High in the sky, right above the Black Iron Village, s.p.a.ce started to distort itself and out of nowhere, Noon and Five suddenly appeared. The latter was confused and disoriented, a moment ago, he was still in his tent at the Wild Bull Tribe, when everything around him started to bend. The teleportation process had been short but he still felt nauseated by a strange feeling, similar to riding a rollercoaster while watching a strange combination of optical illusions."This is the Black Iron Village, where is your dungeon?" flatly asked Noon who did not seem affected at all by his spell.
It was then that Five realized that he was floating in the sky; there was no ground under his feet, just a few hundred meters separated him from the ground.
"Is this really the Black Iron Village? It is the first time I am watching it from above and am not very sure. You should be able to find a waterfall nearby, my dungeon is located there," said Five.
Noon nodded and the next second, the pair started to fly in a particular direction. "I found it, it"s not very far. Who would have known that you picked such a small tribe to settle your dungeon? It looks like the Black Iron Tribe won"t remain as a medium tribe for long," commented Noon. He looked at the small village beneath him, wondering whether he should contact the elders of the Wandering Ram Tribe about this.
"Medium tribe? How do you qualify the tribes?" asked Five.
"Trying to gather information from me? Tsssk, this is not some confidential information anyway. For this region, small tribes are usually made up of less than 300 people with an average level of 20 and at least someone at level 30. Medium tribes can have a population ranging from 300 to 700 people with an average level of 30 and at least someone at level 40. As for large tribes, anything above the medium size can be considered large. This Black Iron Tribe is relatively small in size with only about 400 people but it surprisingly has 3 elders... Not bad, not bad."
Five attentively listened, trying to gather as much information as possible, "if that"s for this region, then what are the standards of the central plains?"
"Hmmm, the central plains are different, I doubt you will ever go there but the standards are strange. Size does not matter anymore, only overall strength does. My Wandering Ram Tribe only has 200 individuals and yet, we are cla.s.sified as one of the most powerful tribes. Since we do not really stay in one place for long, it is hard for us to grow but the barbarians are happy like that. Anyway, enough talking, the waterfall is there, where is your dungeon?" said Noon.
Five had long noticed that they have arrived, after all, the waterfall was not very quiet. With reluctance, he quickly pointed out the entrance and guided Noon inside.
As soon as they entered, Noon frowned but remained silent. He quietly followed behind Five who brought him to the second floor from which he would be able to use the internal tunnels.
However, as he arrived at the stairs between the first and second floor, Five stopped and spoke, "Dreidus! There is nothing to worry about him. He is a friend!"
As Five expected, the very next second, the secret door to the tunnels suddenly opened, revealing a frowning Dreidus and an anxious Lyra. Five was very satisfied with the couple; even in his absence, the two were still looking after the dungeon well and were ready to react in case of an emergency.
Five quickly tried to create a friendly climate between Dreidus and Noon; he had purposely slowed down as he walked through the first floor in order to give time for Dreidus to prepare. He was worried that the lich would be reckless but it turned down that he was just planning an ambush.
"Master, is everything alright? Who is he?" carefully asked Dreidus as he stared at Noon.
"Don"t worry I am not being forced here. This is Noon. He made a small deal with me. Let"s go to the meeting room where it will be more comfortable to talk," said Five as he nodded to Dreidus to rea.s.sure him.
"mmm, in that case, please excuse my rudeness," declared the lich as he stepped aside to allow Noon to enter the tunnel.
"If master has some sort of agreement with that man, then it should be fine!" thought Dreidus. Although he appeared to be relaxed, he never let down his guard and kept a close eye on Noon.
The latter was expressionless, he quietly followed the tunnel and soon arrived at the meeting room. "That"s your dungeon core?" asked Noon as he pointed at the floating sphere while frowning.
"Yes," Five answered as he stepped forward to check on the core. He was not worried that Noon might try something on the core as they were already bound by their oath. However, the closer he was to the dungeon core, the more comfortable he felt.
"In that case, let"s do things quickly. I cannot stay away from my tribe for very long!"
Five nodded as he manipulated the dungeon core to open the interface. He was not at ease now that he was allowing Noon to use the core; it would have been best if he had owned a pseudo-dungeon core but unfortunately that was not the case.
