Kroos looked at the forest that had suddenly appeared before him, filled with uncertainty and suspicion.
He wanted to turn around and leave, but a group of mossy gargoyles was chasing him from behind.
He had no choice but to charge into the forest, using the trees to lose the pursuing mossy gargoyles while warily gripping his sword.
However, aside from trees and vines, he found no monsters in the forest.
That was until a sound came from up ahead.
He suddenly ducked behind a nearby tree trunk, looking toward the source of the sound with caution.
Then he discovered it wasn't a monster, but...
"Why are the Lord's people here?"
"What is that up ahead..."
"A mine?"
Kroos showed a look of surprise, and his suspicion grew; this dungeon was definitely not an ordinary one.
To have a mineral vein appear on the surface layers—one couldn't even imagine what kind of treasures were hidden in the deep layers.
But none of that had anything to do with him.
Once he finished exploring this floor, he would return to the countryside, buy a knighthood, wash his hands of this business, and never be an adventurer again.
Kroos was wary of the Lord's people, but he didn't notice a vine quietly hanging down from a branch.
Even with all of Kroos's caution, he likely wouldn't have expected this.
That this dungeon would have monsters that steal things.
The hanging vine carefully approached Kroos's chest.
The vine was unremarkable, making no sound and emitting no sense of danger.
It could even release an extremely faint Paralyzing Breath, preventing the opponent's skin from sensing its presence.
It gently probed into Kroos's chest, curling around a corner of the badge.
And the badge was never triggered from start to finish.
It seemed the badge could only identify danger and defend autonomously.
Just as the badge was about to be stolen, Kroos suddenly moved, as if he had noticed something.
The vine froze in place, terrified.
However, Kroos simply reached into his trousers and gave them a scratch.
There was no helping it; the dungeon was filthy, and he had no time to bathe, making the itch unbearable.
After scratching, Kroos moved his hand past his nose and took an inadvertent sniff.
Little Vine was scared silly, remaining motionless while holding the badge.
"Little Vine!"
Dalun Li quickly woke the vine, and only then did it slowly retract.
Until the Whirlwind Badge was stolen, Kroos never realized that his family treasure, kept close to his body, had already disappeared.
Having succeeded, Little Vine retreated rapidly.
On the fourth floor of the dungeon, in front of the silver orb, the vine held up the badge and swayed happily to claim credit.
It had stolen another two hundred dollars for its master!
Master, hurry up and praise me!
"Good baby, you're the one I value most!"
Dalun Li praised Little Vine without reservation, then picked up the long-awaited Whirlwind Badge.
A true magic item, containing genuine transcendent power.
The Whirlwind Badge was silver overall, appearing to be crafted from a single piece of pure silver.
Silver patterns swirled like the wind, and in the very center of the whirlwind was a clear, cyan gemstone.
Around the edge of the Whirlwind Badge, there was a ring of faint cyan engravings.
Dalun Li emitted a silver light, and a silver grass needle shot out.
Just as it was about to hit the badge, it was deflected by an invisible barrier.
"Can it actively defend against attacks? The ability seems to be deploying an invisible wind membrane the moment it's attacked."
Just based on this defensive capability, the value of this badge would certainly not be low.
In this world, magic items and magic equipment were ranked from low to high as follows.
lesser magic grade: contains mana and possesses transcendent power.
greater magic grade: contains a large amount of mana and possesses transcendent power.
masterpiece grade: the highest masterpiece of a craftsman.
treasure grade: treasures that craftsmen cannot create, found only in dungeons, possessing great power.
divine relic grade: treasures found only in the deep layers of dungeons, possessing incredibly powerful strength.
Divine Artifact: contains the power of gods, capable of changing the world; legends say they only exist in the deepest layers of several super-large dungeons, under heavy guard.
If an item merely contained a vast amount of mana but lacked transcendent power, it was just a material and didn't count as a magic item.
"It's a pity I don't have the ability to sense mana yet."
"Otherwise, I could directly confirm the grade of this magic item."
However, regardless of the grade, magic items were incredibly rare and precious.
After all, no one would complain about having too little transcendent power.
Therefore, magic items and magic equipment basically didn't circulate externally; they were only passed down as inheritance.
Thus, their value was exceptionally high.
After admiring his first magic item, Dalun Li placed the Whirlwind Badge onto the treasure pile.
Following a crisp sound, an exquisite badge was added to the top of the small pile of coins.
In an instant, the thin Earth Vein Power of the treasure pile multiplied several times over.
Even Dalun Li could now feel that invisible Earth Vein Power being continuously drawn out from the ground by the treasure pile.
He quickly opened the panel, and then, with a clatter, he was so shocked he slammed into the stone pedestal.
Only after a good while did he slowly float up, looking at the panel in disbelief.
[48.624 Earth Vein Power/day]
It increased nearly tenfold, nearly tenfold!
What did his hard work saving money all this time count for? Did it just count as hard work?
At this rate, in less than a day, he would be able to open the fifth floor.
It seemed that finding ways to collect treasure and replenish his treasure pile was the right path.
With this Whirlwind Badge enriching the treasury, the pressure from Remel also eased.
However, the deeper the floor, the more massive the Earth Vein Power required to open them.
The Whirlwind Badge would likely only provide a boost for a period; as he continued to open deeper layers, it would start to feel insufficient.
"Steady as she goes, focus on the present; there's no need to be anxious about the future, as that would only affect me now."
Dalun Li composed himself and continued creating monsters.
Meanwhile, on the third floor, Croton left a small group of people to station themselves in the copper mine forest.
He then led the remaining men to continue exploring the third floor, searching for the passage to the next floor.
News of the copper mine had already been sent back by people from the base to inform Lord Grey.
Kroos had already withdrawn from the forest by this time.
At this moment, he had not yet discovered the shocking fact that his magic badge had been stolen.
Dalun Li had already designed the water lurker to wait for him on the only path back.
Remel was currently exploring the labyrinth of the second floor.
The red-faced gargoyles couldn't even withstand a single move.
"Trying to use these gargoyles to test this guy's abilities is too much of a stretch."
"If only I could directly and intuitively see through them..."
Dalun Li kept this idea in mind and then continued his studies of adventurer abilities on the second floor, waiting for the Earth Vein Power to be absorbed.
The adventurers entering the dungeon one after another never stopped their advance; in just one day, a large number of adventurers had already entered the second-floor labyrinth.
And Dalun Li had now accumulated enough Earth Vein Power.
"Fifth floor, Creation!"
The silver orb emitted a dazzling glow.
Soil and rock rapidly opened up in the chaotic space, and a passage began to extend downward from the fourth floor, connecting to the even more vast fifth floor.
Similar to the fourth floor, the fifth floor was still a forest.
However, the forest contained more rivers and damp wetlands.
[Earth Vein Power required to create the next floor] 200
Moving into the fifth floor, Dalun Li felt the new power coming from this level and quickly began inspecting the entire floor.
After all, opening a floor was like opening a blind box; even Dalun Li wasn't sure if a new floor could yield any treasures.
First were the wetlands and rivers, which provided Dalun Li with some water-related powers.
In addition, there was a hemispherical stone structure.
It looked like a miniature entrance to the dungeon.
This was the entrance leading to the next floor and, at the same time, the room for the floor guardian.
Dalun Li naturally couldn't let this boss room appear here so conspicuously.
"I'll create a cave later to hide it."
Aside from that, nothing else had spawned on this floor.
Things like mineral veins were indeed quite rare.
Just as Dalun Li was about to feel disappointed, he suddenly discovered a type of plant he had never seen before.
Rate on N.U.
