Chapter 20
Another lazy day in Dream Land.
I spent my time browsing the gallery and fiddling with Malangi.
After fixing up Area 1, Area 2, and even the entrance, there was really nothing left to do, so I was always slumped in front of the surveillance cameras.
Since Restia left, it feels a little lonely.
When I stared blankly at her while eating, she'd go, "Hieeek!"—and it was hilarious.
Ha.
I didn't realize it when she was gone, but I guess I do get lonely.
"Ahem."
There's a very simple solution for times like this.
Belting out a song to let off this feeling.
Maybe I should become a singer someday?
Come to think of it, there aren't any modern J-pop hits in this world, are there?
An isekai plagiarist singer.
I thought I was the dungeon master of grotesque phenomena, but actually I was a genius composer?
This will 100% work.
There's no way it won't.
Confidently, I uploaded the recording to the gallery.
Newbie: I tried singing a song today, so please rate it for me haha
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ㄴGolem King: Sorry for being serious, but do you actually want to die, Newbie?
ㄴDIP: Why the hell does it sound like a pig getting slaughtered in your throat?
ㄴSealed Philosopher: My ears are bleeding, what the fuck are you going to do about it? Can you take responsibility for this?
ㄴSealed Conqueror: Fuuuck, haaah!! Newbie!!
ㄴAnonymous Butcher: ???
ㄴPsych Ward Chief Patient: Goddamn... Newbie's singing wrecked my ears, didn't it?
ㄴKing Slayer: That's legendary, for real.
ㄴThe World Is Cold: The world is fair!
ㄴAnt Queen: (bowing her head to Newbie) Newbie-nim, this is fucking awful, but can I block you by any chance??
ㄴOrange★: Holy shit, I've never in my life seen someone sing with the pitch and rhythm this completely destroyed...
ㄴI Don't Have Minions: You really can't sing at all...
ㄴNewbie: T_T...
ㄴSsi-gan Saranggae: Newbie~! It's okay! Let's practice singing together later, noona!!
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The veterans who normally doted on me turned cold in an instant, and my world came crashing down today.
Haa.
I'll see just how well those fuckers can sing when I meet them later.
Anyway.
The fact that I'm getting roasted for my singing skills isn't the important part.
There's something that's been circulating in the gallery as the biggest hot topic lately.
Orange★: Everyone, you're all well prepared, right?
ㄴKing-jjang Evil Spirit: Yes!!!!!! Yes!!!!!! Captain!!!!!!
ㄴAnt Queen: (doing a handstand and clapping her feet cutely toward Newbie) Of course, hehe.
ㄴKing Slayer: Yep.
ㄴNight Raven: Where are we going to land this time...
ㄴThe World Is Cold: Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat Please Roujinrat
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That's the position shift.
I think I heard about it when I first joined Dungeon Gallery.
Dungeons aren't fixed in place.
Their coordinates change at regular intervals, and that's called a position shift.
In other words, Dream Land can't stay in the Roujinrat Great Mountain Range forever.
It's completely random, so if you're unlucky, you could end up near the World Tree like Sechahm.
And if you're lucky, you can have a field day dealing with trolls and goblins like this.
ㄴSsi-gan Saranggae: Newbie-yah, are you all set for the position shift??
ㄴNewbie: Yep yep
ㄴSsi-gan Saranggae: You checked all the data on the danger zones, right??
ㄴNewbie: Of course, of course.
Dungeon Gallery is a place for conversation, but it's also full of information dungeon masters have collected in order to survive.
There's a sheet that systematically organizes the locations, bases, dangerous individuals, weapons, spells, and so on for each race.
Supposedly you can use that to prepare...
For now, I'm armed with powerful grotesque phenomena, but unlike the veterans, I'm a low-level scrub.
This weak newbie needs levels and points.
Honestly, I was a little scared.
If I ended up near the World Tree like Sechahm, I might really have to kill myself.
Sometimes I see photos and videos of veterans fighting intruders in the gallery, and no lie, it feels like a whole different genre.
Still, one thing was lucky.
My dungeon isn't the kind you just smash through with a charge; it feels more like you have to solve a puzzle, so it's not completely hopeless.
