Who designed this underworld dungeon?.

Chapter 616 The Hollow Knight's Map

"Um, Lord Godwin."

Cangyin Underground City, the City Lord's Room.

Hannes's face was full of worry; she rubbed her little hands together anxiously as she said:

"With this design, will adventurers really be able to get through? Won't that place called the Path of Suffering make people angry?"

"Don't worry, adventurers are creatures that the harder you try to deal with them, the more active and happy they become. Sometimes you can't even imagine what they might do to your dungeon."

Gong Qiying was watching a video recording of the adventurers in the Cangyin Dungeon throughout the day.

Although he usually watches videos of adventurers from the Sien Dungeon for entertainment, watching videos of adventurers from other dungeons now has a different kind of fun to him.

Although the adventurers in the Azure Dungeon were more or less influenced by Soul 5 in the Sein Dungeon, most of them were still kind-hearted little knights, and their behavior when exploring the dungeon was surprisingly simple.

Simplicity has its advantages, such as the "Path of Suffering Challenge Video" he is currently watching.

If adventurers from the Sien Dungeon were to encounter the Path of Suffering here, they would probably start pulling some unexpected tricks.

Luluvo will definitely try swinging around with spikes and thorns on chains to cosplay as Spider-Man, Stella will probably try the Hound Walk, and Dahl will probably ignore the pain and just grab the thorns to climb the wall.

Besides these, there might be adventurers using their large shields as skateboards on the spikes, flying adventurers taking flight, earth and wood mages softening the spikes, orcs relying on their thick hides to withstand the attacks, and so on.

Having spent a lot of time with adventurers, Gong Qiying could roughly guess what kind of trouble these people would cause.

Therefore, when he learned that Hynes had designed the Path of Suffering, he prepared strategies to deal with all the things he could imagine. While he wouldn't completely deny the actions these adventurers might take, he also wouldn't let them have it too easy.

Throughout the design process, every time Henny added a trap, she would tremblingly ask, "Is this really okay?" She repeated this question probably hundreds of times.

For her, who still harbors love and peace within her, this "Goldwin Direct" truly broadened her worldview.

It seems that moral standards have been declining somewhat without us even realizing it.

However, the adventurers of the Azure Dungeon proved one thing with their performance.

That means the two city lords' worries seem unnecessary.

As it stands, what they are seeing are adventurers forced to embark on the arduous path of challenges.
Surprisingly, they were very law-abiding.

Because Hollow Knight is a side-scrolling 2D game, recreating it in a 3D world would be quite troublesome, so Miyazaki only tried to make the current design somewhat similar to the original.

For example, in Hollow Knight, the little knight can use his weapon to slash down at the spikes on the ground to achieve the result of rising or even jumping continuously. The Path of Pain is a great test of the player's ability to master the jump slash.

But I have to complain that the Road of Suffering should be someone's place, right? Who would decorate their own home into a place full of chainsaws, spikes, and iron thorns!
Since Hollow Knight only has one weapon, Gong Qiying thoughtfully suggested leaving two Highnut Fragments for the adventurers, which is quite a nice perk.

Adventurers in the Azure Dungeon discovered its existence and attempted to develop the possibility of jumping by striking the spikes.

The vast majority of them were surprisingly honest enough to only use this method to complete the challenge.

He's honest to an unbelievable degree.

Throughout the entire day, Gong Qiying and Hainis watched the adventurers challenge the Path of Suffering, only to discover it at the very end.

There doesn't seem to be much to say about fancy tricks.

They were honestly using the designed methods to pass the level, figuring out the right force and distance through repeated trial and error, dancing on the spikes amidst pain and unhappiness, chasing a reward they didn't even know what it looked like.

Seeing their appearance, Gong Qiying recalled his own first encounter with the path of suffering, and those distant memories flooded back.

If this were his own Sien Dungeon, he probably wouldn't be able to resist giving these hardworking adventurers some practical rewards as encouragement.

Heines was quite kind; she divided the Path of Suffering into different sections, with corresponding rewards for completing each section. She was much more compassionate than Gong Qiying.

Even so, this project, which Gong Qiying believed would definitely attract people, was still full of uncertainties in her eyes.

