Dungeons were a truly wondrous existence.
They were full of traps and monsters. By all rights, they should have been places no ordinary person would ever set foot in.
But the [chests] inside could yield all kinds of thrilling surprises: lost ancient magic, armor belonging to legendary heroes, swords that could slice through iron like mud—and even sealed vampire girls!
And so, adventurers across the world went mad for dungeons.
Deep within Sain Underground City lay the hidden Lord Room.
Gong Qiying sat on the dust-covered shrine, staring at his withered, wrinkled body as he fell into thought.
How to put it? An hour ago, he'd still been working overtime at some game company. The colleague responsible for map design had quit, and since Gong Qiying knew nothing about map design, his boss had shoved the colleague's unfinished mess onto him. He'd taken a quick nap at noon, and when he woke, he'd transmigrated to another world.
He'd become the City Lord of Sain Underground City—"Ghoul" Godwyn.
And he was facing the desperate prospect of having less than a month to live.
Before long, after fully absorbing Godwyn's memories, Gong Qiying understood why the City Lord's lifespan was so short.
It was because this guy's dungeon was far too easy!
Other people's dungeons: endless monsters, cunning traps, powerful elite enemies, and chests containing excrement.
Godwyn's dungeon: a few scattered weakling monsters, traps so obvious even an idiot could detect them, a straight road leading directly to the final boss room, elite monsters that were purely for show, and decent-quality treasure.
The combined result was this:
His dungeon had become a playground for beginner adventurers. Even newcomers who knew nothing could clear it in one life and come away brimming with a sense of accomplishment! The crowds kept coming!
But that wasn't a good thing.
Many researchers had puzzled over one question: how did dungeon monsters and treasures appear? The monsters had been killed and the treasures taken, yet the next time someone entered, they were back again.
That had to do with how dungeons operated.
In short, dungeon monsters, treasures, and the like were all conjured out of thin air by the City Lord using Mental Power. That was why they could respawn.
And Mental Power came from people.
People's every emotion and action gave off Mental Power, which dungeons automatically absorbed to cover their daily costs.
But that wasn't nearly enough!
When adventurers died in a dungeon, they released dozens of times more Mental Power in a burst. The stronger they were, the more Mental Power they released!
Only by absorbing large quantities of Mental Power from adventurers' deaths could a dungeon function properly.
And nobody could die in Sain Underground City.
"Was Godwyn an idiot or what?"
Using City Lord Authority, Gong Qiying brought up a Microscopic Model of Sain Underground City before him. After only a few glances, he was at a loss for words.
Godwyn's dungeon-design skills couldn't be called ordinary. They were a downright disaster.
Adventurers came in through the entrance and could reach the boss room just by following a single path. There were plenty of branching paths, but they held decent treasure. The monsters wandering the maze were things like Slimes, Minotaurs, and Wraiths, whose body parts were useful as materials. And because of the unusual ley lines, a few steps would take you to local mineral deposits.
Gong Qiying couldn't help marveling. The person who'd designed this map had practically been running a charity. The whole place was a treasure vault.
"No, this has to be completely overhauled!"
He was no expert in map design either, but he did have one advantage: he'd played plenty of games.
His favorite was the Dark Souls series, famous for its interconnected maps, insidious traps, horrifying monsters, and sanity-shattering difficulty—
He rubbed the City Lord's Ring on his left index finger, and a string of information appeared before him.
[Sain Underground City, remaining Mental Power: 1806, Mental Power required for daily operation: 78] [Available structures: Abandoned Village, Poison Swamp, Ancient Ruins, Underground Mine, Invisible Bridge] [Available monsters: Skeleton Monster, Minotaur, Slime, Rotten Hound, Blood Mosquito, Wraith, Goblin groups, Low-level Snake Person, Raging Ghoul] [Microscopic Model of the dungeon]
"First, I'll divide the dungeon into upper, middle, and lower levels and shrink the area drastically. I'll reclaim the excess structures for Mental Power. Each connection between levels needs an elite guardian. I don't have enough Mental Power to make powerful monsters, so I'll go for quantity!"
After weighing his options, Gong Qiying decided to place thirteen highly mobile, aggressive Rotten Hounds with venomous teeth at the first connection point.
