The gate stood tall under the swirl of dust and dirt, towering above the stalls and the rest of the building around here.

  Its surface shimmered with an eerie, transparent film that swirled in a circle. From time to time, the film would pulse strangely which scared the surrounding onlookers.

  The edges of the structure were jagged yet refined, dark stone carved with symbols that flickered faintly.

  The market square, once bustling with movement, had fallen into absolute silence.

  Everyone with their breath swallowed...

  Before the gate, a short stele stood firm, its weathered surface inscribed with words that seemed to glow faintly in the morning light.

  From the looks of it, this stele appeared to be quite ancient, the signs of decayed rupture all over it were evident.

  [Twisted Forest Secret Land]

  A young man, who had stumbled near the stele in the chaos, read the inscription aloud.

  His voice, though unsteady, carried through the stunned marketpce.

  Silence followed.

  Then, like a floodgate breaking, the murmurs turned into excited shouts.

  “A secret realm?!”

  “A hidden nd appearing right before us!”

  “This is an opportunity of a lifetime!”

  "Quick! Before the Blue Cloud sect sent its people here! This is our chance to rise!"

  "Hahahaha, no one should get pass me"

  "The treasures are mine!"

  'As, human greed knew no bound. I wasn't really hoping for any of them to die, but with such a frantic decision to just go in without much thoughts, they are bound to die then!' Elias shook his head when he saw this scene.

  The initial fear melted away, repced by feverish anticipation. Eyes gleamed with greed, curiosity, and the thirst for treasures.

  The marketpce that had been a scene of ordinary life just moments ago was now staged for something else.

  And the mastermind behind it silently followed the crowd that entered the gate without much thought, and vanished right after as he blended himself fully with the dungeon, becoming one with it.

  It was like the sea of consciousness in his mind, blending himself with the dungeon allowed him to be everywhere, anywhere at anytime.

  "A full control over the dungeon... " Elias thought silently, then... His eyes hoovered the vast space within this gate.

  Taking in the scenery with excitement as this was his very first dungeon since the very first contact with the system today.

  Today marks his very first step into greatness.

  Discerning the whole dungeon, Elias couldn't but be amazed at how the system had designed the terrain within this pce.

  There were trees as tall as the sky everywhere that he saw.

  Criss-crossed giant roots like earth snakes that sprawled all over the ndscape, and at certain pces, the ground appeared to be swampy, if one was not to be careful enough, he would be unfortunate and die there submerged in the kilometres deep swamp.

  And everywhere, there was thin fog all over the pce.

  It was a mixture of thin and thick fog all over, no one could predict if the amount of fog would be the same the next few minutes in the same pce which meant that, the fog is everywhere and constantly moving.

  Then, Elias set his sights onto the monsters that existed in this pce. There were numerous of them, perhaps in the tens of millions.

  But that was not the worst of them all, he peered his eyes elsewhere towards a couple of strange open spaces in this dungeon.

  An open pin filled with flowers, berries and a tall towering tree that rivaled the size of a true mountain in the middle.

  Seeing this, Elias smirked with a pyful look on his face. His thoughts surged as he willed an invisible hand to move slowly towards it.

  "Let's see what you look like from up close!"

  "I hope my investment would be worth while"

  Elias willed an invisible hand towards the open space close to the gate entrance. The hand was formless but under the dungeon's operation, it became a manifestation of Elias's will.

  Slowly moving downwards, closing to the giant towering tree in the center of the open space below.

  And once it was close enough, Elias smiled.

  "Wake up big boy!" The hand gently touched the top of the tree, and with a pulling force that went beyond the foundation realm strength.

  Boom boom! Boom!

  A series of cracking noises thundered all over the sky. And accompanied with these noises, it was a roar...

  "Roarr!!!"

  An incomprehensible roar that boomed all over the pin, the ground trembled, the trees shook in fear as if they were sentient.

  The clouds seemed to be blown away under the sudden noise and the earthquake like tremor spread all over the area, spreading towards the gate.

  "Waky waky! Big boy!!"

  And there as the tree was forcibly pulled upwards, over time the true face of this creature was finally unveiled.

  A towering tree like a monster, its bark gnarled and twisted like ancient roots that had been uprooted from the depths of the earth.

