There's a skeleton dungeon connected to my basement.

Chapter 254, Hell's Forge

Hellforge, a world largely filled with volcanoes and lava, is one of the most famous dwarven planes in the heavens.

Magma, volcano, ore, furnace, hammer.

These are probably the main elements that fill this world.

Xiao Yang arrived here with an invitation from Redbeard.

Today is a very special day; the moment I landed, I was greeted by a dazzling array of situations.

"But why are all the animals I see other races?"

Among the crowd were elves, humans, orcs, winged people, intelligent insectoids, and even demons, but there were no dwarves.

Where have the dwarves gone?

This question inevitably arose.

Suddenly, Xiao Yang thought of something and lowered his head.

So the dwarves are here!

If you look down, you'll see dwarfs.

During this period, Xiao Yang grew taller, and he suddenly grew quite a bit taller.

This change made him somewhat disdainful of dwarfs.

Looking down, he made eye contact with a short man. In that brief moment of eye contact, the dwarf with the long black beard blushed.

"What are you looking at! Tall guy! You think you're so great? Want to fight?"

As everyone knows, one of the things dwarves dislike most is being looked down upon.

Faced with this situation, Xiao Yang quickly forced a stiff smile and waved his hands repeatedly.

The hot-tempered dwarf was restrained by his companion.

"Alright, alright, Longbeard, don't get agitated, don't get agitated!"

Today, this hellish furnace has gathered a considerable number of people.

Amidst his awkward waving gestures, Xiao Yang's gaze fell upon a goblin secretly rummaging through his pockets.

His movements were noticed, and a sharp voice rang out, "Thief!" The man whose pockets had been rummaged through reacted, several gems rolled to the ground, and a scream followed.

The dwarf guard, wielding an iron hammer, instinctively lunged forward to snatch the gem that had rolled onto the ground. Oh, and there was also a dragonborn with dragon scales mixed in with them.

Suddenly, all sorts of situations arose at once, creating a chaotic mess.

Xiao Yang found himself in the middle of this chaotic mess.

He didn't dislike this feeling.

It's very vibrant, much more vibrant than the Rotten Lands, or rather, that's not quite right.

The Rotten Land is quite vibrant, especially recently, its vitality caused Xiao Yang considerable trouble.

In the final moments of exploring the underground part of the Zhongta City Urban Logistics Management Center a few days ago, Xiao Yang finally couldn't resist courting disaster.

He knew perfectly well that the dead tree root in the center of the temple was not something to be trifled with, but he just couldn't suppress his curiosity, or rather, he simply couldn't resist touching it.

I had to touch it.

It would have been better if he hadn't touched it, but once he did, something really went wrong. He found an incredibly large and unusual treasure.

Rotten Tree Spirit

Rank: Legend

Traits: Legendary Body, Rotting Body, Withered

Description: Withered, rotten, the once sacred is no longer sacred.

When I saw this panel, and the moment I saw the word "Legendary" above the rank, I didn't hesitate for a second. I took off running! I ran as fast as I could!
The disturbed rotting tree spirit was like an old machine slowly awakening, or a brown bear that had not yet fully awakened as spring approached.

The former means that even if he was startled, his reaction wouldn't be that quick, and he would wake up slowly, which gave Xiao Yang an opportunity to start running.

The latter, a bear that has just awakened from hibernation, is often extremely irritable, and this rotting ratman is no exception, forcing him to run for his life.

"If you're already struggling with epic battles, don't even think about legendary battles."

Xiao Yang ran for his life, and finally managed to break through the logistics management office at the last moment and escape.

He really didn't expect that there would be a legendary treasure guarding this place; at first, he thought it would be at most an epic treasure.

"That's an exaggeration, I almost died here."

However, there were unexpected gains as well. While running for his life, Xiao Yang found another trace of the Silver Branch in the hidden space behind the brick wall of the underground tunnel.

The rotting tree spirit, chasing Xiao Yang in a frenzied charge, crashed through the brick wall in the tunnel, and with his sharp eyes, he caught a glimpse of silver within.

The dungeon rules are still quite effective.

At least the rotten tree spirit, which was enraged and wanted Xiao Yang dead, was intercepted by it.

That makes sense. After all, the dungeon rules can imprison even evil gods, so stopping and imprisoning a legendary-level rotten tree spirit is no problem.

Xiao Yang, who had escaped from the logistics management center, was panting heavily, as if he had survived a disaster.

He really has no way to deal with such monsters. Let alone the fact that he is not an epic-level monster, even if he were already an epic-level monster, this point would probably not change.

The situation was already bad enough, but even worse things were yet to come.

Thinking about what happened that day, Xiao Yang couldn't help but rub his temples.

Outside the Logistics Management Center, a dense crowd of corrupted residents had gathered. Xiao Yang, who was rushing out of the Logistics Management Center, ran straight into these guys.

