other gameplay modes, further enriching the Dungeon's foundation and appeal.

339 Soul Crystals remained.

He had spent rather fiercely.

His finances were in trouble again.

He had to replenish his funds quickly!

Otherwise, it would be difficult to construct the territory and create troops.

Qi Ji planned to sell some of his stockpiled Soul Essences for Soul Crystals to use in Territory Construction.

He took out 50 Common Zombies, but he was not sure how many Soul Crystals to charge. So he first listed five at 20 Soul Crystals each.

The usual price of a One-Star Gray Soul was between 8 and 15, and few could be sold for 20 Soul Crystals.

Listing only five was merely to test the waters.

Even a mosquito was still meat.

These were Soul Essences painstakingly acquired by harvesting leeks.

Shouldn't they be made to deliver their maximum value?!

However,

After half an hour,

There was no movement at all.

Had he priced them too high, making them impossible to sell?

Never mind. He would observe for a while, then gradually adjust and experiment until he found the most suitable price.

The territory was closed at the moment, but compared to the past few days, Miracle City was exceptionally lively and bustling tonight.

That was because as many as 36 adventurers had chosen to stay at the inn. They had earned the right to spend the night in Miracle City, and these people certainly would not sit still—they had to find some fun.

"Lord!"

"We want to hold a bonfire party!"

"Come join us and have some fun!"

The 36 adventurers lit a bonfire, brought over plenty of supplies from Black Stone Town, and pooled together Spicy Sticks, Cola, instant noodles, Chocolate, ham sausages, and local specialties like Moutai and Huazi. They piled everything together and held a celebratory feast!

For a time,

They sang and danced,

Chatted about everything under the sun,

And created a cheerful, friendly atmosphere.

Qi Ji did not put on airs either.

He brought Arno and Aya over to join them.

Miracle City had never been this lively before.

Nan Xi Li Ya sat among the adventurers. As she ate Top Quality Food from the secret realm, her face was filled with happiness, though she also felt a strange sense of unreality.

Of all the Dungeons she had seen,

The relationship between adventurers and lords was generally terrible.

To lords, adventurers were greedy pests, like locusts passing through.

To adventurers, lords were sinister, crafty, and full of ill intent—detestable sweatshop bosses and heartless leek-harvesting dealers.

However,

Adventurers lived on Dungeons.

Dungeons could only develop through adventurers.

Their fates were closely intertwined, making their relationship both subtle and full of contradictions.

This Miracle City had a very distinctive character. It gave people an entirely different feeling.

Although Qi Ji and the adventurers often mocked each other and secretly played little tricks, the adventurers clearly recognized this exceptionally talented lord with his rare gifts. The lord, meanwhile, possessed lofty artistic aspirations and was constantly refining top-tier secret realms!

A Dungeon with such an atmosphere

Made Nan Xi Li Ya feel very comfortable living here.

So she sincerely hoped even more that this Dungeon could develop and thrive.