Labrynth sat upon that towering, dilapidated throne, taking a deep breath as she tried to calm the heart still pounding within her chest.
The air was still filled with the scent of blood, the traces left by the three adventurers at the bottom of the pit.
She did not bother with the miserable scene below again; using the height of the throne, she began carefully observing her surroundings.
This was a vast yet dark and ruined great hall.
The dome above was quite high, covered in dense, spiderweb-like cracks. A cold and damp wind poured in through those fissures.
Several thick stone pillars had broken and collapsed, lying scattered across the ground. Rubble and thick layers of dust covered everything in sight.
At the very center of this hall stood the throne where she had stayed ever since opening her eyes after crossing into this world.
The throne was forged from silver. It felt icy to the touch, and its backrest was engraved with vague, ferocious patterns.
Though it was in ruins, one of its armrests had even broken off, it still carried a lingering sense of former majesty.
Labrynth lowered her head, her gaze extending from the steps of the throne down below.
The ground was a severely damaged bluestone floor, riddled with pits and cracks.
Yet within this deathly silence and ruin, there was a faint trace of life.
Several clusters of firefly grass, emitting a dim blue glow, stubbornly grew from the cracks in the floor.
Their slender stems and leaves swayed gently in the wind.
Though their blue light was faint, it became the only source of illumination in this pitch-black hall, aside from the phosphorescent flames on the walls, allowing one to see the path beneath their feet.
Following the direction in which the firefly grass grew, at the end of the hall, there was a deep and shadowy passage connected to this place.
The passage was pitch black, its depth impossible to discern. The three adventurers who had nearly brought her to ruin earlier had walked out from that very corridor with arrogant ease.
Labrynth carefully climbed down from the throne.
Her bare, fair, delicate feet stepped onto the cold ground covered in dust and gravel. The rough texture sent stinging sensations through the soles of her feet.
Regardless, she paid it no mind. Lifting the hem of her white gothic dress, she slowly walked around the hall.
The surroundings of the hall were all solid, heavy stone walls; sealed, with no windows and no other exits.
Except for that passage.
Labrynth stopped more than ten meters away from the entrance of the passage.
She stared fixedly at the darkness that seemed capable of swallowing all light, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
Of course, she did not yet have the courage to enter that passage.
This silver demon loli body was far too weak; she couldn't even lift a stone weighing ten jin¹.
The only reason she had survived just now was because she had taken advantage of the three adventurers' carelessness and used the system panel to ambush them.
What if there were other scavengers inside the passage? What if some terrifying monster lurked in its depths?
If she ran into people again, things would not end well.
She didn't believe her luck would always be this good; that she could turn the tables at the last possible moment every time.
In this cruel other world, if she, utterly powerless, were to fall into enemy hands, the outcome would undoubtedly be worse than death.
"Right now, the top priority is to block off that passage."
Labrynth bit down on her small, neat white teeth, making up her mind in silence.
As long as she sealed off this only entrance and exit, this ruined dungeon hall would become a closed safe room.
At least for a short time, she would no longer need to be on edge, constantly guarding against enemies that might leap out from the darkness at any moment.
With a clear goal in mind, Labrynth issued a command within her thoughts.
Open the panel.
In this world, the panel was a rule-based construct that everyone possessed, but only an exceptionally small number of people with special qualifications could truly see and use it.
And Labrynth was one of those exceptions.
As her thoughts moved, a blue light flickered within her eyes.
A semi-transparent sandbox construction panel appeared before her, hovering in midair.
Labrynth skillfully directed her gaze to the personal status section at the top left of the panel, where all her current conditions were listed in detail.
[True Name: Labrynth]
[Level: 1]
[Race: Silver Demon]
[Talent: Powerful Physique, Heart of Silver]
[Skills: Silver Castle Lord (Unique) LV1, Mental Visualization LV1]
Labrynth's gaze swept across these data points one by one, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but twitch.
There was nothing much to say about her true name and race; those small, exquisite silver demon horns on her head were the best proof.
Level 1 was only natural as well; after all, she had only just crossed over less than half an hour ago.
But what the hell was that [Powerful Physique] in the talent column?
Labrynth lowered her head and looked at her two slender arms that seemed like they could snap with a little pinch, then recalled the miserable state from earlier when she couldn't even lift a piece of rubble.
"This is called a powerful physique? This broken panel is mocking me, isn't it!"
She fiercely complained in her mind. As for the [Heart of Silver] talent, there was no detailed description on the panel, and she had no idea what it was for.
Looking further down, it was the skill section.
Very good. A barren panel.
Aside from the seemingly imposing but incomprehensible [Silver Castle Lord], there was only the pitiful [Mental Visualization LV1].
There were no world-destroying forbidden spells.
In this danger-filled dungeon, carrying such a pathetic stat panel was basically hell mode times two.
"Complaining is useless. I can only rely on myself."
Labrynth took a deep breath and steadied her mindset. She extended a slender, fair finger and gently tapped the [Silver Castle Lord] skill icon on the semi-transparent panel.
Buzz.
A ripple of blue light spread across the panel like water, and a detailed description of the skill appeared.
[Silver Castle Lord: Can absorb the emotions of living beings and use them to create objects out of nothing.]
Seeing this line, Labrynth's eyes lit up.
She had already experienced absorbing emotions earlier; the scar-faced man had contributed a large amount of fear and despair emotion points after falling into the trap.
She had also completed her first act of creation out of nothing.
Under normal circumstances, an ability involving creation at the level of rules would usually require the host to explore it slowly over time.
One would need to comprehend the arrangement of elements, conceive the structure of objects, and even go through countless failures just to barely create something like a single brick.
