Chapter 438 - Chapter 438. Blood Curling Cave.

Liu Shu was eager to do some Dungeon building! After everyone left, Liu Shu summoned her and checked the she unlocked a while ago.

[Hidden Objective: If you complete all normal and optional objectives, you'll be able to absorb the nest and the tunnels with your , creating an .]

With that, Liu Shu's energy flowed through the land and surged into the underground location of the nest. When her energy flowed into the location and the 's vortex manifested, the entire place began trembling like an earthquake.

The , who had been exhausted in her cage, became startled and looked over. Seeing the golden-blue vortex, her eyes widened with terror, and she tried to escape with all her might. 

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She didn't care if she overused her energy, soul, or whatever, making Liu Shu somewhat nervous. "H-Hey! You silly monster, can you stop struggling? Ah! Even your children are trying to flee! Don't run!"

It was easy to say. But when a thing that made them feel true terror had manifested in front of them, the instinct to escape became a priority. "O-Oy, stop. You are going to break the cage!"

The hits of the Terragore Queen became increasingly strong, making Liu Shu somewhat nervous. Right then, the Terragore Queen roared, punched a hole in the cage around her, and actually ripped it open, escaping her bindings. 

Liu Shu was shocked. "Ha? How did she summon so much strength?" Looking closely, she noticed that the monster queen's were disappearing second by second. "... She is using her life force? Even if she escapes, she won't survive. Why escape then?"

As the user of the , Liu Shu couldn't really feel the aura of terror that the vortex gave. It made your very soul tremble with despair and fear, as if falling there was infinitely more gruesome than being killed. 

Sadly, once it was here, escaping was basically impossible. 

As the Monster Queen fled, a tendril of golden-blue energy flew from the vortex and latched around her leg. The Terragore Queen was stopped effortlessly and face-planted from the change in inertia. Looking at the thing around her ankle, the Terragore Queen roared and sliced her own flesh. "RAH!? GRAH! AHH! GRAAAA!"

Liu Shu observed with morbid fascination as the monster queen desperately fled the vortex that was sucking the smaller ones. While she struggled, another four tendrils shot from the spinning dimensional vortex, tying around her limbs. Then, she was dragged inside, leaving a trail of blood. 

Only her desperate echoes in her final struggling seconds remained in the vacant . "...Wow. That was intense. Will the Terragore King react similarly?"

At that moment, the ceiling of the giant dome of the Terragore Empire opened, and a black monster fell from the sky. However, unlike the Terragore Queen, he was falling straight into the vortex, so his time to react was barely anything. 

As he fell, a dozen tendrils shot to the sky, latching around him. "Rah?"

He could only make a confused sound before he was yanked into the portal and disappeared. Liu Shu puffed a laugh. "Okay, that was funny." 

A few system messages reached her from the .

[Congratulations! You've got an specimen: !]

[Congratulations! You've got an specimen: !]

[Congratulations! You've got a specimen: !]

[Congratulations! You've got a specimen: !]

[Congratulations! You've got a specimen: !]

[You've got several new species! , , , , , .]

[Extra reward for getting a specimen. Random pull! Chances of gaining: 35%, 20%, 20%, 15%, 5%, 2.5%, 1.5%, 1%.]

[The rarities above can't be pulled with a !]

Liu Shu looked at those messages with a stunned expression. "What is this, System? Pull? What am I pulling?"

[A from a happens when you capture a or above specimen from a species for the first time. When you use it, you'll randomly get a related species added to the for you to use in a .]

Liu Shu was surprised. "Wow! That sounds… Annoying." She already saw herself wanting to get the rarity ones but always pulling ones. "Well, let's do it. Use the !"

[You've used a !]

A roulette popped in front of Liu Shu's eyes, and it began spinning. The circular spinning thing had colored sections divided for each rarity, with an arrow at the top. Liu Shu looked at it nonchalantly at first. However, as time passed, her roots tensed. After 30 seconds, she was basically burning a hole through the roulette with her flaming gaze. "Come on! Stop! Stop! Ah! You went over ! Oh, it is coming back!? Come onnn!!! I don't ask much, just a one!"

The roulette slowed down, and as it slowed, another message popped up.

[ affects you! Your luck is improved!]

"Huh?"

The roulette suddenly bugged and stopped. Liu Shu's eyes widened. 

[Congratulations! You've gained !]