  Massive branches sprawled out, each filled with glowing purple flowers that pulsed faintly, their petals shifting in a mesmerizing rhythm.

  Sharp, jagged thorns protruded from its trunk, and a set of deep-set, glowing emerald eyes slowly opened, thousands of them all over it's body.

  Its massive limbs, resembling thick vines entwined with hardened wood, flexed as if testing the newfound freedom of its forced awakening.

  Elias discerned this monster in awe, feeling the powerful aura that this creature exuded, he couldn't help but feel a slight palpitation in his heart.

  If not for the dungeon's feature that allowed him to be one with the dungeon, he would have died already just from the aura alone that this monster exuded.

  "At least a peak foundation realm monster?" He murmured, not knowing how to gauge the full strength of this monster.

  But then, he shook his head. "This monster couldn't be understood just from its aura alone. At least it might be invisible in the foundation realm, or even an early stage golden core expert might not be able to kill it. Nonetheless, it would take a lot of foundation-building experts to join forces just to take this monster down." Elias concluded, marveling at this creature's powerful strength.

  "Or in another words, the monks would haveto form a coalition just to deal with this monster. Worthy enough to become a boss level creature"

  Then, without further ado, he immediately bounded the monster's strength onto him.

  Directly repcing his current Qi refining realm strength and ascending the steps towards the foundation-building realm in one fell swoop.

  "Hahahaha! This feels good!" Elias chuckled, his happiness evident in his ughter.

  After all, from this moment on and into the future, he didn’t have to worry about cultivating anymore.

  As long as he possessed enough points to create a stronger dungeon, then his strength would rise accordingly.

  How cheating was this?

  "Well then... Let's take a look at the first batch of adventurers that entered this dungeon just now. I wonder how they are doing." Elias shifted his gaze elsewhere, spanning hundreds of miles and finally nded onto the edge of the dungeon space. "There they are! Quite a good cooperation"

  -

  The group of independent cultivators moved cautiously through the dense forest.

  They stuck close, never straying too far from one another. It was an invisible tactic understanding, after all this pce isn't for sightseeing.

  The word secret realm carried a very huge meaning behind it.

  It was best to be careful and stick together in a team, even if they don't trust each other, it was safer this way.

  In an unfamiliar realm, even the smallest mistake spelled death. Secret realms spells danger and also treasures. The higher the risk, the greater the returns, that is if you survived.

  The team kept on going further and further into the forest.

  Leading at the front was two men in fiery red robes, a famous twin cultivator in the surrounding area.

  Nobody knew their true name, but the two goes with a codename, named after their brutality.

  Mad dog and Mad wolf, a pair of cruel rouge cultivators that had again and again escaped several arrest attempts from the righteous forces.

  Mad dog, at the front leading the team, snorted in dissatisfaction as he peered to the side, towards the group of independent cultivators at the back. "Why are we still together with them, brother. Why don't we just kill them and explore on our own" whispered him towards the figure on the side.

  "Fool" Mad wolf whispered back, his voice a deep rumble like a growling wolf. "This is not the pce for us to wreck havoc wantonly. We needed as many people as possible to ensure our safety. No secret realms are a safe pce!"

  "But... So far we haven't seen any danger yet, and my instincts is telling me that this pce is safe"

  "Your instinct is just a low level natural skill. In a pce like the blue cloud mist city it's a sure life saving skill, I wouldn't deny that"

  "But in a secret realm, throw out everything that you know out of the window. Nothing makes sense in this pce, so be prepared for the worst at all times"

  "You are just too cautious brother... " Mad dog snorted.

  "You fool-" and before Mad wolf could continue with his words. Without warning, an earth-shattering roar split through the air.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  "What?!"

  "Ahhh!"

  The ground quaked violently, as if something colossal had awakened.

  A powerful wind surged through the trees, bending their trunks and sending leaves flying like scattered ash.

  It was like an atomic wave, a powerful force pressing against the surrounding ndscape and bending them under the pressure.

  “What the hell was that?!” one of them gasped, gripping his sword tightly.

  “A beast? No… that aura… it’s something else!” another muttered, his face pale.

  “Stay together! Do not scatter!” Mad wolf hurriedly barked, his eyes narrowed.