The Glintstone Dragon Smarag didn't return to its nest. No one knew where it had gone.
Otherwise, after getting shot in the nose with a stink bomb, it would definitely fight the adventurers to the death.
For now, it was probably better not to run into it again. Who knew if dragons held grudges?
Thanks to this, Gapar and Leon's groups were able to reach the dragon's nest safely along the way—without even drawing their swords.
But something strange happened.
Inside the nest, there were no purple light points.
No Glintstone Key.
There were only scattered white lights. When they picked them up, they turned out to be things like Smithing Stones.
To current adventurers, these were basically the same as roadside junk.
No one knew how to use them.
According to the Hunter's Manual, smithing stones could improve the quality of weapons through a blacksmith's work.
But to this day, adventurers had searched countless blacksmith shops and never found a single one who knew how to use them.
After all—
How exactly was a blacksmith supposed to hammer a smithing stone into a weapon?
Some people had even tried forging weapons directly from smithing stones.
Every attempt failed.
The techniques those smiths used couldn't even change the shape of the stones.
So in the eyes of adventurers, smithing stones had become items only slightly better than trash scraps or dung lumps.
At least smithing stones were hard enough to hit someone with.
So how were they actually supposed to be used?
Could it be that the Sein Dungeon would eventually introduce an entire set of related forging techniques?
"Why isn't there a key?" Gapar asked in confusion.
Had the previous key stopped respawning after they took it?
But that didn't make sense either.
One key could only register five people.
What about everyone else?
Maybe there were other keys hidden elsewhere?
Gapar felt a little embarrassed.
After all, he had confidently promised everyone that they could find the key needed to enter the academy here.
But now that they had arrived, there was nothing.
That was awkward.
Leon, on the other hand, didn't mind at all.
In fact, he thought this situation was completely normal.
Why?
Because he believed that exploring the Sein Dungeon would never go smoothly.
If your adventure there felt too smooth—
It probably meant you had already fallen into a trap without realizing it.
Still…
Leon glanced toward the teleportation gate behind the hill near the dragon's nest.
Although Liurnia of the Lakes could be reached through the Sein Dungeon…
Could this place really be considered part of the Sein Dungeon?
After all, the scenery outside that portal was completely opposite to the underground city beneath Bedford City.
It was something many people would rather not remember.
"How about you take this key first?" Gapar said, offering his Glintstone Key.
"It still has space for one more person."
Leon shook his head and refused without hesitation.
This key didn't belong only to the Sword Saint—it also belonged to the magic professors and Roger.
How could he take it for himself?
Besides, going alone into the magic academy wouldn't accomplish much.
It was better to search for new keys together.
"Alright then," Gapar said with a smile.
"When I return, I'll personally help you find one."
Gapar's reason for leaving was actually very simple.
He just wanted to restock food.
He hated using stamina potions to fill his stomach.
And since Liurnia of the Lakes seemed to allow unlimited time and unlimited players, having plenty of food became even more necessary.
Sure, Kale sold cheap dried meat that filled you up.
But…
For adventurers, food was everything.
Imagine fighting monsters all day, returning to Academy Gate Town, and chewing on rock-hard dried meat while biting into an indigestible Rowa Fruit.
You'd feel like your life was over.
Your entire future would suddenly look dark and hopeless.
Gapar maintained strict discipline over his diet.
It had to be meat, meat, meat.
Occasionally some vegetables to clear the throat.
As for his excuse about retrieving equipment before continuing the dungeon exploration—
That was just a lie.
Given his status, no one would suspect he was leaving the dungeon just to satisfy his appetite.
Just like no one questions an idol who claims illness to pause a performance—when the truth might be that she went home to give birth to twins.
"Leon, take care of yourself."
After giving his disciple a simple instruction, Gapar stepped into the teleportation gate.
Tursey and the others followed behind him.
They all had things to deal with outside.
When half of Gapar's body disappeared into the portal—
Not just Leon, but the entire team behind him started holding back laughter.
They collectively stepped back, making space.
The Sword Saint walked through the portal.
Everyone believed he would soon return.
And sure enough—
Before the last person in line, Roger, could step through—
BUMP!
Roger suddenly collided with the back of someone's head and staggered backward.
"Wh—who's there?" Roger shouted, rubbing his forehead.
When he looked up—
He saw something rare.
Gapar had already left.
But now…
He had walked back in.
Wait a second.
Wasn't each person only allowed to enter the dungeon once per day?
How did he come back again?
Did this place not only have no limit on players and time, but also no limit on entry attempts?
No, no.
Roger shook his head.
The real question was—
Why had the Sword Saint returned?
The next moment, not only Gapar, but also Hades and Tursey walked back through the portal.
Except for Hades—whose hood hid his expression—the other two stared at the portal with extremely complicated looks.
Gapar took a deep breath.
Then stepped into the portal again.
And came back again.
He repeated the process:
Breathe in.
Step in.
Step out.
Eventually he just stuck half his body inside.
Meanwhile, Tursey was doing the exact same thing.
Their synchronization rate was nearly 100%.
Both of them wore expressions that looked like they were reconsidering the meaning of life.
Seeing this, Leon finally couldn't hold it anymore.
He slapped his thigh and burst into laughter.
As a professional adventurer, he normally wouldn't laugh out loud.
Unless he absolutely couldn't hold it in.
After all—
What could possibly be funnier than seeing the legendary Sword Saint wearing a completely bewildered expression?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Hearing the laughter behind him, Gapar didn't feel embarrassed.
Because what he had just experienced was simply too absurd.