"WAH! LEGENDARY? HEHEHEHE! OwO!"

Honestly, she would've been fine with a , but the continued to prove why it was a great choice back then! Her branches wiggled with happiness, startling some people back in the Golden Sap City. 

After celebrating for a few moments, Liu Shu relaxed a bit. "Still…" She looked at the new pull and frowned. "I now have 2 Queens. Can the deal with both of them?" 

She tangled some of her branches, thinking about how to create a dungeon that would use the unusual 1 King and 2 Queens scenario. "Ugh… Why is the Terragore King so weak? If he were super strong, I could just make a harem for him!" 

After thinking for a while, she came up with an idea. "I know! I will create it that way. But, before that, let's check on my !"

***

Dungeons Owned: 1 (Click to expand and see the detailed information of each dungeon.)

Dungeons Opened: 1

Random Event and Plot Twist Generator (Click to see the details.)

Environment and Setting Management (Click to enter Editor mode. The Dungeon must be closed.)

Trap Management (Click to enter Editor mode. The Dungeon must be closed.)

Monster Management (Click to enter Editor mode. The Dungeon must be closed.)

Dungeon Resource Creation and Reward System (Click to see the details.)

***

"This hasn't changed much. Well, how could it? It is the interface leading into the real things I need to edit. , remind me a few of the tips you told me before."

[System Hint: You have full control over , , , , , and .]

[System Hint: You have partial control over .]

[System Hint: You have indirect control over , , and .]

[System Hint: : Sproutling, Easy, Normal, Thornbound, Hard, Sylvan Crucible, World Heart Epic, Corrupt Nightmare, and World Tree Withering difficulties.]

[System Hint: You must choose two . The main options are Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, and Avarice. They are the that will give the best reward when cleared. If you want to give out fewer resources at the price of being easier, you can use lesser sins like Arrogance, Anger, Sadness, Hunger, Desire, Jealousy, or Hoarding. There are also plenty of side characteristics that you can choose instead, like violence, leadership, etc.]

Liu Shu re-read everything and nodded. "Gotcha. Then, let's create this ! First of all, I will create the general layout of the . This one, since it has the powerful monsters, I will use it to help people push through the limits between the and the . A specializing in helping that advancement will be difficult but rewarding in the long run." 

She began tinkering with it, modifying the layout and everything. Eventually, the final ended up like this: 

***

Dungeon Name: Blood Curling Cave.

Current Status: Under Construction.

Dungeon Level: 70~99.

Difficulty Rating: Thornbound ~ World Heart Epic. (Relative to a Level 74 B- Tier Explorer)

Number Of Floors: 9.

Dungeon Reputation: -

Dungeon Alignment: Wrath, Pride.

Dungeon Theme: Monster Hunting.

Dungeon Type: Layered Cave.

Boss Character Sheet: , .

Unique Traits: None.

*** 

Liu Shu was a bit disappointed that no appeared after she built it. However, if the monsters had a trait over what she had built, she might've created an impossible instead of something that could push people to the . 

What she created was a nine-layered dungeon with trials to pass for the challengers. On each floor, there was a certain number of that the challengers needed to defeat to pass to the next one. Once the floor was cleared, the Challenger had a chance to give up the and exit it. In exchange for adding that one quality, one would be unable to leave once they decided to step onto the next floor. 

The floor's difficulty was separated into three. The first three were home to the , the next three for the , and the last three for the . 

They were the bosses of those three locations, and each of them had different sets of Terragore to attack and deal with the challengers. Liu Shu wanted the first two floors to be available to all . They would be complicated, but somewhat doable, and with acceptable rewards. However, once you decided to push through, you'd be facing a true . Defeating such a being was nothing easy, as shown by the true strength the monster showed in his struggles. 

After that, the number, level, and quality of the would become much higher. Floor 4 was not easier than Level 3, even when Floor 3 had the in it. 

Naturally, Liu Shu wouldn't make a layout that only benefited . So, from Floor 7 onward until facing the , everything was laid out to deal with not Third but Fourth Energy Cycle beings. 

"With this, my people will have something to do from Level 50 to Level 99!"

Since couldn't really be spammed, as something known as could set in someone, it wouldn't be a tremendous boost. However, from now on, materials would become another commodity of her empire, making all crafters happy to have a relatively sustainable source of powerful monster materials. 

The process to create this took a while, and by the time she came out of her meditation, more than a month had passed.