The Altar Approaches Gong Qiying

Dungeons, a truly wondrous existence.

They are filled with traps and monsters, places where normal people shouldn't tread.

But the [Treasure Chests] within can yield all sorts of surprising items: lost ancient magic, the armor of legendary heroes, swords that can cut through iron, and you might even find a sealed vampire girl!

Thus, Adventurers worldwide have gone mad for dungeons.

Sain Underground City, the deepest part, the hidden Dungeon Lord's room.

Gong Qiying sat on a dusty Altar, gazing at his withered, wrinkled body and falling into thought.

How to put it, an hour ago he was working overtime at a game company. The colleague responsible for map design had quit, and he, knowing nothing about map design, was rushed by his boss to clean up the mess left behind. He took a nap at noon, and when he woke up, he had transmigrated to another world.

He had become the Dungeon Lord of Sain Underground City—the "ghoul" Godwyn.

And he was facing the dire prospect of having less than a month to live.

Soon after, Gong Qiying, having fully accepted Godwyn's memories, understood why the Dungeon Lord had so little time left.

Because this guy's dungeon was too easy!

Other people's dungeons: an endless stream of monsters, insidious traps, powerful elite monsters, treasure chests filled with excrement.

Godwyn's dungeon: scattered weak monsters, traps so obvious even an idiot could see them, a straight path to the final BOSS room, elite monsters that were purely decorative, and treasures of decent quality.

The result of all these conditions combined was...

His dungeon had become a playground for rookie Adventurers. Even complete novices could clear it on their first try, feeling incredibly accomplished! The crowds were endless!

However, this was not a good thing.

Many researchers were puzzled by one thing: how did the monsters and treasures in the dungeon appear? They had killed the monsters and taken the treasures, but they would reappear the next time they entered.

This involved the dungeon's operational logic.

Simply put, the dungeon's monsters, treasures, etc., were conjured out of thin air by the Dungeon Lord using Mental Power, which is why they respawned.

And the source of Mental Power was people.

People's joys, sorrows, anger, and every move they made emitted Mental Power, which the dungeon automatically absorbed to sustain its daily consumption.

But this was far from enough!

When an Adventurer died in the dungeon, Mental Power would erupt exponentially, dozens of times over. The stronger the Adventurer, the more Mental Power erupted!

Only by absorbing the Mental Power from the deaths of a large number of Adventurers could the dungeon operate normally.

But in Sain Underground City, no one could die.

"Is Godwyn an idiot?"

Using his Dungeon Lord authority, Gong Qiying brought up a microscopic model of Sain Underground City. After just a few glances, he was speechless.

Godwyn's dungeon design level couldn't even be called mediocre; it was a disaster.

Adventurers entered from the entrance and could reach the BOSS room by taking a single path. There were quite a few forks, but they contained good treasures. The monsters wandering the maze were all creatures like Slimes, Minotaurs, and Ghosts, whose body materials had practical value. Due to the special ley lines, special minerals could be found after walking a few steps.

Gong Qiying sighed repeatedly, thinking that whoever designed this map was practically giving away charity; it was an entire treasure vault.

"No, I have to make major changes!"

He was also an amateur in map design, but fortunately, he had one advantage: he had played a lot of games.

His favorite among them was the series famous for its interconnected maps, devious traps, terrifying monsters, and sanity-draining mechanics—

The Dark Souls series!

He rubbed the Lord's Ring on his left index finger, and a string of information immediately appeared before him.

[Sain Underground City, Remaining Mental Power: 1806, Daily Operational Mental Power Required: 78]

[Available Buildings: Abandoned Village, Poisonous Swamp, Ancient Ruins, Underground Mine, Invisible Bridge]

[Available Monsters: Skeleton Monster, Minotaur, Slime, Rotten Hound, Blood Mosquito, Ghost, Goblin Group, Low-level Snake Person, Berserk Ghoul]

[Dungeon Microscopic Model]

"First, I'll divide the dungeon into three layers: upper, middle, and lower, significantly reducing its area. I'll reclaim excess buildings for Mental Power. Each connection point between layers will have a gatekeeper elite. I don't have enough Mental Power to conjure powerful monsters, so I'll choose quantity over quality!"

After careful consideration, Gong Qiying decided to deploy thirteen Rotten Hounds with high mobility, strong attack aggression, and venomous teeth at the first connection point.

