Deadmeat Saga

Gerhart was speechless as he read the message.

The relic called it a Tier-6 Self-Automated Resource Extraction Core. He understood that Tier-6 likely referred to a 60-floor Dungeon, and Self-Automated meant the dungeon operated by itself. However, it is called a Resource Extraction Core.

"Resource Extraction?! From what? To whom?" Gerhart started becoming confused.

Dungeons were called the lungs of the earth for thousands of years, creating the resource called Magic Stones, dropped from monsters. If people didn't periodically clear the dungeon, monsters would swarm out. That was common sense even a thousand years ago.

But from how the relic worded it, it sounded like a mine silo mining precious ores.

Unable to understand these things, Gerhart shook his head. "Forget it. Let's conquer it first."

With that thought, Gerhart used 1,000,000 from his saved Energy Points to hack the controlling rights of the dungeon.

 

Hacking In Progress- Successful!

Warning! Detected a highly covert one-sided connection to an unknown entity siphoning Magical, Life, and Soul Energy.

Probing- Success!

The entity is dormant and unable to respond to stimuli. However, the entity is too powerful to be influenced. (Required Stage 4 Ascension.)

Blocking Connection - Success!

Congratulations on acquiring complete control over a Tier-6 Resource Extraction Core!

 

"What... The actual fuck?" Gerhart widened his eyes, his body shaking. "Some unknown entity was guzzling on- Life and Soul energy?!"

And then, a horrifying thought crossed his mind. "Then... What happened to Mylo and Hazel? Did I absorb their souls? Or did it?"

He always thought that their souls ascended to the gods or got absorbed by himself, but it appears that might not be the case.

"Doesn't that mean all life is its resources? And it requires Stage 4 Ascension? I could influence a goddess with Stage 1 Ascension, but it needs Stage 4?! Just how terrifying is that thing?!" Gerhart thought in horror.

He felt like the cat that opened a bag it shouldn't have. And now, he couldn't un-remember this. Everyone who died in the dungeon became some unknown creature's lunch. And the most terrible part was that people saw the dungeon as a treasure trove! The Magic Stones, Equipment, and Skill Books were all cheap lures to bait them into a soup pot. When they didn't fall for it, it forced them through monster tides. And when that creature eats enough and regains enough power-

"This... Our world is DEADMEAT!" Gerhart exclaimed.

"My lord?!"

"Master?!"

Havre and Qold looked at Gerhart with surprised and concerned looks. They didn't understand what upset him suddenly.

"I... I will tell you later." Gerhart warily said and looked at the details of this dungeon.

Through the Obelisk, he received information.

 

Name: Core No. 1872
Owner: Gerhart.
Tier: 6.
Theme: Undead.
Energy: 9,998,637,151/10,000,000,000
Activity Level: High.
Estimated Time for Dungeon Overflow: ---

 

Actions:

• Teleport to Obelisk
• Dungeon Layout
• Item Creation
• Item Drop Settings
• Monster Creation
• Energy Extraction Protocols
• Extract Energy
• Dungeon Overflow Trigger Conditions

 

"10 billion?!" Gerhart went slack-jawed.

And he saw that the energy of the dungeon was recovering in real time, about 10 points per second. Gerhart figured it would take around 30 years to fill up when empty. As for the current missing energy, it might not even take a day to refill.

"Why... Would it gather so much?!" Gerhart couldn't understand the reasoning behind this.

For what conceivable reason would it do this? Wasn't 100 million enough? Why 10 billion?

"Either way, this is a good thing for me. Maybe I can extract this energy?" Gerhart got tempted.

However, he still checked the other things, just in case.

Opening the Dungeon Layout, he saw a mental projection of the entire dungeon. There were 60 floors, each increasingly bigger than the last.

Mostly green dots filled the map, but some red, yellow, and white dots were scattered around. At the bottom, Gerhart quickly found a blue dot next to two red dots and a white dot. He guessed that the blue dot was himself, and Havre and Qold were red dots, while the white dot was the Obelisk.

"Hm... I see." Gerhart muttered as he looked at the red dots on the lowest floors.

Several dots were active on the 56th to 58th floors, but most were active around the 51st to 55th floors. There were no red dots active on the 59th and 60th floors.

"It should be safe for now," Gerhart muttered, checking the Item Creation section. 

 

Immediately, he received a list of items.

 

Item Creation:

• Magic Stones
• Teleportation Stones
• Ingredients
• Food and Water
• Everyday Items
• Potions
• Stat Elixirs
• Evolution Elixirs
• Equipment
• Wonderous Items
• Skill Books
• Talent Orbs
• Bloodlines and Mutations

 

"I... Holy shit." Gerhart widened his eyes even more in mute shock.

