Core of Knowledge

Xu Han has been called many things, a scholar, a thief, a collector, a hoarder, but he was never a battle maniac. He did not seek out other cultivators for pointers and never wonder about how he would fare in battle against others. He knows the reason for his change in personality.

Soon after his rebirth, Xu Han realized that he wasn’t just physically different, he was also changed spiritually. Xu Han was a Soul Emperor, just a step from Godhood, and he knew his soul well. He still remembers the vastness of his soul, the power and knowledge stored within. Xu Han no longer had that.

His soul was now much smaller and part of it was now alien to him. That part was like a blank canvas, waiting for Xu Han to fill. Xu Han knows the reason for this. He remembers his last act as a cultivator, the desperate act of taking apart his soul and throwing his knowledge into the Crimson Lands. When he did that, his soul became broken, and when he was reborn, the soul of the dungeon core filled and patched up the breakage. This was how Xu Han knew he was no longer Xu Han, the Crazed Scholar, but Xu Han, the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques.

He found it exciting.

Xu Han got back to working on his dungeon with a renewed determination. He thought of what else he could do to slow down the adventurers. The leader of the exploration team had a Skill that allowed him to run through the floor without stopping. Xu Han did not want that to happen again.

Xu Han was no fool. As high levelled as the adventurer was, Xu Han knows his first floor posed no challenge to the adventurer but as it stands, even a lower levelled adventurer with a riding skill could do the same. Xu Han need a way to stop the next [Dragoon] or [Rider] from doing the same thing. The new pit traps would not be enough, Xu Han needed something more.

He searched back to the various talks he had with Jemma, and the numerous ways other dungeons had found to slow down adventurers. Despite traps, puzzles, and creatures, the best way to slow adventurers down was greed.

Outside levels, treasure was the other reason why adventurers delved into dungeons. Jemma said that for many adventurers, it was the main reason they do so. Greed was something Xu Han understood, he could use that.

Xu Han inspect his floor and realized that there wasn’t much reason for the adventurers to stick around. As well-made as the floor was, there was no incentive for adventurers to stay. There was only one treasure chest on the first floor, located at the very end, and the floor was bare outside that.

Realizing the problem, and knowing the solution, Xu Han got to work. He created a few treasure chests and randomly placed them near the safety orbs throughout the floor. With the treasure chests, the adventurers would have an incentive to stay on the floor and searched for them instead of dashing to the end.

Xu Han had created chests before and once again marvel at how magical they were. At first glance, each treasure chest was just a chest, a box-like item to store other items. However, the chests were anything but simple. Each treasure chest was a creation item and would be automatically filled with a random treasure when opened.

This means Xu Han did not have to waste time and effort to make the individual items the chests give out, he only needed to provide mana to the chests, and the chests would do the rest. All Xu Han need to do was to decide what kind of treasure the chests would give out.

Thinking about treasure caused Xu Han to remember the dungeon offerings left behind by the adventurers. Ores, fabrics, and books. According to Jemma, these were the items the mortals wanted him to make.

Xu Han was still a little unhappy about being fed like a pig, but he saw no reason not to agree to the mortals’ request. He had already accepted the offerings, and as a former cultivator and current dungeon core, he could be magnanimous.

After a quick thought, Xu Han decided to only use the last two options. Jemma said that some dungeons have floors with ore veins for adventurers to mine, and Xu Han would rather keep the ores for that.

Once he decided, Xu Han focused on the chests, selected half of them and ordered them to give out small bolts of cotton, silk, and manaweave. Mostly cotton and silk, as the last fabric was harder to create and needed more power.

With the orders, the chests would create the fabrics till they run out of divine power, after which Xu Han would need to recharge them. After a thought, Xu Han decided to have a little fun.

As the Thief of Ten Thousand Techniques, Xu Han knew how to make clothes, and since the adventurers wanted him to make fabrics, they should have expected clothes as well. He used a bit of his mana and created a blue dress with long sleeves. Styled in a fashion commonly found in the Crimson Lands called Qiyao Ruqun, the top of the dress was a long flowing white robe with a multitude of embroidered flowers and vine-like patterns on the cuffs and collar. The bottom was light blue but patterned with fishes swimming in the water. Xu Han placed the dress in one of the fabric chests for the adventurers to find.

For the remaining half of the chests, Xu Han ordered them to give out books. As he had not gone through all the books left behind by the adventurers, he decided to just copy some of them wholesale. According to what Jemma said, books were very expensive in this world due to how difficult they were to make so the books should be very well-received.

With that thought, Xu Han decided to create a book of his own. In the Crimson Lands, he was once friends with a cultivator who followed the Dao of Ingenuity. It was a hard Dao to follow, requiring the cultivator to consistently come up with new clever inventions to advance.

One of the items the cultivator invented was called the ‘Printing Press’, a machine that could transfer words and images from inked movable materials to paper. The machine was well-designed, and the cultivator had been very proud of the invention. He was right to be. From the invention, Xu Han could see how talented his friend was, and what a threat he could be in the future.

Xu Han killed him.

He never regretted it. As the people say in the Crimson Lands, a mountain cannot have two tigers, and Xu Han was determined to be the tiger.

Now, Xu Han realized what a crime it was. He had deprived the Crimson Lands of greatness. He had killed his friend before he could spread his inventions throughout the Crimson Lands. Now, there was a chance for atonement.

Although it has been centuries, Xu Han still remembered everything about the printing press. It was that great of an invention. Xu Han created a book explaining the machine, what it is supposed to do, and how to make it. Xu Han did not know the technological level of this world, but he was almost certain the mortals would be able to recreate the machine. If they could not, they could petition the gods to help them.

After the creation of the book, Xu Han wrote ‘Printing Press’ on the cover but the dungeon core felt a sense of discomfort. Something was wrong, and Xu Han quickly realized the reason for it.

The printing press is new, and Xu Han did not want the mortals of this world to think he was the one who invented it. Xu Han was the sinner, not the inventor. Below ‘Printing Press’, Xu Han wrote a few more words, hoping the spirit of the cultivator who invented the printing press would accept his apology for his actions all those centuries ago.

‘Invented by Gu Ten Bu’.