When he walked out of the portal, what he saw wasn't the bustling ancient underground city of the Sein Dungeon as usual.
Instead—
He saw a barren yellow wasteland.
An endless empty field where not even grass grew.
Only in the far distance could a hint of green be seen.
It looked like this place had experienced a catastrophic war.
The thick aura of death was so strong that even the hardiest weeds refused to grow there.
And the place looked…
Familiar.
Gapar rubbed his eyes.
He saw the craters left by falling meteors.
And deep sword marks carved into the ground.
He was certain now.
This was the ruins of Val City.
The meteor and sword marks were created by himself and the professor.
How could he possibly forget that?
The ruins of Val City themselves weren't surprising.
But exiting the Sein Dungeon portal and arriving here—
That was extremely surprising.
"…Yes, why indeed?" Tursey muttered.
She had never seen something like this before.
Had the Sein Dungeon expanded all the way here?
Aside from shock, Gapar had another concern.
The distance from Val City to Bede City was enormous.
It would actually be faster for him to walk backward through Liurnia of the Lakes to reach the Firelink Shrine.
"What exactly is going on?"
He turned toward the laughing group behind him.
His instincts told him—
These people definitely knew something.
"Hahaha!" Leon laughed loudly.
Because when he first stepped out earlier, he had made the exact same face.
So seeing that same expression on someone else—
Especially his usually serious and reliable teacher—
Was impossible to endure.
BONK!
Only after the Sword Saint knocked a huge cartoon-style lump onto Leon's head did he finally calm down.
Wiping tears from laughing, he said,
"Sorry, sorry. I really couldn't hold it in."
"…."
A vein popped on Gapar's forehead.
"You're still laughing?"
"I'm not, I'm not!"
Leon quickly waved his hands and even asked Drew to cast a calming spell on him.
Once he finally settled down, he explained,
"We don't actually know what's going on either."
"The reason we discovered this place is because when we died, we were teleported to a resurrection house ruin nearby."
A resurrection house?
How could Val City possibly have one?
There was no dungeon nearby.
What was the point of building one?
Normally, when adventurers died, teleportation crystals would send them out.
The reason they were accurately sent to resurrection houses was because of something called a Crystal Pillar.
You could think of it as a coordinate beacon.
Within its range, all teleportation crystals would be attracted to it.
Every resurrection house had one.
Without it, it wasn't truly a resurrection house.
But decades ago, some extraordinarily "clever" humans had turned this simple system into chaos.
Once, there was a popular dungeon that attracted many adventurers thanks to generous rewards.
This benefited nearby towns.
But unfortunately—
There were two cities nearby.
Both were close to the dungeon.
So the nobles of those cities began competing for the resurrection house business.
Each city built resurrection houses and installed more Crystal Pillars.
The more pillars you had, the stronger your attraction for teleportation crystals.
This caused both sides to keep expanding their pillar networks.
Adventurers would resurrect like they were opening loot boxes.
No one knew which city they'd appear in next.
Eventually the adventurers got furious.
They rioted and destroyed both resurrection houses.
After that incident, people developed the "One Pillar, One Crystal" system.
In simple terms, teleportation crystals were bound to specific pillars.
Unless you left the pillar's effective range, you wouldn't get pulled away by other resurrection houses.
But these specialized crystals were more expensive.
When Count Charon came to power, he introduced subsidies for adventurers buying teleportation crystals—
But only for ordinary crystals.
After all, there were no competing resurrection houses nearby.
So there was no risk of being sent somewhere unexpected.
"The previous Count of Val and the Count of Bedford never got along," Leon explained.
"So he came up with a dirty trick—using resurrection houses and crystal pillars to steal adventurers from the Sein Dungeon."
"That's incredibly stupid," Tursey commented bluntly.
It would only provoke strong resentment from adventurers.
"Exactly," Leon shrugged.
"So stupid that the plan was abandoned before it was implemented."
"Later they discovered the previous Count of Val had been born from inbreeding and had intellectual disabilities."
"But the crystal pillar wasn't removed."
"It was buried underground."
"Luckily it wasn't destroyed in the recent battle."
This explanation made it somewhat reasonable why they had revived nearby.
But there were still problems.
First—
The closest resurrection house to the Sein Dungeon should have been Bedford City's.
Why would Val City's pillar attract them instead?
Did that mean the Liurnia region was geographically farther from Bede City now?
Second—
Tursey asked,
"Who resurrected you?"
"Mr. Naba. He happened to be investigating near the Val City ruins."
Naba?
Who was that?
The name sounded like someone with at least four-digit combat power.
"Oh, it's him," Tursey sighed helplessly.
"He told me earlier he had something to do outside. I didn't expect him to come here."
Naba was the fourth magic professor who had come to Bedford City.
His research fields were resurrection magic and large-scale offensive spells.
Leon's group meeting him and getting revived was actually very lucky.
Thank you, Professor Naba.
And thank you, former Count of Val.
"So what do we do now?" Roger asked nervously.
This whole situation felt like it was spiraling out of control.
They thought this was just a normal dungeon exploration.
But suddenly it had turned into something involving Val City.
"Let me think."
Gapar rubbed his temples and closed his eyes.
"I need to think carefully…"
Just as he sank into deep thought—
Maru suddenly heard the sound of wings flapping in the distance.
She looked up.
Sure enough—
It was Glintstone Dragon Smarag returning.
But as the dragon appeared—
A faint purple glow lit up inside the nest.
It was the Academy Glintstone Key.
Exactly two hours had passed since Gapar's group took the previous one.