World Rules

Zuo Lin'an took this very seriously.

“What kind of place do they usually give us?”

An Wen replied, “Don't expect anything too grand from a freebie. It's usually just a random plot of land cordoned off for you out in some uninhabited mountain range or wilderness.

“Barring any future accidents, that place will be your dungeon's permanent location. Whether you want to expand it, add other buildings, decorations, or NPCs, you'll have to pay for it yourself.

“So, you must choose this initial dungeon territory very carefully.”

Zuo Lin'an fell into deep thought. “Does upgrading the dungeon also require Contribution?”

“Not necessarily,” An Wen explained. “Some things require Contribution, while others can be bought directly with money.

“Basic renovations, like houses, roads, and landscaping, only require regular money. You can just hire construction teams that specifically service dungeon bosses.

“Of course, those services don't come cheap either.

“As for other special additions, like specific NPCs, most of those will require Contribution.”

An Wen continued, “Since you're both rookie dungeon bosses with no money and no Contribution, I suggest you don't try to do anything extra for now.

“Just launch your dungeons exactly as they are. As long as you can wipe out all the players assigned to your dungeon, you'll be considered successful.

“Of course, there are still many important details you need to pay attention to when opening a dungeon.

“First of all... although the fundamental purpose of our supernatural world's dungeons is to kill players and assimilate their worlds, we still have to follow certain rules.

“Rule one: under normal circumstances, players can only be killed by specters.

“If a player is killed by an NPC or another player, they will turn into an unsolvable specter.

“An unsolvable specter, as the name suggests, will hunt down and kill whoever caused their death. Neither players nor NPCs can escape them, and no method can stop them.

“Once an unsolvable specter appears in your dungeon, your only option is to apply to the higher-ups for staff to handle it. Each unsolvable specter is retrieved at a value of five Contribution points.”

Zuo Lin'an chimed in, “If that's the case, since I'm technically an NPC, if I were to personally kill all the players...”

An Wen shook his head. “It's not as simple as you think.

“The world has its rules, and dungeons have their rules.

“As a dungeon boss, you can only kill players using rules!

“If you want to spawn an unsolvable specter, there are only two ways. First, through the autonomous actions of a dungeon NPC, which the dungeon boss cannot influence or manipulate in any way.

“The second way is for the players to kill each other.

“You can't afford to hire NPCs right now anyway, so just behave yourselves.

“And another thing!”

An Wen's expression grew serious. “There are countless dungeons in our world, and many unsolvable specters are created during each run. However, there are very few staff members available to retrieve them.

“Furthermore, retrieval operations are prioritized from highest dungeon difficulty to lowest. If an unsolvable specter appears in a high-difficulty dungeon, they get to cut the line.

“If an unsolvable specter appears in one of your One-Star dungeons? Be prepared to wait ten days, half a month, or even a full month.”

Zuo Lin'an pondered this for a moment.

Since he couldn't afford to hire NPCs, the only way he could spawn an unsolvable specter was to make the players turn on each other.

An Wen continued, “Of course, if the players entering your dungeon kill each other, spawning an unsolvable specter is actually a good thing. After all, one is worth five Contribution points, whereas wiping out an entire team of players normally only nets you one point.

“Daily Dungeons only open once every seven days, which is only four times a month. So even if you have to wait a month for the staff to retrieve it, you'll still come out ahead.

“Besides, you probably won't have to wait a whole month. Ten to fifteen days is usually enough.

“The reason I don't recommend intentionally creating unsolvable specters is actually for your own good. Aside from violating the rules, there's another factor.

“The essence of a dungeon is to kill as many players as possible. The more players you kill, the higher the chance you'll catch the attention of the higher-ups. If you rank near the top, your chances of receiving focused training will increase.”

An Wen took a deep breath. “Alright, that's enough about unsolvable specters.

“To run a dungeon well, there's more to keep in mind than just that.

“Your dungeons are One-Star difficulty, so when you apply to open them, there's a high probability that the players assigned to you will be newbies.

“Dungeons are required to give novice players special treatment, namely, novice benefits.

“This is the second rule that all dungeons must follow.

“These so-called novice benefits mean giving the new players a hint to help them clear the current dungeon. It can be about anything, but you absolutely cannot cheat or play tricks with it!

“Next is the third rule: specter items.

“Specter items are divided into two types. The first is the permanent type. Once found by a player, it exists indefinitely.

“Unless the world assimilation fails, in which case the connection between the two worlds will be severed, and everything related to specters in that world will completely vanish.

“If the assimilation succeeds, the permanent specter items will be preserved.

“The other type is the consumable specter item. Once a player gets their hands on it, the item will disappear after one or a few uses.

“A One-Star Daily Dungeon is required to have exactly one consumable specter item.

“The appearance, effect, and number of uses of the specter item are all determined by the dungeon boss.

“Permanent specter items are privileges reserved for dungeons of Two-Star difficulty and above, so you don't need to worry about them for now.

“As for how to craft a specter item, you'll find out once you have your own territory. I won't go into detail now.

“Finally, we have the fourth rule, which is also the most important one.

“The dungeon's path of survival.

“Every single dungeon, regardless of its type or difficulty, must have one or more paths of survival! You absolutely cannot block off all means of escape for the players!”

“What happens if we block them all?” Xu Youyou asked.

“You will have violated the world rules,” An Wen replied. “Your status as a dungeon boss and all your benefits will be revoked. In severe cases, you will simply disappear!”

Xu Youyou gasped. “Disappear? We're already specters, how can we disappear?”

An Wen sneered. “With so many specters in our world, how could we not have ways to deal with them?

“Of course, those methods aren't typically used under normal circumstances.”

He waved his hand. “Alright, next, I want to tell you about something else.

“It concerns a world our world is currently assimilating. It's a world with a martial arts background, filled with many people who practice martial arts.”

Zuo Lin'an asked, “Martial arts? Do you mean like those secret manuals that let you cultivate true qi?”

“Yes. The martial artists in that world are also divided into classes—specifically, third-rate, second-rate, and first-rate. Above those are the Houtian and Xiantian Realms.

“It's said that the strongest experts in the Xiantian Realm can project their true qi externally and even fly through the air.

“As for exactly how powerful they are, I'm not entirely sure either. After all, I'm not a dungeon boss, and I've never seen them myself.”