Xiao Yang was naturally not afraid of corrupt residents, but the problem was that there were more than just corrupt residents among them.

Before long, a great commotion broke out in the city of Zhongta.

A very unlucky fellow was forced to start the marathon again, frantically dashing left and right through the clock tower city, accompanied by his extremely arrogant laughter.

This is really not a very pleasant or memorable experience. Every time I think of Xiao Yang, I have an urge to rub my temples.

Especially when he thought about having to go back and investigate again in a few days.

He couldn't let go of that silver branch; he would definitely go back to check on it.

But what about that rotten tree spirit?
"Hopefully, that rotten tree spirit will be able to retreat back to the temple by then!"

She said this with a hint of helplessness. All she could do was hope that this precious child would be able to return on his own.

"Alright, let's not think about those messy things today, let's just relax."

Thinking this way, he suppressed the terrible images flashing through his mind and some thoughts about the rotting tree spirit.

The chaotic scene around them ended with shouts and curses from the dwarven guards.

As the tallest person on the field, Xiao Yang unsurprisingly faced questioning from the unfriendly dwarf guards until he revealed Redbeard's name.

That concludes the investigation.

They looked at Xiao Yang with a very surprised expression.

"Lord Redbeard!"

"I never expected you to be Lord Redbeard's guest!"

"Then there's no need for further investigation!"

"I hope you enjoy yourself!"

Xiao Yang received very serious treatment, thanks to the name of the man with the red beard.

It seems that Redbeard's name is quite useful in this hellish blast furnace.

On either side, an elf of similarly towering height was also questioned.

"Who are you!"

"Show me your ID!"

"Hmph! A tall guy with pointy ears!"

The dwarven guards were not so polite to the elf.

Xiao Yang was contemplating whether to wait for Redbeard to pick him up or to wander around on his own.

Xiao Yang leans towards the latter.

"It would be a waste not to enjoy the lively atmosphere properly!"

A smile involuntarily appeared on his face, and just as he uttered the words, the notification from the God Game sounded.

[Dungeon Invaders activated]

The Dungeon Invaders started having dirty hands.

The smile on Xiao Yang's face stiffened slightly.

"Oh no, I forgot about the Dungeon Runner bandit!"

For some reason, Xiao Yang sensed something was wrong.

Their gaze fell upon the reward for reaching the goal.

With just one glance, Xiao Yang was completely certain that he was in trouble.

He rubbed his head, feeling a bit of a headache.

He confirmed his suspicions.

The dungeon raiders pulled out three great treasures for him, three mythical items, which didn't seem like a bad thing.

The problem is that this Hell Furnace isn't a place of decay; it's the kind of world where you can mess around as you please. The world's will is on the verge of collapse, and all that's left are evil gods who can do whatever they want without any consequences.

At the same time, he didn't come here to be a robber, and he wasn't prepared to continue his escape as soon as he landed.

The three things are:

Volcanic Core

Quality: Legend

Type: Material

Effect: Added when forging equipment, granting the equipment a heavy, lava-like effect.

Description: This is an exceptionally high-quality material, the third-place prize from the 1000th Dwarven Youth Forging Competition at the Hellforge, sponsored by the God of Volcanoes.

Cooling Core

Quality: Mythical

Type: Material

Effect: When added during equipment forging, it grants the equipment a constant gravity and tempering effect.
Description: An exceptionally fine material, perfectly suited for crafting forging hammers. It was the second-place prize in the 1000th Dwarven Youth Forging Competition at the Hellforge, sponsored by the God of Forging.

A faint spark

Quality: Mythical

Type: Treasure

Effect: Ignites into a blazing flame, or adds firepower to a dim flame.

Description: An exceptionally fine material, perfectly suited for igniting the flames of a blast furnace. It was the first prize in the 1000th Dwarven Youth Forging Competition at the Hellforge, sponsored by the God of the Blast Furnace.

Looking at these three advancement rewards, Xiao Yang remained silent for a long time. After holding it in for a long time, he finally managed to utter this sentence.

"it is good!"

He had barely landed when he stole all the prizes from the first, second, and third place winners of the Dwarf Youth Forging Competition.

"Dungeon Infiltrators, hello! You're excellent!"

These items all have notes in their descriptions, and they also involve three deities.

It was laid out so plainly in front of him, leaving him to choose.

This is a test!

"What player couldn't withstand such a test! Is this how you test the bond between me and Redbeard?!"

In the end, Xiao Yang made his choice; he chose the third item from the rewards for advancing.

Suddenly, a ruby ​​appeared in Xiao Yang's hand. If you looked closely, you could see a bright spark in the center of the ruby.

Which player could withstand such a test? Xiao Yang could not withstand such a test!

(End of this chapter)