Zane's Goods Were Too Pure

"You copied my idea?"

Gong Qiying laughed when he saw this sentence.

He knew this day would come sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to come so soon.

It seems that the Dungeon Lord are quite well-informed about the outside world and each has their own ways of obtaining information.

He looked at the world map. Since he had activated this permission, his colors had become more and more numerous. He had not only completely taken control of the surrounding area, but also left scattered green dots on most of the map. When they gathered, they were like a ball of fire; when they scattered, they were like a sky full of stars.

Although it's unclear what level this expansion speed actually represents, Gong Qiying guesses it should be considered quite good within the dungeon.

In contrast, the color range of other dungeons remained largely unchanged, and even when there were variations, they stayed within a certain range, as if everyone had already settled into a fixed pattern.

This makes the rapidly expanding Zane Dungeon particularly conspicuous.

Since he can expand so rapidly, it means he must have some unique skills, right? Naturally, Dungeon Lord will start to "copy" him.

From this perspective, running a dungeon and opening a shop seem to be no different. When the shop next door is doing well, it will naturally attract the attention of other shop owners.

If everyone can compete harmoniously, that's fine, but the problem is that someone might break the rules and cause trouble, ultimately resulting in losses for everyone.

"However, even if other dungeons want to copy me, they won't be able to copy too much."

Gong Qiying leaned against the Shrine in a rather comfortable position and muttered to himself:

"The upgrade mechanism, which is one of Sion's signature features, is something that dungeons can't imitate. How could they possibly pull out a campfire?"

"Without a campfire, the appeal to adventurers drops a level. And what else can be imitated? Roguelike? Only Val City has the authority to make those; other city lords can't imitate them."

"Wash points? That's even more impossible. They have neither Tear Drop Larva nor could they possibly produce a Rosaria."

"It's possible to copy the plot, but copying the plot alone is too abstract."

He pushed backwards all the way, and finally said:

"It couldn't possibly be that they copied my map design, could it?"

From a designer's perspective, Gong Qiying felt that the areas he designed were simply strokes of genius; even God would have to give up the space to him immediately.

However, if he were to switch roles to that of an adventurer, he would have to admit that many of the designs were based on dogs' favorite foods, and anyone who actually liked such designs would be a genius.

What kind of kind person would put Living Dead with Backstab throwing skills, a few rabid wild dogs, and Flame Pot pitcher together on a corner?

These designs are purely designed to discourage people from participating—if there aren't good rewards.

Unfortunately for some who hoped for Thyssen's collapse, Thyssen's rewards program performed exceptionally well.

See that Swamp over there? It's full of adorable, big-eyed Curse Frog and pitfall traps. If you go in, you'll get covered in grime. You probably don't want to go in, right? But what if I told you that if you go in, you can find a magical gadget that can teach even the most stubborn fools to magic?

Don't want to learn magic? No problem, I also have the Lion Slash that can make disabled people jump high, and the Hound Step jump repeatedly.

Not interested in Weapon Skill? Then how about looking at the Pokémon over there? If you put in a little effort to find Poké Ball and successfully catch it, you can bring a soft and cute Pokémon home!

There's also the "Love Potion," which makes people love you to the point of obsession—it's practically an essential item for Minotaur.

Thinking about this, Gong Qiying suddenly wondered, if those dungeons had only copied his map design, wouldn't they have been wiped out?

No, no, surely no city lord would be that stupid? Probably not.

He replied to the Boulder Dungeon, originally intending to write, "Commissar, where is the list of those to be eliminated?" but then he remembered that people from another world wouldn't understand the jokes, so he changed it to, "Brother, do you have a list? I want to see who's so bold."

The Boulder Dungeon quickly replied, marking five dungeons and stating that these were only those whose names he knew; there were others whose names he did not know.

"Interesting." Gong Qiying transferred 500 Spirit Power to the other party, and then received a long reply. The reply said that this little bit of information was worth more than the price, while scolding him for wasting Spirit Power. The reply also included a bunch of local specialties from the Boulder Dungeon.

"What an honest person," he remarked, glancing at the local specialty sent by the Boulder Dungeon. It was a stone that looked somewhat like a pork chop, and it was said that eating it would invigorate the spirit and enhance physical fitness, much like Blood Therapy Potion.

He tasted a little, his body trembled, and he said, "The goods from the Boulder Dungeon are too pure."

He had a sudden inspiration and sent a piece of the Rock Roast from Kingdom Tears to the Dungeon Lord, and soon received a reply.

"Brother, your stuff is definitely purer!"

Gong Qiying stood with his hands on his hips, as if he had won the competition.

