The Shrine Walked Toward Gong Qiying

Dungeons were a truly wondrous existence.

They were filled with traps and monsters, places normal people should never set foot in.

Yet the treasure chests inside could yield all sorts of delightful surprises: lost ancient magic, the armor of legendary heroes, swords sharp enough to cut through iron like mud, and even sealed vampire maidens!

Thus, adventurers all over the world went mad for dungeons.

At the deepest point of Zane Dungeon lay the hidden city lord's room.

Gong Qiying sat atop a dust-covered Shrine, staring at his shriveled, wrinkled body in deep thought.

How should he put it? An hour ago, he had still been working overtime at some game company. The colleague responsible for map design had quit, and because he knew nothing about map design, his boss had forced him to clean up the mess that colleague had left behind. He had taken a short nap at noon, and when he woke up, he had already transmigrated into another world.

He had become the city lord of Zane Dungeon—Godwyn the "Living Dead."

And he faced the desperate situation of having less than a month left to live.

Not long after fully inheriting Godwyn's memories, Gong Qiying understood why this city lord had so little time left.

Because this guy's dungeon was far too easy!

Other people's dungeons: endless monsters, sinister traps, powerful Elite Monsters, and treasure chests hiding excrement.

Godwyn's dungeon: scattered weakling monsters, traps so obvious even an idiot could see through them, a straight path leading directly to the final boss room, Elite Monsters that were purely decorative, and high-quality treasure.

The result of all that was—

His dungeon had become an amusement park for rookie adventurers. Even complete newcomers could clear it without dying once, leaving them brimming with accomplishment! The stream of visitors never ended!

Yet this was not a good thing.

Many researchers had wondered about one question: how did dungeon monsters and treasures appear? The monsters had clearly been killed and the treasures taken away, yet the next time people entered, they would reappear.

That involved the operating logic of dungeons.

Simply put, dungeon monsters, treasures, and the like were created from nothing by the city lord's Spirit Power, which was why they could respawn.

And the source of Spirit Power was people.

Every movement and emotion of a person gave off Spirit Power, which the dungeon automatically absorbed to maintain its daily consumption.

But that was nowhere near enough!

When adventurers died in a dungeon, they released dozens of times more Spirit Power. The stronger they were, the more Spirit Power they released!

Only by absorbing large amounts of Spirit Power from adventurers' deaths could a dungeon operate normally.

But no one died in Zane Dungeon at all.

Was Godwyn an idiot?

Using his city lord authority, Gong Qiying summoned a miniature model of Zane Dungeon before him. He only needed a few glances to be rendered speechless.

Godwyn's dungeon design skills could not even be called ordinary. They were a complete disaster.

Adventurers entered through the entrance, and one path straight to the end actually led directly to the boss room. There were plenty of branching paths, but they contained valuable treasures. The monsters wandering the maze were things like Slimes, Minotaurs, and Wraiths, whose bodies had useful materials. Because of the special ley lines, rare mineral deposits could be found every few steps.

Gong Qiying sighed repeatedly. Whoever had designed such a map was practically running a charity. This was an entire treasure vault.

No, it has to be completely overhauled!

He was also a layman when it came to map design, but he had one advantage: he had played enough games.

His favorite among them was famous for interconnected maps, vicious and devious traps, terrifying monsters, and sanity-draining gameplay—

The Dark Souls series!

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

Zane Dungeon, remaining Spirit Power: 1806, Spirit Power required for daily operation: 78

Available buildings: Abandoned Village, Poisonous Swamp, Ancient Building Complex, Underground Mine, Invisible Bridge

Available monsters: Skeleton Monster, Minotaur, Slime, Rotten Wild Dog, Blood Mosquito, Wraith, Goblin Group, Low-level Snake People, Mad Living Corpse

Dungeon miniature model

First, turn the dungeon into three levels—upper, middle, and lower. Shrink the area drastically, recycle the excess buildings into Spirit Power, and place gatekeeping elites at every connection between levels. The little Spirit Power I have isn't enough to create powerful monsters, so I'll choose ones that are cheap and plentiful!

After some consideration, Gong Qiying chose to deploy thirteen highly mobile Rotten Wild Dogs with strong aggression and venomous teeth at the first connection point.

Only three would be out in the open, while the other ten hid in concealed spots.

