Chen Yu vaguely felt that something was likely happening in the Dark World, and the Dungeon Lord of Deep Sea Town might be at the center of this change.
It’s just that news from these two worlds is too scarce; even if something big were happening, it wouldn’t spread, so there’s no way to know what exactly is going on.
“Forget it, no point thinking so much…”
Chen Yu sighed.
“In any case, I’ll try my best to raise the castle’s level, earn more money, and cultivate the strongest Adventurers. As long as I have enough soul crystal, no matter what the situation, I can face it…”
This was currently the only countermeasure Chen Yu could think of.
Make money!
Only with substantial assets could he face danger with confidence.
As for what changes the future might hold, he would deal with them when they arose.
What Chen Yu needed to do was to make the best preparations he could.
In other words…
Do your best, and leave the rest to fate!
“The Contract Adventurer have already set out for the Black Night Forest in the north, searching for traces of Dark Elf.”
“Li Siya has also dispatched the Golden Holy Lion to search the Starlight Forest, and she really did find some relatively hidden villages and tribes.”
“Additionally, there are some other lords’ castle ruins, but unfortunately, they have all disappeared. Castles disappear after a period of being unoccupied.”
When the Starlight Forest first began, there certainly weren’t just this few castles.
They simply vanished for some reason.
Especially the Dungeon Lords’ castles; currently, over eighty to ninety percent of Dungeon Lords have died, and their castles have consequently disappeared from this beginner area.
For the villages and tribes Li Siya occupied, Chen Yu temporarily told her to station there first.
War Lords also need these villages and tribes to increase population and gather resources. With enough villages and tribes, the military population cap will also increase.
The more military strength one possesses, the faster the expansion speed will be.
Moreover, his current need for territory isn’t that high; it won’t be too late to take them over and build when it’s time for Dungeon Duel and seizing Adventurers.
“Based on the current efficiency of obtaining soul crystal, by tomorrow, I should be able to upgrade to Level 10, reaching the highest level in this area.”
“At that time…”
“The Adventurer World’s regional protection period will disappear, and the war exclusive to Dungeon Lords will truly begin.”
The battlefield for War Lords is in the Dark World.
However, the battlefield for Dungeon Lords has never been in the Dark World, but rather in the Adventurer World.
When a Dungeon Lord in a newly emerging town reaches Level 10, a “Dungeon Duel” option will appear in the system.
Upon use, one can actively matchmake and duel with other Dungeon Lords.
After a successful duel match, they will enter the first stage of preparation, during which the Dungeon Lord will enter the Dungeon design phase to construct a brand new Dungeon for use in the duel.
As for the Adventurers, both sides will randomly select a portion of Adventurers to appear as challengers who will go to the opponent’s newly built Dungeon during this duel.
The number of Adventurers selected will be 1% of the total population of the smallest town between the two sides.
For example, if the opposing town has 100,000 people, and Tidal Town has 10,000 people, then both sides will each select 1% of 10,000, meaning 100 people from each side will become challengers.
However, this value can be changed.
This is the so-called “bidding up.”
Both sides can choose to bid up, but bidding requires spending soul crystal. Putting 10 soul crystal into the pool, which belongs to the winner, allows the opponent to add one challenger. 1,000 soul crystal can add 100 challengers. Each bid can increase the base challenger quantity by a maximum of 100%.
However, the number of challengers cannot reach 5% of the total population of the smallest town.
The reason for making the opponent increase the number of challengers is actually to seize this opportunity to gain more soul crystal.
The meaning behind “Dungeon Duel” is, in essence, to give truly capable Dungeon Lords more opportunities to stand out and acquire more soul crystal to develop their own strength.
An Adventurer has 5 attempts per day. With a normal death rate of 60%, this roughly equates to 3 soul crystal.
As long as a Dungeon Lord is confident in his Dungeon, he can absolutely spend 10 soul crystal to make the opponent add one more challenger, taking this opportunity to earn back two more soul crystal.
After all, if they encounter a fun Dungeon that offers many rewards, Adventurers will definitely play multiple times, trying to use up all their daily attempts.
Otherwise, once the “Dungeon Duel” period passes, they won’t know when they’ll get to play again, unless they take this opportunity to migrate their household registration to that town.
In this way, although 10 soul crystal were spent, as long as the Dungeon quality is excellent, not only can several more soul crystal be earned back that day, but there’s also a chance to increase the population of one’s town.
When this population increases, the benefits gained are far, far greater than the expenditure…
Furthermore, the final criterion for judging victory in a duel is which side has the most soul crystal. The more participants, the better, of course.
Additionally, while “bidding up” consumes soul crystal, it essentially puts them into a pool. The system doesn’t take them; instead, they all ultimately fall into the winner’s pocket.
However, bidding starts from the side with the weaker population.
If the population-disadvantaged side doesn’t choose to bid, then the other side cannot bid either.
At this point, it depends on whether the population-disadvantaged side chickens out.
It depends on their confidence in their Dungeon.
If neither side chickens out in the end, they typically go directly to 5% of the lowest population side’s upper limit, risking life and death based on the Dungeon’s quality.
Of course, each Dungeon Lord certainly has some influence in their current area.
Adventurers will also be more inclined towards their own lord.
So, to some extent, Adventurers designated as challengers are also under great pressure.
If they play too many times and send too many soul crystal to the opponent, and their own lord loses, once it becomes known after they come out, they will inevitably face a barrage of criticism.
But if it’s truly a fun Dungeon, and they don’t go play… they’ll feel like they missed out big time.
After all, who doesn’t want to earn money?
Everything still comes down to profit.
Fortunately…
When tallying soul crystal at the end, only the total is counted. As long as one keeps quiet, it generally won’t be traced back to them. This can be considered a form of protection for Adventurers.
The general rules of “Dungeon Duel” are as such.
To earn more soul crystal, Dungeon Lords will actively participate in this duel.
Moreover, if a Dungeon Lord in a certain area does not participate in “Dungeon Duel” for a long time, the system will also arrange it forcefully.
Forced arrangements are related to another rule: the system will not allow a Dungeon Lord in a certain area to be too comfortable.