Hesitantly, Gerhart checked the Evolution Elixir.

 

Evolution Elixir:

• Stage 1 Evolution Elixir(Regular): 10,000
• Stage 1 Evolution Elixir(Elite): 100,000
• Stage 1 Evolution Elixir(Superior): 1,000,000

 

"... Fuck." Gerhart couldn't help but curse aloud.

He never heard of dungeons being able to produce Evolution Elixirs! And there they were, listed here like items in a shop. The price even conformed with the relics! Even if it missed the Perfect and Golden Evolution ones, it was still incredible!

"If they are listed here, why did they never drop?" Gerhart asked himself.

Suspicious, Gerhart also checked the Talent Orb section, which he never heard of before.

 

Talent Orbs:

• Physique
• Magical
• Elemental
• Aura
• Psionic
• Combat
• Support
• Crafting
• Utility

 

Physique Talents:

• Tier 1
• Tier 2
• Tier 3
• Tier 4
• Tier 5
• Tier 6

 

Physique Talents - Tier 6:

• Giant's Might: 1,000,000
• Superior Font of Vitality: 1,000,000
• Super Defense: 1,000,000
• Swift as Lightning: 1,000,000
• Absolute Body Control: 1,000,000
• ...
• Indomitable Arms: 1,000,000
• ...

 

"Oh my god." Gerhart widened his eyes in disbelief again.

He expected it, but seeing it with his eyes was shocking! Although Initial Strength Supremacy and such were not listed, these talents were already fantastic!

These precious talents, sought after by many but without supply, are listed here as items anyone can purchase.

He then went to the Stat Elixirs and checked.

 

Stat Elixirs - Strength:

• E-Grade: 23
• D-Grade: 96
• C-Grade: 401
• B-Grade: 1,673
• A-Grade: 6,987
• S-Grade: 29,181

 

"I thought as much." Gerhart bitterly smiled.

It was a Tier 6 Dungeon, so S-rank stats were the most it could produce. He couldn't expect to purchase SS-rank stats.

And lastly, Gerhart checked the Bloodline Section.

 

Bloodlines and Mutations:

• Bloodline Elixirs
• Bloodline Tonics
• Mutation Inducers
• Golden Marrow Stimulators

 

Bloodlines and Mutations - Elixirs:

• Human Bloodlines
• Beastkin Bloodlines
• Elf Bloodlines
• Dwarf Bloodlines
• Goblin Bloodlines
• ...

 

Bloodlines and Mutations - Elixirs - Human Bloodlines:

• Warrior Human Bloodline Elixir(1%): 1,000
• Warrior Human Bloodline Elixir(10%): 10,000
• Warrior Human Bloodline Elixir(30%): 30,000
• Warrior Human Bloodline Elixir(50%): 50,000
• Warrior Human Bloodline Elixir(100%): 100,000
• ...
• Fire Human Bloodline Elixir(100%): 100,000
• ...
• Spatial Human Bloodline Elixir(100%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Magic Human Bloodline Elixir(100%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Psionic Human Bloodline Elixir(10%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Deep Magic Human Bloodline Elixir(10%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Exodite Human Bloodline Elixir(10%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Earth God(Human Variant) Bloodline Elixir(10%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Great Sage(Human Variant) Bloodline Elixir(10%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Sword God(Human Variant) Bloodline Elixir(10%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Tyrant Human Bloodline Elixir(1%): 100,000
• Tyrant Human Bloodline Elixir(10%): 1,000,000
• ...
• Primordial Human Bloodline Elixir(1%): 1,000,000

 

"Holy shit." Gerhart was shocked as he looked at this list.

There were thousands of human bloodlines! And one of the top on the list was the Tyrant Bloodline. It was worth ten to a hundred times as much as almost all the bloodlines on the list! But there were bloodlines on par with it and one that surpassed them all.

"I... I feel like a frog at the bottom of a deep well." Gerhart was dazed.

Shaking his head, Gerhart exited the Item Creation section. Instead, he searched for the Item Drop Settings. He felt it was related to why the drop rates of items were so low.

 

Item Drop Rate:

• Magic Stones: Always
• Teleportation Stones: Rare
• Ingredients: Uncommon
• Food and Water: Disabled
• Everyday Items: Uncommon
• Potions: Rare
• Stat Elixirs: Disabled
• Evolution Elixirs: Disabled
• Equipment: Uncommon
• Wonderous Items: Ultra Rare
• Skill Books: Ultra Rare
• Talent Orbs: Disabled
• Bloodlines and Mutations: Disabled

 

"So malicious!" Gerhart thought.

These settings infinitely lowered the dungeon's usefulness. How can anyone grow above a certain point when these settings are so shitty?

He then frowned and checked the Energy Extraction Protocols.

