Dalun Li did not revel in his success for long.
The 3,000 Earth Vein Power required to open the next floor had already been accumulated.
Now that he had a moment to breathe, Dalun Li slowly floated up from the pedestal.
"Twelfth Floor, create!"
The Earth Vein Power rapidly carved out a path above the eleventh floor, extending downward at a blistering pace.
The massive surge of Earth Vein Power quickly tore through the chaotic space, transforming it into lava and rock.
Towering black rocks collided with one another as scalding lava churned between them.
Countless streams of lava converged toward the center of the floor, forming a massive lava lake.
Within the lake, the boiling lava bubbled incessantly, spewing out scorching air.
Beneath the surface of this lava lake, several pitch-black stone pillars rose up, slick with semi-solidified lava.
As the expansive floor stabilized, Dalun Li moved to this level with practiced ease.
A massive surge of fire power flooded into his orb.
Having already adapted to fire power through the eleventh floor, Dalun Li quickly absorbed and acclimated to the energy of this level.
[Level increased to lv12]
[Earth Vein Power required to create the next floor] 5000
After receiving the power of this floor, Dalun Li immediately swept his gaze across the entire area to begin his search.
The mystery boxes provided by each new floor were one of his primary motivations for expansion.
Moreover, Dalun Li had discovered that every major section of floors seemed to yield at least one guaranteed reward.
For example, floors one through five had provided a massive magic tree as a guaranteed reward.
Floors six through ten had yielded the Death-Life Vine seed fossil and the substitution magic tree as two guaranteed rewards.
The Lava Stratum, spanning floors eleven through fifteen, should yield at least one guaranteed reward as well.
As he surveyed the entirety of the twelfth floor, Dalun Li immediately noticed its peculiar terrain.
The entire floor resembled a massive caldera.
The perimeter of the floor was lined with countless towering black rocks like mountain peaks, from which lava constantly flowed, converging toward the low-lying center.
At that central depression, where all the lava gathered, a massive lava lake had formed.
Dalun Li's gaze easily locked onto the lava lake at the center of the floor.
Pitch-black stone pillars rose from the lake, piercing through the molten surface like nails driven into the lava.
"This is truly a magnificent sight."
Dalun Li extended his vision downward along the stone pillars, penetrating the lava to reach the bottom of the lake.
As expected, all these stone pillars were connected to the bedrock at the bottom.
Counting them, there were seventeen stone pillars in the entire lava lake.
Their diameters ranged from 8 to 15 meters.
Furthermore, these pillars did not seem to be composed of simple rock.
The interior of the pillars contained a special ore that looked like iron but had a much higher melting point and incredible thermal conductivity.
This caused the seventeen pillars submerged in the lava to be as scalding as hot iron plates.
His gaze bypassed the pillars and reached the very center of the lake, which was also the center of the entire floor.
The terrain of the floor ensured that all the thermal energy of the level was concentrated at this single point.
And at this point, on the floor of the lava lake, grew a small cluster of minerals.
The minerals were prismatic like crystals, clustered together in varying sizes.
They contained a powerful fire energy.
Dalun Li did not hesitate to cut this small cluster of ore from the bottom of the lava lake.
The severed cluster of minerals was then transferred directly before him.
Molten lava still flowed over the crystals, dripping onto the ground.
"Such intense fire power; it can't even be touched directly."
Dalun Li took out an iron sword imbued with mana and brought it close to the minerals.
Sure enough, upon mere contact, the iron sword—which qualified as a magic item—quickly turned red. Soon, the section of the blade closest to the crystals melted completely, dripping onto the ground as molten iron.
"To think it’s this powerful—it’s almost like the legendary dragon flame."
While Dalun Li had never seen a dragon, they apparently existed in this world.
They were synonymous with power and destruction.
Their scorching breath could dismantle and melt any defense.
Dalun Li carefully separated the cluster of crystals from their base.
Soon, he had dismantled several individual fire-red crystals of various sizes.
The interiors of the crystals looked as though flames were flowing within them, radiating an intoxicating hue.
The largest and most complete piece was the length of a palm and as thick as a thumb.
The rest, aside from three that were finger-long, were irregular in shape and roughly the size of coins; there were eleven in total.
Dalun Li did not discard the one-meter-diameter base that had carried the fire crystals either.
While the fire crystals possessed terrifying heat, this base had coexisted with them without melting, making it a rare and precious material in its own right.
Its heat resistance was second to none.
Staring at the rare treasures before him, Dalun Li remained silent for a moment before murmuring.
"...Could this be the guaranteed reward?"
"There are still three floors left; it might not be."
Dalun Li broke off a small piece from the rock base and fashioned it into a stone box.
He carefully stored all the fire crystals inside.
In passing, he named both the fire crystals and the rock base.
Dragon flame crystals and dragon embryo plate.
According to his deductions, these two materials were likely born because of the unique nature of this floor.
The special terrain of the entire floor compressed the fire power of the whole level toward the center.
Then, after an unknown number of years, this single piece of material had formed.
...Speaking of which, Dalun Li still had many doubts regarding the creation of new floors.
Shouldn't floors be opened and created instantaneously? There shouldn't be any traces of time passing, yet many things within the floors seemed to prove that they were not created in an instant.
Instead, they appeared to have experienced vast stretches of time, leaving behind many temporal marks.
For instance, the ancient, towering magic tree on the fourth floor possessed mana that suggested great age.
The Death-Life Vine fossil on the seventh floor, and the desert environment that spanned five floors, created after the vine had drained all vitality.
And now, the dragon flame crystals and the dragon embryo plate of this floor.
These things all bore the marks of a long passage of time...
Whatever. He was still too weak; trying to investigate the principles of the most unique dungeon in this world was just asking for trouble.
Dalun Li carefully placed the stone box among his pile of belongings and then continued to scout the rest of the floor.
He searched the lava lake area thoroughly, fearing he might have missed some other treasure.
It seemed that forming such a rare material using the power of the entire floor was already the limit for a single lake.
After searching the entire lava lake, Dalun Li expanded his attention outward.
There were several mineral veins on the surrounding lava mountains.
In addition to iron ore, there were several special veins.
The ore in these veins was identical to the ore inside the stone pillars.
It was similar to iron, but with a higher melting point and superior thermal conductivity.
It could be used for forging and was worth mining.
However, he hadn't hit the double jackpot this time; he had only uncovered a single gold-tier treasure.
Rate on N.U.
