Records of Dungeon Travel

Chapter 211

Kim Jin-Woo sat on his throne and quietly closed his eyes.

It wasn’t difficult to reduce the size of the labyrinth as Daedalus had requested. After he discovered the Veins some time ago, he had already changed the specific direction in which the Grand Labyrinth would expand. He would be able to make use of that experience to visualize the end goal of a smaller labyrinth as well.

But there was a problem. It was that he had yet to completely rein the Grand Labyrinth in and get it under his control. It wasn’t clear whether this greedy Grand Labyrinth would follow his will and reduce its size, especially considering that its name was literally ‘Greed’.

Just as he had feared, the Grand Labyrinth completely denied his will, and the visualization he had worked hard to create in his mind was quickly engulfed by its wrath, destroying it in the process.

“Mm.” Feeling his mind starting to be consumed by the Grand Labyrinth’s wrath, Kim Jin-Woo stared at the Grand Labyrinth’s core, his eyes narrowing.

Goaaaaar.

The labyrinth wasn’t about to bow down to him, and it fiercely growled back. Apparently, the Grand Labyrinth wasn’t willing to listen to anything Kim Jin-Woo had to say.

But in the end, the winner had already been decided.

[The Mystical Spear, Gungnir, is by no means an ordinary spear.]

[The Mystical Spear that the One-Eyed Lord refused to let out of his grasp developed its own consciousness over a long period of time, and now it has become a Power Fragment stronger than any other.]

[The Mystical Spear itself is a symbol of the power and majesty of the Lord.]

[Gungnir, which was once a symbol of the Lord, does not seem to want to stand by and watch the Grand Labyrinth do as it pleases. Although this is not the same Grand Labyrinth as the one ruled by the One-Eyed Lord, the majesty of the Mystical Spear is still somewhat effective against the Grand Labyrinth of Greed.]

The moment Kim Jin-Woo held the Mystical Spear, Gungnir in his hand, the ferocity of the Grand Labyrinth began to rapidly subside.

[However, this does not mean that the Grand Labyrinth has completely bowed down to you. It has been temporarily overwhelmed by the majesty of the Mystical Spear Gungnir, but the Grand Labyrinth still refuses to bend to your will.]

[Nevertheless, the Grand Labyrinth has no choice but to obey your will at this moment.]

[The Grand Labyrinth, which refused to budge earlier, finally accepts the visualization of its ruler’s desires and has begun to change.]

[You must remain vigilant. The moment your will weakens even a little, the Grand Labyrinth will ferociously attack you once again. You must fully concentrate until the scale of the Grand Labyrinth has been reduced to your desired size.]

The frowning Kim Jin-Woo finally regained his composure, as he no longer felt a sense of urgency. The Grand Labyrinth sensed this and uttered a mournful groan instead of a ferocious growl.

[The Grand Labyrinth has begun to shrink in size.]

[The amount of energy that the Grand Labyrinth needed to maintain its size was unimaginably great. However, despite its size, it was not equipped with an efficient system to utilize its energy.]

[Currently, a highly dangerous level of energy is being drained by the Grand Labyrinth. Most of the energy used to maintain the form of the Grand Labyrinth has been wasted pointlessly.]

Indeed, Daedalus had accurately pinpointed the problems with the current state of the Grand Labyrinth, as expected from someone with the title of ‘Labyrinth Architect’. Although he had a history of making unreasonable requests out of self-interest, he had successfully proved his worth.

[For every 1% decrease in the Grand Labyrinth’s size, the required upkeep cost will decrease by the same level.]

[The required maintenance cost will not decrease below 30% of the current level.]

[Areas that were once within the realm of the Grand Labyrinth have been deactivated, and the lost energy has been recovered.]

The faint visualization in Kim Jin-Woo’s mind became clear once more, as a complete map of the Grand Labyrinth began to resurface.

***

“Urgh, this isn’t as easy as I thought.”

Kim Jin-Woo spent the whole day downsizing the Grand Labyrinth, but in the end, he couldn’t reduce it as much as he wanted. Only about 20% of the previously planned scale had been carried out.

At the start, he had been raring to go and see the work through to the end. But just 20% had been more than enough to give him a throbbing headache, so he unsteadily rose from his throne.

However, the moment he stood up, he had to sit back down. The Grand Labyrinth immediately struck and began to exercise its own will once more, attempting to expand itself again.

“Does the subjugation of the Mystical Spear only last so long?” Kim Jin-Woo muttered. With a bitter smile, he eventually had to straighten out his disturbed mind and refocus on concentrating his will.

[The Grand Labyrinth has currently shrunk by 29%.]

[The labyrinth’s dungeon energy efficiency has increased by 45%, and the upkeep cost required to maintain the labyrinth has decreased by 29%.]

[The Great Labyrinth’s satiety will last longer than before. The decrease in its satiety will be slower, and the time required to reach a fasting level will be longer.]

[Unused areas have disappeared, and a significant amount of energy has been recovered and stored inside the Labyrinth Core.]

Perhaps the Grand Labyrinth was taken by surprise at how much work had gone into removing all the unused areas, as it stopped progressing after about 30% of the work was done.

“Master, you don’t look so good. Even if the work is delayed a bit, I think you should take a break.” Dominique hadn’t been involved in the work thus far, but when she took one look at Kim Jin-Woo’s face, she approached him with a concerned expression and tried to stop him.