Leaving aside these thoughts, Five looked at the projected interface in front of him but what he saw next stunned him. He now understood why Dreidus was so anxious when facing Noon; it seemed that he had underestimated the value of the Totem Spirit.
The first thing that caught Five"s eyes was naturally his hourly income which was always displayed in the corner of the screen. At this time of the day, there were no barbarians present in the dungeon and therefore, only Noon, who was cla.s.sified as an enemy by the dungeon, was generating DP.
Despite the fact that there was only 1 enemy in the dungeon, the rate of DP generation was showing 60000 DP per hour. The reason Five was completely stunned was simply that Noon alone was generating more DP than the 80 barbarians combined. This left Five pondering about just how high was Noon"s level.
Normally, an enemy would only generate 20 DP per hour per level. However, levels were not the only deciding factor and special monsters would normally generate more DP. An example would be the Beast Kings that attacked the dungeon during the first trial. The Beast Kings were considered as Boss Monsters by the system and were more powerful than monsters at their corresponding levels; as a result, they generated 3 times more DP than normal monsters.
The Beast Kings only had a multiplier of 3 but higher grade bosses could have even higher multipliers. Aside from monsters, even if NPCs came to the dungeon, depending on their roles, they would also have a multiplier. A simple soldier would only have a multiplier of 1 but if a commander came to the dungeon, he could have a multiplier ranging from 5 to 8. If a unique character like the emperor himself came to the dungeon, his multiplier would be even higher!
Without knowing Noon"s ident.i.ty or exact level, he could only speculate about Noon"s real strength but he was without a doubt a force to be reckoned with.
While the abnormally high number raised Five"s suspicions on Noon"s ident.i.ty, at the same time, it also tempted Five into delaying the matter at hand. The longer Noon stayed in the dungeon as an enemy, the more DP he would get for free! Compared to the barbarians who also hunted the monsters and mined the dungeon, Noon was idle resulting in a much larger profit margin.
"Ummm, Noon? Considering your ident.i.ty, I doubt that I have enough DP to summon a member of your race," carefully said Five. He was not exactly lying as the rarer a monster was, the more DP it would generate as an enemy but at the same time, the more expensive it would be to unlock it in the dungeon shop and to summon one!
"You don"t have to worry about that. As per our agreement, I will pay for it myself," said Noon as he stared at Five. His left hand moved and out of nowhere, a long golden spear suddenly appeared.
"What do you think? It"s not just people like you who can store things like this. Take it and exchange it for DP." Noon lightly laughed as he tossed the long spear on the table of the meeting room.
Five stared dumbfoundedly at the spear. As soon as the spear landed on the table, the information window of the equipment magically opened:
[The Banisher(Grade 9)]
Effects: ???
[Note: Player"s level is too low in order to identify the specifications of the items. Please contact an identifier to reveal the item"s effects!]
"D*mn!" internally exclaimed Five. A grade 9 item, it was a grade 9 item!!! As a blacksmith, Five naturally knew how valuable such an item was. He himself could only forge grade 0 items and the barbarians with who he has spent a lot of time during the trip also only used grade 2 items. Yet, Noon was able to effortlessly take out a grade 9 item and was ready to sell it!
"I doubt that it would be enough. I have more in store but please recruit me as per our agreement first!" calmly said Noon. His eyes were shining as he looked at Five"s reaction.
"Other grade 9 items? How is that possible?" shouted Five in his heart. He nevertheless no longer hesitated and soon:
[System prompt: Due to special circ.u.mstances, the monster, Noon has requested to join your dungeon. Would you like to accept him in accordance with the previously made oath?]
"Yes!"
[System prompt: Congratulations Player Five, Noon has temporarily joined the dungeon.]
As soon as he received the notification, Five quickly opened his interface to look at Noon"s stats but to his disappointment, Noon"s character window was full of "???".
Name: Noon
Race: ???
Level: ???
Cla.s.s: ???
t.i.tle: ???
HP: ???
MP: ???
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[Note: As per the previous oath, all of Noon"s private information will be kept hidden from the player Five.]