The system also counts escape-scroll use as intruder extermination, so maybe this is actually a chance for a massive leveling spree.
ㄴThe World Is Cold: Fuck off, you elf bastards, I'm outta here lol.
ㄴMagic Hero: You really have endured a lot up until now...
ㄴGolem King: You really, really worked hard...
ㄴNewbie: For real... now go enjoy a healing dungeon life...
ㄴAnt Queen: (shedding tears of emotion while looking at Newbie) What a shame, hehe.
ㄴThe World Is Cold: Shut up.
One day left before the position shift.
I gave the dungeon one last inspection.
Good, no problems.
Everything was perfect.
"Malangi, it's finally time to eat."
"Ack."
Bring it on, world.
The newbie dungeon master is coming!
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The next day, the dungeon shifted with a tremor.
Let's see, checking the dungeon address...
Hmm.
Hmm.
Hm.
Newbie: Guys... I'm in the Forest of Life?
ㄴSsi-gan Saranggae: ??????
ㄴI Don't Have Minions: Umm...
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"At least it's not near the World Tree... but..."
Heh-heh.
This time I ended up in an elf den.
And not just any elves.
A den of psychopathic elves.
***
This is an old post.
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Title: Elf Explanation (Long post, beware of wall of text)
Author: Chongchong Sage
First, elves are a long-lived race with pointy ears.
As is usually the case with long-lived races, their physical abilities are superior, and many of them are also highly skilled with magic.
So the truly exceptional ones among the real elves are insanely strong—Blessed-level strong, from personal experience...
Their main faction is the Forest of the World Tree near the West Kingdom; that's the most famous and largest one.
The rest are small fry, so you don't really need to care about them, but there is one exception.
Have you all heard of the Forest of Life?
Well, it might sound unfamiliar... but to put it simply, it's where elf criminals live...
Usually, when elves commit really serious crimes, they're exiled from their faction's territory, you know?
Weirdly, they don't get prison time or execution like humans do... elf law is just that fucking weird.
Anyway, all those atrocious criminals are gathered in a place called the Forest of Life.
The history of the Forest of Life can basically be summed up in one line.
Criminal bastards beat up everyone there and took it over like parasites.
Just think of it as the elven version of a slum, hehe.
Anyway... Forest of Life elves are vicious beyond belief.
They sell drugs, traffic people, and commit every crime you can imagine...
The way to tell is simple: if they have a brand on their body, it's easier to just think of them as Forest of Life elves lol.
They're called branded elves, yeah.
Anyway, that's the information I just picked up...
Dungeon life, hang in there!!
Let's survive for a long, long time!!
*Comments
Orange★: Thanks for the good info.
Ant Queen: As expected, our sage is the best!
The World Is Cold: If I run into a level 30 dungeon master, I should just kill myself...
DIP: Why are you still only level 30...
Golem King: I'm a level 100 steampunk dungeon master, so if Forest of Life elves come in, I can just wipe them out.
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I Don't Have Minions: I miss Chongchong Sage.
ㄴOrange★: What are you doing here?
ㄴI Don't Have Minions: You startled me lol. I just suddenly thought of them lol.
ㄴOrange★: Unreal... just prepare for the wave.
ㄴI Don't Have Minions: What are you doing here then?
ㄴOrange★: I just thought of them out of nowhere too lol.
ㄴI Don't Have Minions: Come on, X
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***
A dungeon appeared in the Forest of Life.
The elves living here are commonly called branded elves.
The branded elves stroked their chins as they looked at the dungeon that had appeared right in the Forest of Life.
"What the hell, why is there a dungeon sitting right on the outskirts of the forest?"
"I knew about position shift cycles, but... first check the dungeon's name."
"It's called Dream Land. Ever heard of it? You run around with the South Kingdom underworld guys, don't you?"
"What the hell does that have to do with the dungeon's name? South Kingdom's already been noisy lately with all this branded-elf purge crap, so I can't even go anywhere."
The two branded elves were named Zius and Reverio.
All elves who take up residence in the Forest of Life are assigned positions by the elder, and these two currently serve as squad leaders.
"No way, is this a newborn dungeon?"
"A newborn dungeon? Based on what?"
