Chapter 20

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 20

Chapter Title: Location Change

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Another idle day in Dreamland.

I passed the time fiddling with Gallery and Squishy.

Ever since I finished up the first zone, the second zone, and even the entrance, there really wasn't anything left to do. I just lounged in front of the surveillance cameras.

It felt a bit lonely since Restia left.

Staring blankly at me during meals and squealing "Eek!" was hilarious.

Ha.

I never realized it when she wasn't around, but turns out I'm the type who gets lonely too.

"Ahem."

There's a simple way to deal with this.

Scream out a song to vent these emotions.

Maybe I should become a singer later?

Come to think of it, this world doesn't have any of those modern J-POP hits from back home, right?

Isekai plagiarist singer.

They thought I was a Dungeon Master with anomaly themes, but actually, I'm a genius composer?

This is 100% guaranteed to work.

It has to.

With full confidence, I uploaded a recording to the gallery.

The veterans who usually adored me turned ice-cold in an instant. My world crumbled today.

Haa.

These fuckers, I'll show them how well I sing next time I see them.

Anyway.

The fact that I'm bombing with my singing skills isn't the important part.

Lately, the biggest hot topic circulating in the gallery is one thing.

That's the location change.

I think it was around when I first joined DunGal that I heard it explained.

Dungeons aren't fixed in place.

Every set cycle, their coordinates shift— that's the location change.

In other words, Dreamland can't stay in the Lowjinrat Mountains forever.

It's completely random, so if you're unlucky, you could end up near the World Tree like Secha Ham.

If you're lucky, you can suck sweet honey dealing with trolls and goblins like now.

DunGal is a place for communication, but it's packed with info collected by Dungeon Masters to survive so far.

There's a systematically organized sheet with locations of races, strongholds, dangerous figures, weapons, used spells, and more.

Just check that and prepare accordingly...

I'm armed with powerful anomalies, but unlike the veterans, I'm a lowbie.

This weak newbie needs levels and points.

Honestly, I'm a bit scared.

If I end up near the World Tree like Secha Ham, I might really have to off myself.

Sometimes I see pics and vids in the gallery of veterans fighting invaders— whoa, no cap, that place feels like a different genre.

One fortunate thing, though.

My dungeon isn't about brute-forcing; it's puzzle-solving, so it's not hopeless.

Escape scroll judgments count as repelling invaders, so it might even be a storm-leveling opportunity.

One day until the location change.

I did a final check of the dungeon.

Good, no issues.

Everything was perfect.

"Squishy, it's finally mealtime."

"Ack."

Come at me, world.

Newbie Dungeon Master is coming through!

The next day, with a vibration, the dungeon shifted.

Let's see, checking the dungeon address...

Hmm.

Hmmm.

Hm.

"Not near the World Tree, so that's a relief..."

Heh heh.

This time, we landed in an elf den.

And not just any elves.

The psychopath elves' den, at that.

An old post.

A dungeon appeared in the Forest of Life.

The elves living here are commonly called Branded Elves.

The Branded Elves stroked their chins as they gazed at the dungeon that had popped up prominently in the Forest of Life.

"What kind of dungeon just appears out of nowhere on the forest outskirts?"

"We knew about the location change cycle, but... Check the dungeon name first."

"Dreamland, you heard of it? You hang with the South Kingdom underworld crowd."

"What does that have to do with the dungeon name? South Kingdom's cracking down on Branded Elves lately anyway, can't even move around."

The two Branded Elves were named Zius and Reverio.

All elves in the Forest of Life receive positions from the elders, and these two held the role of patrol captains.

"Could this be a newborn dungeon?"

"Newborn? On what basis?"

"See, this is why you can't use guys who don't know magic."

Reverio was a talented mage by Forest of Life standards.

Thus, he immediately noticed the lack of accumulated debris at the entrance and let out a small gasp.

"This is huge... Timing-wise, not even half a year old?"

"For real?"

"Would I lie? This might be our chance."

"Chance?"

Reverio grabbed Zius's shoulder.

"Yeah. You have no idea how expensive the magic stones in dungeons are, do you?"

"I know that much."

"No! If you know, why are you standing there like an idiot."

Reverio continued frustratingly.

"Listen up. Magic stones are treasures that can change our lives. Depending on size, but even swallowing a bit of a certain size can make us dozens of times stronger than the elves here. Use as magic reagent, turn a basic fireball into meteor-grade. Sell on black market, get enough gold to blow through till we die. If this isn't a chance, what is!?"

Reverio was good with words.

Listing more reasons to enter the dungeon, Zius's expression went blank, mesmerized.

"Forest situation's bad lately too... If we can get it."

"Right! Way better life than now. Honestly, being elder slaves is annoying, right?"

They were probably the first to find the dungeon.

Forest perimeter mood was tense anyway.

This was a chance.

"No escape scrolls though, we okay on our own?"

"Can escape without scrolls for half a day anyway. Weird? Just bail. Can scout inside with detection magic, jamming? Bail immediately. Okay?"

Zius nodded eventually.

The two elves promised to keep the dungeon discovery secret.

They were the only ones patrolling the outskirts this week, no worry of getting caught.

If things went south, just exit and report finding it. No risk.

They packed food, water, supplies.

And entered the dungeon.

Even as the eerie, gloomy corridor appeared.

Greed-blinded, the two pressed on.

"Hm. No jamming luckily. Straight corridor ahead, then wide square space, then path to core room. Length and width oddly large, but can check whole thing in three days."

Reverio finished scouting and sketched a rough dungeon map.

"Minions or traps?"

"Nothing detectable at least. Not magic traps, probably watch for poison since space is suspiciously wide. Brought antidotes luckily. One issue: no Dungeon Master mana detected..."

The dungeon's tiny camera moved.

It unfolded just like the manticore wave.

But unlike then, no maze.

Only a straight path before Reverio and Zius's eyes.

They advanced confidently.

Dungeons were normally no-go zones.

Not for dumb trolls or goblins— remaining dungeons on the continent required serious resolve.

However.

New Dungeon Master dungeons were different.

Back then, there were way more dungeons.

Unlike surviving ones, even normal humans could beat Dungeon Masters and minions with wooden swords for magic stones.

We're special.

Dozens of normal humans are just moving toys to us.

Three hours of brisk walking passed.

Reverio and Zius had to choose: turn back or straight.

The fork.

They exchanged glances and nodded.

Minds aligned.

Straight ahead.

Over half a day passed.

No turning back till they grabbed magic stones and left.

Moments later.

They stopped.

Frowned.

"Hey. What the hell is that?"

"......"

It completely blocked the passage.

The unidentified thing with fully open entrance was a machine of unfamiliar form.

In the narrow rectangular space, a dim fluorescent light flickered from the ceiling.

Walls covered in worn metal plates.

A thin mirror faintly reflected their figures between.

Creeak, creeak.

The rickety elevator groaned unpleasantly.