Chapter 32: Boss, do you realize it's pitch black in here right now?

"Dilan, do you know how dungeons came to be?"

The old bat was temporarily out of reach, and everything else was on the right track. With some free time, Lin Jun began thinking about the dungeon again.

Under the torchlight, Dilan, who was trimming the edges of a coffin lid, stopped his work and scratched his head in thought.

"How they came to be?

Sorry, Boss, I've never thought about that question.

I heard stories when I was a kid, saying that a great battle between a hero and a demon king opened a passage to the abyss, forming the dungeon.

But that doesn't make sense logically; it's clearly just a story.

As for whether there are other theories, I wouldn't know."

That story sounds just like two supreme beings fighting until the stars shattered...

"So, has no one researched this?"

"Oh, they have. The Relic Association does exactly that, and they even have long-term bounties for relevant clues.

It's a pity those missions are just for show; any valuable clues were picked clean hundreds of years ago.

I've never heard of anyone getting rich off that."

"Then can you get that information from that association?"

Dilan waved his hands repeatedly after hearing this.

"Impossible, Boss. The Relic Association is an official organization affiliated with the United Kingdom.

A bottom-tier adventurer like me can't even get through the door.

And I'm not a thief, so I can't help you steal the documents you want."

So it really wasn't possible. This didn't exceed Lin Jun's expectations; he was just asking.

Unlike Dilan and the other locals who took the dungeon as a normal part of the world,

Lin Jun felt that many parts of this dungeon were too orderly; they were clearly arranged on purpose.

There must be many secrets behind it.

But it seemed he didn't have a chance to touch upon them yet.

Come to think of it, if bottom-tier adventurers can't get in, a Duke's daughter should be able to, right?

Should he try to have Dilan contact Inanna?

After thinking for a while, Lin Jun still felt there was no need to rush; he could take it slow.

He didn't know what Inanna's situation was right now, so he'd have Dilan ask around first.

"Boss, there's something I want to ask."

Dilan's slightly hesitant words pulled Lin Jun's attention back.

"What is it?"

"It's just... why has the fifth floor been getting darker lately?"

Dark?

Is it?

Lin Jun really didn't feel that way; his sensory perception for seeing things was different.

After carefully discerning, he realized Dilan was being quite tactful.

It wasn't just dark; the entire floor was almost completely black...

Although there was no sun in the dungeon, there were almost no completely dark floors.

Glowing firefly grass or some luminous stones in the rock walls could provide a certain level of brightness.

The dome of the fifth floor was covered in firefly grass, making it one of the brighter floors.

So, where did the firefly grass go?

Why did they all turn into mushrooms on the dome...

He hadn't actually noticed when his fungal mat had crawled up to the dome.

It looked like the firefly grass on the fifth floor was about to be eaten to extinction.

So it was his own fault...

While it didn't affect him, being completely dark was clearly unfavorable for adventurers coming to trade, and Dilan seemed quite inconvenienced.

Who knew how long it would take to grow the firefly grass back to its original scale?

Should he just use fluorescent mushrooms instead?

Although due to skill compatibility issues, fluorescent mushrooms were far less bright than firefly grass.

But now that the whole floor was covered in mushrooms of all sizes, it certainly wouldn't be considered dark once they glowed.

It seemed that was the only way for now.

——

"Collect Slime Cores... ten stalks of firefly grass... two-headed snake venom sac..." In the Adventurer's Guild hall, Vera was picking tasks from the bounty board.

A pair of childhood friends sat on a bench not far away, with Feiyin's mood clearly quite low.

Last time, the group was attacked by raiders, not only losing a large amount of equipment and supplies but also nearly losing their lives.

If those two raiders hadn't provoked Puji, they wouldn't have made it back.

Since returning, Feiyin had shown great resistance to going to the dungeon.

Vera understood, but living expenses had to be earned, especially after such a large loss of property.

He and Feiling discussed it and decided to take some simple upper-floor tasks to make ends meet.

They would make further decisions based on Feiyin's recovery.

If that didn't work, it wouldn't be impossible for them to switch professions and become caravan guards.

Noisy discussions kept coming; although the guild was usually lively, it seemed exceptionally noisy today.

Vera noticed that many people were gathered around the exclusive board for official tasks.

Did the authorities have new tasks?

Just as Vera was about to squeeze into the crowd, a giant, fur-covered palm violently pushed the crowd apart.

The unexpected shove made him stumble back a few steps, with a yellowish-brown hair stuck to his lip.

"Ptooey, ptooey—"

It was a shedding beast...

A muscular tiger-man walked straight to the task board, his oily fur gleaming with an amber luster under the lights.

The people around him cursed, but their feet honestly moved back half a step.

The tiger-man scanned the board twice and reached out to tear off the latest A-rank task.

Arriving at the counter on the right side of the hall, the tiger-man slapped his adventurer ID card and the task sheet onto it.

"Register the task."

Behind the counter was the guild's signature receptionist, Helena—a lady with a pretty face and long red hair.

The two seemed to know each other.

Helena took the ID card, glanced at the tiger-man and his leopard-man teammate behind him, and asked casually:

"Inigo, why are you back in Ya-Feng? Where's Pasi? Why don't I see him?"

"Stop nagging. This isn't an entry inspection; just hurry up and register it for me." Inigo looked impatient.

"It seems it's really dangerous over at the archipelago..."

After Helena muttered this, she ignored the tiger-man's ugly expression and gave him a reminder according to guild regulations.

"Inigo, the recommended number of people for this A-rank task is 3 to 4 Gold-rank adventurers. I suggest you first find..."

Bang—

The tiger-man slammed a palm onto the counter, interrupting Helena.

"Don't treat me like a newbie with your suggestions. The two of us are enough. Hurry up and register!"

Helena raised her eyebrows; she wasn't angry at being yelled at, but after registering, she didn't return the ID card to the tiger-man immediately.

"What's the meaning of this?"

Helena extended a finger and pointed at the cracked counter.

"%@#&*%&*……"

7 silver coins were tossed onto the counter by Inigo, who then angrily took back his ID card and called for the accompanying leopard-man to leave the guild hall together.

After the tiger-man left, Vera grabbed an adventurer nearby to ask what task everyone was so concerned about.

"What else could it be? Those mushrooms everyone's been talking about lately!

The guild finally issued a task to investigate the cause of the mutation."

"Then those two beast-men just now..."

"I don't know them, but anyone who can take an A-rank task must be a Gold-rank expert."

Vera recalled the Puji he had encountered on the fifth floor from start to finish.

To investigate in detail, wouldn't they have to enter the swamp area strictly guarded by the Puji?

Could two Gold-rank adventurers really handle it?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 34 =====