"Honestly... this is why bastards who can't use magic are useless."
Reverio is a gifted mage, at least when it comes to the Forest of Life.
So he immediately noticed that there was no debris piled up at the dungeon entrance and let out a soft exclamation.
"This is huge... and it hasn't even been half a year yet, timing-wise?"
"Really?"
"Why would I lie about that? This might just be our chance."
"An opportunity?"
Reverio grabbed Zius by the shoulder.
"Yeah. You don't know how expensive mana stones in a dungeon are, do you?"
"I know that much."
"No! If you know that, then why are you acting so clueless?"
Reverio continued speaking to Zius with an exasperated look.
"Listen carefully. Mana stones are priceless treasures that can change our lives. Depending on the size, if we swallow even a little of a mana stone of a certain size, we can become at least dozens of times stronger than the elves here. If used as a magical ingredient, you can even boost a simple fireball to meteor level, and if you sell them on the black market, you can get so much money that you'd never spend it all even if you burned through it until the day you die. If this isn't an opportunity, then what is!?"
Reverio was pretty good with words.
As Reverio listed more reasons to enter the dungeon, Zius's expression went blank, like someone bewitched.
"The forest's situation hasn't been good lately either... if we can get our hands on it."
"Exactly! We could live a life so much better than this. Honestly, being the elder's lackey was annoying, wasn't it."
They were probably the first to discover the dungeon.
On top of that, the atmosphere around the forest was already grim.
This was an opportunity.
"But we don't even have any escape scrolls. Will we be okay on our own?"
"Anyway, we can escape without scrolls for up to half a day. If anything seems off, we can just come right back out. We can inspect the inside with detection magic too, and if there's interference, we just leave right away, okay?"
In the end, Zius nodded.
The two elves promised to keep the discovery of the dungeon secret.
They were the only ones patrolling this outskirts area this week, so there was no risk of being found out.
If things went wrong, they could just come outside and report that they'd found the dungeon, so there was no risk either.
They packed food, water, and supplies.
And they entered the dungeon.
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Even though the unpleasant, gloomy corridor had appeared before them.
The two, blinded by greed, went straight ahead.
"Hmm. Luckily there's no jamming. Ahead of us is a straight corridor, then a large square room, and beyond that a passage leading to the core room. The length and width are weirdly large, but well, I think we can explore the whole thing within three days."
After finishing his detection, Reverio roughly drew the dungeon's map.
│Cor│
│ │
│ridor│
│ │
── ──
│ Spa │
│ │
│ ce │
── ──
│ Core Room │
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"What about minions and traps?"
"At least I can't sense anything through detection. It doesn't seem to be a magic trap, and given how suspiciously wide the space is, we'd better watch out for poison traps or something like that. Luckily, we brought antidotes, and the one thing bothering me is that I can't feel the dungeon master's mana..."
The dungeon's tiny surveillance camera moved.
It was unfolding exactly like during the manticore wave, though.
Unlike then, there was no maze.
All that lay before Reverio and Zius was a straight corridor.
They began walking forward with confidence.
Normally, a dungeon was basically a place you couldn't even dream of entering.
Unless you were some dumb troll or goblin, the dungeons left on this continent were terrifying places that took serious resolve to enter.
However.
If it was a newbie dungeon master's dungeon, that was a different story.
They say there were far more dungeons in the past than there are now.
And unlike the dungeons that survived until now, back then even ordinary humans could beat down the dungeon master and minions with wooden swords to get mana stones.
They were special.
Even dozens of ordinary humans were nothing more than moving toys to us.
Three hours passed as they diligently moved forward.
Reverio and Zius had to choose whether to turn back here or keep going straight ahead.
A so-called fork in the road.
The two met each other's gaze and nodded.
They were on the same page.
It was straight ahead.
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More than half a day had passed.
Now they couldn't turn back until they left with the mana stones.
A little while later.
They stopped walking.
And frowned.
"Hey. What the hell is that?"
"……."
It was completely blocking the corridor.
The unidentified thing, with its entrance wide open, was must have been some kind of machine they'd never seen before.
Inside the narrow square space, a faint fluorescent light flickered from the ceiling.
The walls were covered with smudged metal panels,