After the Magistrates had left, Darius smiled softly as he rose to his feet and teleported out of this temporary meeting place. His next goal was to check up on Safemoon's Dungeon so he could continue his research on Dungeon Cores.
Darius appeared at the entrance of the Wood element Dungeon he had transmuted before Safemoon had even been founded, gazing upon its size that had more than tripled since his last visit. He was partly stunned and impressed by how much it had developed without any further input from him.
Around the Dungeon were hundreds of adventurers who were entering and exiting at all times, laughing about their gains, or sighing about their losses. The adventurers of Safemoon were a very skilled bunch, and they also helped bring a more stable flow of income to Safemoon aside from Darius' own resources. As such, they were treated well, trained well and equipped well.
Naturally, when Darius appeared, everyone's HoloBrace went off as Martin gave them a dark warning not to interfere with Safemoon's Lord or even look at him. For their own good, they'd better pretend like they had never seen him before.
They mostly complied, though a few arrogant souls or curious ones sized him up to see what was so special about him. However, Darius did not mind it, as long as they stayed out of his way.
Using Analyze, he checked the details of the Dungeon.
[Safemoon's Dungeon - Dungeon
Element(s): Wood
Durability: 2,344,000/2,344,000 (95,000)
Floors: 15 (3)
Amateur Monsters: 2,100,000 (3,456)
Journeyman Monsters: 210,000 (2,390)
Adept Monsters: 21,000 (1,207)
Master Monsters: 2,100
Grandmaster Monsters: 210
Amateur Boss Monsters: 180 (5)
Journeyman Boss Monsters: 150 (3)
Adept Boss Monsters: 120 (1)
Master Boss Monsters: 90
Grandmaster Boss Monsters: 60
Dungeon Core(s): 1
Core Grade: Crystal
Maximum instances: 100,000,000,000,000 (100,000)
Maximum persons per instance: 500,000 (500)
Energy Gathering Rate: 200 SE Per Death
Energy Gathering Efficiency: Perfect
Total Energy Gathered: 549,207,980 (43,185) SE
Total Energy Spent: 442,541,631 (0) SE]
Darius stood there in total shock. It had been more than 2 years since he had last analyzed the Dungeon for sure, but the contrast between then, when it had barely been able to cater to Adepts, and now, where it had obviously reached the point that even Grandmasters might get challenged, was far too great.
He wondered just how many people had died in there to contribute their Soul Energy to the Dungeon's growth.
Heh, whatever the case, Darius had them to thank for this. Such growth was unprecedented, and he wondered if there were even any adventurers qualified to go down that deep.
"Unfortunately, no. The highest level of adventurer we have is still at the Adept stage, though they're close to becoming Master. The rewards from the Dungeon might be good, but facing the talent of some, it can only do so much. Even those nurtured with your resources need a few years to climb from Amateur to Adept, much less cross the Master stage hurdle." Martin explained as he popped up on Darius' HoloBrace.
Since he was in charge of User Interaction, he handled the day-to-day functionality of the HoloBraces for everyone who wore them. As such, he was more suited to reveal this information to Darius than his AI sisters.
Darius nodded and walked forward stately. "If that's the case, let me try out this Dungeon for myself."
Thinking about it, Darius had never actually run his own Dungeon properly. Last time, he had let Gunner pave the way and after that, he had never bothered.
When he entered the black maw of the Dungeon, a collective sigh of relief sounded from the other adventurers, as the constant warning from the HoloBraces had been weighing on them all this while.
Darius noted that he had appeared in the first room, which was neither a restroom nor a battle room, but just an empty cavern. He remembered that this was where he had implanted the Dragon Heart into his chest back then, because he had deemed it to be the safest location.
He continued onward to the first rest station. He noted that the food and drinks here were quite high quality, and would certainly allow anyone to recover quickly.
There were beds with first aid equipment nearby to help perform emergency treatment, but that was the limit of it. In fact, this much was solely set up due to Xela's kindness, otherwise it would be fight after fight with no rest.
At the end of the day, this was still a Dungeon, and its job was to devour the souls of the treasure seekers in order to empower itself. While it might be gentle, it still had to follow its basic instinct.
Darius crossed over into the first Amateur room and saw that it was a huge arena that was dome-shaped. All around it were doors that began to open up, releasing waves of Wood element monsters at level 1.
They numbered more than the eye could see, though Darius counted around 10,000 of them. He smiled with interest, ignoring the restless monsters that had already charged at him.
Without even bothering to equip his staff, he used the Journeyman spell Fireball. As it was at the max level, its size was as big as a 4x4 SUV.
Darius simply tossed it onto the ground before him, sending the entire cavern into flames as the explosion spread across. He himself stood within the flames, unharmed in his entirety thanks to his passive magical barrier, and his high Willpower.
As for the Wood element monsters that populated this place, they were not so lucky. Many of them directly turned into ashes, and they were the lucky ones.
The others that were not so fortunate were screeching in agony as they rolled about, burning in the fire and feeling excruciating pain. They tried to survive, but only prolonged their suffering while Darius waited.
Eventually, the monsters were all cleared by him, and he nodded. He then looked around to see that the doors opened again, this time more than 20,000 level 2 Wood element monsters rushed out, roaring menacingly and screeching their intent to slaughter!!!
Right into the still burning inferno…
