Chris tilted her head slightly and gave Jakar a meaningful glance. The leopardkin youth understood at once. He darted nimbly into the inner bedroom to search.
A moment later, he poked his head out and gestured toward the room. "Nothing valuable except a safe."
Chris turned to Raven, sprawled on the floor. The once-arrogant werewolf was now bruised and swollen, barely able to open his eyes.
She crouched beside him and asked lightly, "What's the combination? You know we'll get it open eventually—the only question is how long it takes and how many more beatings you want to take."
Raven gasped heavily, teeth grinding. Realizing resistance was pointless, he rasped out the numbers: "10… 25… 40… 35."
Jakar returned to the bedroom. The safe clicked open with mechanical whirs. He emerged carrying a bulging money bag and tossed it casually at Chris's feet.
She nudged the bag open with her boot tip. Golden light spilled out. She raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"
"Plus two gold pocket watches and some jewelry," Jakar added.
"How much is the total worth?" Chris didn't bother counting; she fixed her gaze on Raven.
"Fifteen hundred gold kroner."
Chris frowned slightly. After more than a month in this world, she had a solid grasp of prices and living standards.
By her estimate, one gold kroner roughly matched eighty yuan from her previous life. Manor farmhands at the Sylvania estate earned 25–40 gold kroner per month depending on role; factory workers in Phoenix City made 30–50.
Fifteen hundred was a fortune for an ordinary family—but far below her expectations. Dissatisfaction flashed in her eyes as she pressed, "How is it so little?"
Raven coughed violently, then let out a triumphant, bloody grin. "Disappointed? My brother sent word this morning—move all the cash to Strawberry Town for centralized control. We only kept enough here for next week's lending."
Chris didn't waste breath arguing. She ordered Conrad and Jakar to guard the prisoner, then hurried downstairs with the bag. As she stepped out of the hotel, Victoria approached from the direction of the casino, leading her men.
"Everything settled? You're not hurt?" Victoria rushed forward, sharp eyes scanning Chris for any wound.
Chris shook the money bag. "Raven's captured alive—upstairs. Your side?"
Victoria flashed a bloodthirsty smile and drew a finger across her throat. "Not a single Holt man left breathing. But the town's crawling with their informants. Word will spread fast."
Chris checked her pocket watch. Only fifteen minutes had passed since the raid began. She snapped it shut, lips curving. "He needs to know. Problem is, Holt transferred the bulk ahead of time. We only got fifteen hundred."
"Fifteen hundred is still a solid haul," Victoria said optimistically.
"Not enough. The ritual I'm preparing for the Dragon God needs at least two thousand," Chris replied, pulling her aunt aside and lowering her voice.
To win Victoria's support for the moonshine business, Chris had revealed the dungeon's existence—but not the full truth of being a transmigrator with a system. Instead, she spun a tale: during her coming-of-age bloodline awakening, she felt the call of the Dragon God Bahamut and became his devoted follower. Sacrificing gold kroner would bring his blessings.
Victoria had scoffed at first. But when she witnessed goblins—creatures extinct since the War of the Gods, known only from old bestiaries—bowing to Chris, she had no choice but to believe.
Summoning ancient beasts, commanding a pocket-dimension lair, offering gold to a treasure-loving true dragon—it all matched the old legends of those chosen by Bahamut. From that moment, Victoria backed every decision Chris made, seeing her as the family's last hope for revival.
The original plan: raid the Holt lending outpost in Wild Bull Town, use the haul to upgrade the dungeon, then lure the Holt brothers into an ambush when they came to rescue Raven. But Holt's preemptive transfer had nearly derailed everything.
"No problem!" Victoria's tension eased. She waved behind her. A bearkin guard stepped forward and handed over a bulging sack.
"Three hundred gold kroner taken from the casino." Victoria pressed it into Chris's hands, then drew two neat stacks from the ancestral storage bracelet on her wrist. "Add these two hundred. That makes five hundred more."
She studied Chris's face carefully. "Anything else the ritual needs?"
"That's perfect!" Chris took the bag, excitement rising.
Victoria nodded firmly. "Go prepare the ritual. Leave the rest to me." Her tone returned to its usual commanding edge. "Everything proceeds as planned."
They parted immediately. Victoria led her men to "handle" Raven, while Chris found a quiet room and activated **Key of the Door** to return to the dungeon.
Since the raid targeted the Holts, Chris had given the goblins the day off. Left unsupervised, the little green-skinned monsters reverted to chaos: some gnawed happily on each other's legs, others dug in their noses and licked their fingers with relish, many clustered in noisy groups—one moment dancing wildly, the next punching and wrestling for no reason.
Their reverence for Chris, however, remained absolute. The instant she appeared, they froze, scrambled into a crooked line, and stood at (sort of) attention.
Chris ignored the antics and summoned the system panel, selecting the upgrade.
She raised the sack now holding two thousand gold kroner. A soft light flashed; the bag vanished. The interface updated instantly:
**Funds received. Unlocking Dungeon Floors 1.1–1.2…**
**Unlock complete.**
**Dungeon System: Currently Open Area – 1.2 Floors**
**Newly unlocked monster type:**
- Common Goblin 60/60 (refreshes 12 hours after death)
- Shaman Goblin 1/1 (refreshes 24 hours after death) – Masters: Fortify / Minor Heal / Minor Fireball
- Cave Spider Mother 1/1 (refreshes 48 hours after death) – Masters: Sticky Web Spray / Corrosive Acid Spray / Paralytic Fang Injection
- Cave Sub-spiders 1000/1000 (refreshes 2 minutes after death)
**Newly unlocked abilities:**
- Share: Stack total strength of subordinate goblins
- Share: Share all spell abilities of the Shaman Goblin
- Share: Share all abilities of the Cave Spider Mother (Web Magic / Acid Dragon Breath / Paralytic Toxin)
- Vision Share: Connect to the vision of any Cave Sub-spider
- Summoning: Ignore Dungeon Door restrictions; summon Cave Spider swarms directly
**Upgrades available:**
- Creative Workshop (unlocked, requires 500 gold kroner)
- Dungeon Floor 1.3 (unlocked, requires 4000 gold kroner and 1 troll femur bone)
(End of Chapter 6)