Chapter 36: 37 What to do if I can't go back?

Dilan felt he had entered a semi-retirement life now.

Every day after getting up from the mycelium coffin, he had to cook a bowl of mushroom soup.

These were all picked in the forest; the Boss had said that gray mushrooms could be eaten at will.

It's just that as a Fungoid, eating mushrooms still gave him a subtle sense of incongruity...

Moreover, the soup always had a bland, earthy smell, and he had to sprinkle a few grains of rock salt to awaken a little bit of flavor.

In addition, it might be because he mentioned the problem of the floor being too dim to the Boss before, but recently the mushrooms had all started to glow.

Although it was great that the lighting problem was solved, it was very uncomfortable that the soup he cooked also glowed with a faint light, making him feel like he was drinking a potion brewed by a witch.

Fortunately, the work was very leisurely, and the Boss wouldn't arrange any tasks except for business trips to the surface.

Occasionally, there were some equipment or items that adventurers forgot to take away, which required Dilan to identify their value; otherwise, there was nothing to do.

He would occasionally use this free time to go up and hunt, getting some edible monsters back.

After all, he couldn't just eat mushrooms all the time.

When he told the Boss last time that he wanted some monsters to improve his diet, and the Boss sent him a few incomplete Puji, Dilan knew he had to find a way to get extra food himself.

No matter what, eating his own colleagues was just too...

Fortunately, the Boss didn't oppose him going to the upper floors to hunt, and even quite supported it, just urging him to throw the remaining parts of the monsters into the swamp.

Finally, to improve his quality of life on the fifth floor, he even applied for a vacant lot in the edge area and started building his own wooden house.

It's a pity that he ran into work just as he started.

The Boss first asked if he knew anything about magic power fluctuations, but as a pure melee fighter, how would he know about magic power?

After that, he was immediately arranged to go to the surface to find out news, and it looked quite urgent.

Not daring to delay, Dilan spent half a day getting to the surface, familiar with the road.

Then he ran into the three official Adventurer's Guild personnel guarding the dungeon entrance.

He recognized the leader; it was a middle-aged adventurer named Marshall who had been active in Ya-Feng Town ten years ago.

But he was a Gold-rank adventurer, and he hadn't entered the dungeon since joining the guild.

Seeing someone blocking the door, the guilty Dilan couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

What happened?

Why seal the entrance?

Wouldn't they check something and discover his disguise?

Swallowing his saliva, Dilan still bit the bullet and walked out with his back straight.

However, the guild personnel only glanced at Dilan and let him out.

Instead, four adventurers who intended to go to the dungeon were stopped head-on.

The red-armored warrior's sword hilt knocked heavily on the stone slab:

"Why aren't we allowed to enter the dungeon?"

The questioning was laced with sparks, but Marshall opposite stood with his arms crossed, looking quite calm.

Most adventurers were this irritable, raising their volume first when encountering problems; he was used to it.

"Magic tide warning; the dungeon is sealed according to guild requirements."

As soon as the words "magic tide" came out, the dissatisfaction of the adventurers opposite seemed to disappear instantly.

Although a magic tide only occurs in every dungeon once every ten years or so, most adventurers hadn't encountered one before today.

But there wasn't an adventurer who didn't know its reputation as the dungeon's greatest disaster.

Because of the magic tide, the dungeon was sealed; no one would oppose this.

The four of them huddled together and muttered for a long time before asking with some concerns:

"May I ask how long this will be sealed? What about the time-limited tasks we've taken? We can't just let them drag on until the task fails..."

Some time-limited tasks require a deposit, and if they fail, the deposit is naturally gone.

However, the guild side was clearly experienced and had considered every aspect.

"Just go to the guild front desk to apply for an extension or cancellation of the task. As for the seal, of course, it will be sealed until the magic tide ends."

After speaking, Marshall waved his hand at the adventurers, signaling them to leave quickly.

Those four adventurers left, but Dilan rubbed his hands and leaned over.

"I have some things hidden on the second floor; can you let me go get them back? It'll be quick!"

"No!" Marshall refused without even thinking. What did it have to do with him if others lost things?

Dilan took half a step forward and quietly handed a shiny gold coin to Marshall.

Marshall's Adam's apple rolled twice, and his peripheral vision swept over the two colleagues behind him.

The people executing the task with him this time weren't people he was familiar with; he couldn't be sure if anyone would report him, so it wasn't worth taking the risk for a few gold coins.

"Rules are rules!"

Pushing Dilan away, Marshall refused his request to return again with an impartial face.

Dilan scratched his head helplessly—what should he do now?

He had easily heard the news, but he couldn't send it back.

He always felt that compared to himself, the Boss needed a high-level infiltrator to do these things...

After thinking about it, he'd better go to the tavern to see first.

————

As soon as the moldy wooden door was pushed open a crack, the turbid smell of alcohol hit Dilan, making him take half a step back.

The business at the Rotten Willow Tavern today could be described as explosive.

Adventurers who couldn't enter the dungeon clearly intended to soak themselves to death in alcohol.

When Dilan walked in, he found there were no empty seats at all, and it was crowded everywhere with drunken adventurers.

If there were three of the Boss's self-detonating Puji here right now...

Dilan shook his head; why did he have such a strange thought?

"A glass of wine." Dilan tapped the bar with his finger.

The boss scooped half a bowl of brown liquid from a wooden barrel, and the edge of the ceramic bowl was still stained with suspicious dirt.

The bowl's capacity was clearly not as good as a wooden cup; this old profiteer.

Finding a place to lean, Dilan listened carefully to the conversations around him.

The topic everyone was discussing was, unsurprisingly, this magic tide.

Some young people didn't know the dangers of the magic tide and were still complaining about being short of money and not being able to live without going to the dungeon.

This immediately drew ridicule from others.

"Kid, isn't it good to be alive?"

"Going to the dungeon now? You're planning to feed your own flesh to the monsters!"

Amidst everyone's laughter, a retired adventurer with graying hair said some valuable news:

"Actually, don't worry about having no work.

According to experience, the guild will issue assistance tasks in a few days.

By then, there will be countless monsters waiting for you to kill at the dungeon entrance, and there will even be guys running out from the deep zone.

As long as you aren't afraid of death, there's plenty of money to be made."

Hearing that there was still a chance to make money, many people in the tavern looked forward to it, making the old adventurer shake his head.

Vera also thanked the old adventurer excitedly.

If they really couldn't make money for ten days or half a month, the three of them would only be able to consider mortgaging their equipment...

Dilan knew that monsters would rush out, but it was the first time he heard that it included existences from the deep zone.

If monsters from the deep zone rushed to the surface, then the inside of the dungeon would probably be even more chaotic...

He had never considered this problem before.

Dilan also remembered hearing people say that after every magic tide, the ecology of each floor in the dungeon would change somewhat.

He was a little worried now; would the Boss become the part that was changed away...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 38 =====