Chapter 38: 38: This is a…Dungeon?

"I'll be damned," Compass Carburettor was astounded as he noticed the abstract change in scenery, "This is a dungeon?"

Spanning before him was a vast stretch of water, coupled with gentle waves. The water was slightly transparent, allowing him to notice numerous shadows swimming within. And, every shadow was at least 3-5 metres long, frightening him.

Some were even longer. But, that wasn't what surprised him. When he thought of a dungeon, he had assumed a place teeming with natural risks, and one where humans had to pit their lives against monsters to reap benefits.

But in actuality, reality proved to be different, 'Right, what's shown in novels don't happen in reality. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't let go of such free real estate, not when it's a freaking gold mine of resources.'

Numerous ships sailed on the waters, fishing the organisms swimming within. And every time they captured a large fish, they hailed in joy. Compass Carburettor noticed three massive ships in the distance. They were those that fished, remaining immobile.

And, the captured fishes were transported by boats, bringing them to a massive factory on one side of the water body. There, it seemed the fishes were treated to be transported into the kingdom. As he saw the entire process, Compass Carburettor was amazed.

Fealta spoke, pointing at the factory, "We process all the meat there. And once it's night, we transport all the processed meat out of the dungeon and distribute them through all the food channels. The food we obtain from this dungeon is enough to sustain the entire capital and still have some excess. Not many dungeons have such convenient food resources. This is one of the reasons our kingdom is stronger than most kingdoms, despite being smaller."

"How…large is this dungeon?" Compass Carburettor asked as he gazed at the numerous pillars that protruded from the water body from a couple of kilometres away. They were shaped like cylinders and spanned at least a couple hundred metres in height.

"Based on historical documents, a dungeon usually spans a radius of 10 kilometres. And, it would have one floor. We call these a Level 1 dungeon. But, Level 2 dungeons have two floors, and each floor would span a radius of 20-50 kilometres. Level 3 dungeons are even wider, having a radius of around 80-150 kilometres. Each floor of such a dungeon is as big as our kingdom. As for higher-level dungeons, they are only present in the biggest of empires." Caithy said, "This is a Level 2 dungeon, by the way."

She then pointed towards her left, "Since the right side is occupied by the factory and all the transport related to the fishery industry, the left side is the route we take to head deeper into the dungeon. Every dungeon has a couple of species of monsters. And the bigger and stronger the monster, the bigger the Darble we can harvest from it."

Fealta pointed towards her forehead, "No matter the type of monster, it would have a small piece of Darble growing on its forehead. Once we kill the monster, we can harvest it. But, not every monster has a Darble. And even if it did, the Darble would be tiny. That's why it's a precious commodity."

'Since Darble contains Darlac, an energy that's quantised from stamina, is it just how the monsters in this world store their stamina?' Compass Carburettor thought, accompanying the two servants through the path on the left.

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He looked at the numerous boats moving about in the waters and the flurry of people working together to capture fishes, feeling surreal as he hadn't expected such a scene in a dungeon. Moreover, everyone working in the place wasn't normal people.

After all, from time to time, he noticed people condensing energy blades to hack at the fishes, killing them before hauling their bodies over the ships. And, the energy blades were in a myriad of shapes, created to deal with the fishes the best.

"Everyone fishing is a Warrior and those controlling the Ships and the boats are Puppeteers," Caithy said upon sensing his gaze. She then snorted, pointing forward, "Beyond this fence, we'll be attacked by the Shruuger."

"Shruuger?" Compass Carburettor frowned as he looked at the fence before him. It resembled a net made of metal ropes, each thicker than his arm. The fence was wound through the pillars, creating a safety net to prevent the monsters from harming the workers fishing in the waters.

But, that wasn't all. The safety net was only cast a kilometre from the first pillar. And the pillars close to the fishing ships were being hacked by a stream of workers, transporting pieces of them. And upon glancing at it closer, Compass Carburettor determined that the material forming the pillar was what was used to construct all the houses and even the palace in the capital.

'Food and construction materials.' Compass Carburettor thought, focusing as he could hear some cries that fluctuated between the chirps of birds and the hooting of wolves.

And in the path before him was a gate, one that allowed him to proceed into the other side of the fence. Once he approached it, Fealta said, "The terrain is dangerous from this point onwards. So, be on your guard."

"Alright," Compass Carburettor nodded as Fealta pushed open the door and entered first. He followed after her while Caithy came in last, closing the door upon her entry. The terrain wasn't any different from before, but the atmosphere sure had changed.

He also noticed what resembled footholds on the water floating amidst. Moreover, there seemed to be flat protrusions along the sides of every pillar now. If he so wished, he could scale one to the top using the protrusions that acted like steps. And, there were the footholds on the water, allowing him to traverse and reach the pillars.

"The footholds are just floating pieces of rock. You can't stand atop one for more than a couple of seconds. Otherwise, it would just sink. And, the marine creatures would jump at you all the time." Fealta said, suddenly running forth before leaping onto a foothold.

No sooner had she done so when a gigantic fish leapt out of the water, opening its maw wide as it clamped on her.

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