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Chapter 218 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”
🕑 Added 2024-09-20 09:47:18 +0000 UTCPov Ace
My minder was starting to get suspicious. Fortunately, he seemed to be quite busy with something they weren’t talking to me about, and a lot of diamond ranks have left my city. Fortunately, I have made some contacts that can keep me informed of things. It seems that some faction or group is determined to reveal the diamond ranks’ secrets, and honestly, I’m all for it—less focus on ETG and me.
It did seem a bit too convenient, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The best thing to have come out of this is that I have been able to hide a bit about how many new platinum-rank adventurers have been created in this dungeon.
The so-called leaders of free dungeons, and basically every other dungeon as well, are given limits on how many platinum’s a year could advance, and well, I’m about 10 years ahead of schedule on that front.
My minder wasn’t focused on that, he was focused on where I went so often. To me, it seems like an abuse of power, but to those people, it just seems like routine and how to properly keep track of people.
He never suspected me of going into the dungeon, as that would be too crazy to think about. Nowadays, ETG doesn't have any problem with me being inside his dungeon; he barely even focuses on me whenever I step in there.
This has been wonderful as I have been able to oversee the changing of locations for a lot of my more secretive organizations and, after so long, finally fight again. I’ve had to limit myself quite a lot in the fighting department; otherwise, everything would be way too easy, but it still helped keep me sane.
Everyone was constantly pushing my boundaries, trying to eke out more power in my nation. I would be fine with it, and I have let some people gain more power, but those are singular individuals in a sea of people wanting power.
The problem is that most seek power for power's sake, not to help make their environment better. They should have plenty of opportunities in other kingdoms, places corrupt enough where you could basically become king if you had enough coin. Why can’t they leave my nation alone?
Even after so many executions, I still don’t understand why people think, ‘No, I'm the exception. I can become something that he has never let anyone become.’ At least no one is trying to assassinate me anymore because they literally couldn’t. I still sometimes sense my surroundings for assassins, as it has become a habit, but it's also nice to dodge my minder like this, especially as my destination was the dungeon.
It was nice to have a private entrance no one knew about, and when I touched the gateway and focused on my necklace, I could see the many choices I had for destinations. There were way too many destinations, especially now that I had started to collect them once again.
It was a good thing that any waystation or hub station could be named only once and never changed; otherwise, things would be even more complicated. I also liked that you could actually favorite your preferred destinations, so they would show up first in the list. The search function was also quite nice. I still don’t know how he pulled that one off, but I’m grateful. I chose the destination that was on the top of the list, and that would take me to my own hideout.
As soon as I chose it and stepped through, I ended up in a small clearing with a small hut. From the information I have, this was one of the smaller hideout variants, there were even bigger ones where entire clans could house themselves completely cut off and safe from the rest of the world and even the dungeon.
I don’t know how he got this idea to make places like this, but it was wonderful, even if it was a bit annoying, as it meant that people could hide who were not the best kind of people and even had warrants out for their capture.
My wife and I have been doing a wonderful job at making our alter egos prevalent among the front runners. Finally, we reached a good enough point with the clan that was run by Carl, one of the most influential members of the front runners, and if the rumors were correct, his main crafter called Ziiipe could actually mess with people's skills.
I was going to find that out shortly, and because of that, I went into my quest necklace and changed my hideout settings, giving Ziiipe and a few others access to my hideout. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have accepted if they knew it was me. They will find out soon enough, but I’m still not going to force them to do anything. Hopefully, they will accept my deal and actually keep my secret.
It took another 30 minutes before the deadline came, and eleven people appeared in my hideout, ready to fight to the death from the looks of it. They all looked like front runners. I don’t know why, but all front runner’s kind of looked the same, even if they didn’t look similar at all.
I think it’s the vibe they give off. It’s the vibe of proper wealth, yet the meanness and power to back up whatever they say and wear. Some of that equipment is quite literally the best you could get, and you can't get that just for coin.
“Welcome to my humble hideout. I am glad that you are here, and I hope we can come to an agreement.” There was silence for some time before the short girl with three different crossbows attached to her spoke out loud.
