Those who reincarnate must die.

"Greetings, Your Highness the Courageous 'Hunter Earl'."

The middle-aged man with the red beard took the initiative to greet him.

"Excuse me..." Zhang Lang didn't recognize this person.

"My name is Gilderman!" the red-bearded man said with a smile. "You don't often return to the capital, so you may not know, but I was recently granted the title of Baron for Life..."

"A life noble title is one that cannot be inherited!" the virtual mind reminded him. "It is usually awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions from the common people, but nowadays it is mostly donated, which means you buy an official position."

"Why would someone emphasize such a title?" Zhang Lang asked curiously.

"In this kind of situation, a hereditary baron is not particularly remarkable. Telling you that you are a life baron at least demonstrates your wealth!" Xu analyzed. "The donations required to be granted a baronship generally exceed the assets of an ordinary baron."

The internal dialogue lasted only a second; Zhang Lang nodded outwardly, "Nice to meet you!"

"By the goddess above, it is my honor to know you!" Gildman laughed. "It's like this, although I am only a lifelong nobleman, I own quite a few properties and am rather wealthy... I just happened to overhear 'Count' mentioning that he has killed the rat emperor of the sewers and entered a vast new world?"

Zhang Lang nodded: "Indeed!"

"Oh, that's fantastic!" Gildman laughed. "I'm personally very interested in these mysterious things, especially those monster organs that His Majesty the King has offered a bounty for! So, if Your Excellency can hunt down a large number of monsters, I'll buy them at twice the official bounty price!"

Upon hearing the discounted price, Zhang Lang raised an eyebrow: "If you're just collecting, one of each should be enough, right?"

"Everyone has different interests!" Gildman laughed. "I particularly enjoy being surrounded by collections, and buying more allows me to choose the quality!"

"However, I don't have much cash on hand right now. If you hunt enough materials, you can keep them for now, and I'll buy them all in a few days—the more the better!"

Zhang Lang nodded: "I'll consider it!"

"Okay, okay!" Gilderman nodded and said, "Then I won't bother you any longer!" After saying that, he turned and left.

"I've heard of this guy!" Su Mingda said in a low voice. "This afternoon he spread the word that he was buying up several bounty materials related to the sewers at double the price! Someone did sell them to him and got the gold coins."

"But I don't recommend doing business with him... Buying him at double the price, that's too good a deal! I've been in sales for so many years, and anyone doing this kind of thing definitely has some ulterior motive!"

Zhang Lang nodded: "Unsolicited kindness is either a tactic or a theft!"

Just then, Zhang Lang's badge suddenly received a notification!

The second layer is now open, and all reincarnators' stay time in the mission world has been extended by two days!

Not only him, but all the reincarnators in the city received the notification. While some were amazed that someone had defeated Carest and opened the lower level gate, others wondered why there was no notification to claim the 100 gold coins reward for everyone after killing the Rat Emperor.

…………

"really!"

In the main hall of a house next to the square in front of the palace, the heroic reincarnators were exchanging rewards.

Presumably to make it convenient for the reincarnators to claim their rewards at any time, the emperor set up an exchange point next to the square, with people on duty 24 hours a day and guards standing by. As long as the spoils were of good quality, the reward would be given on the spot!

After the heroes returned, Thunder took out a large amount of loot from his spatial equipment. He could exchange the previous items normally, but when he took out the head of "Karest", he was told that it was not the Rat Emperor Karest, but a mutated Red-Eyed Rat King!

Although they had suspected it beforehand, the heroes were still greatly shocked when it was confirmed!

Since there are no photographs in this world, and bounty posters consist of text descriptions and hand-drawn images, it's normal to mistake one for another...

"However, given that this is a very dangerous and rare monster, and since you've brought proof of the kill, although there's no bounty, we can make an exception and give you a reward of 500 gold coins! As for the 1000 gold coins, we'll exchange them for the real Rat Emperor's head!"

"That's what the official in charge of distributing the rewards said."

A lowly official certainly wouldn't have the authority to make such a last-minute decision; it's highly likely the altar spoke through him. This also shows that even without a bounty, killing such a special elite monster will still bring benefits!

Besides the bounty, the heroes also reported information about the second layer of the desert. The moment this news was received, the Reincarnators' badges displayed a message announcing a mission delay!

The official distributing the reward took this much more seriously than when he had given out rewards before. He immediately ordered someone to go upstairs and bring down an old scholar so that the heroes could describe in detail what they had seen and heard on the second floor.

To be honest, even the heroes didn't explore that desert very deeply. It wasn't just monsters there, but also various quicksand, traps, and storms. The environment was extremely harsh. After a gust of wind, you couldn't even see your own footprints, and if you wandered too far, you wouldn't be able to find your way back...

Therefore, there was very little they could tell the old scholar.

But it was this limited information that allowed the old scholar to make a judgment!

The old man pulled out a thick book, flipped through it, and said with great certainty, "It's a multi-layered underground palace!"

"Multi-level dungeon?" The heroes looked at each other in bewilderment. This did indeed match the name of the "Nine-level Dungeon" quest!

"It's not a real underground palace!" The old scholar flipped through ancient texts. "It's a large-scale otherworldly dungeon that appears randomly in the world. It's unknown whether it's naturally formed or man-made. There are multiple records of it in the Empire's history! Each time, it appears without warning. The initial manifestation is monsters that suddenly appear and occupy a deep mountain or ruin. Usually, the Empire only becomes aware of it after these monsters spread and begin attacking surrounding villages and passing caravans!"

"Initially, it will only be considered an ordinary monster stronghold. Only after all the monsters are cleared will you see a large gate at the deepest part of the stronghold, leading to a deeper otherworld where even more terrifying monsters reside!"

"This otherworld has at least three layers, with a record of seven. However, according to the warriors who explored it, there should be more below. But they managed to seal the gate to the lower levels, permanently closing this dungeon! According to records, if the dungeon fails to close completely, after a certain period of time, the monsters inside will rush out, bringing irreparable disaster to the surrounding area!"

Hearing this, the reincarnators thought to themselves, "This is probably what happens when a mission fails... But the highest recorded level is only seven. Has no reincarnator ever reached the ninth level before?"

The old scholar continued, "The first level of the dungeon usually overlaps with reality, manifested by a large number of monsters appearing and occupying a certain location in reality. The environment of each subsequent level is randomized, but with so many occurrences, there are always samples available for reference!"

As he spoke, he flipped through the catalog: "There are over twenty recorded dungeon environments so far, and most of them have appeared more than once. Which environment appears on which level is random... However, what is certain is that the level of danger in the dungeon changes with the level! The deeper the level, the greater the chance of encountering high-level monsters, and naturally, the more dangerous it is!"

Then, according to the catalog, he flipped through the desert dungeon that matched the descriptions of the reincarnators: "Found it! It's here! The main monsters include sandworms, giant antlions, stalkers, etc... Hmm, there are more than twenty kinds of monsters recorded, but if they appear on the second floor, the ten strongest ones shouldn't be there..."

"As for the gatekeeper monster, if it appears on the second floor, it should be a Sandstorm Lizard!"

The old scholar sighed and closed his book: "I never expected such an extraordinary situation. I immediately reported to His Majesty the Emperor and began issuing a bounty for the desert dungeon. Warriors, you must find a way to close the dungeon's gates and send these monsters to where they belong!"

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