I Copy, Copy, Copy

When Sithran opened her eyes, she saw a familiar ceiling.

Damn, it was the Revival House!

"How did I die?"

The Bearded Priest beside her shook his head. Leaving behind only, "Your companions are waiting outside. Don't forget to pay the revival fee," he walked away.

Sithran forced herself out of bed as memories from before her death surfaced in her mind.

The moment the Furnace Knight saw her drink a potion, he had charged at her like a madman. It had frightened her badly, and one careless move had left her abdomen slashed wide open.

Luckily, she had been a famous athletic standout in the Elf Forest a hundred years ago. Otherwise, she would have died on the spot.

After exchanging several rounds, she finally found a chance to escape. Just as she was about to run—

A blue creature that looked like a Slime stepped on her shadow!

[Sithran is trying to flee!]

[A wild Wobbuffet appeared!]

[The wild Wobbuffet activated its ability: Shadow Tag, pinning Sithran's shadow!]

[Sithran failed to flee!]

Wobbuffet, the Endure Pokémon. Its ability was Shadow Tag, which prevented enemies from escaping by stepping on their shadows.

[Mental Power required per unit: 17]

[Health: C, Strength: F-, Intelligence: D, Endurance: E, Speed: E-, Combat Power: E]

Then Sithran was cut in half at the waist by the pursuing Furnace Knight.

"What the hell was that weird creature?!"

Sithran gritted her teeth in fury. She had never seen a creature like Wobbuffet, much less heard of any "magic" that could interrupt an escape by stepping on someone's shadow.

"And that brown knight—he used Battle Skills and magic I've never seen before. Even the patterns on his armor made no sense. Where did he come from?"

She frowned deeply.

The Elf Forest was a kingdom established by elves. Its Elf Great Library was said to contain thousands of years of recorded history, and any ancient text could be found within.

She had once read through every magic tome still in existence, as well as those that had been lost to history. She considered herself something of a Magic Expert.

Yet she had never seen "magic" like the Furnace Knight's ability to turn his mouth into the throat sac of a Frog-like Monster and breathe fire, or the golden dragon-like tail that suddenly appeared behind him!

And that only greatly intensified her desire to investigate!

Getting out of bed and pushing open the door, Sithran ran straight into two Maidens, one tall and one short.

The slightly shorter girl, who carried herself with noble bearing, shouted furiously, "I'm so pissed off, Fili! Once I get home, I'm putting out a bounty! Whoever clears Sain Underground City first gets ten thousand gold coins!"

The Maiden called Fili smiled. "It's good enough that you're willing to go home, Young Lady. Ten thousand gold coins could attract a Top-tier Adventurer."

Another Young Lady from some noble family who had run away to experience life?

Hainis's plain attire did not fool Sithran. After two glances, she stopped paying attention.

When she reached the hall, her companions, seated on a bench, were already waving at her.

Silver-rank adventurer, High-rank Sword and Shield Warrior Shuen—a hulking man with bulging muscles.

Bronze Rank adventurer, Mid-rank Elemental Mage Aili—a Pure and Innocent student who had just graduated from the mage academy.

Bronze Rank adventurer, Mid-rank Shadow Walker Danya—exceptional at Lockpicking Skill, but prone to slipping up now and then.

Sithran walked over to her companions and clenched her fist. "Let's go. We'll keep challenging the dungeon!"

"Wait," Shuen suddenly said, raising a hand.

"The City Lord of this city wants us to take on a commission. Do you want to have a look?"

"Hahaha, Pokémon really are so much fun!"

Gong Qiying replayed Sithran's Combat Recording over and over, especially the horrified expression on her face when Wobbuffet stopped her retreat.

It was simply delicious!

"Pika pika," Pikachu cried twice from his arms, curling into a ball and falling asleep against his chest.

"The Pokémon I can use right now aren't very strong, so I can only work with their abilities. But I don't necessarily have to use Pokémon."

There were many kinds of monsters available to him. He had only summoned Wobbuffet because its ability happened to be useful against her.

"Dong dong."

A distant Bell Chime rang out. The dungeon had finally entered its rest period.

The adventurers still lingering inside were expelled by an irresistible force. The savage monsters stood motionless as if they had Lost Their Minds, mechanisms ceased operating, every flame went out, and the dungeon instantly Became Silent.

Gong Qiying spread out the Notes he had prepared today, opened the dungeon's Microscopic Model, and prepared to improve its incomplete parts.

"Mortality Rate on the Upper Level is forty-seven percent, seventeen percent on the Middle Level, and thirty-six percent on the Lower Level... Hmm. The Middle Level has the lowest Mortality Rate because many people encountered Teleportation Traps on the Upper Level and were sent straight to the Lower Level, never visiting the Middle Level at all?"

But aside from that, he had indeed put the least effort into the Middle Level.

An abandoned village built atop a poison swamp? Very distinctive!

An Underground Mine full of traps and mechanisms? Very distinctive!

A dense forest with monsters hiding in the bushes?

Boring.

Thus, making the Middle Level more distinctive became the problem he needed to solve.

[Sain Underground City, remaining Mental Power: 3655, Mental Power required for daily operation: 210]

Because he had summoned a Furnace Knight, the Mental Power required for daily operation had doubled.

This Mental Power was used to automatically revive monsters, repair damaged structures, reset traps, and so on. Reviving each monster only required one-tenth of the Mental Power it cost to create, which seemed quite cheap at first glance.

But for some reason, even if they did not die, he still had to spend that Mental Power. Gong Qiying could not make sense of it.

"So for cost-effectiveness, I have to arrange for the monsters to go die as much as possible?"

He put that aside for now. His current goal was to improve the traps.

Gong Qiying opened [Available Buildings] and selected structures such as [Blighttown], [Fort Faroth], [Great Tree Hole], and [Sellia Crystal Tunnel], examining their Microscopic Models.

There were simply too many available structures, and his eyes were beginning to blur from looking through them all.

The structures currently available to him were all made of "ordinary materials," such as fortresses built from sturdy boulders and fences made from ordinary wood.

As for structures made from "special materials," he had unlocked very few of them. Most would only become available once his authority level increased.

What counted as special materials?

For example, Forging Stones produced in Sellia Crystal Tunnel, as well as minerals found only in Elden Ring, counted as buildings made from special materials.

Any material that did not exist in this world, or anything containing magic power, was considered a special material. The Mental Power required was far greater than for ordinary materials.

Gong Qiying could spend Mental Power to crudely transplant these structures into his dungeon, but the drawbacks were obvious.

Because these maps had been designed for undead who had no knees.

But the adventurers he faced could not only jump, but fly. And they were especially good at tearing places apart.

Therefore, Gong Qiying decided to copy!

Copy the design concepts of these maps, copy their general layouts, copy their enemy placements!

But every design that did not fit reality had to be changed!

[Available Buildings] was very user-friendly, allowing Gong Qiying to remove any individual structure from a map for separate use. From something as small as a torch or a table to something as large as a cliff, Suspension Bridge, or house, everything could be taken apart and used separately.

After combining them in various ways, the Mental Power spent was even less than directly copying an entire map.

Copy, copy, copy, copy, copy! I'm the greatest copier in the world!

Gong Qiying's eyes glowed red, and Pikachu in his arms trembled slightly.