Stone slabs similar to those held by the monster merchant had already appeared on various floors of the dungeon.
However, those were merely ordinary stone slabs that recorded information regarding Summoning Magic.
The stone slab discovered by the monster merchant was special.
As for Summoning Magic, it was a small innovation Dalun Li had created using masterpiece grade magical artifacts and the Dark Temple.
So, what was the story behind this genius concept?
First of all, Dalun Li now possessed powerful spatial power through the Collapsed Atmosphere and the pitch-black palace.
This spatial power was usually used as a bus to help him transport items or assist monster merchants with their goods.
Dalun Li felt this was a massive waste.
With such immense value right in front of him, it was practically a crime not to squeeze every bit of utility out of it.
Looking at the adventurers in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment, Dalun Li saw them as an abundant source of labor and thought to himself every day.
It really is a waste for them to just die like that.
Killing them directly only provided a temporary boost of Earth Vein Power and Earth Vein Essence.
If he could make them stake their lives working for him until death, and then finally have their corpses contributed to him for absorption, that would be ideal.
But adventurers were all selfish.
None of them were willing to make such a contribution to him.
Therefore, Dalun Li decided to combine his idle spatial power and innovate!
That was the birth of a new magic system centered around spatial power.
Summoning Magic!
Cultivating monsters within the dungeon was exhausting and consumed many resources.
So, Dalun Li wondered if he could have others cultivate the monsters for him.
He would lend his monsters to others to raise, and once they grew strong, he could use them directly.
To achieve this, he created monster cards.
Dalun Li took out a card. It was made of red copper but was exceptionally soft, much like a playing card.
The back of the card featured a complex pattern of overlapping diamonds in white.
On the front, a common gargoyle was engraved within a frame made of diamond patterns.
Indeed, this was the monster card he had crafted.
A mage possessing the Summoning Blessing Mark could form a contract with the monster inside the card. By consuming mana, they could directly summon a lv1 gargoyle through the card to fight.
At the same time, the mage could spend resources to help the monster in the card level up for combat.
They could even equip the monster within the card.
By obtaining precious monster materials and consuming mana, they could even DIY their own monsters for battle.
Then, Dalun Li could directly take those well-trained monsters for his own use.
He wouldn't need to spend any energy or resources to cultivate powerful monsters.
Every mage who chose to acquire Summoning Magic would become one of his adorable little laborers.
As long as a mage had enough mana, they could help Dalun Li cultivate several or even a dozen monsters.
Meanwhile, to stimulate the fighting spirit of these labor... mages and foster their competitive nature...
And to better encourage them to contribute to the Well of Eternal Imprisonment...
Dalun Li also thoughtfully categorized the cards into grades.
White cards like this gargoyle were not very strong, with a level cap of only lv10.
They had low resistance to blunt weapons and few skills.
Other white cards included wood soldiers, undead lizardmen, undead snakes, and so on, all with a level cap of lv10.
Above white cards were green cards, such as fire-resistant wyverns, heroic gargoyles, flame skeletons, flame skeletal shamans, and the like.
The level cap for monsters in green cards was lv20.
As for the higher-tier blue cards, Dalun Li had not yet produced them.
After all, the higher the grade, the greater the difficulty in crafting.
Furthermore, Dalun Li had not yet created monsters of that level himself, so making the cards was naturally quite difficult.
Whenever someone obtained a new card, regardless of its grade, the monster inside would start at lv1.
In other words, they had to help Dalun Li cultivate the monster from scratch.
However, Dalun Li wasn't some kind of demon.
Once a monster in a white card reached its maximum level, it could evolve.
As long as enough materials were gathered from the Well of Eternal Imprisonment—whether through purchase or collection—and the requirements were met, the monster in the white card could evolve.
However, after evolving, it would return to lv1 and require more resources to level up again.
(Top Secret of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment: In reality, Dalun Li simply took the max-level monster back for his own use and replaced it with a higher-grade lv1 monster for the adventurer to train all over again.)
Promoting a card wasn't just about gathering materials.
One had to collect materials according to a specific formula to advance.
As for how to get the formula? They had to buy it, of course. The Well of Eternal Imprisonment wasn't a charity.
Every day, adventurers in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment complained that the dungeon was too difficult and that so many of them died every day.
To that, Dalun Li wanted to ask...
Had these adventurers ever considered if the problem was themselves? Had they truly put in the effort to explore the Well of Eternal Imprisonment?
Currently, the way to obtain cards was by killing monsters; there was a 0.01% chance for a card to drop from a monster.
Treasure chests also had a chance to contain cards.
Bosses had a chance to drop monster cards specific to their floor. Of course, a boss could not drop a card of itself.
Summoning a monster through a card required the summoner to consume their own mana.
Therefore, summoners could also summon monsters through their cards to fight in places outside the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
They could even use them to clear other dungeons.
However, all of this relied on the treasure grade spatial magic item, the Collapsed Atmosphere, and the Dark Palace.
These two items acted like a server, and every adventurer who received the Summoning Blessing Mark was like a player.
The number of players the server could support was limited.
But it was already sufficient for the current adventurers of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Of course, this system wasn't without its drawbacks.
Summoning Magic, as Dalun Li said, was still an immature new magic system.
When the time came, it would surely attract a massive number of people, and the Well of Eternal Imprisonment would face immense pressure.
However, attracting adventurers was also one of Dalun Li's goals.
The Gray Mist Valley in Gray City was almost completely conquered.
Once that happened, the large number of adventurers who had cleared the Gray Mist Valley would likely turn their sights on him.
That would be his most critical moment.
So, it was better to take the opportunity while the Gray Mist Valley wasn't fully cleared and the true powerhouses were still occupied there.
He had to work hard to attract adventurers to develop his dungeon and expand the deeper floors as much as possible.
Only in this way could he prevent himself from being cleared to the very bottom in one go.
And as long as he wasn't cleared to the bottom instantly, Dalun Li would have room to maneuver and fight back.
“I really hope to see the day when the whole world is happily playing cards together.”
Dalun Li tossed a stack of newly created white monster cards and a few green monster cards into the dungeon.
At the same time, the Summoning Blessing Marks were scattered to every corner of the dungeon.
Rate on N.U.