He looked at the location of those underground cities on the map. Except for one underground city called Cangyin, the other underground cities were all a long way away from him. Moreover, they all had one thing in common: their territories had more green dots than other places—they had been invaded by Gong Qiying!

I can't imagine how those city lords felt when they heard their adventurers discussing other dungeons, but it probably wasn't a pleasant feeling.

So they came to "learn" from the advanced experience of the Zane Dungeon, update and iterate the old model, and innovate to create a new era of dungeons, probably in order to win back the hearts of adventurers.

"If it weren't so far away, I'd really like to go and see how the other city lords plundered me."

Unfortunately, Gong Qiying estimated the distance and found that even the nearest Verdant Dungeon was more than a week away, making the round trip too troublesome.

Let's give up then. But since Verdant Dungeon is nearby, we might hear news about it at the tavern in a few days.

Gong Qiying remained indifferent to the dungeons that imitated him, showing a completely nonchalant attitude.

Rather, he was quite looking forward to seeing what kind of tricks the city lord of this world would come up with.

Let's leave it at that. We won't interfere, we won't collect copyright fees, and we won't challenge anyone. Let's just let things play out for a while.

I don't know if he's becoming more and more of a shut-in, but Gong Qiying has been increasingly reluctant to go out lately. His activities are limited to Bede City, and at most he'll take a stroll in the suburbs.

It's hard to say whether this change is good or bad, but it should be a good thing for building underground cities.

He was gesturing on the City Lord Panel, preparing to update the Zane Dungeon. After this update was completed, his focus would shift to the Val Dungeon.

The Zane Dungeon already has a relatively mature system that can operate and cycle on its own. These areas do not need major changes. Just design a few more sets of traps, monsters, and item locations and rotate them randomly every few days. Once adventurers are familiar with these sets of maps, Vaal will probably have finished it by then.

Of the four areas in the current Zane Dungeon, only the Forest Area has a minor problem: it lacks distinctive features.

In response to this problem, Gong Qiying plans to put a "blacksmith" in during tonight's maintenance.

It wasn't a living blacksmith like boxer Andre, but something resembling a forge.

After successfully hunting monsters in the Forest Area, adventurers can randomly obtain two or three materials specifically for forging. Once they have accumulated a certain amount, they can put them into the forge and then choose which type of weapon and equipment to forge according to their needs.

It's like they've brought out Monster Hunter's equipment forging system, but the forging furnace is essentially just a way to exchange weapons directly in dungeons, not a real forging process.

Incidentally, Gong Qiying's favorite weapon is the katana, especially the fox katana [Moonlight Illuminates the Heart].

People in this world also use monster materials to forge weapons, but the monster weapons produced in the Zane Dungeon will definitely have characteristics that adventurers have never seen before, guaranteed to make adventurers addicted and exclaim that Sien's goods are too pure.

In addition, the Forest Area will also feature some hunting-related features, such as boulders that can be smashed and Dragon-Slaying Spear.

During the hunt, you might encounter a silly cat-like creature that calls you "boss." Whether you can become friends with it or even bring it out of the dungeon depends entirely on the adventurer.

These are the changes to the Forest Area for now, but a new map will be added to Firelink Shrine.

Remember that elevator in Firelink Shrine that couldn't be triggered? The original plan was to use it to reach New Londo, but considering the difficulty of New Londo and our current needs, we've decided to abandon it for now and put it in the graveyard area later.

Gong Qiying decided to create a small new map beneath the elevator, only the size of the Death Knight route in the graveyard area, with the theme of magic.

The new map will consist of several Magic Classroom.

After adventurers defeat the Elite Monsters in the new map, they will see a video clip. After the video ends, a teleportation chest will appear in front of them.

And this teleportation chest connects to...

Val Dungeon!

Thinking about this, he himself felt a sense of anticipation. He estimated that the lucky person who would be the first to discover the teleportation chest and arrive at the Val Dungeon would become a famous adventurer who "discovered a new dungeon" and be sought after by people.

Is he going to select a few pre-selected candidates, or open up the area and wait for anyone to discover them?

Let's talk about it in a couple of days. It's pointless to always make decisions in advance.

Gong Qiying looked up at the Crystal Ball. On the screen, Da Er had easily defeated the Ghrū, earning praise from the instructor and starting the second training session.

After completing three training sessions, the conditions for passing the test will be met. He can choose to stay and continue receiving guidance, or he can leave.

The instructors will only teach the swordsmanship of the Farron Undead Legion, and only the simpler parts, enough for people to get started quickly.

Da Er was eager to tell the Farron Guard what had happened, so he chose to leave.

But before he left, there was one more video for him to watch.

That was the experience of the escapee Hawkwood.