Chapter 9: Maps
After William and Violet left, it seemed that everyone got to know about their artifacts, which drew a crowd to the dungeon now.
"They are pretty noisy, I don’t want to have to deal wit-"
[Mission Update: A massive influx of visitors has come to the dungeon, ensure that more come in the following day]
[Penalty: Forced reduction of dungeon grade]
[Mission Update: Absorb three high-level abilities by the end of the day]
[Penalty: Forced reduction of dungeon grade]
"You have to be kidding me," Kael muttered in frustration. Just when he was about to say that he wanted nothing to do with such noise, the system had to find a way to force him into it.
"Arghh, why do you have to be an ass," he muttered in anger, but the system gave no response.
"Tch, fine, this is simple. To ensure that they come back, I have to make sure that I did what I did before, artifacts."
[Be warned, operational energy is limited. Once forced sleep is engaged, the mission is failed]
"Shit, I forgot about that already, I have to use my energy properly or I’ll be in shit." He paused and thought for a moment. He had to ensure that he did everything the right way here, ensuring that he did not lose the energy that he had.
His mind churned like an old steam engine for a while, and then finally he gained an idea, the promo of greatness.
"If I can create a map or sign that leads them to a treasure in the deeper floors, then surely more of them will come. After all, a treasure deeper would make them find more people and then come together.
But that is only accounting for those that love their lives and are willing to go and get more people, there will be people that run in regardless, filled with greed. If that happens, there will be a lot of death."
The moment he got to the aspect of death, he paused. What he was about to do could lead to the death of many.
"Can I just hand a treasure to one group? No, that’s stupid and unfair to the rest that have come here. Also, if one group gets it, for certain others will kill them for it. There is no real way to escape this without the death of many.
The only way is to allow them leave with nothing, but that would mean I get my grade reduced. Tch, it’s me or them. Sigh, I guess there is no room for me to be too caring for everyone, death comes to all. I died and came here, so if I want to live, I’ll have to be a dungeon properly this time."
He settled his mind on the inevitability of what he had to do and decided that he would be going through with the plan. The next stage now was finding a treasure room inside him, he only needed one.
He turned his mind inward to the fourth and fifth floor, but then he decided to use the fifth floor. It seemed the fifth floor was a large step higher than the fourth floor when it came to monsters.
He searched through, and not long after he found a hidden treasure room, but it was not just any treasure room, it was also a boss room, and inside was a guardian goblin. It seemed far stronger than that champion goblin that he had sent, at least two times the strength.
His skin was so thick it seemed like green armor, there were a few thin scars that showed memory of the battles it had faced. It sat with its back leaned against the wall and a massive cleaver at its side, covered in filth and rust, showing that not a lot of people had been here in a while.
"This would do perfectly," Kael said.
Now the next issue was finding a way to tell the people inside that there was a treasure room for them to find.
Kael thought for a while again, and that was when the idea came to mind. He would carve it into the walls.
"This will surely take a bit of energy to carry out," he told himself before he started.
The plan was simple, he would carve rudimentary maps into the walls that seemed hidden but obvious, and they would find it, knowing that there is treasure on floor five. That alone would be enough to get what he wanted.
With the plan in mind, he left the treasure room and headed back to the first and second floor. The moment a majority of his consciousness left the boss room, the goblin that had been seemingly asleep moved. It raised its head and looked up at the ceiling, the way you looked at something that you knew. After a bit, it dropped its head again, but this time its hand moved and grabbed the handle of its cleaver, as if it knew that something was coming.
Kael returned to the first floor first, he found the path that everyone was bound to pass and then proceeded to carve into a rock that seemed hidden but would catch the attention of anyone that paid enough attention.
He drew out the direction to the boss room there. That action alone burned a total of five energy.
"You have to be kidding me, that alone took five?" he complained, but regardless he continued, making a total of four in the first floor and two in the second floor, he felt that was best.
When he was done, he laid back and waited for the first few that would run into it, and in the meantime, he used the goblins and kobolds to start attacking with more vigor and lead a few of them down the right path to find it.
"Haha, I’m pretty good at this whole thing," he muttered to himself while he watched.
