Chapter 1243 – Too Easily Distracted

Jake hadn’t been that surprised when the Viper mentioned a dungeon in his own universe. In fact, wasn’t it only natural that the newly integrated universe was also rife with new dungeons to discover?

He was a bit suspicious, though. Not necessarily because of the circumstances or where the dungeon was located, but because of the person who directed him there. The Viper loved to mess with Jake, and he had a strong feeling that this final dungeon would, in part, be the snake god pulling his leg. Sure, the Viper had used a newly made teleportation circle and whatnot to teleport Jake, but Jake still had a feeling.

That’s also why Jake wasn’t overly surprised when he appeared not just back in his own universe, but even on his own planet. As the Viper had said, he was even met with a familiar face that instantly let Jake know that the snake god was a goddamn liar… because the dungeon he was about to do wasn’t a natural dungeon but one meticulously created by an overly enthusiastic dungeon designer.

When Jake opened his eyes, he found himself staring directly at a wooden stage with curtains covering it. Not a single other person was around, which meant the upcoming show was definitely for him.

Prompted by Jake’s arrival, the curtains were pulled back to reveal not the expected Unique Lifeform, but instead someone Jake hadn’t expected to see there.

“Casper?” Jake said, surprised upon seeing his former coworker, turned Risen.

“Yo,” the undead man said, waving his hand with absolutely no sense of showmanship.

“No, no, no! Stick to your lines!” the person Jake had expected to greet him suddenly yelled. “Ahem, let’s start over.”

The drapes were instantly closed once more, Jake just standing there for a few seconds, letting out a small sigh. After five seconds, the curtains were drawn once more, revealing Casper still just standing there.

“Welcome to the glorious, brilliant, and extremely exclusive pre-launch event for the venerated and illustrious Minaga’s newest-“

“Do you need to say it in the most deadpan and monotonous tone imaginable?” Minaga interrupted the very bored-sounding Casper. “Put some life into the performance! Some energy!”

“I can’t,” Casper defended himself. “I’m dead. I don’t have any life energy.”

“Yeah, that was actually pretty insensitive of you,” Jake also got involved, shaking his head. “Is this the kind of operation you’re running, huh? Workplace bullying is no joke, and I’m inclined to order an immediate investigation into the clearly toxic culture you’ve created.”

“You definitely should,” Casper nodded. “Did you know he also banned unions? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”

“You’re the only other person here… why would you even need a union?”

“Save that for the judge,” Jake shook his head with extreme disappointment. “Now, seeing as I’m here, could you run me through the facilities and allow me to do an impromptu inspection of your project?”

“That was the purpose of the play,” Minaga’s voice echoed, sounding incredibly sad.

“Then go ahead and do your play,” Jake nodded as he looked toward Casper. “Of course, I can’t let this guy take part after seeing the horrendous work environment he’s been suffering under.”

“True, that would be unethical,” Casper agreed and didn’t hesitate to teleport up to the slightly raised platform Jake was standing on that overlooked the stage.

Jake and his old friend shared a knowing look before shifting his gaze back toward the stage. “Alright, we’re ready.”

“I find it funny you believe I won’t still go through with it,” Minaga said as his threats became reality in the very next moment. A projection of the Unique Lifeform appeared on the stage below as he cleared his throat before speaking loudly. “Welcome, welcome, welcome! To the grand pre-launch of the-“

“Aren’t those lines wrong?” Jake asked Casper.

“Definitely not the same ones I had,” the Risen shook his head.

“It’s called improvisation, and if Casper had read the script properly, he would have known that was fully allowed,” Minaga said, crossing his arms.

“And he’s back to bullying,” Jake sighed and shook his head.

“Do also recall how he refused to let me improvise initially and instead tried to micromanage my artistic expression through forcing me to stick to the script,” Casper brilliantly pointed out.

“True, true,” Jake nodded sagely.

“As I was saying, welcome to the pre-launch of my newest creation,” Minaga continued, having clearly decided to ignore his two critics. “This event is only a small preview of the greater mega-dungeon, which shall be known as Minaga’s Glorious Labyrinth of Engaging Exploration.”

“We’re not using that name,” Jake muttered.

“Miranda already shut it down,” Casper nodded.

“In yet another glorious display of creativity, this dungeon shall make use of the fact that it consists of several cores, which has allowed me to do something truly awesome,” Minaga once more continued. “Connected Dungeons.”

Jake slowly nodded along, having decided to hold back on the jokes for a little while as the Unique Lifeform was actually explaining things now and wasn’t just doing pure showmanship.

“While the concept isn’t new, I believe this is one of the greatest iterations of it ever. The Labyrinth will have only one main entrance, but from there, several dungeons shall be accessible from within. Each of them with different sizes and complexities, but all sharing the same theme, and perhaps the most important of all: a proper through-line narrative tying them all together!”

Okay, still a lot of useless fluff in the speech, but Jake stayed silent in part because Casper wasn’t saying anything either.

“Allow me to set the stage. Initially, one arrives at the outskirts of the Great Labyrinth itself. One finds it surrounded by monsters in early C-grade, and the closer one gets, the stronger the monsters become. After battling through these many monsters spawned from the Great Labyrinth, one arrives at the entrance, battered but full of vigor to explore. Upon wandering inside and looking to the side, you spot it: a second dungeon entrance.”

It didn’t sound horrible so far, though definitely a little basic. Jake hadn’t heard much of a story either, only some world-building, and he genuinely hoped that he wouldn’t have to listen to Minaga going on a lore dump.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“However, as you look around more, you realize there is more than one dungeon entrance… that’s right, the Great Labyrinth itself consists of multiple dungeons! Three, in fact, with each being harder than the previous! The first one will have mainly early and mid-tier C-grades, the second one mid and some late-tier C-grades, and the final one exclusively late to peak-tier C-grades.”

Jake nodded along, waiting for the Unique Lifeform to get to the good part. Jake didn’t need dungeons with C-grade enemies anymore, but based on his talks with Minaga about what this dungeon would be, Jake fully expected there to be more.

“Each of the three sections of the Labyrinth will be expansive and have many different paths that all lead to a final boss. This final boss will drop a key fragment, and upon collecting all three keys, the special magic circle at the Grand Labyrinth entrance can be activated, granting access to the fifth dungeon.”