Before creating the monster merchant, Dalun Li had one more important thing to do.
The creation of the eleventh floor.
Once the eleventh floor was complete, Dalun Li's level would reach lv11.
According to human standards, he would then be considered a first-rank extraordinary being, a complete qualitative change in life and power...
Of course, that was for humans.
"Eleventh floor, create!"
The passage extended downward from the tenth floor, and Earth Vein Power carved a path through the chaotic space.
This time, it was no longer yellow sand.
Just as Dalun Li had thought, every five floors formed a major stratum, and after five floors, a new major stratum would begin.
The Yellow Sand Stratum was officially over.
Seething lava rolled and condensed within the chaos.
Black rocks grew amidst the molten flow, and volcanoes towered upward, spewing thick black smoke.
Lava flowed between the mountain ranges of exposed black rock like a river after a flash flood.
The scorching air distorted under the high heat, baking the entire floor.
[Earth Vein Power required to create next floor] 3,000
Dalun Li, along with his pedestal, descended into the broader eleventh floor, the Lava Stratum.
Heat surged like molten magma along the pedestal toward the orb.
It was a pure fire power entirely different from all the previous floors.
A pure elemental fire that could melt stone and warp the air.
After absorbing this power, the silver light surrounding Dalun Li was tinged with a streak of crimson.
Dalun Li rotated once, quickly taking control of this floor's fire power, and his light returned to its original silver.
He felt his current power.
"By human standards, I've now broken through the first rank and become a first-rank extraordinary being."
"...Hmm, it doesn't feel much different from before. I don't feel that sensation of a qualitative breakthrough at all."
Dalun Li figured he probably wasn't using the same level system as humans.
He didn't have a concept of being 'extraordinary' or not; his level was simply a manifestation of his raw power's intensity.
With that thought, Dalun Li stopped dwelling on it and instead probed the floor for any blind boxes.
Perhaps because this was a lava and volcano floor, a simple scan revealed two mineral veins.
One copper mineral vein and one iron mineral vein.
Furthermore, both were large mineral veins.
There were also other scattered ores growing in various areas of the floor.
Among them were no shortage of gemstones and precious metals.
"The mineral deposits are rich; they should attract many adventurers to come treasure hunting."
"But there aren't any treasures that truly make my eyes light up."
Dalun Li didn't feel too much regret; two large mineral veins would provide him with plenty of help.
Moreover, at this depth and with the harsh, high-temperature environment of this floor...
These two veins would be difficult for humans to mine, so he could use them as he pleased without worrying about depletion.
After confirming once more that there were no treasures on this floor, Dalun Li stopped his search.
He returned to the tenth floor.
Next, he began to make major moves, changing the environment of the entire tenth floor.
First, the dark wanderers created by the Dark Starry Sky had to be completely purged.
Although these creatures had all submitted to Dalun Li, he didn't dare use them.
Instead, he planned to use the corpses of these dark wanderers to create new monsters.
Secondly, there was the palace.
Dalun Li didn't intend to leave such an important palace out in the open on the tenth floor.
If some powerful adventurer saw through it in the future and destroyed his palace, it would be a huge loss.
He carved out a hidden floor within the tenth floor and transferred the entire palace into it.
Then, in its original place, he consumed power to create stone and used the floor boss room as material to create a similar-looking palace.
The boss room was hidden in the deepest part of this palace.
The entire palace was also set up as a maze, with some treasure chests dropped inside containing magic crystal coins, wood coins, and copper coins.
At the same time, the magical artifacts Eroding Wood Bow and Crescent Arrow were also tossed into treasure chests and placed inside.
Those two magical artifacts were too mediocre; their only large-scale AOE ability was something Dalun Li no longer cared for.
With the support of the eleventh floor's fire power, he currently had no shortage of wide-range attack capabilities.
Next, Dalun Li created another batch of treasure chests.
He stuffed them with wood coins, magic crystal coins, and copper coins—with wood and copper coins being the most numerous and magic crystal coins being the rarest—and then placed a Power Leaf possessing a skill in each chest before hiding them in various corners of the floors.
As the number of chests increased, the number of mimics also had to increase.
This could be considered a way to recoup some of his investment.
Dalun Li let the mimics in the dungeon breed vigorously; after a while, many small mimics would be born and appear across the dungeon's floors.
Next was the creation of the monster merchant.
He took a corpse of a dark wanderer, then brought out magic tree branches, copper blocks, and iron blocks.
These materials were enough.
Creating a monster merchant was not difficult for Dalun Li; without much preparation, he began the creation directly.
First, its appearance had to be trustworthy enough for humans.
It needed spatial power to connect to the pitch-black palace for goods transactions.
The currency collected and the goods sold would be transferred directly to the pitch-black palace through the spatial connection.
This way, even if it were attacked, the monster merchant would not drop anything.
To reduce the adventurers' desire to kill the monster merchant...
Dalun Li added another layer of ability.
The monster materials dropped after the monster merchant's death would be of very low value, and no other monster merchant would ever trade with them again.
Combining these traits, the monster merchant was created.
The monster merchant looked almost like a human, except for a pair of horns like withered branches on its head, and it wore human traveler's clothes.
It looked like a short old man, but in reality, it possessed a certain level of monster combat strength.
[Name] Monster Merchant of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment
[Level] lv9
[Skills] Spatial Connection lv4, Spatial Transfer lv4, Stealth lv3, Swordsmanship lv3, Physical Strengthening lv2, Insight lv2, Dynamic Vision lv2, Haste lv2, Sword Qi lv1, Treasure Scent lv1
[Description] A monster servant created by the unknown existence Dalun Li. A merchant wandering the Well of Eternal Imprisonment who does not actively attack life but instead trades with it. It can smell the scent of treasure and loyally collects the world's treasures for its master.
"I offer my loyalty to my Lord, and I am willing to use all my strength to collect the world's treasures for my Lord."
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