Chapter 390: Entering Dungeon Mode
[Admin "RawrSoFierce" has sent a Voice Envelope! Voice message: "Admin-sama is a legend."]
The sudden envelope caught everyone's attention, snapping the group mid-mockery of Tony Stark into stunned silence.
Ryū had been Admin for over a year now, but the number of times he'd actually sent a red envelope himself could be counted on one hand. So when this one showed up, the group's longtime veterans stared, genuinely floored.
Clearly none of them could quite wrap their heads around the notoriously tight-fisted Admin voluntarily handing out an envelope of his own free will.
The veterans made up the bulk of the group's usual chatter, so when they all fell into stunned silence at once, the whole chat suddenly went quiet — quiet enough that some of the newer members started wondering what on earth had happened.
The confused newcomers had no idea why all their senpais had gone silent at once.
That silence lasted maybe a few seconds before the whole chat window erupted like a lit powder keg.
Maybe not the most elegant comparison, but honestly, that's exactly what it looked like.
Eternally Seventeen: Say it ain't so! The stingiest Admin in existence actually sent a red envelope of his own accord?! Which one is this, his third? Fourth?
Eternally Seventeen: Pretty sure it's his fourth. Over a year as Admin, and he's only sent four red envelopes total!
RawrSoFierce: ...Says the moderator who's never once sent a single Point envelope herself, if I remember right.
Kaguya-sama: There's a reason Yukari-nee doesn't send Point envelopes, Admin-sama — her sign-in luck is so bad she's basically broke.
RawrSoFierce: Pfft... Kaguya, that hit uncomfortably close to the truth.
Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit: [Voice message]
Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit: Got 30 Points! Thanks, Admin-sama!
Kaguya-sama: [Voice message]
Kaguya-sama: Only 20 Points, huh? Not bad, not bad — can't beat Ahri's pull, but I'll take it.
Eternally Seventeen: Hmph... the shameless lengths you'll all go to for a few measly Points, calling him a legend like that.
Master Roshi: [Voice message]
I'm Rolling In It: [Voice message]
Miyaa Miyaa Miyaa: [Voice message]
"..."
Crazy Diamond: [Voice message] just checked, only two shares left — Yukari-senpai, you sure you don't want in? There's still 80 Points sitting in there!
Eternally Seventeen: Eighty Points still left?! Wow, Admin-sama's actually being generous for once, huh?
Eternally Seventeen: [Voice message]
My True Form Is Cola: [Voice message]
[Admin "RawrSoFierce"'s envelope has been fully claimed! Member "My True Form Is Cola" is today's Luckiest Pull!]
Eternally Seventeen: ...
Eternally Seventeen: [Image] My heart's just feeling really tired all of a sudden. Let the picture speak for itself.
Kaguya-sama: 5 Points? Out of that last 80, split between the last two shares — Yukari-nee only got 5 Points?! Which means Umaru walked off with the other 75?
My True Form Is Cola: Ahem... more or less, yeah, that's about the size of it.
Kaguya-sama: Poor Yukari-nee, that's rough. Is there anyone out there with worse luck than her?
I'm Rolling In It: ...I only got 4 Points. Gonna go ahead and not say anything else about that.
Kaguya-sama: Pfft! There actually is someone worse off! Unbelievable!
[Admin "RawrSoFierce" has sent a targeted envelope, redeemable only by designated member "Eternally Seventeen"]
Eternally Seventeen: Eh??
[Admin "RawrSoFierce"'s targeted envelope has been fully claimed! Member "Eternally Seventeen" is today's Luckiest Pull!]
My True Form Is Cola: Hah... that's some cold, cold couple-goals energy getting splashed right in my face.
Street-Corner Illustrator: Heretic! Anyone in a relationship is a heretic, a heretic, I say!!
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: Heretic!!
Roar of the Evil Dragon: Heretic!!
Eternally Seventeen: Interrupting your little chant here to note — someone's clearly already secured their spot as head of household.
RawrSoFierce: Huh? Head of household? This was just the family patriarch handing out an allowance, that's all.
Wandering Little Planet: Whoa, hold on — dating Admin-sama comes with an allowance?! I want in too!
Eternally Seventeen: Oh? Cute little Sphere, care to repeat that?
Wandering Little Planet: I want to send a red envelope too. That's — that's all I meant, really.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara, Little Sphere's survival instincts are showing, folks!
