NOVPUB
Chapter 35: Colosseum Dungeon
Daniel was sitting on the edge of his house’s rooftop, legs dangling off the side, staring at the holographic screen in front of him.
The screen showed the official website of the Online Community of the Awakened.
On the way back, he had bought a new-gen smartphone with the last of his money. These models could project holographic screens and were made specifically for Awakened users.
There were a few other things he wanted to buy, but he was out of money. The Association hadn’t paid his salary yet either.
With his recent promotion to Rank D, he now had access to Tier 1 of the website, including its official store.
Not that he could afford anything—he was just browsing for now.
The store was divided into categories: defensive items, offensive items, and support items
He mostly checked out the armor section. He wasn’t comfortable with weapons and had never received formal combat training. Still, he planned to learn how to use them eventually. 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
As he browsed, he saw a variety of armor sets.
Even the simplest ones were ridiculously expensive.
The highest-ranked gear available was Rank B. There were no A or S-rank items in the store.
Which made sense. A and S-rank gear were extremely rare and usually exchanged between big guilds or official organizations—not in public shops.
A few items caught his eye:
[Light Armor "Skin of Ironleaf": Made of metallic plant fibers. Designed for fast Awakened. (Rank C)]
[Price: 32,000 Zen]
[Medium Armor "Dreadhide Mail": Resistant to physical and fire damage. (Rank B)]
[Price: 130,000 Zen]
[Enhanced Gloves "Fist of Wind": Increases physical attack power by up to 30%. (Rank C+)]
[Price: 48,000 Zen]
[Single-use Defensive Talisman "Guardian Halo": Temporarily blocks one fatal hit. (Rank B)]
[Price: 210,000 Zen]
Looking at the prices almost gave him a heart attack—they were absurdly high.
Even with the paycheck he was supposed to get soon from the Association, he still couldn’t afford any of them.
"Maybe I should find another way to make money?" That thought hit him hard.
There were plenty of options—selling corruption beast corpses, rare equipment, or special items to the Awakened Association. From what he’d heard, they paid well.
Streaming was another option. But sadly, he had no talent for it and didn’t even know how to get started.
He closed the shop and opened the Online Community’s search section.
"Sanctis City’s Colosseum Dungeon"
According to what he found, the dungeon had been around for over a decade.
It was classified as a Green-rank dungeon, but it had never been cleared. In recent months, its state had become unstable, and it was on the verge of a dimensional Break.
That was the weird part. For a Green-rank dungeon, it had proven impossible to clear.
Inside, it was built like a giant colosseum. Awakened who entered had to fight three groups of knights.
Most teams failed at the third stage. Some didn’t even make it to the final boss, let alone beat it.
Apparently, the final boss was a monster called The Immortal Knight.
The Awakened Association had placed a massive reward for clearing the dungeon: five million Zen.
For a Green-rank dungeon, that was insanely high.
But considering the risk of dimensional Break and the fact it hadn’t been cleared in ten years—it made sense.
According to projections, if the upcoming clearing attempt in two days failed, the reward might double.
That is, if the dungeon didn’t collapse before then.
Daniel’s eyes landed on a post titled: "Most Famous Challengers of the Sanctis Colosseum Dungeon."
He clicked on it.
The list came up, and right at the top were two familiar names: Lana Everlight and William Rigar.
Lana was the heir to the Everlight Moon Guild and its future leader.
William was the eldest son of the Syronblade Guild Master and one of the most famous Awakened of the new generation. Both had global recognition.
And the most interesting part? Daniel knew both of their younger siblings—more than just casually.
Even so, those two hadn’t been able to clear the Colosseum Dungeon. That got Daniel thinking.
Just how hard could this dungeon be? And more importantly—why had the Chairman of the Awakened Association personally requested him to join the next clearing operation?
A storm of thoughts rushed through his mind, but none of them made any logical sense.
Just then, his phone rang.
He looked at the caller ID. Seeing the name, a small smile formed on his face. He hit answer.
"Hello?"
"You still alive?" came a high-energy voice from the other side.
"Joe? You’re finally back?" Daniel laughed. He sounded genuinely happy to hear the voice.
And it made sense—this voice belonged to one of his few friends in this world.
"Yeah man, that damn one-year program’s over. I’m back in the capital."
"That’s great. How are you? Family doing okay?"
"Everyone’s fine... How about you? Everything okay? I really missed you, man. I worried about you a lot."
"I’m fine... Actually, a ton of stuff happened while you were gone." Daniel took a deep breath.
"That bastard James hasn’t been bothering you again, right?" Joe cut in quickly.
Daniel was quiet for a moment. Honestly, he had completely forgotten about that worthless asshole James.
"No... Some good things happened, not bad ones," he finally said with a laugh.
"Like what? Come on, tell me!" Joe sounded curious.
"I’ll tell you when you’re back in person," Daniel said, taking his eyes off the screen and staring up at the cloudy sky.
"I’m in the capital for now. I’ll head back to our town next week. So... I’ll wait."
They chatted for a while about random stuff—memories, jokes, complaints about prices, everything.
Daniel didn’t really understand why this idiot kept complaining about inflation.
As far as he knew, Joe’s family was filthy rich. Why would someone like that complain about high prices?
But he’d gotten used to it. His friends weren’t exactly consistent personalities.
"By the way... what happened with Sarah? Did things finally work out or not?" Joe suddenly asked.