"However, to be able to design such a scene, one can only admire Lord Godwin."

Regardless of the adventurers' reaction, Hynes clapped her hands in praise:
"This evil—no, I mean, this extremely funny design is really your style!"

"It's just drawing on the experience of those who came before."

Gong Qiying shrugged and did not linger, suggesting that they leave for the time being.

After all, it will take time to see how the new design is received by the adventurers, and he's just sitting here with nothing to do.

"Yes, yes!" Hynes nodded vigorously. "I will inform you immediately if there are any new developments!" And so, the great Lord of the Sien Dungeon completed his first instruction to his lovely junior.

However, just three days later, they extended another invitation.

"Lord Godwin, great news! The adventurers actually don't dislike these new designs, and there are even a few more people coming!"

"You still need to continue maintaining it to make the dungeon more vibrant."

"Yes! I will remember your teachings!"

Henny gave a soldier's salute, then couldn't help but chuckle, the joyful atmosphere impossible to conceal.

This is what young people are like; their youthful energy is completely different from that of Chiya and his group.

Even Gong Qiying couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

He congratulated the other person, then looked at the images of the adventurers, and then came the final part.

Take his payment.

"Then I'll take these with me."

What Gong Qiying took away were monsters from the Cangyin Underground City.

To be precise, it's a plant from Plants vs. Zombies, specifically a mutated version.

The adventurers of the Azure Dungeon took these plants out, and after coming into contact with the outside world, these plants underwent changes to adapt to this world.

For example, the Ice Archer actually knows ice magic, the Giant Shimmer can open its eyes during the day without coffee beans, and certain plants seem to have developed a strange symbiotic relationship with the local monsters.
Gong Qiying valued two things the most.

First, there are those plants that have grown to enormous sizes due to their local characteristics.

Secondly, almost all plants that leave the Cangyin Underground City acquire the quality of "delicious" after being nurtured in the outside world for a while.

The taste is just as good as the vegetables in the gourmet area.

It's amazing; even Gong Qiying couldn't explain this change.

So he collected some samples from the Cangyin Underground City, planning to go back and study them, and also to enrich his monster resource library and food area. He needed to update them frequently to keep the area active.

"If any new plant mutations occur, please let me know so I can come back and collect more samples."

Moreover, he didn't take Hainis's things for nothing. Although the entire Plants vs. Zombies set was lent to her by Gong Qiying, he considered it as operating expenses.

"If you manage to create a mutant plant that is of considerable practical value, I can then offer you further guidance."

As he spoke, he showed several map designs that were deeply connected to the Path of Suffering.

Green Path, Fungal Wasteland, Crystal Peak, City of Tears.
A series of maps, all from Hollow Knight.

Although Hines didn't quite understand them, just hearing these names gave her a sense of awe and anticipation, and she nodded heavily with even more expectation in her eyes!
"Goodbye, Lord Godwin!"

Goodbye, I look forward to your future activities.

And just like that, the troubles of the Azure Valley dungeon were perfectly resolved.

That is, the day after Gong Qiying brought the mutated plant back.

Workers who frequented the food area to collect ingredients were surprised to find that the food area had added common vegetables such as peas, cabbage, corn, and mushrooms. These vegetables did not have the strange appearance of the previous ingredients; they were just the things that people could see in the market every day.

However, although they looked ordinary, their taste amazed the adventurers.

These are not ordinary vegetables at all, but a brand new creation in another food area disguised as ordinary vegetables!
Chefs from all walks of life set off again to purchase these vegetables, each filled with anticipation for their future careers.

With these new varieties that are no different from ordinary vegetables, they can use the high-quality ingredients from the Sien Dungeon to make dishes that are already very popular in this world, instead of creating something unique based on the exotic ingredients of the gourmet areas. This undoubtedly further enhances the quality of the restaurant's dishes.

The chefs also noticed the plants in the Azure Underground City and made a considerable purchase, but the supply still falls short of demand.

The biggest beneficiaries of this incident were actually the chefs and diners.

While he was engrossed in cooking in the Kingdom of Anor.

The state of the Warrior Kingdom has undergone further changes.

(End of this chapter)