Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

To make his dungeon so that adventurers couldn't conquer it easily, Simon added six new floors to his dungeon in these past few days. He designed the 28th to 30th floors as forests covered with a thick mist that messed with your perception and sense of direction and at the same time made the visibility very low.

After the increase in the dungeon rank, some of the features have also improved. For example, the mist which only reduced the visibility previously, could now even disrupt skills such as mental map, sensor, pathfinder, and such to some extent.

It was not only the mist, even the traps had become more lethal and more varieties have been added. Simon could take his time and carefully set them up in places that would have the most effect.

The new floors spanned more than thirty kilometres and had some rare flowers and herbs growing on them. Though they are not that precious, their effects are still something that would entice quite a number of adventurers into harvesting them. Some of the herbs even had the effects which could cure minor injuries.

"But it will not be easy for the adventurers to just plunder them as large groups of Savage Warrior Monkeys and Chimera Bears spawned on these floors" Simon smiled wickedly his devious nature on full display.

The nature of these monsters is quite unique in that they are treehuggers (meaning someone who loves nature... an environmentalist). They would absolutely not tolerate someone harvesting the plants and herbs from their territory. They would die to defend it.

These are the monsters that would defend his dungeon. Of course, Simon made some time to research them.

From the 31st floor till the 33rd floor begins the desert area. Ores that generate intense heat called the Crimson Agate are produced under the sand to make the atmosphere similar to the actual desert. This was one of the new features after the rank up.

The dungeon is now capable of producing ores in some of the areas. Obviously, the areas in which they can be produced are few since the density of mystical energy inside his dungeon is still very low.

According to the memories that Simon inherited, the crimson agate was one of the popular items used as a heat source in the workshops for making weapons and armours in this world. Since they are not very rare, a sizeable amount of crimson agate can be mined from under the desert but the adventurers would also have to fend off the Desert Cactopus, Purple Poison Spider, and the numerous traps laid for them in the dungeon.

The main floor was shifted to the bottom as usual. After finishing his remodelling of the dungeon, Simon decided to visit the pond of serenity located behind the white palace. There he noticed the twenty saplings of the Tree of Manas that was growing quite well under the nourishment of the pond.

Though the analysis still identified them as saplings, they were already more than thirty meters in height. Their trunk was fairly wide about seven meters while branches and leaves have started to sprout from them. It hadn't been long since he planted them but their growth was quite astonishing.

Looking at their growth, Simon estimated that it wouldn't be long before they start to mature and begin condensing and accumulating the manas from the surrounding. The pond of serenity was starting to show its effets. He was quite curious to see what height they would reach and what changes they would bring to his dungeon.

Previously, he had only bought twenty seeds of the Tree of Manas from the [Shop] to look at the effects that they could bring, but if they turned out to be quite significant for the dungeon, then Simon was ready to invest quite a bit on them.

As these thoughts were running inside his mind, suddenly from the corner of his eyes, he noticed a beautiful figure quietly sitting by the shore of the lake. Her crystal blue hair, pearly white skin, and her demeanour made her seem like a fairy that had descended into the mortal world.

Her hands that seemed like they were carved from the purest of jade, was gently holding an ice lotus. Her icy appearance made the surrounding space to silently snow; nonetheless, this did not dampen her beauty but instead enhanced it a fewfold.

Simon who got mesmerized by the scene that lay in front of him, went into a daze for a few seconds before he hurriedly shook his head to snap out of it. 'So she was here huh' Simon thought as he marvelled at this picturesque scene as she silently sat by the lake.

At this moment, Irene had also sensed his presence as she turned towards him. Clearing his throat, Simon said, "Uhm I'm about to explore the forest outside the dungeon and at the same try to increase my level."

It had been more than a week since he last went out of his dungeon. After the dungeon war, Simon was too busy with the construction and remodelling of his floors that he neglected his training and level. Now that he got a chance, he wanted to increase his strength. However, he realised that he wasn't the only one who needed to level up.

When her beautiful phoenix eyes fell on him, Simon hurriedly tried to explain himself " Uhm… what I mean is since you are still level 1, do you want to come too?". She could level up plus explore the outside world and he could use this chance to see her abilities.

Irene calmly looked at Simon, her silence lasted for a while before she nodded. Seeing that she was willing, Siimon was surprised a little. "In that case, ill open a teleport gate outside the dungeon" as he said that, he quickly opened his [Main Menu] and quickly formed a teleport gate using the [Dungeon] function.

A dungeon master can easily conjure a teleport gate using the menu even without using Space magic. This function allows the dungeon master and the ones allowed to use the menu to teleport to any of the floors inside the dungeon.

Of course, the function has its disadvantages, that is you can only teleport near the vicinity of the dungeon.. Once you leave the vicinity, you can no longer use the teleport function unless one learns to use Space magic, one of the four rare forms of manas.