The Altar Walks Towards Gong Qiying

Dungeons are truly miraculous existences.

They are riddled with traps and monsters, places that, logically speaking, no normal person should ever set foot in.

Yet, the treasure chests within can yield all sorts of astonishing surprises: lost ancient magic, the armor of legendary heroes, swords that cut through iron like mud, or even a sealed vampire girl waiting to be found!

Consequently, adventurers across the world have gone mad for dungeons.

Deep within the Zane Dungeon lies the hidden BOSS room of the Lord.

Gong Qiying sat upon a dust-covered Shrine, lost in thought as he gazed at his own withered, wrinkled body.

How should he put it? An hour ago, he was still working overtime at a game company. His colleague in charge of map design had resigned, and since he knew nothing about map design, his boss had forced him to clean up the mess. He had taken a short nap at noon, only to wake up having transmigrated to another world.

He had become the Lord of the Zane Dungeon—Godwyn, the "Mad Living Corpse."

And he was facing a desperate situation: he had less than a month left to live.

Before long, having fully absorbed Godwyn's memories, Gong Qiying understood why this Lord was running out of time.

Because this guy's dungeon was simply too easy!

Other people's dungeons: endless swarms of monsters, insidious and cunning traps, powerful Elite Monster units, and treasure chests hiding excrement.

Godwyn's dungeon: scattered, pathetic monsters, traps so obvious even a fool could spot them, a straight path leading directly to the final BOSS room, Elite Monster units that served purely as decorations, and high-quality treasures.

The result of all these conditions combined was simple.

His dungeon had become a playground for novice adventurers. Even a complete beginner could clear it in one go, feeling full of accomplishment! The flow of people was endless!

However, this was not a good thing.

Many researchers were puzzled by one thing: how did the dungeon's monsters and treasures appear? Even though the monsters had been killed and the treasures taken, they would reappear the next time someone entered.

This involved the operational logic of the dungeon.

Simply put, the monsters, treasures, and everything else in a dungeon were conjured out of thin air by the Lord using Spirit Power, which was why they respawned.

And the source of this Spirit Power was people.

The joys, angers, sorrows, and delights of humans, along with their every action, radiated Spirit Power, which the dungeon would automatically absorb to maintain its daily consumption.

But this was far from enough!

When an adventurer died in a dungeon, they would release Spirit Power dozens of times more potent; the stronger the individual, the more Spirit Power they released!

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

But in the Zane Dungeon, nobody ever died.

"Is this guy Godwyn an idiot?"

Using his Lord authority, Gong Qiying summoned a micro-model of the Zane Dungeon before him. After just a few glances, he was left speechless.

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

Adventurers entered from the entrance and could walk in a straight line all the way to the BOSS room. While there were many side paths, they were filled with excellent treasures. The monsters wandering the maze were things like Slime, Minotaur, and Wraith, all of which had useful materials. Because of the special ley lines, one could even find specialty minerals just by walking a few steps.

Gong Qiying sighed repeatedly; the person who designed this map was practically running a charity. It was an entire treasure vault.

"No, this has to be completely overhauled!"

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

His favorite among them was the one famous for its intricate, interconnected maps, insidious and vicious traps, terrifying monsters, and sanity-draining difficulty—

The Dark Souls series!

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

Zane Dungeon, remaining Spirit Power: 1806, daily operating cost: 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 micro-model

"First, change the dungeon into three levels—upper, middle, and lower—and significantly reduce the area. Recycle the redundant buildings into Spirit Power. Each connection point between levels must have a guarding Elite Monster. I don't have enough Spirit Power to conjure powerful monsters, so I'll choose quantity and reliability!"

After some deliberation, Gong Qiying chose to deploy thirteen Rotten Wild Dog units at the first connection point, characterized by high mobility, strong aggression, and venomous fangs.

Only three would be in plain sight, while the other ten would be hidden in concealed spots.

"Heh heh, let the three Rotten Wild Dog units in plain sight turn their backs to the adventurers. They'll think they can launch a sneak attack, but they'll be the ones getting surrounded."

Gong Qiying revealed a "plan successful" smile.

