Chapter 59 Dungeon

Back to the Land of Souls.

[Time remaining until this return: 119:59:56.]

[The main quest "Banquet of the Twisted Forest" will begin on the night of the 15th, at which time you may choose whether to enter the dream world "Twisted Forest".]

It actually lasts for five days this time, getting longer and longer indeed...

Qin Yuan then took out another item.

It was precisely the Revelation Card he had obtained from the unknown mystery box this time.

"Let's see what kind of effect it has..."

Following the usage instructions in the item description, Qin Yuan gently wiped the surface of the card.

A few seconds later, images gradually appeared on the previously blank surface of the card.

After another moment, the blurry picture slowly became clear.

Only then did Qin Yuan see the specific details clearly.

What appeared in the image was an empty cavern, and deep within the cave stood an arched door carved with intricate patterns.

Below it was a textual description.

[Deep within the Peaceful Forest.]

At just the first glance, Qin Yuan's pupils constricted slightly as he instantly recognized what this was.

The Gate of the Earth!

Crucially, he had seen this very thing just a few days ago when he went into the forest to transplant the Spring of Magic from that dungeon onto his floating island, so naturally, he couldn't be mistaken.

"That means there is a new Gate of the Earth deep within the forest!"

Qin Yuan quickly realized the information the Revelation Card intended to convey.

He then connected this to the relevant content mentioned by the Grimoire of Whispers.

The Gate of the Earth was something that appeared randomly and could manifest at any location in the world.

Once pushed open, the legendary dungeon would naturally lie within.

Although he had visited a similar area before, that place had already been explored by the previous owner of the Grimoire of Whispers, leaving nothing behind except the Spring of Magic.

This time, however, things were different. Judging by this, it was very likely an undiscovered, brand-new dungeon!

The Grimoire of Whispers stated:

"Dungeons are indeed quite suitable for you right now. After all, the levels of those monsters usually don't exceed level ten. Once your level gets higher later on, encountering conventional dungeons won't be of much help to you anymore."

Qin Yuan nodded gently and fell into deep thought.

He realized that this matter wasn't quite that simple; the description on the Revelation Card was far too vague, and even the depths of the Peaceful Forest were not small at all.

He began to examine the imagery on the card even more carefully.

Since the location shown on it covered part of the scenery near the cave entrance, a good deal of effective information could still be analyzed from it.

For instance, a slightly uniquely shaped prismatic stone stood right at the cave entrance.

It could be considered a somewhat distinctive landmark.

He immediately summoned the owl.

After explaining the course of events, he let it study the pattern on the card.

After all, the feather that could fly into the sky would be the main force in this search.

Once it confirmed that it had memorized it, Qin Yuan prepared to take action without any hesitation.

He left the village and once again set foot into the forest.

After randomly summoning the slime mount, he dashed all the way toward the depths of the forest with great momentum.

...

Deep within the forest.

Over the next few days, Qin Yuan spent all his time here.

He was mainly leading the feather in search of the cave seen on the Revelation Card.

According to his estimation, searching the entire depths of the forest would take about seven or eight days.

With the aid of the feather's visual ability, as long as it passed through the corresponding area, it would recognize it instantly.

Therefore, it was merely a matter of time.

Qin Yuan did not let the beasts he encountered along the way slip by either.

He could farm monsters and level up along the way.

His goal was also very simple.

Regardless of whether the entrance to the Gate of the Earth was found or not, he would strive to raise his level to level eight before the 15th.

To cope with the upcoming twisted dream.

However, after a few days of practical application, Qin Yuan found that achieving this goal seemed somewhat difficult.

His current experience bar was at about ten percent.

As a result, the experience points gained from a whole day of farming amounted to only a little over ten percent.

The main reason was that as his level grew higher, the high-level creatures in the depths of the forest were distributed far too sparsely.

And this was even taking into account that he had the experience gain buff.

At the same time, to increase the leveling speed, he even used a few bottles of bait potions.

On the fourth day in this Land of Souls.

Finally, in the afternoon, the feather suspended in mid-air suddenly descended with a face full of excitement.

Looking at its expression, Qin Yuan immediately guessed what might have happened.

Events proved that his guess was indeed correct.

That area on the Revelation Card had finally been found!

Following the guidance, after a short while, the cave entrance that had echoed countless times in his memory over the past few days appeared ahead.

Qin Yuan estimated that this Gate of the Earth should have appeared within the last few months.

Although the depths of the forest were rarely visited by people, it wasn't completely devoid of human presence. At least a few days ago, the feather had spotted a native adventurer of the Land of Souls.

According to the judgment of the Grimoire of Whispers, this adventurer belonged to the Gael race, whose main settlements were located in the northern lands of the Kingdom of Sol, close to the Frigid Forbidden Zone.

The adventuring atmosphere there was very strong, and people usually chose to go out and travel the world after reaching adulthood.

Their footprints covered every region of the Kingdom of Sol.

Qin Yuan did not proactively provoke them, choosing instead to detour around them.

Therefore, if this Gate of the Earth had appeared long ago, it might still have been accidentally discovered by someone.

After all, dungeons were fairly common knowledge and exceptionally well-known among adventurers.

High-value items were frequently produced within them, making them synonymous with wealth and treasure.

He lit the pyrolite lantern and stepped into the cave.

With his previous experience, without lingering, Qin Yuan stepped forward directly and pushed open the arched door, gazing upon the interior of this dungeon.

Overall, it shared many similarities with the subterranean rainforest he had seen before.

Before him lay a lush expanse of grassland and a vibrant forest.

Above, a multitude of shining star-insects dotted the space, providing basic illumination for this subterranean realm.

However, there were also quite a few differences.

For instance, upon looking around here, Qin Yuan immediately noticed that right at the center of the forest stood a white spire tower.

"Tower of Trials!"

The moment he saw it, a wave of joy welled up in Qin Yuan's heart.

He hadn't been idle these past few days, cramming plenty of knowledge about dungeons with the help of the Grimoire of Whispers.

Now, he could practically be considered a semi-expert in this field.

Special accompanying mechanisms frequently appeared in dungeons.

The Tower of Trials and the Spring of Magic both belonged to this category.

However, in terms of probability, the Tower of Trials belonged to the rarer tier, and its mechanics were also very simple: the number of floors ranged randomly from three to six, with difficulty increasing progressively. Each cleared floor granted a reward, and there were plenty of good things inside.

Qin Yuan did not rush to enter it, instead dispatching the feather inside to scout first.

The materials produced by dungeons did not solely come from these special mechanisms.

Many monsters were unique to dungeons, and such creatures typically possessed distinct characteristics.

For instance, the experience points provided upon death were several times that of monsters of the same level, or they might drop certain special materials.

Once he understood the situation of the monsters, Qin Yuan could also lock onto their approximate levels accordingly, making the subsequent exploration much more secure.