Only three would be in plain sight. The other ten would be hidden away.
"Heh heh. I'll have the three Rotten Hounds in plain sight face away from the adventurers. They'll think they can sneak up on them, only to find themselves surrounded instead."
Gong Qiying flashed a triumphant grin.
At the second connection point, he placed two elite Minotaurs. One would hide above the ceiling, then crash into the fight with an area-of-effect attack when its partner was down to half health. It would also enter a berserk state and prioritize enemy spellcasters.
The monsters wandering the dungeon would have to change as well. He added Goblins that acted in groups, each group led by a Shaman responsible for applying buffs.
He removed the wild Minotaurs and replaced them with cheap Skeleton Monsters, disguising them as bones scattered across the ground. They would spring up and ambush adventurers as they passed. When reduced to critical health, they would automatically fall apart and pretend to be dead, then revive at full health after just a few minutes.
He replaced the Wraiths with Blood Mosquitoes. Swarms would inflict an anemia debuff on enemies, block their vision, and disrupt their fighting. Their only weakness was fire.
After all that tinkering, the Mental Power needed to create monsters had actually gone down.
Gong Qiying studied the miniature model. Something still felt off, and after thinking it over, he found the reason.
"The map design isn't devious at all!"
So he turned a mandatory area on the upper level into a Poison Swamp. A dung pit was an essential part of any Soulslike game.
Originally, Sain Underground City had been a densely packed cluster of ancient buildings, a grand-looking place that could be explored freely.
But under Gong Qiying's direction, the map area shrank dramatically. He changed it to a layout built around one correct route, with side paths that looped back to it. There were also dead ends that led nowhere. Exploration became more limited, and the environment grew dark, gloomy, and full of menace.
The ancient ruins were gone without a trace. In their place, the upper level consisted mainly of an abandoned village and a poison pool; the middle level featured scattered ancient buildings and forest; and the lower level was mostly Underground Mine.
There was no deeper meaning to his choice of scenery and buildings. He'd simply picked whatever he felt like from the available options.
He also added plenty of winding detours to the main route, hid ambush monsters around the bends, and turned chests into Mimics or Teleportation Traps.
Gong Qiying couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from rising. He'd found his joy.
Traps were essential too, but then he discovered a problem.
"I'm running out of Mental Power."
Even after repeatedly cutting costs and improving efficiency, shrinking the map, deleting monster types, and skimping on chest rewards, he had only enough Mental Power to survive another seven or eight days.
[Remaining Mental Power: 631, Mental Power required for daily operation: 77]
In seven days, his Mental Power would be exhausted. As the City Lord, whose soul was bound to the dungeon, he would vanish into thin air, and the dungeon would lose its vitality.
"Keeping the place running for a day only takes the Mental Power of two or three people. I really am energy-efficient."
Gong Qiying sighed and had to put the traps aside for now.
Why, then, had the daily operating cost gone down by only a little, despite all his penny-pinching?
Because he'd piled on the monsters~
Not only had he piled on monsters, he'd also added some rewards that could only be found in games.
Things like ordinary weapons with Battle Skills, Decoy Skulls, assorted mosses, and Forging Stones—all distinctive, cheap, and easy to produce in bulk. They barely cost any Mental Power.
According to Godwyn's memories, none of the items he'd added existed in this world. Perhaps they could become a major draw.
Once he had more Mental Power, he could add higher-level rewards to attract more people.
After all, he couldn't just keep copying the difficulty of Souls games. If it was too hard, no one would come. He needed to offer rewards appealing enough to draw them in.
"Dong, dong."
The heavy toll of a bell rang out, signaling that a new day had begun in Sain Underground City—and that it was time to open.
Countless newcomers, full of dreams about becoming adventurers, came to practice. They crossed a map without a hint of danger, beat up weakling monsters, found valuable treasures, and gained confidence.
But waiting for them up ahead was—
the malice of another world!
Death lay ahead. Turn back.
[Before-you-read reminder: Adventurers can revive! The dungeon has rewards! Rewards! Rewards! Stop saying I forgot that humans are motivated by profit, or that nobody would come without rewards! Later on, I even put Ringed Blade, the little sickle, and Swift Slash out as rewards!]
Please add this to your favorites~
Before you continue