The three of us spent the rest of the day farming the ice tundra dungeon. Since the skills offered there weren’t magical, the Twisted Eye guild held little interest in them. Instead, once their people were in and settled, they split up to attack the dungeons in the magical district. It didn’t take me long to receive a preliminary report from the guild about these two dungeons.

  The first of the dungeons was extremely high level, high enough that the guild was saving it for later, because they simply couldn’t damage the monsters within. The dungeon itself seemed to be some kind of infernal mine, with twisted golems looking like mining machines. Whenever these machines killed a player, they would recover their own health and grow stronger. Because of this, the guild couldn’t determine the rewards of the dungeon.

  The other dungeon, while still high level, was not outside of the range they could handle with wave tactics. This was a bamboo forest populated by beastfolk-like monsters capable of various water spells. Because of the sheer number of people attacking the dungeon, they very quickly discovered the primary skills offered as loot.

  These skills were Mist, Water Jet, and Water Shot, with the intermediate version of the latter also available. Although they offered copies of these skillbooks to me, nobody in my party was interested in them.

  Finally, there were the resource dungeons. For this, they dispatched a small logistics team, together with a Fallen appraiser in each. Thanks to this, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the dungeons were well suited to support a city.

  The first resource dungeon was a misty hunting ground with an ever-shifting layout. It was easy to get lost in, but the rewards were abundant. Elemental beasts were constantly fighting one another, leaving their kills on the ground for anyone to collect. This provided a good source of meat, as well as other products like leather and bones.

  Meanwhile, the final dungeon was a shifting hedge maze. Like the prior dungeon, getting lost was easy, but the rewards were worth it. Aside from an abundance of fruits that seemed to grow from the walls of the maze, there were vines that released a valuable nectar.

  With these six dungeons, all under the control of the city’s management, I was no longer worried about the city being able to sustain itself in the hands of the Twisted Eye.

  We stayed overnight in the city, doing one last raid of our frozen dungeon in the morning before leaving. Due to the sheer volume of materials that I had given Diane from our raids, it would take quite a long while to get everything sold.

  In the meantime, we had more exploring to do. The two girls had leveled up a considerable amount while farming the frozen dungeon, especially since I kept my involvement to the minimum as much as possible. Bella even eventually received her second pistol, completing the set for her frozen firearms.

  Once we set off in the car, Diane made herself comfortable in the back, looking out the window. “So, where to next?” She asked in a curious tone. “There aren’t any more events or anything scheduled any time soon. Do we try to expand our influence among the natives, or look for specialized dungeons to power up?”

  I couldn’t help but hesitate when I heard these options. While I thought that it would be nice to recruit more villages into Fallcry, doing so was anything but easy. With Nora’s village, we got very lucky. First, the village was facing an obvious crisis when we arrived, and then Kelly arrived and was able to solve the crisis. If there was no danger, it would be difficult to convince the village to join us.

  However, at the same time, Chimeris was largely unexplored. Trying to find a specialized dungeon would be impossible under normal conditions. With that said, I glanced to the corner of my vision, looking at the Sponsorship window. I hadn’t looked at it much since before the summer event over a week ago, and had accrued nearly a thousand points in that time. Whether these points came from my activities during the event or building the city, I couldn’t say.

  “Let’s see what I can find.” I muttered, focusing on the window. I could use these points to ask questions to the system, so I just had to think about what I wanted to ask.

  With one hand steadying the wheel, I typed a prompt into the window. Where can I find a dungeon of an appropriate level for Diane and Bella to grind in, which can drop a novice level Martial buff skill useful for me? There was a brief pause as the request was processed, before three prices appeared.

  My eye twitched as I read the options. If I went with the second path, I would only be able to get the basic information with the points that I had available. While I wasn’t sure how much qualified as ‘basic information’, it was unlikely to give me a proper awareness of where the target dungeon was.

