“An earthquake?!”
In a remote village, the earth shook violently, causing the working villagers to cry out in confusion and panic.
They all rushed toward open ground.
The shaking did not slow down. Instead, it grew increasingly violent.
A massive stone tower burst forth from the earth in the distance, soaring into the clouds, its summit lost from sight.
Even these uneducated villagers recognized what this tall tower was.
A Landmark Tower!
“A Landmark Tower!”
“A new dungeon has appeared here?!”
...
“Is the countdown over?”
Li Xiuman grew alert as he watched the countdown on his panel hit zero.
He was about to be subjugated.
Li Xiuman took out the Dungeon Core and stared at the reflection in the crystal ball.
No adventurers had entered to conquer it just yet.
It seemed his dungeon had only just opened. It would take some time to attract customers.
That was a good thing.
Li Xiuman had no desire for his dungeon to be a smash hit right from the start.
That would be downright lethal.
“Discover it later... Just let them find it later...”
Li Xiuman prayed in his heart.
At the same time, he seized every second to study the magical knowledge inside the Memory Crystal, hoping to raise [Magic Analysis] to Lv.3 as soon as possible so he could learn teleportation magic and escape this godforsaken place.
By now, he had learned almost all the knowledge regarding Tier 2 spells from the Tier 6 Mage's Memory Crystal.
It seemed that as his [Spirit] stat increased, it wasn't just his mana pool and spell power that grew; his hidden magical talent also seemed to scale alongside his Spirit.
Because of this, Li Xiuman was currently studying the Tier 3 spells in the Memory Crystal.
Although he didn't have the capacity to cast Tier 3 spells yet, studying the theory of Tier 3 Magic in advance had nothing but benefits for him.
It was just incredibly difficult to learn.
Just as Li Xiuman reached a critical moment in his studies, a flash of light flickered on the Memory Crystal. Li Xiuman's attention was instantly drawn, and he looked toward the projection of the first floor in the Dungeon Core.
At this moment, the dungeon welcomed its very first visitors.
Two sturdy adventurers had entered the dungeon, and their levels weren't high, only around Lv.8.
“Small fry of this level are nothing to worry about,” Li Xiuman breathed a sigh of relief.
He was only afraid of those high-level powerhouses in their dozens who might easily solo the dungeon and turn him into a snack.
Still, watching intruders attempt to conquer his dungeon from the perspective of the dungeon Boss...
...was actually quite thrilling once he got used to the concept.
Under Li Xiuman's watchful gaze, the two adventurers pulled out a map and began mapping out the area as they explored.
Before long, they encountered the monsters of the first floor: Lv.1 Low-Tier Skeletons.
They were dispatched with ease.
Watching the two guys chop through the Low-Tier Skeletons like vegetables as they explored quickly bored Li Xiuman.
Opponents of this caliber weren't worth wasting his time watching.
He might as well spend his time studying magic to hasten his departure.
Li Xiuman knew very well that this dungeon only had twenty-three floors.
In front of actual high-level adventurers or adventurer parties, it wouldn't take long to be completely conquered.
With his current frail state, he would definitely not survive that.
He had to grow stronger as fast as possible.
...
“Is this new dungeon filled primarily with skeleton monsters...?”
“It seems equipping blunt weapons would be more advantageous for exploring this place.”
“We'll need to bring a Light Priest to conquer the Boss.”
Inside the dungeon, the two burly men took notes on their findings as they explored.
As everyone knew, skeleton-type monsters were most vulnerable to bludgeoning damage from blunt weapons and holy light.
Li Xiuman, who was watching from the shadows: “?!”
It looked like he couldn't let them leave now.
Although Li Xiuman had previously relied on his incredibly high Constitution to make up for his weakness to blunt-force critical hits...
...holy light was something he had always been terrified of.
There was no helping it; as a skeleton, a weakness to holy light was unavoidable.
Moreover, with his currently pathetic Constitution of 2, he barely had any resistance to blunt attacks either.
But skeletons had their own advantages, such as a high resistance to piercing arrows and sharp weapons, making them very difficult to gravely injure.
Hearing that these guys were going to bring in a Light Priest—his absolute worst nightmare—Li Xiuman couldn't take it anymore.
“Wait.”
“If I kill this first batch of intruders right here, won't that just signal to the outside world that this place is extremely dangerous...?”
Li Xiuman did not want to attract the attention of a powerhouse, only to wake up tomorrow morning surrounded by burly men.
Thus, he both could and couldn't kill these two.
He was so conflicted.
In the end, Li Xiuman decided to put aside his petty schemes.
If they brought a Light Priest, so be it. He would just have to fight dirty and assassinate the priest first.
With that thought, Li Xiuman threw his hands up in resignation and buried himself back in the ocean of knowledge.
To an ordinary Tier 2 Mage, the knowledge of Tier 3 Magic was completely incomprehensible.
However, relying on his Spirit stat which far surpassed others of his tier, along with the boosts from [Magic Analysis] Lv.2 and [Golem] Lv.2, he had forcefully mastered several Tier 3 spells during this period.
He just couldn't cast them due to his tier limitations.
This was purely a hardware deficiency.
Nevertheless, understanding these few Tier 3 spells greatly enhanced his magical attainments.
He could feel that he was not far from reaching [Magic Analysis] Lv.3.
...
A week had already passed since the dungeon opened.
As more and more adventurers flooded in, the dungeon had already been cleared up to the eighth floor.
Through the dungeon's secret monitoring system, Li Xiuman discovered that his dungeon had been given a nice-sounding name.
It was called the “Bone Tomb.”
“I beg of you, slow down! A floor a day? Is there really a need to grind this hard?”
“This dungeon only has twenty-three floors. It can't handle you guys clearing it at this rate.”
Li Xiuman watched his dungeon get cleared floor by floor.
He could only watch on in sheer agony.
At this rate, it wouldn't even take a month before these hardcore grinders kicked down his door and smashed his skull.
“I have to find a way to slow them down.”
Li Xiuman took out the Dungeon Core and completely reshuffled the layout of the eight labyrinth floors they had already cleared.
This would at least slow down their progress.
But that was still not enough.
Li Xiuman looked at the Dungeon Core, zeroing in on the few bastards leading the vanguard.
These guys slept for less than six hours a day.
When they weren't sleeping, they were grinding the dungeon.
What's more, their levels weren't low either; the highest among them had already reached Lv.20.
Fortunately, the monsters in this dungeon were all skeletons, which meant they couldn't be hunted for food.
This forced them to bring their own rations. The need to transport dry rations periodically also slowed their exploration speed.
Therefore, these “model workers” had to be caught and thoroughly tormented.
Li Xiuman gripped the Dungeon Core in one hand and his wand in the other.
“Teleport!”
He teleported with pinpoint accuracy right behind the most hardworking vanguard on the eighth floor.
“Who's there?!”
“Your granddaddy!”
He swung his wand to deliver a precise, solid blow to the back of the target's head.
A mere Light Priest, the squishiest of the squishy—take this!
...Zero effect.
Holy crap, I forgot my Strength is only 2!
Rate on N.U.