And just as Dominique said, Kim Jin-Woo looked as if he were on the verge of collapse. He let out a long sigh and sat crookedly on the throne, observing the Grand Labyrinth. The attempt to visualize and manifest an updated Grand Labyrinth as a whole had been a first for him, and it had taken a severe mental toll on him. Even if the Grand Labyrinth were to resume its expansion, he would no longer be able to keep it in check.

However, the Grand Labyrinth itself seemed to have exhausted its strength as well, as it no longer tried to fight against Kim Jin-Woo in its attempt to expand its territory. The boundaries were expanding ever so slightly, but it was at a rate that Kim Jin-Woo could handle.

“Phew, to think that I have to do this again. It makes me sick.” Kim Jin-Woo rarely complained, but the corners of his lips were ever so slightly twisted.

Thankfully, his previous labors hadn’t been in vain.

If he didn’t act, he would be eaten. It would be better for him to put his back into working on the solution instead of spending all that time worrying about the problem. Besides, that had always been his method of survival and learning in the Underworld.

However, for him to depend on his mental strength in an attempt to manifest the visualization in his mind was something he wasn’t used to, and a completely new method than what he was accustomed to. It was a tedious and arduous task in itself.

However, in the process of undertaking his difficult task, he had found the key to tame the ferocious beast known as the formidable Grand Labyrinth of Greed. The world, in which he had previously depended only on the strength of his physical body, expanded, and a whole new world manifested in front of him.

Visualization and willpower themselves were the source of a Highlord’s mighty power. As it turned out, Kim Jin-Woo’s body had transformed him into a powerful entity through repeated awakenings from constant trials and tribulations, but his mind had yet to keep up. But finally, the balance between his mind and body was restored, as his mind’s growth finally caught up.

“Phew.” With a long breath, the old remnants of his former self were discarded, and his mind, slowly but surely, began to adjust to his newly heightened consciousness.

His powers didn’t suddenly grow stronger all of a sudden. However, this was just the beginning, and with time, his spirit and willpower would become stronger and be that of a true Lord. And when his metamorphosis was finally finished, the world before him would no longer be the same.

Kim Jin-Woo, the 12th Floor Deep Floor dungeon baby and the Ruler of the Nagas, had just awakened to the true powers of a Highlord.

***

The work to downsize the labyrinth continued. Its progress, which had stalled without further progress at 29%, was finally starting to resume in the face of brute mental force.

And as the work progressed, so did the equilibrium between Kim Jin-Woo’s mental and physical capacity increase.

“Let’s finish things up at 40% progress today,’ he remarked.

After a certain point in time, the Grand Labyrinth no longer forcibly tried to expand itself. Kim Jin-Woo wasn’t certain if it was because he finally had a certain edge in the mental war between himself and the Grand Labyrinth, or if the Grand Labyrinth was slowly starting to recognize him as its master.

But what was certain was that there were no more invasions of his consciousness by the Grand Labyrinth. When he finally realized that, he found his stay in the Grand Labyrinth comfortable for the first time. His thoughts carried over to the Grand Labyrinth, which roared as if to flatter Kim Jin-Woo.

Kwaaaaaaah.

It was bizarre to hear the harsh winds of the frost-covered Grand Labyrinth make such a noise, but Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t help but feel better upon hearing it. He said, “If you wait a little longer, I’ll give you the Seal you’ve been longing for.”

The Grand Labyrinth let out another excited noise in response.

***

After the labyrinth was finally downsized to the desired size, Daedalus danced around like a child with a toy, unable to contain his excitement.

“It wasn’t an easy task, so take extra care in the expansion of the labyrinth,” Kim Jin-Woo warned him.

Kim Jin-Woo could intervene again if he needed to, but he was already beyond exhausted mentally even compared to his physical exhaustion, and he desperately needed a break. Thus, he left Daedalus with a light threat instead.

“Yes! Yes!” Daedalus exclaimed. But he seemed to pay no attention to Kim Jin-Woo’s thoughts, as he simply nodded with a fanatical look on his face.

“Okay, begin the renovation of the Grand Labyrinth!” Kim Jin-Woo commanded.

Daedalus scurried off into the distance. And before even half a day had passed, a message window popped up.

[The Grand Labyrinth has begun to expand again.]

[Daedalus the Labyrinth Architect has begun his work on the expansion of the Grand Labyrinth.]

[Even though he is a Labyrinth Architect who has little fame in the Underworld, it is not an exaggeration to say that Daedalus’ abilities, which have gone through much trial and error during his time with the Black Merchants, are already that of a true artisan.]

[The expansion of the Grand Labyrinth has been accelerated at the hands of Daedalus, the master Labyrinth Architect.]

***

The expansion of the Grand Labyrinth, which seemed as if it could finish at any moment, still somehow had no end in sight. Occasionally, messages popped up updating Kim Jin-Woo as to which areas were being developed and what advantages those changes brought.

Naturally, as Kim Jin-Woo was unable to see how the Grand Labyrinth was turning out on a large scale, he waited for the construction to be completed with a mix of anticipation and worry.

Kim Jin-Woo had immersed himself deeply in mediation, training his visualization skills in order to better envision the perfect Grand Labyrinth. Even at this moment, he was sitting on his throne, pensively pondering the memories of the past that Gungnir had shown him, when Dominique interrupted him.

“Master! Uther is here to see you.”

“Ah.” Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he dispatched Uther to protect the recently discovered down gem Veins from the Moai. Kim Jin-Woo, having belatedly remembered his existence, left the master room to greet Uther.

“Uther?”

Shortly after, he came face to face with Uther. But Uther looked so completely different from his past self that Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t help but look at him with a puzzled expression.