The second connection point was set with two Elite Monster Minotaur units. One would be hidden on the ceiling; when its companion was beaten to half health, it would smash into the battlefield with an AOE attack and enter a berserk state, prioritizing the enemy's magic-casting classes.

The types of monsters wandering the dungeon naturally had to be changed drastically. He added the Goblin Group, which acted in squads, each with a Shaman responsible for casting buffs.

He deleted the wild Minotaur units and replaced them with low-cost Skeleton Monster units, disguising them as scattered bones on the ground. They would rise to ambush adventurers as they passed. When a Skeleton Monster was beaten to low health, it would automatically fall apart, disguising itself as dead, and could fully recover in just a few minutes.

Wraith units were replaced with Blood Mosquito units. Swarms of Blood Mosquito would apply an anemia DEBUFF to enemies, and they could also obscure vision and disrupt combat. The only downside was their weakness to fire.

After all this tossing and turning, the Spirit Power required to create monsters had actually decreased.

Gong Qiying observed the micro-model, feeling that something was still not quite right. Upon closer inspection, he found the reason.

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

With that, he changed a mandatory area in the upper level into a Poisonous Swamp; a cesspool is a classic element that one simply must appreciate in Soulslike games.

Originally, the exterior of the Zane Dungeon was a high-density Ancient Building Complex, appearing rather magnificent and allowing for free exploration.

But under Gong Qiying's manipulation, the map area shrank significantly, shifting to a model centered on a single correct path supplemented by side paths that looped back, along with erroneous dead ends. The freedom of exploration was reduced, and the environment became dark, gloomy, and filled with an eerie aura.

The Ancient Building Complex vanished entirely, replaced by an upper level dominated by abandoned villages and poison pools, a middle level featuring scattered ancient structures paired with forests, and a lower level consisting primarily of an Underground Mine.

There was no profound meaning behind the choice of these scenes and buildings; he had simply picked them at random from the available assets.

He also added plenty of twists and turns to the mandatory paths, hiding 'Old sixes' monsters behind corners to launch sneak attacks, and turning treasure chests into Treasure Chest Monster or Teleportation Trap.

The corners of Gong Qiying's mouth curled up uncontrollably; he had found his joy.

Traps were also a must-have element, but he soon discovered a problem.

"Spirit Power is running low."

Even with constant cost-cutting and efficiency improvements—shrinking the map area, deleting monster types, and skimping on treasure chest rewards—his remaining Spirit Power was only enough to keep him alive for another seven or eight days.

Remaining Spirit Power: 631
Daily Operating Spirit Power: 77

In seven days, when the Spirit Power was exhausted, he—the City Lord bound to the dungeon's soul—would vanish into thin air, and the dungeon would lose its vitality.

"It only takes the Spirit Power of two or three people to maintain a day of operation; I really am energy-efficient."

Gong Qiying sighed and had to temporarily give up on the traps.

As for why the daily Spirit Power consumption was only slightly lower than before despite such frugality?

Because he had been spamming monsters!

Not only was he spamming monsters, but he had also placed some rewards that could only be obtained in games.

Items like ordinary weapons with Weapon Skill, Lure Skull, Colorful Moss, and Forging Stone were all distinct, cheap, and plentiful, costing very little Spirit Power.

According to the memories of Godwyn, these items he placed did not exist in this world, which might become a major draw.

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

After all, blindly copying the difficulty of Soulslike games wouldn't work; if it were too hard, no one would come. There had to be sufficiently attractive rewards.

"Dong. Dong."

A dull bell tolled, signaling that the Zane Dungeon had ushered in a brand new day and that it was time to open.

Countless newcomers full of longing for the adventurer profession arrived here to practice, passing through danger-free maps, defeating weakling monsters, obtaining valuable treasures, and finding their confidence.

However, waiting for them ahead was...

Malice from another world!

Ahead, death; turn back.

Pre-reading warning: The dungeon has rewards! It has rewards! It has rewards! Stop saying I forgot the human nature of chasing profit, or that no one will come without rewards! I've even brought out the Wet Sickle and Swift Slash as rewards later on!

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