Besides the usual supplies and coins, today's entry fees included an exquisitely packaged box.
Inside the box was an envelope and a bottle of pale green liquid.
The box seemed to be made of special magic tree wood, containing a hint of mana.
The mana within that bottle of liquid was even more astonishing; Dalun Li had never seen anything like it before.
[Water of Life] Spring water from the Spring of Life, extremely rare, possessing powerful vitality, capable of bringing the dying back to life and revitalizing things that have lost their life force, a precious alchemical material
"Water of life?"
The country bumpkin Dalun Li picked up the bottle and examined it in surprise.
"How could such a high-grade item end up in my dungeon? I've never encountered this before."
Dalun Li had a thought, and after opening the envelope to the side, it was just as expected.
This potion was the alchemical material that Fete, the alchemist on the fourth floor, had purchased from the Alchemist Association.
He really is my lucky star; I can't let him die so easily.
Since I've collected the protection fee, I must protect him well.
Dalun Li picked up the water of life; the bottle was only about the size of a thumb.
It was exquisitely packaged and even encrusted with clear, translucent gemstones.
Just this bottle alone, if thrown into a treasure pile later, could probably provide him with some Earth Vein Power.
Truly extravagant beyond words.
Dalun Li naturally didn't know alchemy, but he knew Monster Creation.
Could this thing be used as a material for making monsters...
The water of life contained powerful vitality, and he also had the substitution tree which possessed strong life force.
Using branches from the substitution tree as material, combined with this water of life, he might be able to create a special monster.
A special monster, meaning a monster similar to Tongmu.
In the current Well of Eternal Imprisonment, monsters were divided into five tiers, from bottom to top, with clear statuses.
The first tier: ordinary monsters, mass-produced by Dalun Li or secondary creations by other monsters.
These monsters were the most numerous.
The second tier: production-type monsters, commander-grade monsters capable of producing other monsters, such as stone grottoes or skeletal shamans.
The third tier: hidden bosses, overlord-grade, such as the Exiled Sentry or the Desert Sword Attendant.
The fourth tier: special floor bosses that could only be created on specific floors.
The fifth tier was the most special, the zenith of the monsters in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Those were special monsters like Tongmu, who possessed Dalun Li's true name as part of their own.
Observing the dungeon every day, Dalun Li could see the gap in status between these tiers.
Even ordinary monsters with very low intelligence would obey and show respect to monsters from a higher tier in their daily lives.
For instance, on the ninth floor, if a few skeletal shamans happened to encounter the Desert Sword Attendant, they would bow respectfully and remain obedient.
Since both possessed high intelligence, this behavior was easy to spot.
And the Desert Sword Attendant, even though it was far stronger than the low-intelligence, support-type Tongmu, would still show obedience and respect.
Creating special monsters consumed a great deal of Dalun Li's power.
Moreover, the time required to recover that consumed power was also longer.
He hadn't felt it when creating Tongmu for the first time, but after upgrading Tongmu for the second time, Dalun Li had noticed this.
However, the advantages of special monsters were also self-evident.
Their levels were not fixed but could be increased.
And this process didn't even necessarily require Dalun Li's intervention, though the speed was very slow.
During this period, Dalun Li had discovered that Tongmu could slowly increase its power on its own.
By using Clairvoyance to observe the outside every day, its various ocular abilities were also slowly improving through practice.
The abilities of special monsters were also stronger than those of ordinary monsters.
A support-type like Tongmu had provided Dalun Li with powerful ocular abilities.
"If I can create another special monster, my confidence in challenging the tenth floor will increase significantly."
Dalun Li pondered, while Tongmu swayed incessantly, monitoring external dangers for him at all times.
Even after almost meeting its end in that recent accident, it had not stopped monitoring the outside world.
...Perhaps they shouldn't be called special monsters anymore.
Floor bosses guard floors, so they are called floor guardians.
But Tongmu guards him—it guards this core.
In its eyes, this core was him, its master, while the dungeon was merely a home.
This was also Dalun Li's intentional doing; originally, to use Tongmu to monitor the outside, he had made its connection to the dungeon less deep.
That was why its vision could radiate beyond the dungeon.
"An orb attendant is also a pedestal guardian."
Dalun Li changed, or rather, bestowed a title upon Tongmu's position.
The duty of a pedestal guardian was not to guard any floor of the dungeon.
Instead, they directly guarded the deepest level of the dungeon, the dungeon core.
They guarded Dalun Li, serving as his final line of defense.
At the same time, as the dungeon's depth continued to increase and it grew larger, it would be impossible for Dalun Li to manage all the floors himself.
At that time, the pedestal guardians would also assist Dalun Li in managing the lords of various floors.
He intended to create a group of such pedestal guardians.
Furthermore, the connection between the pedestal guardians and the dungeon could not be too deep; instead, they should be directly connected to the core.
In that case, the pedestal guardians might be able to leave the dungeon and intercept dangers from the outside world.
They could even go outside the dungeon to perform tasks for Dalun Li.
Combining these features, the future creation of pedestal guardians would need to be given a certain human form, or at least mimicry abilities.
That way, they wouldn't be captured for being strange and grotesque when they went to the outside world.
Of course, Dalun Li couldn't create humans—humans were not monsters—but they just needed to have a human-like appearance, as if wearing a layer of human skin.
Having decided on the future development of his monsters, Dalun Li looked toward the water of life.
This bottle of water really arrived at the right time.
For this pedestal guardian, Dalun Li planned to specialize in special abilities for combat.
Unlike Tongmu, he didn't want to produce a pedestal guardian that was entirely support-oriented.
When a group of adventurers eventually fought their way to the deepest part of the dungeon, if his pedestal guardians were all support-type giant eyeballs, giant ears, or wide noses, how would he fight?
And a guardian with special abilities for offense...
Control abilities.
Dalun Li currently lacked a powerful control ability and had no way to influence the environment.
He remembered a certain material.
If that material were added to the water of life, and then combined with substitution tree branches...
Dalun Li took out an object that looked like a dinosaur egg fossil.
This was the seed of an unknown plant, its vitality completely withered.
It was something Dalun Li had dug up while opening the seventh floor.
What he had dug up along with it on the seventh floor was the most valuable item in the dungeon so far: the substitution tree.
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