Zeno did not leave directly as everyone had imagined.
Instead, she took a detour and quietly returned to the dungeon.
Mission accomplished perfectly.
"Master, I am sorry. I have lost a piece of magical equipment. Please punish me."
Zeno carefully presented the now-defunct Eternal Imprisonment Sword-Shield.
This greater magic grade magical artifact had been downgraded to a lesser magic grade magical artifact and was already damaged.
Now that it had tanked that blow to help Zeno mitigate a significant portion of the force, it was only natural for it to be scrapped.
"Zeno, how could I ever punish you?"
"You completed this mission exceptionally well, even better than I imagined."
"It is just a magical artifact; how could it ever be as important as you?"
"You did exactly the right thing. In battle, preserving your body is what matters most. If a magical artifact is gone, it is gone; do not take it too hard."
"After all, you and Tongmu are my precious guardians."
To the current Dalun Li, a lesser magic grade magical artifact was essentially a drop in the bucket.
What Zeno had brought back for him was an extremely rare masterpiece grade magical artifact, the likes of which he had never seen before.
"My Lord, this is your mercy and forgiveness."
Although Zeno said this expressionlessly, her ears were already twitching happily.
"A reward—I must give you a reward."
"In the Well of Eternal Imprisonment, there are rewards for merit and punishments for faults. Zeno, there is no need to be modest about this."
Zeno did not answer, merely bowing her head in respect.
As for what to reward the guardian with, he still needed to think it over carefully.
"For now, go back to patrolling the previous floors."
"Yes, my Lord."
Watching Zeno's departing figure, Dalun Li took out the Life Casket.
Feeling the immense mana within the Life Casket, Dalun Li took a deep breath.
What a treasure!
[Life Casket]
[Special Effects] 1. Life Imprisonment: Extract the life of a dying person, preserving their original power, memories, and the magical artifacts they possessed before death, and imprisoning them within.
Life Command: Manipulate and drive the lives imprisoned within; the lives inside will be unable to disobey.
Life Drain: Wring out the vitality of the imprisoned lives to instantly heal injuries.
Although it was powerful, it did not seem particularly practical for Dalun Li.
Perhaps it could be used to gather intelligence.
He could pull the life of a dying person into it and then order them to reveal information.
This would be an efficient way to collect intel.
As for building up combat power, he truly had no use for it.
But masterpiece grade—this was a masterpiece grade magical artifact! Dalun Li carefully held up the Life Casket.
He placed it atop the pile of treasure.
In an instant, the treasure power surged toward the sky, the brilliance so blinding that Dalun Li was knocked back onto the pedestal.
It took a while before he could float back up from the pedestal. After steadying his emotions, he looked at the Earth Vein Power absorption rate.
Then, he let out a long gasp.
[Earth Vein Power Absorption Rate] 1942.135 Earth Vein Power/day.
"This is incredible! Is this the true value of a masterpiece grade magical artifact!"
With the Earth Vein Power absorption rate from this masterpiece grade magical artifact, combined with the enthusiastic contributions from the dungeon adventurers, the dungeon's development was secured.
He wouldn't have to worry for a long time; he just needed to develop patiently.
Moreover, the knight order and Claude had their attention diverted by Zeno.
Now they were searching the whole world for Zeno, even delaying their exploration of the dungeon.
He had gained even more time to develop.
Zeno had performed a great service.
Come to think of it, how many times had he won this time? Anyway, he was just winning big.
Guardians were simply too useful.
He needed to start thinking about creating a new guardian if he managed to get good materials later.
As for what to reward Zeno with...
For all the monsters in the dungeon, including the guardians, the highest reward seemed to be the honor of his recognition and affection.
It was probably something like a teacher's little red flower.
Rewarding them with little red flowers—would that turn the dungeon into a kindergarten?
Dalun Li gripped the Life Casket again and activated its ability.
A female mage with hollow eyes appeared before him.
This was the fifth-rank mage imprisoned within the Life Casket.
