The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 2032 How Do You Get Stuck?

"How long will it take to have the portal arrays ready?" One of the Clan Leaders asked.

"We have them in stock. They're not a product that we advertise, but they are commonly enough commissioned that we keep some on hand in the warehouse."

For exactly this scenario, Karl noted.

There was only once that someone wanted a pair that would not lead to the Darklight Host. But that still made it a possibility, and they were constantly looking for more trade partners.

Karl pulled the portal arrays from the Guild Store, and then made the final changes that would link them to the main portal in the town square. There were protections on it that wouldn't allow a new portal to form within a metre of a person or solid object, so they could just let the guests arrive freely.

That was how the one to Yizimon worked as well, but with just one, it wasn't really an issue except on holidays when the constant portal to the New Home was busy.

"Alright, they're all properly linked to the portal platform in the town square. I'm sure you've all seen it by now, it's not far from the dungeon, and at the same intersection as the new arena. The location now has a hotel on the corner, and shops all around it.

So, it should be a nearly perfect spot to arrive, with strong security at all hours of the day, as the shopping district does not close with sunset as many Clans do.

There are enough of our members and guests who are active at all hours of the day lately that we simply hired enough staff to keep everything running through the slow hours overnight."

That made the guests chuckle.

Their Clans mostly shut down at dark as well, as the number of attacks between members for resources rose at night, and there weren't many customers anyhow. So, it was better to lock up and let everyone settle their own grudges.

Their assumption was that the Darklight Host did the same thing, but not in the shopping district.

In reality, the streets only got busier at night because the Lycans were naturally nocturnal, and most of them worked during the day. So, the streets were mostly visitors during daylight hours, and locals at night.

It kept the foot traffic pretty steady, unless they did something crazy, like making a dungeon in the middle of the city.

"I have one more suggestion." Karl began. "I would like to propose a package deal. Deferred collection of fees for dungeon users. You see, most of the time we collect on the way out. But the portal would normally require payment on use.

If your members are willing to try their luck on a variable dungeon, it's most likely because they're either powerful or powerfully broke.

So, if you have us open the portal for them, we can defer the fee until they leave the dungeon."

The Clan Leaders chuckled at the thought.

Karl was willing to risk not getting paid by groups who went over their capabilities and died in the dungeon. But on the condition that this side also got the portal fee, of 250 gold coins per person.

That was roughly doubling their standard fee per user to enter the dungeon if they were Spirit Immortals.

But it was a great deal for anyone more powerful.

The schedule that Rue had put up on the dungeon scaled with the power of the group. You could do any difficulty that you wanted for the same price, but the price increased with every stage that the users went up.

It made sense to the guests, they wouldn't expect to get entrance to a Supreme Ranked dungeon for the same price as an entry Spirit Immortal Dungeon.

Plus, this one had a unique advantage that most of them didn't.

If you died inside, it would toss your corpse out, so you weren't lost completely. That was huge for the Elders of the Clans. At least, as long as there was someone benevolent around to resurrect you and not steal your corpse.

That was something that they would have to speak to the Darklight Host about later.

They had security at the dungeon, but nobody specified what the duties of the guards were, other than keeping order. If they were going to resurrect failed groups, and charge them for it, that would be great.

But if they were just going to stop the fights over the corpses, that would be an issue for some of the Clans who took burial rituals seriously.

The meeting was interrupted when one of the Clan Leaders got a message from his Elders.

{Sir, we have an issue. We have seven out of ten members from a dungeon run outside, including the clerics. But the other three are trapped inside. They pulled a dungeon full of badgers, and the monsters refuse to kill the rest. They appear to be keeping them hostage.}

The Elder's face went blank, while everyone else waited for him to respond.

"Have any of you ever had an issue with the monsters in a dungeon losing the rage effect and thinking clearly?"

Karl nodded. "It happens with some powerful bosses, who are modelled on a creature that is still alive. It also sometimes happens with undead and chaos element creatures, though the difference is difficult to spot."

"I am told that my members are being held hostage by badgers," the Clan Leader reluctantly admitted.

"That's fine. The dungeon is only active for twenty-four hours. Once that is over, they'll be ejected automatically. Even if they can't find a way to the exit on their own, they won't be trapped there forever."

"We need to do something."

"Well, you could send the other seven back in. They still have three members in the dungeon, so it might let them enter the same instance? Or it might put them into a new one. I'm not sure, actually.

I've never died inside a dungeon, so it's never come up before."

That made the bunny with the drink cart giggle. Of course he hadn't died in the dungeon. The dungeon wouldn't dare actually kill a Karl.

He might stay and haunt it.