16
Su Mu had read through this entire process countless times in his textbooks.
He could even write down the textbook-standard parameters for every single step from memory... how much soul Power was required to expand the space, the proportions for constructing the base terrain, the optimal coordinates for placing the core card...
Yet right now, gazing at the Chaos in his consciousness, he realized that theory and practice were two completely different things.
He closed his eyes and sank his mind deep into his soul.
There, a grayish-white mass of clouds hovered quietly, like a giant egg without a shell, and also like a swath of Chaos prior to the creation of heaven and earth.
The moment Su Mu's consciousness made contact with the cloud mass, a surge of information flooded into his mind.
【dungeon space has not been opened. Consume soul Power to open it? For every 1 square kilometer of space expanded, 10 points of soul Power will be consumed.】
Yes.
Su Mu did not hesitate in the slightest.
Hum...
The cloud mass shuddered violently, as if something inside were forcefully propping it outward.
Su Mu only felt his soul Power being siphoned away through an invisible pipe, the number plummeting frantically.
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
...
A succession of prompt chimes rang out in his mind.
Under his conscious gaze, the cloud mass began to expand and stretch out. The grayish-white Chaos was pulled apart, turning into a dim gray expanse of earth. The ground was bare rock and soil, devoid of life or change, and the entire space was steeped in an utterly desolate stillness.
Once he had spent a full 10 points of soul Power, this space settled at the size of 1 square kilometer.
It was very small.
Still, it reached the bare minimum required for a dungeon. As for expanding it...
Su Mu was in no hurry.
Next, he picked a spot toward the north of the space and began condensing terrain.
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
This time, the drain of soul Power was even denser.
Those dusty rocks and soil began to heave, pile up, and rise.
With twenty points of soul Power poured in, a peak roughly two hundred meters tall rose straight from the ground.
The mountain peak was bare, composed entirely of grayish-brown stone, and just like its surroundings, not a blade of grass grew on it. Placed anywhere, it would be nothing more than the most ordinary barren mountain.
Su Mu opened his eyes and withdrew his core card from his soul space.
The F-rank stone card floated in his palm. The stone on the card's surface was a dusty gray, completely devoid of luster.
With a thought, the card transformed into a streak of flowing light that shot into the dungeon space, landing with pinpoint accuracy on the peak of that barren mountain.
Thud.
A giant boulder appeared on the summit.
It was not very large, merely the girth of two or three people embracing it. Its color was dull, its surface rough, leaning crookedly as if it had grown straight out of the mountain itself.
Su Mu withdrew his consciousness and glanced at the card's updated details.
Name: Stone (Core Card)
Rank: F
Level: None
HP: 1000/1000
DEF: 10
Attributes: None
Combat Index: 130
Remarks: An utterly ordinary stone.
No change.
"Just as expected," Su Mu murmured to himself.
He had anticipated this all along.
With just a mountain and a stone, what could this possibly count as?
The dungeon rules in this world were exceedingly strict.
If your design lacked 'thematic resonance' with the chosen theme, everything remained nothing more than a rudimentary pile of materials.
To activate the dungeon's amplification, the elements within this space had to form an echo with the theme.
In other words, you had to make this dungeon feel 'real.'
Su Mu focused his soul Power once again, casting his consciousness toward that barren mountain.
He raised his hand and tapped into the void.
"This place is named Flower-Fruit Mountain."
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
After 10 points of soul Power were infused, a bluish-gray stone stele slowly rose from the soil at the foot of the mountain.
On the stele were three large characters: Flower-Fruit Mountain.
There was no dazzling radiance, nor was there any thunderous phenomenon. There were merely three simple characters carved into the stone stele.
Yet Su Mu knew this was it.
Naming.
In a dungeon space, naming carried power.
A name represented an anchor point, anchoring a 'concept' into the dungeon's theme. The more accurate the name and the deeper its connection to the theme, the greater the amplification it granted.
Rumble...
Right at the moment the stone stele fully formed, that dusty-gray giant boulder on the mountain peak shuddered abruptly.
A faint, spiritual glow burst forth from within the stone, as though something deep in slumber had been slightly awakened.
Su Mu immediately checked the stone's attributes.
At this moment, the originally dull and lusterless stone had transformed.
Traces of time seemed to have settled on its surface, as if it had endured countless years of wind and rain, its color turning deeper and more reserved.
A few natural patterns faintly emerged on the stone's surface, seemingly brimming with an indescribable charm.
Name: Stone (Spiritual Charm) (Core Card)
Rank: E
Level: None
HP: 3000/3000
DEF: 30
Combat Index: 450
Attributes: Spiritual Charm
Remarks: A wisp of spirituality born from absorbing the Spiritual Qi of Flower-Fruit Mountain's Earth Vein. This stone is extraordinary.
A brilliant glint flashed in Su Mu's eyes.
It really worked.
The rules of this world were precisely like this... A dungeon theme was not just for show.
As long as your design conformed to the theme's logic, the dungeon would grant you the corresponding amplification.
A card's Level, attributes, and effects would all evolve along with the depth of the design.
And his theme was Journey to the West.
The stone on Flower-Fruit Mountain.
No one knew what it was better than him.
Su Mu gathered his soul Power once more and pointed his finger toward that stone.
"This stone is named Patching Heaven."
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
【soul Power -1】
Another ten points of soul Power were infused.
The spiritual glow on the surface of the stone transformed once again.
An ancient, primeval aura emanated from the stone, as though it had witnessed endless epochs since the creation of heaven and earth.
The illustration on the card underwent yet another metamorphosis... The patterns on the stone became even more profound, with faint seven-colored radiance swirling within them.
Name: remnant stone of patching heaven (Core Card)
Rank: D
Level: None
HP: 7000/7000
DEF: 70
Combat Index: 1200
Attributes: Heaven-and-Earth Spirit Stone / Charm of Patching Heaven
Remarks: A wondrous stone atop Flower-Fruit Mountain that has existed since the creation of heaven and earth, rumored to have been left behind by Nüwa's patching of the heavens. It conceals a spiritual fetus within, endowed with boundless creation.
It was D-rank now.
From F to E, and then to D, it had taken only two namings and less than twenty points of soul Power.
For anyone else, upgrading a core card from F to D would take at least two to three months of accumulating materials and countless trials and errors. And that was already assuming they understood their dungeon theme; otherwise, it would be impossible in a lifetime.
Yet he had done it in just a few minutes.
Even so, Su Mu shook his head.
"Only D-rank... It's still far from enough."
He looked at that bare, barren mountain and the solitary stone perched on the summit.
It was completely insufficient.
Sun Wukong's true form, the remnant stone of patching heaven, should be at least an SSS-rank existence in this world's system.
That was the world-shaking Stone Monkey of Numinous Wisdom that burst from stone, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven who later wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and the Victorious Fighting Buddha of the Western Journey.
A D-rank remnant stone of patching heaven barely scratched the surface at best.
Su Mu knew full well where the problem lay.
All he had done was 'name' it.