The peak combat power a human could achieve without relying on external forces.
"To make an enemy of the Grey family and end up like this."
"She has no intellect and is more like a puppet, but she possesses all the memories from her life."
Was her memory valuable?
Even if the memories were valuable, they had likely already been picked clean by the Grey family.
Truly terrifying.
To be imprisoned in this Life Casket by an enemy after death, where every hidden secret would be excavated by them.
Even the deepest secrets and softest parts of one's heart would be known by their most hated enemy.
What a terrifying magical artifact.
Dalun Li utilized the power of the dungeon and was pleasantly surprised to find that the life within the Life Casket could be absorbed by the dungeon.
"What kind of starter pack is this!"
"Is the newbie gift pack arriving this late!"
At this moment, Dalun Li even felt like summoning Zeno over to give her a thorough petting.
Such a resourceful girl, baby Zeno.
How much Earth Vein Power would a fifth-rank mage provide?
And how much Earth Vein Essence would she yield?
No, absorbing her directly would be too wasteful.
A fifth-rank mage's memories were still extremely valuable, even if they had been probed by the Grey family.
Dalun Li intended to learn magic and other knowledge from this fifth-rank mage.
Furthermore, as a fifth-rank mage at the pinnacle of humanity, she should also know many secrets regarding power.
Dalun Li planned to dig out all the valuable memories before absorbing her.
Combat professions, such as swordsmen and heavy warriors, increased their rank through technical training and physical tempering.
Mages and priests were different.
In addition to their daily mana refinement cultivation, they also needed to study a vast amount of magical and divine knowledge.
Even if one worshipped a god, the deity would not directly grant knowledge related to divine arts.
Therefore, the vast amount of magical knowledge in a mage's mind was also a kind of treasure.
As the dungeon itself, Dalun Li could learn the essentials of combat through the battles of countless adventurers throughout the dungeon.
His learning ability had long since surpassed that of any human.
However...
"There are so many things to do; studying alone is a bit of a waste of time."
Now that the Grey family's knight order had arrived, Dalun Li did not have time to continue wasting on studying.
So...
He directly created a batch of skeletal shamans and, at the same time, used them as a prototype for modification.
Skeletal shamans possessed undead abilities and had the highest magical talent among all the intelligent monsters Dalun Li had created.
As long as he modified them...
Granting them stronger magical talent and learning ability...
Dalun Li took some magic tree branches and combined them with the skeletal shamans to begin his creation.
Soon, a brand-new type of skeletal shaman was created.
Compared to the original skeletal shamans, this type had a ring of branches growing on its head.
At the same time, their bodies were shorter, and their undead abilities were weakened.
[Name] skeletal magic apprentice of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment
[Level] lv11
[Skills] Sleepless lv3, Magic Talent lv3, Learning lv3, Hyperthymesia lv2, Outstanding Wisdom lv1, Logical Deduction lv1, Dynamic Vision lv1, Undead Generation lv1, Fatigue Removal lv1, Collective Memory lv1
[Description] A monster servant created by the unknown entity Dalun Li. It possesses magical talent and powerful learning capabilities, capable of never forgetting what it sees and memorizing vast amounts of knowledge. It can share memories with others of its kind. It has almost no offensive capabilities and is harmless.
Ta-da! A new monster makes its debut!
With these magic apprentice monsters, he could have them follow the fifth-rank mage in the Life Casket to learn knowledge. Then, through Collective Memory, they could transmit all the results of their learning to Dalun Li.
Dalun Li could then be exempt from the time spent studying knowledge and use that time to attend to other matters.
However, the number was still too small.
Dalun Li created another batch. These magic apprentices formed a circle, the plants on their heads slowly growing and connecting with the other magic apprentices.
At this point, their memories could be shared, allowing them to learn together.
Dalun Li then placed the Life Casket in the center of these magic apprentices, and the transmission of magical knowledge began.
A stroke of genius.
Rate on N.U.