  If I wanted the full information, I had to go with the first option, even if it was of lower quality than the latter. Thus, I selected the first Detailed Information.

  My eyes widened as I read through the information. Without the slightest hesitation, I turned around, speeding back towards the Sunset Isles. Bella yelped, gripping her seat at the sudden turn. “What’s wrong, Drake? You forget something?”

  “We don’t have time to drive back manually. We need to use the teleport nexus to get to Fallcry if we want to reach our destination in time.” I quickly explained, stepping on the gas. We were a minimum of three hours from the rift at our current location, and that was if I pushed the car to go as fast as possible. However, we had only just left the Sunset Isles. As long as we teleported back, we would have just enough time to reach the rift.

  Diane arched a curious brow, smiling behind her mask. “Sounds like you found us a good target. You going to share with the rest of us?”

  I looked ahead, recounting the information that I received from the system. As I did, the two of them listened closely, seeming particularly interested.

  “A wave dungeon…” Diane muttered to herself, seeming lost in thought. “There are a few ways that could be handled. Two hundred and fifty is probably just the basic level to fight the first wave. We’re still quite a bit short of that number, but Bella and I should be able to handle solo fights on our own. Which means that the system was taking your abilities into account with the difficulty.”

  Once we arrived at the Sunset Isles, I pulled up next to the teleportation nexus, and immediately paid for the three of us to return to Fallcry. Then, it was off to the north, heading for the rift. “Diane, can you check with the Player community to see what they know about these types of gauntlet dungeons? We have a few hours until we reach the dungeon, so it’d be best to get some information on the way.”

  Diane responded with a nod, her brand dimming as she logged out. Meanwhile, I thought back to Ella, who had established her own nation in Pyrrhos. Unfortunately, her nation was likely not even remotely close to this dungeon, or else I would tell her about it to give her the initiative in claiming it.

  On the bright side, with how far it was from the rift, there were likely no players anywhere near that area. This meant severely less competition for the dungeon, at least I hoped as much.

  Once we arrived at the rift, I waited for the designated time while keeping the car hidden in the air. Below us, numerous players were traversing in an orderly fashion, with a defensive camp of Fallen managing the flow of traffic. After a few minutes, the portal went from a rusted brown to pitch black in a moment, and I drove through.

  On the other side of the rift, I shuddered at the sight that greeted me. Oblivara was a black desert illuminated by a hanging moon, even at this early hour. Aside from the moon, there was not a single speck of light to be seen in the sky. Not a single star within the black abyss above.

  Down below, a torchlit defensive camp mirrored the activity of the camp that we had previously seen in Chimeris. However, there were currently no travelers coming to Oblivara, showing that it was likely an unpopular choice. Or, there were simply few who wanted to take Chimeris as a layover point.

  Diane’s Chosen glanced out the window, an almost whimsical look in her eye. “I bet my Player would like this place,” she said, scanning the horizon. “It seems like the type of place where you could get a lot of darkness-themed skills.”

  I thought about that for a moment, finding it likely as well. “Probably. We can have her look into that once we’re done with the arena,” I told Diane with a small smile. “For now, I can’t afford another expenditure like that…”

  “That’s understandable,” Diane agreed. “They wouldn’t let you use those points too easily, or other sponsored players would be able to break the game.”

  I gave a small grunt of acknowledgement. Even with the current request, it gave me a destination so far away that a ‘normal’ Player would have to spend at least a week to travel, unless they had methods similar to my own. Most players would typically have a range of operation measured in dozens of kilometers at most.

  As I was thinking of that, the rift, which had been a confusing mix of green, blue, and red swirls, turned bright red. Thus, I drove into the rift again, arriving in Pyrrhos. Here, the sky was a constant, burnt orange, with flaming clouds and searing rain. Trees were alight in a deep forest surrounding the rift, and I could see a small city built near the rift on this side.

  Still under the effects of Ghost Zone, I drove the car straight north, settling in for a relatively long drive.