The strong always gravitate toward one another.
The powerful individuals exploring the front lines of the dungeon had formed two distinct teams.
All of these changes were witnessed by Dalun Li.
Either of these two teams possessed enough power to conquer a small dungeon on their own.
However, the Well of Eternal Imprisonment was not only experiencing dangerous developments.
As the dungeon's fame spread, it attracted more than just threats like Serafina.
It also brought opportunities.
The number of adventurers coming to this dungeon was increasing by the day.
And it wasn't just adventurers; there were also merchants, craftsmen, and clergy from various churches.
In the town outside, some clerics who worshipped the Goddess of Light had already requested a plot of land from Lord Fenris to build a Church of Light.
The Lanxi Kingdom worshipped the Goddess of Light, and wherever people gathered, there would naturally be those who wished to pray to her.
Furthermore, with a dungeon here, the church's forces would not let the opportunity slip by.
Adventurers injured in the dungeon could come to the church for healing.
That, too, was a source of income.
Faith, after all, was a business.
That plot of land was located not far from the Adventurer Square, right next to where the Lord's Castle was being built.
Among the adventurers coming to the dungeon to seek their fortunes, there were plenty of high-level individuals, which in turn allowed Dalun Li to strike it rich.
When adventurers died, they became nourishment for the dungeon.
At the same time, the presence of merchants and craftsmen caused a massive influx of coins to gather within the dungeon.
Dalun Li was a man of principle.
He merely sent his thief vines to collect a small venue fee and a platform commission.
The thief vines worked very discreetly, and their actions went unnoticed.
Those who found their coins missing simply assumed it was the work of some thieves among the adventurers.
Such occurrences were not uncommon.
By now, his treasure pile had reached a respectable size, heaped to one side and shimmering with gold and inlaid gems, continuously drawing Earth Vein Power for Dalun Li.
His current Earth Vein Power absorption efficiency was:
[112.241 Earth Vein Power/day]
It had successfully broken the hundred mark.
Moreover, it was increasing by double digits every day, with even higher potential in the future.
After all, those merchants were incredibly wealthy, raking in gold coins by the handful within the dungeon.
Even if Dalun Li only collected a tiny transaction and venue fee, the harvest was quite substantial.
Coupled with the 'gift bags' of lives delivered by adventurers,
Dalun Li had finally amassed 1,000 Earth Vein Power, enough to create the ninth floor.
Just as Dalun Li was preparing to open the ninth floor, something unexpected happened.
The Tongmu beside him suddenly flashed with a red light.
Dalun Li immediately halted his actions and looked toward the Tongmu.
A red light from the Tongmu meant that danger had been detected outside.
After the previous incident, even though he had upgraded the Tongmu, Dalun Li had kept its field of vision restricted to the town.
The red light meant the crisis had already entered the town!
He quickly looked at the images projected by the Tongmu, and his pupils constricted.
"It's that guy again! He actually entered the town!"
The image showed the same black-robed figure who had been acting suspiciously in the northern forest earlier.
Clad in a pitch-black cloak, he was the type to stand out even among the eccentrically dressed adventurers.
As for those large horns protruding from the cloak, he had managed to hide them through some unknown method.
This time, the target did not notice the Tongmu's gaze.
Perhaps it was because of the Tongmu's upgrade, or perhaps because being close to the dungeon provided the dungeon's power as a shroud.
With the Tongmu's enhancement, Dalun Li was finally able to discern some of the target's information.
[Priest lv.37]
[Race] Horned race
He could only perceive this much information.
If he tried to force a deeper insight, he would likely be noticed.
However, a Priest?
What church did he belong to?
The Horned race was a type of beastman living in the northeast, quite a distance from the northern border of the Lanxi Kingdom.
Most beastmen worshipped the Harvest Church or the War Church.
The objective of this unknown member of the Horned race was clearly the dungeon; at this moment, he was heading straight down the street toward it.
Dalun Li instinctively sensed danger.
It wasn't the danger of an adventurer invasion, but a very peculiar feeling.
It was as if, by some divine providence, the moment that person entered the dungeon, he would face an unprecedented threat.
Was it because the other's class was a Priest, something related to the gods?
No, there was also a priest who worshipped the Harvest God in the Red Rose team, and he felt nothing when that person entered.
