Over the next few hours, the group kept pushing forward, venturing deeper into the dense forest.
The deeper they went, the more monsters they stumbled upon.
Fortunately for them, most of the encounters were manageable.
More often than not, they ca across lone Slithering Pythons, early stage tier 2 creatures.
These particular beasts had a habit of traveling solo, only attacking if soone stepped too close to their territory.
It was a quirk of their kind, and today, it worked in the group’s favor.
Oddly enough, each kill seed to bring more than just relief.
“The loot?! They dropped copper coins again!” one of them gasped, voice sharp with disbelief.
And just like that, surprise turned to exhilaration.
Blood rushed faster, their expectations were peaking, and grins began to creep across tired faces.
Excitent built with every corpse that vanished and every coin that clinked.
None of them had ever experienced sothing quite like this.
A dungeon that consistently rewarded copper coins? That kind of payout was absurd.
No, rare wasn’t even the right word.
Sure, copper coins weren’t mythical. It was known that so monsters dropped them.
But that typically only happened in high-tier dungeons, those nestled deep in the heart of powerful regions.
Locked behind layers of bureaucratic control or reserved for nobles and elite Awakeners.
The common Awakeners that ca from no background would never be able to access these places.
This place?
Opened only recently. Accessible and quiet cheap for them to enter.
And sohow, it was giving them loot most couldn’t even dream of seeing.
The best part was obvious in the long run, those powerful forces in the inner region would never dare to forcibly confiscate this place unless they wishes to go to war.
If the rumours were true, then the lord of this place wouldn't be that simple to deal with.
“Look! What the hell is this?!” Joyce suddenly shouted from a short distance away, crouched beside a fresh corpse she’d just finished gutting.
The snake’s body flickered and vanished like smoke caught in a breeze, but this ti, sothing different was left behind.
Joyce stared down at her own hands, specifically, the massive, glossy pair of eyeballs now sitting in her palms, almost too large for her to hold without them slipping.
The others jogged over imdiately, drawn by her tone.
As they circled her, their eyes dropped to the strange prize.
Coins were still great, of course, but after several identical drops, the excitent had started to fade a little.
Not completely, just enough for sothing new to recapture their attention.
And these oversized, faintly pulsing eyeballs? Yeah, that qualified.
“what the hell is this thing?” Bart muttered, squatting down beside Joyce.
He had his mace slung lazily over his shoulder, and with the other hand, he leaned in and poked the eye with a cautious fingertip. “Looks like sothing out of a haunted house.”
“A haunted house prop? Really?” Joyce shot him a sideways look. “Wait, you did go to that place, didn’t you? No wonder you vanished from the inn last night. I knew it.”
“Hahahaha! You caught !” Bart threw his head back laughing. “What can I say? That place was spooky as hell, and kind of fun, too! We should all go soti. It’s terrifying!”
"Plus, there are so many strange things here in this territory! You ever seen a public swimming place?"
The rest of the group exchanged tired looks, then sighed in unison.
No one bothered responding.
“Anyway,” Ilya said, bringing things back on track, “what do we even do with these weird drops? This place doesn't have an adventurer’s guild yet, right?"
"No one’s posted prices or value charts. For all we know, these could be worthless.”
“They did drop from tier 2 monsters,” Kelen pointed out, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “So they’ve got to be worth sothing.”
“Sure, maybe,” Ilya replied, “but what are they used for? Nobody knows. This whole territory only opened up a few days ago. And let’s be real, how many Awakeners with crafting or appraisal classes have even made it in yet?”
There was a pause, until Loyd broke in with a casual suggestion.
“Then we should just sell it to the owner of this place.”
That got everyone's attention.
Loyd looked around at their reactions, calm and matter-of-fact. “The dungeon’s inside their land, right? If anyone knows the value of weird monster drops, it’d be them.”
“Yeaaaah…” Bart dragged out the word, hesitating, scratching the side of his head. “But have you seen those buildings near the core? They’ve got tall, dark guards standing around, and I swear, every ti I got close, I felt like I was being stared at by sothing terrifying"
“Whether you like it or not,” Joyce said, slapping his shoulder with the flat of her hand, “that’s our best shot at getting anything out of these weird loot pieces"
"I’m not about to haul these things around in my bag until they rot or lt through the lining.”
“Fine by ,” Loyd said, nodding. “If everyone’s in agreent, let’s wrap up for the day.”
The others murmured their assent.
With full packs, decent loot, and more questions than answers, they turned back, stepping out of the dungeon’s eerie depths.
One thing clear in everyone’s mind, this place was strange, but it might just make them rich.
As the group started heading toward the dungeon’s exit, the focus pulled away, sliding upward, drifting past the tree canopy, and into the quiet stretch of sky above.
There, suspended mid-air like a daydream given form, Mize hovered effortlessly.
Her body swayed in lazy circles, arms tucked beneath her chin, long fingers gently pressing against her cheeks while her feet kicked with idle grace.
Her clothes fluttered faintly in the breeze, casting soft ripples of silver and violet around her fra.