“Well, it was kind of hard to ignore such a deal. If it wasn’t you, we would have all thought it was just another attempt to kidnap me. Yet here we are, and don’t think we can’t escape. Better yet, explain to us how you can give us so many resources and so many different skill stones. Who are you exactly? As I’m certain you aren’t just an adventurer pair with your wife, no mere adventurer should have so much reach and resources to acquire what you are offering.”
“Well reasoned, Ziiipe. I guess if I want this to work, I can’t keep my main secret. Please don’t take this as some sort of trap. I’m actually, really here to get your help, but I also want to compensate you enough for the risk that would come with helping me.” That once again put them on edge. I removed my disguise bracelet, revealing my real face and proportions.
Almost all of them took a step back, and I could see some of them touching bracelets of their own, most likely a way to get out of here fast that I wasn’t aware of.
“City Lord Ace?” Ziiipe asked, looking at me completely confused. “Why would you need my help? There are plenty of people who can get rid of your skills and give you new ones, better than me, and you should have the resources needed to get any skill you want.”
“I’m afraid things aren’t as easy-going as you think they are, especially when you are at the level I am at. Platinum rank, like you and everyone else you are with, is actually where you have the most freedom. Gold rank is a bit too limiting, as you are too weak in comparison to the rest of the world. But as you start climbing the platinum rank, you’ll find how your freedoms will be taken away, one by one.”
“If you ever get to diamond rank, there are currently only two options: you either bend your knee, or you die. I chose the first option, but I don’t want to live forever like that. I am filled with useless skills, and I want to get rid of almost 95% of all my skills. To my knowledge, you are the only skill smith that’s free. You should also stop all those rumors about yourself and never leave your hideout unless you are with people who can protect you from the strongest in this world.”
She didn’t like what I said, but I could see that it wasn’t because of me, per se, but because of what she had heard. Everyone looked a lot more unsure now, but I simply waited, not doing anything that would make them decide to escape.
“I will do it for 10 times the amount you offered, and we need to do it quietly. But this isn’t a guarantee that I can actually do it. In theory, I should be able to do this for diamond ranks, but I’m not entirely sure.”
“Deal!” I said immediately, which made Ziiipe grimace. She looked at me suspiciously, and then I think she realized.
“I heard that you were one of the richest people in this world, but I don’t think I realized what that meant. You could have easily given us 100?” I immediately shook my head and pointed upwards with my finger. “A thousand?” To that, I nodded.
“Damn it. Well, let’s both approach each other, and you all stay here. If he wanted to do anything, I don’t think we could stop him.”
I mean, she was right about that, and the only reason I didn’t go higher than a thousand times was because it would be really difficult to hide that amount of resources going missing. It was even hard for me to wrap my head around how much resources I had access to.
Having a safe place to descend from the trade winds was simply too lucrative, and from what I heard, there were now a lot of people searching every continent to hopefully find a similar place. I wish them luck, as it’s not as easy to manage as they think.
“You ready?” she asked me when we were close enough that she could touch my head with her hand. Up close, she really was quite short. I shook my head but still indicated for her to continue. She touched my head, and I felt a jolt go through me that I could easily crush, but I let it do its job. She was concentrating quite hard, and after about a minute or so, she finally spoke.
"I can do it, and you weren’t lying when you said that you had useless skills. But even removing one skill level exhausts me. This will be a long process, but yes, I can do it. I’ll start with the one that allows you to change your skin color. Is that acceptable?"
“Yes,” a short was all I manage to get out as I needed to concentrate so her mana could continue to exist inside of me. Otherwise, it would be crushed immediately if I didn’t focus on letting it stay.
The process itself was quite uncomfortable and took nearly an hour, but finally, completely exhausted and sweaty, she held the skill stone with that useless skill inside of it. I finally felt an empty skill slot that could be filled with anything. I will finally be able to get skills that I think will be useful for fighting and skills that could synergize with my talent and hopefully make it even better.
“Thank you, Ziiipe,” I said from the bottom of my heart and then handed her a bag. “I think this would be a good start for me to pay off my debt to you.”
Comments
Zarik0
Kind of wanted that MC take a more active role and presence here :°) Atleast show he is present and watching Still with how he had the Mega Skill Stone Library (+ all the other skill he keep collecting) I guess Ace will come to him or mc come to ace for Ace get very good skill for his skill slot
Merlin's Fan
It's happening! The gangs getting together!
