The group was still thinking of an ideal scenario.
In reality, adventurers rarely won against noble forces supported by vast powers.
This applied to both the Grey family and the Northern Prince.
They both had exploration teams under them that were no less capable than the Death Hammer team.
Moreover, there was the legendary sixth-rank—angels who transcend humanity.
The Grey family and the Northern Prince likely possessed such overwhelming combat power.
The fifth-rank was the limit of power that a human could reach without relying on external forces.
A sixth-rank angel was a being that had achieved life sublimation by relying on external power.
To become a sixth-rank, one needed a material called a ring seal stone.
And a ring seal stone only had a chance of dropping from the boss of a medium-scale dungeon.
The dungeon king on the bottom floor of a medium-scale dungeon had a 100% drop rate.
Serafina had only heard this information by accident.
Once used, a ring seal stone would not disappear upon the user's death.
Instead, it could be stably inherited.
The Grey family, which had conquered two medium-scale dungeons, possessed at least two ring seal stones.
They might even have more.
This was the foundation of a family that owned dungeons.
Serafina looked up.
In the entire Northern Territory, under the oppression of such noble forces, how could an ordinary adventurer ever rise up on their own?
Even a powerful and legendary adventurer team like Death Hammer was no exception.
The best possible outcome for them was to join a noble's secret society, become part of the nobility themselves, and then turn around to oppress others to prevent new noble powers from emerging.
It wasn't that they were willing.
Rather, these were the rules they had to follow.
Unless a new and powerful force could emerge in this Northern Territory.
"Rest is over. Don't fall too far behind the Grey family exploration team."
"We should be close to finding the passage to the seventh floor."
Serafina finished the last fruit, stood up, and shouted.
The others quickly stood, organized their equipment, and continued to step into the rolling sandstorm.
Dalun Li overheard their entire conversation, which further clarified the power distribution in the Northern Territory for him.
Grey, the Prince, and the Adventurer Association.
"Death Hammer, how terrifying."
"Luckily, they don't have time to visit my little dungeon."
His neighboring colleague was helping him attract quite a lot of heat.
And those adventurers who were drawn in but couldn't take down his colleague happened to come to his place to try their luck.
They provided him with a steady stream of low to medium-rank adventurers.
A good colleague from another world.
Except it seemed they were about to be finished.
How terrifying. Forty floors deep and they were already reaching the end; he still needed to work hard on his own development.
He was only on the eleventh floor; he couldn't afford to be complacent.
As if bracing himself, he floated up from the pedestal again and began mixing various materials, preparing to design the floor guardian for the tenth floor.
On the other side, Manfred's group, having completely broken away from the Grey family, discovered a special item while killing an undead lizardman.
In addition to the usual materials, it dropped an item containing extremely faint mana.
One side was engraved with an orb and a pedestal, while the other side bore the words "Well of Eternal Imprisonment" and the number 1.
It was made of copper and seemed to be some kind of... coin?
"What is this?"
Manfred looked at the coin in his hand; he had never seen anything like it in other dungeons.
How could a monster drop a coin?
And could this kind of coin even be spent?
"It's probably some special monster material."
"Dungeon monsters have a very low probability of dropping miscellaneous materials anyway."
Rhine also leaned over to look at the copper coin in Manfred's hand and guessed.
Although they had broken with the Grey family and ended up in a near-desperate situation, Rhine seemed happier than before.
Manfred didn't think too much of it and put the copper coin away.
Aside from Manfred, the adventurers in the deeper levels of the dungeon were all surprised to find the same thing.
The monsters they killed had an extremely low probability of dropping a new material.
Coins engraved with the "Well of Eternal Imprisonment."
There were copper coins and wood coins, all containing extremely faint traces of mana.
Fete, the alchemist stationed on the fourth floor, also received these coins from adventurers.
"The mana content is extremely weak, so it can't be used as a monster material. Its value is very low."
"However, the mana within it is very distinct. Such recognizable dungeon mana is impossible to counterfeit. It's almost like anti-counterfeiting."
Fete reached an absurd conclusion.
Could this really be a currency used for trading in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment, used by monsters to trade with each other?
According to reports from the lower floors, there might be intelligent monsters on the sixth floor.
Was it possible this currency was truly used for trade among intelligent monsters?
"I can't confirm its use for now, but it definitely cannot be used as an alchemical material."
"As for its specific value..."
"Personally, I think it's worth observing."
Fete suddenly felt that it was good he hadn't left this dungeon.
This dungeon was too unique; the materials and monsters were all extremely special.
Now even these special coins had appeared. He grew more and more curious about what exactly was buried within this dungeon.
He even wondered if this dungeon might offer him a chance to further his alchemy skills.
Of course, there was danger.
Fete hadn't forgotten the previous crisis or the mysterious and powerful Zeno.
But...
It didn't matter. Since that powerful Zeno had forced him to stay in the dungeon, he probably didn't need to worry about his safety for the time being.
He just needed to improve his alchemy.
Right here in this dungeon.
"Is it worthless?"
"Then it seems we should stop buying them."
"I thought it was some kind of rare material."
Hearing Fete's words, the group of merchants spoke up in disappointment.
"In that case, I'm willing to buy all the coins you've collected at their original price."
Fete felt that these coins might have another use.
If these coins were truly what he suspected—currency used by the intelligent monsters of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment...
If one day he was surrounded by intelligent monsters, he could suddenly pull out a money pouch.
"Please, please, master monsters! This is my entire life's savings. Please, show some mercy!"
Perhaps the master monsters would spare his life for the sake of the coins.
It couldn't be helped; an alchemist with no combat power only had this much ambition.
Having experienced the last crisis, Fete realized even more clearly.
In this world, nothing was more important than his own life.
Only after saving his life would he have the right to worry about things like face or pride.
"Then never mind."
"It's just money anyway, and we've already bought them."
"We're not short on these funds. I'll just hoard them for a while. After all, they are rare, and rarity makes things precious."
Seeing that Fete was willing to buy them, the merchants quickly changed their tune.
Damn it, they were a bunch of shrewd foxes.
Rate on N.U.