And only three would be in plain sight, with the other ten hidden in concealed locations.

"Heh heh, I'll have the three Rotten Hounds in plain sight turn their backs to the Adventurers. They'll think they can ambush them, but they'll end up being the ones surrounded,"

Gong Qiying flashed a "plan successful" smile.

The second connection point would feature two elite Minotaurs, one of which would be hidden in the ceiling. When its companion was half-defeated, it would descend into the battlefield with an AOE attack and enter a berserk state, prioritizing enemy spellcasters.

The types of monsters roaming the dungeon would naturally undergo major changes, adding Goblin groups that acted in unison. Each Goblin group would have a Shaman responsible for casting buffs.

The wild Minotaurs would be removed and replaced with low-cost Skeleton Monsters, disguised as scattered remains on the ground. When Adventurers passed by, they would rise up and ambush them. When the Skeleton Monsters were critically injured, they would automatically fall apart, appearing dead, and would fully revive within minutes.

Ghosts would be replaced by Blood Mosquitoes. Swarms of Blood Mosquitoes would inflict the "anemia" debuff on enemies and could obscure vision, disrupting combat. Their only weakness was fire.

After all this tinkering, the Mental Power required to create monsters actually decreased.

Gong Qiying observed the miniature model, feeling that something was still not quite right. After careful thought, he found the reason.

"The map design isn't insidious at all!"

He then turned a mandatory area on the upper level into a poisonous swamp. Festering pits are an essential element of Soulslike games.

Originally, the Sain Underground City's appearance was a dense ancient architectural complex, looking magnificent and allowing for free exploration.

But under Gong Qiying's control, the map's area was greatly reduced. It was replaced with a main, correct path, supplemented by side paths that looped back to the correct route, as well as incorrect dead ends. The freedom of exploration was reduced, and the environment became dark and gloomy, filled with an oppressive atmosphere.

The ancient architectural complex was completely gone. In its place, the upper level consisted of abandoned villages and toxic pools, the middle level featured scattered ancient ruins and forests, and the lower level was dominated by underground mines.

There was no profound meaning behind the choice of these scenes and structures; he simply picked them randomly from the available buildings.

There were also things like adding numerous winding paths to mandatory routes, hiding ambush monsters after the bends, and turning treasure chests into Mimics or Teleportation Traps.

Gong Qiying's lips couldn't help but curl upwards. He had found his joy.

Traps were also a necessary element to experience, but he discovered a problem.

"I don't have enough Mental Power."

Even with constant cost reduction and efficiency improvements, shrinking the map, deleting monster types, and skimping on treasure chest rewards, the remaining Mental Power would only last him another seven or eight days.

[Remaining Mental Power: 631, Daily Operational Mental Power Required: 77]

Seven days later, his Mental Power would be depleted. As the Dungeon Lord bound to the Dungeon's Soul, he would vanish into thin air, and the Dungeon would lose its vitality.

"Maintaining operations for one day only requires the Mental Power of two or three people. I'm truly energy-efficient."

Gong Qiying sighed and had to temporarily abandon the traps.

As for why, despite such frugality, the daily operational Mental Power required only decreased slightly from before?

It was because he had piled on the monsters!

Not only did he pile on monsters, but he also placed rewards that could only be obtained in games.

Things like regular weapons with Battle Skills, Decoy Skulls, various mosses, and Forging Stones – all cheap and plentiful items with distinct characteristics, costing very little Mental Power.

According to Godwyn's memories, these items he placed didn't exist in this world. Perhaps they could become an attractive feature.

Once his Mental Power was abundant in the future, he could place higher-level rewards to attract more people.

After all, solely relying on the difficulty of Soulslike games wouldn't work; if it's too hard, no one will come. There must be sufficiently attractive rewards.

"Knock knock."

A dull bell chimed, signifying that the Sain Underground City had welcomed a new day and it was time to open.

Countless newcomers, full of aspirations for an Adventurer career, came here to practice, traversing the completely safe map, defeating weak Monsters, obtaining valuable treasures, and finding confidence.

However, waiting for them ahead was...

Malice from another world!

Death lies ahead; turn back.

[Pre-Adventure Reminder: Adventurers have means of revival! The Dungeon has rewards! Rewards! Rewards! Don't tell me I've forgotten the human nature of seeking profit, that no one will come without rewards! I've even put out the Consecutive Slashes and Swift Cuts as rewards later on!]

Please collect~