Dungeon Nexus, Sector 23.
An inconspicuous advertisement was posted on a bulletin board in a small plaza, short and obscure, with only one sentence.
"The most fun, easiest Dungeon in history—Star Dew Valley, is now open! There are no insidious monsters here, no sneak attacks from small monsters burrowing out of floor tiles, no BOSSes whose attack desires are so strong they leave you breathless… Only farming, development… Dungeon Lord—Lu Xuan, expresses his sincere gratitude for your arrival."
…
"Damn it, one sentence cost me 100,000 soul crystals, why don't they just rob me?!"
Lu Xuan stood in the Lord's Hall, cursing loudly.
Heaven help him, a novice Lord, just starting out, 100,000 in debt, utterly helpless.
As a true novice Lord, today was his first official day owning a Dungeon, and he had already exhausted his meager savings. Now, to place an advertisement, he had to borrow money.
There was no other way. Other Lords had financial support from their parents and ancestors, but he was a transmigrator. Arriving in this world, he was not just without support, but literally had nothing.
Although he was a Lord, everything he possessed had to be acquired and accumulated by himself.
The only thing that could help him was some memories from his previous life.
It was truly a hellish start!
Having lived here for 20 years, he understood that this was a world composed of Dungeons, Dungeon Lords, and Adventurers.
Adventurers are beings from various worlds, full of adventurous spirit. They include, but are not limited to, humans, elves, orcs… and even strange creatures. They gain power through Dungeons to fight against certain evil existences, and their activities in Dungeons also nourish the Lords.
Yes, the world he was in was not the only world, but it was the connection point for all worlds, and the world where all Dungeons existed.
Adventurers come here through various methods, challenging Dungeons and obtaining rewards from the Lords.
As a Dungeon Lord, he had the ability to create Dungeons, design challenging and interesting levels, and create equipment and skills that would attract Adventurers, thereby obtaining what he needed for his growth.
Dungeons come in all shapes and sizes, but two important factors attract Adventurers to challenge them: the Dungeon's rewards and the Dungeon's fun. Neither of these can be missing.
In Lu Xuan's understanding, Dungeons were like games, but with a full sense of reality, except that you didn't actually die.
However, dying too many times inside could still cause soul damage.
As a transmigrator, his memories from his previous life played a crucial role.
Dungeons created based on classic popular games, anime, and literary works would surely be a hit among Adventurers!
At the time, he was extremely excited, eager to immediately become a Lord and embark on a glorious career.
But after some time of understanding, he was shocked to realize that his idea seemed to be collapsing midway.
He suddenly discovered that the Dungeons here were a bit too developed…
Each of those Dungeons was vast, like a small world.
He knew that some powerful Dungeons were no weaker than any game from his previous life that could win TGA Game of the Year.
In terms of experience, Dungeons were even more exaggerated.
After all, Adventurers personally entered them to adventure, doubling the experience.
What kind of market was he playing in?!
Wouldn't his advantage be completely gone?
But!
Everything has a turning point.
He discovered a very important clue, a way to break the situation, and also a weakness of those powerful Dungeons!
He considered it a weakness.
This weakness could be summarized in one word—difficult!
Yes, the Dungeons created by those powerful Lords were rich in content, but they were too difficult!
How difficult?
As difficult as replacing the Tree Sentinel in Elden Ring with Malenia, as difficult as fighting Yang Jian directly in the first level of Black Myth, as difficult as fighting the Demon of Hatred right after opening the gate in Sekiro…
Simply put, you enter at level one, and the very first level is blocked by a BOSS with extremely high stats—that's how exaggerated it is.
Moreover, these BOSSes are not as mechanical and rigid as those in games from his previous life; they are living beings, powerful creatures recruited by Lords.
Therefore, even memorizing patterns won't work; Adventurers can only rely on raw strength.
Sometimes, the monsters they face even change.
Only after inquiring did he learn that the previous monster's employment period had ended…
That was the situation.
You couldn't experience much content before dying endlessly in the early levels.
The explorability was extremely poor!
Not to mention hidden monsters behind doors, exploding floor tiles, mimic chests, monsters suddenly appearing without warning, and so on—all sorts of insidious designs made Adventurers suffer immensely.
They simply didn't want Adventurers to pass and get rewards.
Now, all the Lords, big and small, around him were following the lead of the great Lords, designing various Dungeons filled with difficulty, making them as hard as possible. The Dungeons on the market were all like Soulslike-plus Dungeons.
Then, he had a sudden thought: do Adventurers truly enjoy playing Dungeons of this difficulty?
Are they forced to play, having no choice, gritting their teeth through it?
Are they all masochists?
As a veteran game enthusiast in his previous life, he felt that while Soulslike games were fun, constantly being tormented would surely become unbearable. Even eating too much meat requires some vegetables!
So, someone needed to create Dungeons full of love and hope to soothe their wounded souls.
Now, it was his turn to save the battered souls of Adventurers!
His borrowing 100,000 soul crystals to place an advertisement today was a huge gamble.
He planned to take a Dungeon direction that no other Lord had attempted: creating casual Dungeons!
And the first Dungeon he created was modeled after Star Dew Valley.
A very famous pixel-art farming and development game, with simple mechanics, enjoyable combat, and the joy of farming and harvesting.
Absolutely no grinding! Absolutely casual and fun!
Compared to other Lords who focused on combat and extremely difficult Dungeons, his Dungeon, modeled after Star Dew Valley, was definitely novel.
Farming, development… never-before-seen elements.
It would open the eyes of Adventurers who were tired of combat!
With this idea in mind, Lu Xuan decided to take a gamble, hoping to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, starting with a grand gamble and taking out a loan to advertise his Dungeon.
…
Wooden House: 10 soul crystals
Grassland: 20 soul crystals
Flower: 1 soul crystal
Tree: 5 soul crystals
Tool: 1 soul crystal
…
Relying on these simple materials, the initial version of Star Dew Valley was born in his hands.
Looking out, there was only an area of over a thousand square meters, with a simple wooden house. Around the wooden house was barren land, sparse trees, patches of weeds, and a small lake.