If that were the case, Labrynth would only be able to wait for death where she stood, becoming nothing more than a mindless, giggling eroge protagonist.
Abruptly, then, a notification box popped up on the panel.
[Detected Mental Visualization LV1. Initiating skill display.]
Labrynth froze for a moment, then came to a realization.
So that's it!
Her seemingly insignificant [Mental Visualization LV1] skill had actually formed a remarkable synergy with [Silver Castle Lord] right now!
Because she possessed the ability of Mental Visualization, she didn't need to painstakingly figure out the rules of creation on her own.
The panel turned everything she could imagine in her mind into a simple and straightforward "shop interface"!
Massive streams of data flowed across the panel like a waterfall, and new category tabs appeared before her eyes one after another.
[Storage: Basic Pitfall Trap]
She knew this; it was the trap she had just used to kill the three adventurers, now lying in the storage tab.
Labrynth tapped the next tab.
[Coverage Area: A spherical radius of 200 meters centered on the throne]
⌜Structures⌟
[Basic Pitfall Trap: 50 Emotion Points]
This displayed the completed structures she could currently build. The variety was pitifully small, with just a lonely trap.
Labrynth was not discouraged. She shifted her gaze to the final tab, which contained the richest content.
⌜Blueprints⌟
[Common Solid Material x1: 1 Emotion Point]
[Selectable Common Furniture x1: 10 Emotion Points]
…
[Pure White Doll x1: 750 Emotion Points]
[Dragon Ornament Lamp Blueprint x1: 1000 Emotion Points]
[Demon Statue x1: 5000 Emotion Points]
[Dharma Cannon x1: 10000 Emotion Points]
[…]
Labrynth's breathing grew more and more rapid.
When she saw the long list of blueprints, her pure white eyes shimmered with undisguised excitement.
Dragon Ornament Lamp! Demon Statue! And that Dharma Cannon, whose very name sounded like it could cure any fear of insufficient firepower!
As long as she had these things, as long as she could arm this dungeon to the teeth, forget a few low-level scavengers; even if an entire army came charging in, she could make sure none of them would leave alive!
Labrynth excitedly rubbed her small hands together, her gaze instinctively drifting toward the prices listed behind the blueprints.
1000… 5000… 10000…
The fiery excitement that had just surged through her heart was doused, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her head, leaving her chilled outside in winter.
She glanced at the balance displayed in the top right corner of her panel.
After that wave of "harvesting," her Emotion Points had indeed surpassed the 200 mark. At the time, she had even thought it was a huge sum.
Meanwhile, now, compared to the prices of those advanced blueprints, it didn't even amount to a drop in the ocean.
She couldn't afford any of them at all!
Labrynth's shoulders slumped like a deflated balloon.
Those powerful defensive structures and magnificent buildings were, to her now, nothing more than the moon hanging in the sky; visible, yet absolutely out of reach.
Labrynth glanced over the items in the skill display, and in the end, could only set her sights on building materials.
Even if she couldn't afford the Dharma Cannon, she couldn't just sit around and wait to die.
The "Common Solid Material" at the very top, priced at only 1 Emotion Point, became her only lifeline.
In short, she needed to fix up her base first.
Without even a safe foothold, thinking about anything else was pointless.
Labrynth pulled herself together again. She took quick steps forward, moving to stand in front of that dark passage.
Standing about two meters away from the entrance, she summoned the panel once more, her finger tapping repeatedly on [Common Solid Material x1].
"Exchange for Common Solid Material!"
[Consumed 1 Emotion Point. Exchanged for Common Solid Material x1!]
[Consumed 1 Emotion Point. Exchanged for Common Solid Material x1!]
In the next instant, a shocking scene unfolded.
Under the power of [Labrynth of the Silver Castle], which could create objects out of nothing, the air suddenly warped.
There was no process of transportation, no mason laying bricks.
Massive, snow-white square stone blocks appeared out of the dark void at the entrance of the passage.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Heavy impacts echoed through the hall.
The pale stone blocks, as if controlled by an invisible giant hand, slotted perfectly into the edges of the passage.
Each block fit against the others, leaving not even the slightest gap. At the edges, the white material even fused with the surrounding ruined bluestone walls, as if it had grown together with them.
In less than ten seconds.
The dark passage that had resembled the gaping maw of an abyss disappeared.
In its place stood a thick, solid wall emitting a white glow.
The pure white wall filled the tunnel, and at that moment, the layout of the whole hall was fundamentally altered; the only entrance and exit was physically sealed shut.
The cold wind from outside could no longer enter, and the unsettling scraping sounds from within the passage were all cut off.
Just the glow of the firefly grass remained in the hall, along with Labrynth's own quiet breathing.
Safe.
Labrynth reached out and touched the solid white wall.
The texture felt quite real.
Even that burly man with the iron axe from earlier could hack at it for three days and nights without breaking through.
Labrynth nodded in satisfaction.
The feeling of personally building a secure stronghold with her own ability greatly soothed her heart, which had been tense from crossing worlds and facing danger.
The immediate crisis was resolved, but the challenge of survival had only just begun.
She glanced at the remaining Emotion Points on the panel, reduced after exchanging materials.
If she wanted to survive long-term in this ruined dungeon, if she wanted to afford that Dharma Cannon, she would have to obtain more Emotion Points.
Not only that, her stomach let out an untimely "growl" of protest.
Eating those people's corpses was out of the question. Labrynth had already buried them and had no intention of digging them up again.
Right now, the priority for this demon little body was to find food, and then earn more Emotion Points.
...
¹ Jin: Traditional Chinese unit of weight.
...
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