Wandering Little Planet: It's not fair! When Kaguya's getting all cozy with Admin-sama, Yukari-senpai just acts like it's nothing. Do the same thing myself and suddenly it's a whole scandal, wahhh...
Kaguya-sama: ?!!
Street-Corner Illustrator: I'm smelling something interesting brewing here, ooh~
"..."
Looking at where this conversation had drifted off to — genuinely no idea how it got here — Ryū shook his head, resigned. His own envelope hadn't been quite as generous as Maidang's earlier one, sure, but 300 Points was still nothing to sneeze at.
He hadn't expected Yukari, that famously unlucky youkai sage, to pull only 5 Points off it.
What he really hadn't expected, though, was that she still wasn't the unluckiest one in the batch!
That dubious honor went to Tony Stark, of all people — Marvel's own resident filthy-rich playboy.
Had to be because the man was so wealthy that the chat's luck mechanics decided to compensate by cursing him specifically. "Blessed by fortune" and "loaded with money" were simply two attributes that couldn't coexist, apparently — so anyone carrying the "rich" flag automatically forfeited the "lucky" one.
Ryū thought this explanation was frankly airtight. He genuinely couldn't come up with any other reason for Tony's persistent terrible luck.
As for Yukari's own bad luck — how to explain that one?
Hm... well, she wasn't technically human. No explanation needed there.
Ryū shifted his attention elsewhere, genuinely curious about the new "Dungeon Mode" the Arena had picked up in the update.
If it really was as close to a full VR game as it sounded, that gave him a whole new way to kill time.
Opening the Arena inside the chat group, sure enough, alongside the original Solo and Versus modes sat a brand-new "Dungeon Mode" — three options total now.
Dungeon Mode cost 10 Points an hour, with only five revivals available. Use up all five, and you'd get forcibly ejected from the mode, locked out for a full 24-hour cooldown before re-entry.
Checking his current balance, Ryū figured he had enough Points to burn a few days in there without much worry.
Selecting "Dungeon Mode" brought up three further options: Easy, Hard, Hell.
"Difficulty selection, huh. Easy sounds like it might be too easy, and Hell sounds like it might be borderline unreasonable... hm, based on years of gaming experience, Hard is almost always the correct pick in situations like this."
Muttering that to himself, Ryū selected "Hard," and a pop-up promptly appeared before his "eyes."
[Enter the Arena's "Dungeon Mode (Hard)"? Yes/No]
Ryū, naturally, didn't hesitate for a second — straight to "Yes."
The scenery around him shifted violently. His familiar living room vanished, replaced by an entirely unfamiliar landscape.
He'd grown fully used to this kind of thing by now, so the transition itself didn't faze him. What genuinely caught him off guard was the virtual panel that suddenly materialized in front of him.
Something like the character-customization screens from certain anime or movies about VR games — genuinely, uncannily similar.
"This interface... am I supposed to build a character here? Whoa, it lets me customize my face? And pick a gender, a race, an alignment too?"
Ryū's expression shifted into open surprise. This really was exactly like a video game. Wasn't the whole point of the Arena supposed to be building actual combat experience for the group, though? Slotting in something this close to casual entertainment felt a little strange.
Then again, maybe it wasn't purely casual after all. Sure, a game usually started you off at low level with weak skills — but leveling up inside Dungeon Mode could presumably scale up into genuinely apocalyptic power eventually.
And if his strength inside Dungeon Mode ever surpassed his real-world self...
Would that translate into corresponding growth back in reality too?
Ryū suddenly felt like he'd grasped one of the core mechanics of this whole system.
He skipped the face customization entirely — his own face was plenty handsome as it was, no touch-ups needed.
For race, human was the obvious pick — no interest in playing a slime, or some kind of skeleton monster.
Gender was, obviously, male. Sure, some part of him briefly considered rolling a female character just for the novelty, but common sense won out in the end.
He had a strong suspicion Yukari would never let him hear the end of it if he showed up as a female avatar.
"Alignment, then... Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Good, True Neutral, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Evil... isn't this literally just ripped straight from D&D?"
Ryū's mouth twitched slightly. The chat group's interface had already ripped off QQ's whole layout, and now Dungeon Mode's alignment system was ripping off D&D too? Couldn't the system come up with a single original idea of its own?
"Whatever, I'll just pick one at random. Eeny, meeny, miny... yep, you'll do — Chaotic Neutral it is!"
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you