By mid-morning the expedition group began walking toward one of the lower-floor entrances.
Phong had never actually seen one up close before.
The entrance stood between two tall rock formations like a temple gate.
It was massive.
A golden archway, its surface etched with strange symbols that pulsed faintly with mana.
At the center of the gate was a carved figure.
A hooded silhouette.
Face hidden.
Hands folded.
The image made Phong uneasy.
"…that thing looks familiar."
Alex glanced at it.
"From where?"
Phong frowned.
"It reminds me of something from Lovecraft."
"The King in Yellow."
Jake tilted his head.
"Not the most comforting reference."
The gate radiated golden light like a miniature sun.
Below it, a marketplace had formed.
Sponsored divers from major corporations stood around small stalls selling supplies.
Water flasks.
Rope.
Battery banks.
Emergency healing kits.
Clothes. Weapons sharpening service.
Some even wore jackets with massive logos printed across the back.
Amazon.
Costco.
Various biotech companies.
Two years ago, Phong would have been doing the same too. Near the gate to Manhattan, not the entrances to the next floor, but the similarities were close enough to poke at some wounded part in his soul
Selling produces hauled from above ground.
Trying to scrape together a living.
Now he was walking past them toward the deeper floors of the dungeon.
He exhaled slowly.
"Feels weird."
Alex glanced at him.
"Reminding you of unpleasant memory."
"Yeah."
He watched a young diver scan his cash app at a supply stall.
"…About how naive I was."
He was indeed naive, thinking he could scrape a living in a niche without working for the retail giants.
They approached the gate.
The golden surface hummed quietly.
Jake squinted upward.
"You ever notice something weird about the dungeon?"
"What."
Alex pointed to the map in her mind.
"Each floor doesn't have one entrance."
"There are many."
Phong blinked.
"Really? Like there are gates to various places in the world?"
"Yeah. They're scattered."
She tapped the stone with her boot.
"The floors connect like tunnels."
Phong thought about it for a moment.
Then smiled faintly.
"…like a lotus root."
Everyone paused.
Jake nodded slowly.
"That's actually a perfect comparison."
Multiple holes.
Multiple paths.
Layers connecting through hidden passages.
The dungeon really did resemble the cross-section of a lotus root.
Rico looked offended.
"Why farmer always talk about vegetables."
"Because I'm a farmer."
"Unfair specialization."
They stepped through the golden gate.
The world changed instantly.
The bright light swallowed them for a moment.
Then the ground beneath their feet became stone.
A spiral staircase descended into darkness.
Complete, total void was what existed between the dungeon floors. Only the stone spiral staircase was allowed to exist.
Step after step.
Downward.
The air grew colder.
Heavier.
Nyx's ears twitched.
Bruno growled softly.
Little Fireball poked her head out of the hoodie again.
Phong looked down the endless spiral.
This was it.
The first time he was leaving the safety of Floor 1.
The first time he was diving deeper.
Alex squeezed his hand gently.
"Ready?"
Phong smiled slightly.
"Not really."
He took a breath.
Then stepped downward.
Into Floor 2.
The spiral staircase from the golden gate seemed endless.
Stone steps wound downward through a hollow shaft carved deep into the dungeon rock. Faint lines of mana glowed along the walls like veins of blue lightning, providing just enough light to see where to place each step. The air grew cooler the deeper they descended, carrying with it the distant echo of monsters and underground rivers somewhere far below.
Phong walked in the middle of the group, adjusting the strange mask he wore.
The artifact had come from the Greencap Kingdom. The bunny captain had presented it to him with the same solemn seriousness as when he gifted Alex her armor.
The mask was simple in appearance, matte white with faint green etchings shaped like curling vines.
But its function was priceless.
Anyone who looked at him would see nothing.
No name.
No class.
No level.
No status.
To any system interface or appraisal skill, he was simply blank.
And right now, outside the dragon's protected zone around Camp Stymphalian, that mattered.
Josh had escaped.
Josh talked.
Phong wasn't stupid enough to assume the world would simply ignore that.
He tightened the mask straps slightly.
Just in case.
Ahead of him, Nyx and Bruno had clearly decided this descent was the perfect time to show off.
The black cat leaped gracefully from one step to another with exaggerated elegance, tail flicking with smug pride.
Bruno trotted beside her with the confident gait of a dog who had recently realized he was much stronger than before.
The two animals stopped midway down the staircase and turned toward Phong dramatically.
Nyx lifted one paw.
Bruno barked proudly.
Phong raised an eyebrow.
"Level twenty."
He blinked again.
"Already?"
Rico nodded.
"Dog and cat strong now."
Nyx meowed smugly.
Bruno wagged his tail enthusiastically.
Phong scratched his head.
"That system is… unbalanced."
Jake glanced over.
"What do you mean?"
Phong gestured toward the animals.
"They helped kill a level fifty-four Ice Wolf."
"Shouldn't they have gained more levels than that?"
Alex shook her head.
"Not how the experience system works."
She stepped down beside him as they continued descending.
"Experience gain from a kill is capped."
Phong looked at her.
"Capped?"
"Proportional to your own level."