Hehe, I'll have the three Rotten Wild Dogs in plain sight face away from the adventurers. They'll think they can ambush them, but the ones getting surrounded will be themselves.

Gong Qiying wore a smug, all-according-to-plan smile.

At the second connection point, he placed two Elite Minotaurs. One hid on the ceiling. When his companion was knocked down to half health, he would slam into the battlefield with an AOE attack and enter a berserk state, prioritizing enemy casters.

Naturally, the types of monsters roaming the dungeon also needed major changes. He added Goblins that acted in groups, with every Goblin Group requiring one shaman responsible for buffs.

He removed the wild Minotaurs and replaced them with cheap Skeleton Monsters, disguising them as scattered bones on the ground. When adventurers passed by, they would rise to ambush them. When a Skeleton Monster was beaten to critical health, it would automatically fall apart and pretend to be dead, then revive at full health after only a few minutes.

He replaced Wraiths with Blood Mosquitoes. Swarms of Blood Mosquitoes could inflict an anemia debuff on enemies, block their vision, and disrupt combat. Their only drawback was their weakness to fire.

After all that work, the Spirit Power needed to create monsters had actually decreased.

Gong Qiying studied the miniature model and felt that something was still off. After thinking carefully, he found the reason.

The map design isn't devious enough!

Thus, he transformed one unavoidable area of the upper level into a Poisonous Swamp. Filth pits were an essential experience in Soulslike games.

Zane Dungeon had originally looked like a dense Ancient Building Complex, grand and open for free exploration.

But under Gong Qiying's modifications, the map area shrank dramatically. It became a layout centered around one correct route, with branching paths that could loop back to the right path, along with wrong dead ends. Exploration freedom decreased, while the environment became dark, lightless, and thick with an eerie atmosphere.

The Ancient Building Complex had vanished entirely. In its place was an upper level centered on an Abandoned Village and poison pools, a middle level of scattered ancient structures and forests, and a lower level centered on an Underground Mine.

There was no particular deeper meaning behind those settings and building choices. He had simply picked them at random from the available buildings.

He also added things like numerous bends along unavoidable routes, 'Old sixes' monsters hidden behind those bends to launch ambushes, and treasure chests turned into Treasure Chest Monsters or Teleportation Traps.

The corners of Gong Qiying's mouth rose uncontrollably. He had found happiness.

Traps were also an essential part of the experience, but he discovered a problem.

I'm out of Spirit Power.

Even after continually cutting costs, shrinking the map, removing monster types, and reducing treasure chest rewards, his remaining Spirit Power was only enough to keep him alive for another seven or eight days.

Remaining Spirit Power: 631, Spirit Power required for daily operation: 77

Seven days later, when his Spirit Power ran out, he, the city lord bound to the dungeon's soul, would vanish into thin air, and the dungeon would lose its vitality as well.

It only takes the Spirit Power of two or three people to keep it running for a day. I'm really energy-efficient.

Gong Qiying sighed and could only temporarily give up on traps.

But why had the Spirit Power required for daily operation only decreased slightly despite all his frugality?

Because he had stuffed it full of monsters~

Not only had he stuffed it full of monsters, he had also placed some rewards that could only be obtained in games.

Things like ordinary weapons with Weapon Skills, Lure Skulls, Colorful Moss, Forging Stones, and so on. They were all distinctive, cheap, and plentiful items that cost very little Spirit Power.

According to Godwyn's memories, none of the items he had placed existed in this world. Perhaps they could become an attraction.

Once he had enough Spirit Power in the future, he could place higher-tier rewards and attract even more people.

After all, blindly copying the difficulty of Souls games would not work either. If it was too difficult, no one would come. There had to be rewards attractive enough to draw them in.

Dong, dong.

A dull bell rang out, signaling the arrival of a new day in Zane Dungeon—and the time for it to open.

Countless new adventurers filled with dreams of the profession arrived here to hone their skills, passing through harmless maps, defeating weakling monsters, obtaining valuable treasures, and gaining confidence.

However, what awaited them ahead was—

The malice of another world!

Death lies ahead. Turn back.

A reminder before reading: the dungeon has rewards! Rewards! Rewards! Stop saying I forgot about human greed or that nobody would come without rewards! Later on, I even put Chain Pull, Wet Sickle, and Swift Slash up as rewards!

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