Combined with the fact that this fellow had been lurking around for days,
And that previously, through the Tongmu, he had seen some eerie and ominous magic circles in the cave where the man had been hiding,
Along with the specialized Priest class...
"An evil god. This guy serves an evil god, not one of the righteous churches!"
Although Dalun Li had been terrified of gods at first, fearing he would be discovered and uprooted by one,
Through his research during this period, he realized he had been overthinking it.
The gods were high above, allowing only their apostles to walk the world.
They could only interfere with this world by bestowing power upon devout clergy through their churches.
They could not descend to this world personally, nor were they omniscient regarding it.
But evil gods were different.
An evil god's status was far below that of a righteous god.
But because of that, evil gods and demons would actually respond to their believers and could exert power directly in this world.
The Horned race priest continued to draw closer to the dungeon.
Dalun Li felt as if a wave of wicked power was closing in.
I'm just a small dungeon. Are you really messing with me day after day?!
Now even an evil god is showing up!
Sigh.
Regardless, he absolutely could not sit and wait for death!
Dalun Li was not the type to give up; even in the face of despair, he would persist until the last moment, waiting for a possible turning point.
He quickly consumed his accumulated 1,000 Earth Vein Power to open the ninth floor of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Once again, endless yellow sand and rock were carved out of the chaotic space.
A passage extended from the eighth floor, connecting to the even more vast desert of the ninth floor.
[Earth Vein Power required to create next floor] 1500
As the connection was completed, Dalun Li did not hesitate to move his treasures, miscellaneous items, and the Tongmu to the ninth floor.
It felt as though having an extra floor was like having an extra layer of armor, giving him a bit more peace of mind.
The power of this floor also merged into the entire dungeon, becoming a part of Dalun Li's strength.
He quickly scanned the entire floor, searching for any possible life-saving straw that might have spawned.
But expecting a new floor to spawn something capable of dealing with an evil god
Was as ridiculous as buying a bag of snacks and expecting to win a controllable nuclear fusion generator.
If it actually happened, it would be even more terrifying.
Because such a possibility would only mean that aliens had hidden a nuclear generator in your snacks.
The entire desert of the ninth floor, like the eighth, contained nothing but buried animal bones.
However, at the edge of the ninth floor, there was a stretch of reddish-brown rocky terrain.
The rocks formed a circle, and in the center lay an oasis forest with a gem-like lake at its heart.
Beneath the forest, a cavern lay hidden.
Inside the cavern grew large chunks of silver ore; the deposit was shallow, nowhere near as extensive as the copper mine on the third floor.
The parts exposed around the cavern were the entirety of the mineral vein.
Dalun Li tried to break off a piece and found it to be extremely hard.
Moreover, it contained mana.
"Magic iron ore!"
Dalun Li was pleasantly surprised, but in this moment of crisis, this useless mine was of no help at all.
Then again, he hadn't expected anything life-saving to appear on this floor from the start.
After confirming the magic iron ore, he quickly shifted his attention back to the approaching priest of the evil god from the Horned race.
He could no longer worry about the consequences.
Dalun Li intended to take action himself.
Since coming to this world, he had never fought; it was too dangerous.
He didn't even know how strong he actually was.
The variables of a Priest's class were too great, depending mostly on what abilities they received from their god.
If his power left the dungeon, it would be greatly diminished, and he had no way to leave the dungeon anyway.
After all, he was the dungeon itself.
Otherwise, he would have killed the man outside; letting him enter the dungeon introduced too many variables.
"Damn it. After this, I need to find a way to permeate my power beyond the dungeon."
Dalun Li had always been cautious since arriving in this world.
He had never even considered leaving the dungeon or extending his power outside; after all, this was his comfort zone.
The unknowns outside the dungeon were too risky.
Now, he was facing the backlash of that caution.
He had to learn this lesson!
Dalun Li manipulated the Wellmouth Greatsword nearby, power accumulating continuously as layers of Sword Qi compressed onto the blade.
At the same time, lethal venom and paralyzing toxins seeped into the Sword Qi, staining it a sinister purple.
The moment that person entered the dungeon, this sword would strike across the floor's space and cut them down!
If he didn't strike, he wouldn't strike at all, but when he did, it would be with everything he had.
Rate on N.U.