She pointed at Nyx and Bruno.
"A level twenty creature can't absorb the full experience value of a level fifty-four monster."
"Otherwise…"
She shrugged.
"…people would just throw armies at high-level monsters."
Dominic chuckled from behind.
"Imagine a thousand level-one divers stabbing a dragon to death."
Alex continued.
"If the system didn't cap experience gain, the strongest players in the world would level purely through manpower."
"You'd see corporations throwing ten thousand mercenaries at one boss."
"Or high level diver incapacitated a monster and leave it to low level divers to poke it to dead."
Jake nodded.
"Buying levels would be even more efficient than it already is. I'm sure the riches gonna love that change."
Alex crossed her arms.
"The cap prevents that kind of level inflation."
"Even if a high-level monster eventually dies from sheer numbers…"
"…each individual participant only receives a limited portion of the experience."
Phong exhaled slowly.
"That's… actually smart."
Nyx flicked her tail again.
Bruno barked once proudly.
Rico nodded.
"Animals still strong."
Phong smiled.
"That they are."
Eventually the spiral staircase ended.
The final step opened onto Floor 2.
The air here was heavier.
Thicker.
Mana flowed through the environment like an invisible ocean.
The landscape stretched into a vast cavern ecosystem: jagged stone ridges, twisted forests of fungal growth, underground rivers reflecting faint blue light, and distant mountain silhouettes that cut into the cavern ceiling.
Even the sky above looked different.
A dim, glowing haze that shifted like aurora lights.
Phong stopped for a moment.
"So this is Floor 2."
Alex nodded.
"You'll get used to it."
They walked for nearly an hour, navigating familiar terrain Alex and the others had already explored during their dives.
Eventually the dark outline of the Wraith Fortress appeared ahead.
Tall black walls.
Broken towers.
The scars of recent battle still visible along the stone.
This place had nearly become their second home.
Dominic and the team had fought hard to secure it.
Lizardmen had helped dig irrigation channels.
Barricades had been built.
Supply routes planned.
The fortress could have become a powerful foothold.
Phong stood quietly, staring at it.
He walked slowly through the gates.
The courtyard was silent now.
The ghostly wraith presence that once haunted the fortress had long since been destroyed.
He walked the walls.
Checked the towers.
Examined the terrain around it.
Alex watched him quietly.
Jake and Jack waited nearby.
Rico sat on a broken stone and drank stolen coffee from a tiny metal cup.
Finally, Phong opened the group chat.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment.
Then he typed.
Phong:
"I have decided not to use the fort as a second camp."
The message appeared instantly.
A few seconds passed.
Then he typed again.
Phong:
"Sorry. I needed to see it for myself before making the decision."
Phong:
"The benefits do not outweigh the risks."
Another pause.
Phong:
"Josh and Emma both know this location."
Phong:
"Josh tried to claim this place once already."
Phong:
"If he needs proof that Camp Stymphalian exists…"
Phong:
"This fortress will be the first place he looks."
The chat remained silent for a moment.
Then Dominic responded.
Dominic:
"Good call."
Janet followed.
Janet:
"No argument here."
Séline added a simple message.
Séline:
"Better safe than dead."
Phong exhaled quietly.
He had worried they might be angry after all the work they put into securing the fortress.
But they understood.
This wasn't about convenience.
It was about survival.
Instead of staying, the group boarded one of the lizardmen boats waiting near the lake.
The lizardmen had already established small docking points along the water routes.
The boat slid quietly across the dark surface.
After nearly forty minutes of travel, Phong spotted what he was looking for.
A jagged mountain peak rising sharply from the lake's edge. A patch of dense forest shaped like a crescent moon hugged the jagged shoreline, forming a naturaly valley tugged between dark forest and deadly lake.
Steep stone walls.
Narrow access routes.
Perfect defensive terrain.
"Here."
The boat landed against the rocky shore.
They climbed onto land.
Phong surveyed the area carefully.
This would work.
Better than the fortress.
Less obvious.
Less predictable.
He opened a small wooden crate and released the first wave of workers.
The moletatoes.
The little plants immediately burrowed into the ground, tunneling through soil and stone with impressive efficiency.
Within minutes the underground network began expanding.
Rico watched them work.
"Potato army."
Phong smiled slightly.
"Exactly."
Rico, whose intention was misinterpreted, added:
"Delicious potato army."
"No!"
Once the work began, Phong pulled out his phone again.
This time he tagged someone.
Selena.
Their encrypted channel remained one of the safest communication lines he had.
He typed calmly.
Phong:
[The dills, basils and tomatoes have not shown any sign of mutation.]
A moment passed.
Then he continued.
Phong:
[The last successful mutations were strawberries and peas.]
He looked at the ground where new crops would soon grow.
Then added:
Phong:
[Fourteen appears to be the mutation limit for that patch of land on Floor 1.]
He leaned against the stone wall and waited.
The dungeon wind carried the scent of soil and distant water.
Somewhere in floor 2, a new camp was about to grow.
And far away in New York, Selena's phone would soon light up with the message that might help her solve yet another piece of the dungeon's impossible puzzle.