New Mechanics, New Gameplay

What's going on?

Sithran asked in confusion, finding another line of small text appearing before her eyes:

[Current Soul Count: 5677, Available for Upgrade]

Upgrade!?

At this thought, a panel suddenly opened before her, startling her.

[Sithran]

[HP: 3]

[Strength: 3]

[Intelligence: 1]

[Stamina: 1]

[Agility: 1]

[Perception: 1]

[Souls Required for Upgrade: 644]

"W-what is this thing?" she asked helplessly, looking at Gong Qiying. This was beyond her comprehension.

"This is the surprise I told you about,"

Gong Qiying said, clapping his hands. "Congratulations, defeating the Giant Cursed Frog means you've cleared the upper area. You can now explore the next lower level, with more adventures awaiting you."

"Thanks. No, no, I'm asking about this thing!"

"Oh, that's a reward for clearing the upper area," Gong Qiying said. "I don't know much about it either, I can only explain it simply."

"When you clear each level, you'll encounter a bonfire. Resting at the bonfire can quickly replenish lost stamina and allow you to upgrade using souls. No matter how strong you are, everyone starts at level one."

"You ask where the souls come from? They drop when you kill monsters,"

Gong Qiying said. "This is a unique mechanism of Sain Underground City. After killing monsters, you can obtain varying amounts of souls. With souls, you can upgrade at the bonfire. That's right, upgrading means getting stronger, and the strengthening effects won't disappear after leaving Sain Underground City."

Sithran's breathing became heavy. She realized something and said, "So, as long as I keep killing monsters, I can get stronger?"

"That's exactly right."

She quickly went to examine the panel. For some reason, HP and Strength were 3 while everything else was 1. Could it be because she used the soul of the Giant Cursed Frog?

"HP and Strength are easy to understand. Intelligence isn't the same as what you might think of as IQ; it relates to magic damage. The higher your Intelligence, the stronger your magic. Stamina is linked to energy. The more you upgrade Stamina, the longer you can hold a greatshield."

"I don't need to explain Agility. You can think of Perception as luck. The higher your Perception, the more likely you are to obtain items from monsters when you kill them."

Sithran was stunned for a moment, muttering to herself, "This is truly... an unheard-of mechanism."

In that instant, she realized the immense potential of the bonfire mechanism. If people could keep upgrading, wouldn't everyone in the world flock here?

"Let's upgrade Stamina once."

Stamina became 2. She waved her hand, not feeling any obvious change.

[Souls Required for Upgrade: 807]

After upgrading Stamina to 4, Sithran finally felt a change in her body. It was a subtle feeling, but she knew she had become stronger.

She then upgraded Strength, Perception, and Agility by one point each, aiming for balanced development.

[Souls Required for Upgrade: 1899]

[Current Soul Count: 78]

She was out of money.

Sithran was still unsatisfied and reluctantly closed the panel. The feeling of getting stronger just by moving her fingers was truly addictive.

And incredibly overpowered.

If she relied purely on training, it would take years to become stronger. But in Sain Underground City, all it took was killing monsters!

She couldn't even imagine how obsessed cultivators who hit a bottleneck would become if they learned they could upgrade so easily and quickly here!

"Oh, right," Sithran only remembered to ask Gong Qiying's opinion after finishing her upgrades. "Do you have any upgrade suggestions?"

Gong Qiying thought for a moment and said, "First, raise your HP to forty."

"Ah, is there a reason for that?"

"No, it just improves your survival rate."

"Okay."

Sithran was about to say something when her eyes widened. She pointed at Gong Qiying, stammering, "You, you, you..."

"Me, me, me?" Gong Qiying tilted his head.

"Your body is disappearing!"

Gong Qiying, who was already a golden Spirit Body, was becoming transparent. In a few more seconds, he would vanish!

"It's normal. Assistants like me return after helping you defeat the final boss monster of the area. Don't worry, I'm not dying."

Sithran no longer panicked after understanding. She took a deep breath and said loudly, "Thank you for your help!"

Gong Qiying waved his hand, and his figure completely disappeared from her sight.

"He really disappeared."

Looking at the empty room, she felt a sense of loneliness for a moment.

But this loneliness was quickly dispelled by the novelty of the Bonfire. She circled around it, examining it.

"Should I continue killing Monsters on this floor to collect Souls, or enter the next floor?"

Sithran thought carefully and felt that the meaning of life lay in progress and exploration. Therefore, she decisively entered the middle-level area.

Not long after, Gong Qiying saw that the Mental Power collected by the Underground City had increased by over two hundred. It seemed Sithran had "paved the way" in the middle level.

He looked at the increased Mental Power, lost in thought.

"As expected, Adventurers who have leveled up drop more Mental Power, it can even double."

Mechanisms like the Bonfire and Souls were discovered by him by chance.

Initially, he had discovered the Bonfire from the Dark Souls world while browsing through available buildings. After placing it, the entire Sain Underground City underwent mysterious changes.

These changes, simply put, meant that killing Monsters could yield Souls, and with enough Souls, one could upgrade at the Bonfire.

It was an unintentional act that yielded great results. It was truly surprising that placing just one Bonfire could bring about such earth-shattering changes.

Gong Qiying was confident that this mechanism would attract more people to Sain Underground City!

Because becoming stronger is the ultimate temptation for everyone!

Adventurers become stronger in the Underground City and drop more Mental Power upon death, creating a win-win situation.

He had been troubled before, feeling that Sain Underground City lacked a trump card to attract Adventurers. Now, he saw that the Bonfire mechanism had perfectly solved his problem.

"Then again, no Adventurer would want to be a 'Ten Mile Slope Sword God', right?"

To prevent Adventurers from just grinding Souls in the upper levels, the Monsters he arranged were worthless, weak, and dropped few Souls. Adventurers might grind them in the early stages, but once they leveled up a few times, the required Souls would increase significantly.

Therefore, to level up faster, Adventurers had to explore the lower areas and challenge stronger Monsters!

And then die, turning their Mental Power into sustenance for him, Gong Qiying, and this Underground City!

To prevent the strong from grinding levels, once an Adventurer's strength reached a certain point, the Mental Power required for leveling up, even if they killed all the Monsters in the Underground City, grinding day and night, month after month, would only result in a few levels. The gains would be less than training themselves.

Controlling the numbers was very important.

"I hope Sithran can spread the word."