Boredom colored her expression, but not enough to keep her from watching.
She had seen everything, the entire skirmish.
In fact, she’d been observing this group of Awakeners since the mont they entered the dungeon, tracking their every move with mild curiosity.
“They actually pulled it off,” she muttered, half-smiling, a brow raised as her eyes followed their retreating forms.
“A bunch of tier 1 nobodies taking down a tier 2 Slithering Python... It seems I might have underestimated the combat capabilities of the native Awakeners"
"Their cooperation was seamless during the battle"
A lock of her hair slipped past her cheek.
She absentmindedly caught it with her fingers and twirled the strand around, eyes blinking slowly, voice light and amused.
“Though, to be fair, those snakes are practically brainless"
"Pure muscle and instinct. Against a half-decent, coordinated group with weapons? They were dood the second they got too close.”
She tilted her head, spinning once in the air like a bored dancer trying to pass the ti.
Her robes shimred in the turning light.
“Still... lucky they didn’t push deeper. They’re barely holding up against tier 2s. If they’d stumbled into what’s further in, half of them would be dead already.”
Her tongue clicked softly, a casual scolding sound ant for no one.
She floated upside down for a mont, legs lazily crossed in the air, and stared toward the forest below.
“But what really caught my ear... that little conversation of theirs. An Adventurers Guild branch? Just because a dungeon popped up here?”
Her brows rose, amused.
“I wonder how Liam’s going to take that. Will he shrug it off or make a fuss?” she mused, lips quirking.
"Personally, I wouldn't mind if the adventure guild wishes to market my dungeon. It's actually what I needed anyway"
Judging from what she’d seen of him so far, she doubted he’d react much at all.
He didn’t seem the type to micromanage. Not unless sothing directly poked at his interests.
Honestly, their presence didn’t concern her either.
As long as they kept their hands off the dungeon’s core chanics, they could build a guild hall right under her nose and she wouldn’t lift a finger.
Nuking people took effort, after all.
Still...
“Hmm... if they can help identify the weird loot and maybe even create a system to exchange them, it might make my monsters less disposable,” she muttered, resting a finger on her lips.
She already knew what the drops could do. She wasn’t short on information due to the dungeon panel.
But walking these people through every step? No thanks. Let them figure it out themselves.
They’d learn better that way.
With that thought, her gaze shifted once more, this ti turning away from the earlier group.
She began scanning the rest of the dungeon, tracking the scattered sparks of other Awakeners pushing their way through the dense forest.
Her attention gradually narrowed on a deeper, quieter corner of the dungeon.
“Oh?” she murmured, her eyes narrowing slightly.
She leaned forward, intrigued, as if squinting into a puzzle she hadn't noticed until now.
One of the Awakeners stood out, moving with an odd rhythm, slipping through the trees without stirring the beasts nearby.
“This one’s different...”
He was deeper than the others, yet monsters barely reacted to his presence.
No fighting, no magic flares. Just quiet steps and careful movent.
Mize’s expression shifted into one of genuine interest.
“He’s cloaked... no, disguised. And well at that,” she muttered, watching intently. “Even I missed it at first. He’s not old, he’s young. That’s illusion magic... not bad at all.”
A soft laugh escaped her lips, totally amused.
She spun in place several tis, as if applauding him with motion alone, then wiped away the single tear forming at the edge of her eye.
“Who is this guy? He fooled the wall checkpoints with his disguise. That alone’s enough to get my attention.”
She noticed that this person's aura was marked not by the true appearance but through the current disguise appearance.
It seed that Liam's way of avoiding unnecessary troublemakers might require a little bit of improvent after this.
What most outsiders didn’t know or rather, couldn’t possibly know, was that the entire territory was constantly under surveillance.
Liam’s shadow soldiers didn’t just stand around all day long.
They drifted through shadows, sotis even crawling beneath blades of grass. No joke.
Yet this guy made it in. Made it this far.
Not bad at all.
“He’s andering like a lost duck, but his direction is pretty consistent,” she murmured, watching his route. “He’s headed toward the dungeon’s center.”
She tapped her chin, lips pressing together in thought.
“Could be a treasure detector... or so kind of fate-guided instinct,” she said, tone light but thoughtful. “Another child of destiny?”
Her eyes sparkled for a beat.
Then dimd just a touch.
“Hmm... can’t say for sure.”
But now that her interest was piqued, there was no way she’d look away.
She floated lower, adjusting her angle to get a better view of him between the trees.
“Let’s keep watching,” she said, voice low, almost to herself. “If he really is special... then why not have so fun?”
"Perhaps I can implent my second plan here?"
"After all, protagonists are simply a bunch walking treasure trove of points. It's not cheating as long as I don't flirt with them... "
[Maybe, Host]
'shut up, it's not cheating'
[Potentially so]
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she sharpened her focus.
If this so-called old man was really worth the fuss, then she’d figure it out soon enough.
And if he wasn’t?
Well, watching people unravel was fun too.
With that, Mize settled in midair, her body slowly spinning once more as she silently tailed her new subject of interest through the heart of the dungeon.
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