Hero's Carnage

Chapter 23 - Kill Count Device

Author's Note: I forgot to put in some information in Chapter 21 so I will post it here for those who already read it.

Stats gained through armor/buffs/abilities are considered as Bonus Stats, so Lucas' Base Stat for Intelligence is only 35 after putting 25 points into it. It's also why his stats are displayed as 10(+50) instead of just 60.

Bonus Intelligence only gives 1 mana per point instead of 10, but it will give more magic power in return, hence the 500 mana instead of 900 despite having 90 Intelligence.

35 Base Intelligence + 50 bonus Intelligence = 400 Mana.

His clothes give 100, making it a total of 500.

Hope this clears the confusion from the last chapter.

___

"Let's see…"

Lucas proceeded to spend the next ten minutes reading through all of the advertisements on the bulletin board.

"Novice-rank dungeon… Five hundred dollars per hour inside… unlimited kills…"

"Novice-rank dungeon… 100 dollars per kill…"

"Novice-rank dungeon… 1,500 dollars… ten kill limit."

Although there were other dungeons being advertised, such as Intermediate-rank and Advanced-rank dungeons, he wasn't planning on entering any of them so he ignored all of them.

Ten minutes later, Lucas decided on the cheapest dungeon he could find— the one that required him to pay 60 dollars for every kill inside the dungeon.

A low-quality F rank mana crystal he gets from low leveled monsters like green goblins can be sold for 40, but he has to pay 60 dollars per kill, so he'll lose about 20 for each kill.

"If I have to kill 50 low-leveled monsters, that would cost me 3,000 dollars, but if I sell the mana crystals I get from those 50 kills, I will only lose 1,000 dollars…"

After doing some quick calculations, Lucas decided that it was worth spending 1,000 dollars to finish his quest.

Unfortunately, he didn't have an available phone, so he couldn't call the phone number in the advertisement.

And since he wasn't familiar with this city and its streets, Lucas had to write down its location.

He then returned to his room to prepare for the journey.

Once he was prepared, Lucas went outside to call for a taxi.

"Where to?" The taxi driver asked him.

"This location." Lucas showed him the location on a piece of paper.

"Got it. That will be 20 dollars."

Once Lucas paid the fee, the taxi began moving.

About ten minutes later, they arrive before a large mansion.

The mansion was so large that it took up multiple streets. One can only imagine how much it cost them to live here.

'No wonder they are charging so cheap compared to the others. They don't really need the money, anyway.' Lucas realized this after seeing the place.

Lucas then approached the gates and pressed the doorbell on the wall.

"Hello?" A voice resounded from the speaker on the doorbell a moment later.

"I would like to enter the dungeon," Lucas said.

"Okay, please give me a minute."

A few minutes later, a middle-aged woman wearing a maid uniform opened the gates for him.

"Please, follow me."

Lucas then followed this woman into their territory.

Once they reached the other side of the mansion, Lucas could see a portal in the middle of the courtyard, and there appeared to be two other people there.

Unlike public dungeons, parties were not required to enter them. However, the downside of private dungeons was that they are never really profitable for the Players unless they own the entire dungeon.

In fact, most Players paying to enter private dungeons don't usually expect any profits unless they find a treasure inside. Instead, they only care about the experience inside.

Since most people care about experiences, that makes Novice-rank dungeons unpopular when it comes to private dungeons, as most Players prefer fighting higher-leveled monsters in harder dungeons, so mostly newbies with money to spare would show up at private Novice-rank dungeons.

"It will cost 60 dollars per kill inside the dungeon. Are you okay with that?" The woman asked him once they arrived at the location."

"Yes," he nodded.

"Alright, please wear this kill counter; it will count every time you kill a monster, which is how we will be calculating it."

The woman showed Lucas a digital watch.

Whenever a monster dies, it releases unique mana that can be picked up by the watch, allowing Players to track their kill counts using it.

Of course, there was a flaw in this system, that being it would count the kill for two people as though they both killed a monster if they were both close to the monster at the moment of its death, so it's usually only used for solo Players like Lucas.

Though this flaw usually isn't an issue since most people who enter private dungeons enter solo.

"Please do not tamper with the device or remove it once you go inside, or you will have to pay a 10,000 dollar fine."

The woman helped Lucas put on the watch, and the strap on the watch made it so that it couldn't be removed unless Lucas had the keys or he forcefully removed it.

This was to prevent Players from lying about their kill counts. After all, without this device, a Player could enter a dungeon and kill as many monsters as they'd like, and once they come outside, they can simply make up a random number that was much lower than their actual kill count.

Once the woman confirmed that the watch was secured on Lucas' hand, she said, "The dungeon has a week left before it becomes public, so make sure you leave before then. And before you enter the dungeon, please read and sign this contract. It contains everything from the price of each kill and the fines. It also says we won't be responsible for your death if you die inside the dungeon. If you die outside the dungeon due to injuries suffered within the dungeon, we also won't be responsible."

Lucas accepted the paper and took a minute to read it before signing it.

After handing the contract back to the woman, Lucas entered the dungeon.