 

Energy Extraction Protocols:

• Covert Mode: Extreme.
• Extracting Stagnant Magic Energies from the atmosphere and ground: On.
• Extracting Stagnant Life Energies from the atmosphere and ground: On.
• Extracting Stagnant Soul Energies from the atmosphere and ground: On.
• Extracting Magic Energy from Digested Entities: On.
• Extracting Life Energy from Digested Entities: On.
• Extracting Soul Energy from Digested Entities: On.

 

"This is terrible!" Gerhart shook.

For once, he felt glad he absorbed Mylo and Hazel. At least they were not eaten by this horrible thing!

Without hesitation, Gerhart shut down the Soul Extraction part. As for the Life Part, after hesitating for a moment, he decided to leave it as is. At the very least, no one visibly suffered from it until now.

And then, he looked at the Dungeon Overflow Trigger Conditions.

 

Dungeon Overflow Trigger Conditions:

• Enable Dungeon Overflow?: Enabled.
• Condition 1: Reach maximum energy capacity.
• Condition 2: Activity Ratings: Low for 365 Day Cycles.

 

"So fucking malicious!" Gerhart retorted.

With such settings, people were forced to continue slaving away in the dungeon, one day dying from something and being sucked dry. Without hesitation, Gerhart disabled the Dungeon Overflow option.

And finally, Gerhart's eyes shifted to the Extract Energy part.

 

Extract Energy:

• Long Distance Extraction(Blocked).
• Manual Extraction.
• Manual Input.

 

"Okay, I am not surprised anymore." Gerhart warily thought and selected Manual Extraction.

 

Extract Energy - Manual Extraction:

• Input Amount of Energy: 0.
• Note: Requires appropriate vessel.

 

Gerhart selected ten million for now and confirmed.

The next moment, the Obelisk shook as a gush of energy rushed into Gerhart through his hand.

Woosh* Woosh* Woosh*

Gerhart stayed in place as he absorbed more and more energy, remaining in place. Perhaps because it was a readily available energy, the process lasted a relatively short time. In half a minute, Gerhart absorbed 10 million units of energy.

Looking at his spiking energy, Gerhart didn't hesitate and selected a billion!

An hour later-

 

Energy: 1,010,214,918

 

"Holy fuck..." Gerhart shook as he looked at the mind-numbing amount of energy.

There were still almost 9 billion points left. Gerhart didn't even know what to do with such an amount.

"... I will think about it later. It's getting late, and I am mentally stressed." Gerhart thought and turned to look at Havre and Qold patiently waiting.

"Sorry for the wait. Let's leave." Gerhart said.

"It is okay, my lord." Havre smiled.

"I am interested in knowing what happened in detail later," Qold added.

"I will tell you when we get home," Gerhart said.

After teleporting to the first floor and putting their loot on sale, the clerk shook as he looked at the items on the table. That was especially so when he appraised the Wonderous Item, Analyze Status Monocle(S).

"T-This comes down to 121,800 Silver Coins." The clerk said, adding the money to Gerhart's account.

"Thank you." Gerhart smiled, not thinking about it too deeply.

"Sir and two misses, you are eligible for an S-rank test. Would you like to schedule it?" The clerk asked.

"No need for now." Gerhart smiled.

"Understood. By the way, are the three of you interested in a bounty mission?" The clerk suddenly asked.

"Hm? Bounty?" Gerhart raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, a bounty. It is about that bastard, Ma Yang, who got exiled from the city not long ago. Not even ten days after his crimes, he already started mass-murdering 12 Dungeon Explorers and topped that off with three City Guards in Droham Dungeon City. What a fucking lunatic! Anyways, there is a Million Bounty on his head, wanted dead. You would also get Royal Recognition which can help you become a noble or clear some of your crimes, the favor of the temples, an A-rank reputation for Four in the Adventurer's Guild, and- Er..." The male clerk suddenly hesitated as he looked at Havre and Qold.

"Yeah?" Gerhart raised an eyebrow.

"Ahum* Special thanks from the Pink Delight- Shop and all its lovely ladies." The clerk whispered.

"Ah... I see." Gerhart nodded and didn't ask more.

"Anyway, the danger rating is B-rank and above, so you are more than qualified." The clerk said.

"Did they tell you to promote it?" Gerhart curiously asked.

"Yes. Ma Yang angered the Guild, so we promote the bounty to any valid individuals." The clerk explained.

"I see. Ma Yang is in Droham's direction, right?" Gerhart confirmed.

"When he was last seen, yes." The clerk nodded. "He escaped into the nearby woodland, and there is now a wild manhunt."

"Okay, I will consider it. Thank you and good day." Gerhart nodded and left the guild with Havre and Qold.

Minutes later, several informants left the guild to their employers.