"Roguelike," often called "Endless Grinding," is a type of game.
Simply put, the gameplay revolves around building a unique character under entirely randomized conditions, diving deeper into increasingly dangerous stages, and eventually fighting the final BOSS.
Countless roguelike games have grown from this foundation—branching into new systems, fresh mechanics, and novel forms of challenge.
Letting people from another world play a roguelike… wouldn't that be a dimensionality-reducing strike?
But Wade had no such grand ambition. For now, he only planned to create a simple, easy-to-understand version. After all, no one in this world had ever seen such a system before. Better to let them start small.
He could always add complex mechanics later.
The roguelike system he designed worked like this:
After every victorious battle, adventurers randomly obtain a "Blessing" from one of several factions.
Once an adventurer unlocks three Blessings from the same faction, that faction's class becomes available—granting a special ability called "Grace," along with unique stat bonuses.
Stages are divided into two broad types: "Battle Stages" and "Event Stages."
Battle Stages are straightforward: fight and enjoy.
Event Stages throw adventurers into random scenarios that Wade writes on the spot. They make choices, earn rewards, or suffer negative effects.
All these events were written solely by Wade—some expand the world's lore, some foreshadow new characters…
…And some are pure chaos for comedic effect.
After writing a dozen proper lore events, Wade's head hurt so badly that he had no choice but to throw in some absurdity—to relieve himself and the adventurers.
Regardless of which stages they pick, after three completed stages there's a chance to encounter an elite monster. After five, an elite is guaranteed. Defeating one grants generous loot.
After encountering three elites, the chance to trigger the final BOSS fight appears. The further an adventurer goes, the higher the chance—up to 99%.
In theory, someone lucky enough could avoid the BOSS entirely. Then, after collecting all Blessings, one-shotting the BOSS in a dramatic finish… the satisfaction would be indescribable.
After winning and receiving rewards, adventurers are teleported back to the beginning. All Blessings, classes, and negative effects are reset, and they start from scratch.
This is the basic structure Wade currently has.
He still has plenty of room to add more—rest stages, reward rooms, unique mechanics, special encounters. If completed, it would evolve into a massive gameplay system.
But for now, he wanted to test how people in this world reacted—how well they could accept the concept.
And so far? Very well.
Including Leon's group, thirty-seven adventurers were testing the roguelike mode. These were elites—people who could spot hidden routes while arrows rained from above. Perfect test subjects.
Some obtained powerful Blessing combinations and were ecstatic.
Some found strong items and felt invincible.
Some made terrible choices in random events and were furious.
Some repeatedly failed to defeat elites and kept getting reset, descending into spiritual exhaustion.
But no matter the emotion—joy, frustration, anger—Wade was satisfied.
He didn't fear curses. He feared indifference.
Wade flipped to the next page of his notes. It listed the current Blessings:
Grave King, Sun, Abyss, Darkmoon, Chaos, Path of the Dragon.
These six were designated as mainstream Blessings, appearing most often.
In addition, he had prepared hidden Blessings adventurers might encounter randomly:
Hunter, Ninja, Sapphire Star, Trainer, Radiant Nest…
And more would come.
These could be considered hidden routes, but in specific regions they would become mainstream.
For example, in Monster Hunter–themed zones, Sapphire Star would be everywhere.
For now, Sein Dungeon's roguelike route only includes Grave King Blessings, with a handful of others mixed in.
Wade intended for roguelike gameplay to become the hallmark of Val Dungeon, not Sein, so he didn't overhaul things here too drastically.
How to merge a roguelike system with a life-simulation dungeon—that was the challenge.
After all, roguelikes were fast-paced and exciting, while life… passed one slow minute at a time—unless the Scarlet King deleted time entirely.
Fortunately, Wade had plenty of time to figure that out. The future was long, and there was endless potential to develop.
"You've really helped me a lot."
Wade stroked the Knowledge Crystal, muttering to himself.
On the Dungeon Lord panel before him, the following text appeared:
[Sein Dungeon – Authority Level 3]
[Val Dungeon – Authority Level 2]
Opening the Val Dungeon display showed permissions vastly different from Sein's:
[Permission: Rogue]
With this permission, Wade could construct a full roguelike system within the dungeon.
This permission allowed him to freely add roguelike elements, but it imposed restrictions as well.
When writing a Blessing, the permission prevented overly broken designs. He couldn't create Blessings that instantly turned adventurers into gods—or into useless trash.
If a Blessing was especially powerful, it had to come with drawbacks—just like how Gapar had high attack but low HP.
When writing Events, the permission allowed him to create fully immersive illusions that played out the consequences of a choice—but illusions only.
The key point: adventurers could not control themselves within these illusions. They could only watch from a first-person perspective.
The advantage was that monsters inside illusions didn't cost Wade mana. Otherwise, summoning something like Midir would kill him outright.
Damage or negative effects from illusions manifested as HP loss, reduced movement speed, mental fatigue, etc.—but not as real infections.
Otherwise, the Sword Saint infected by Scarlet Rot would have bloomed long ago.
With this, Wade could add any kind of high-risk scenario into his events.
Perfect.
The more he studied this permission, the more it felt tailor-made for him. And indeed, it was.
When he first obtained Val Dungeon permissions, he realized each dungeon's permission level was independent—meaning Val Dungeon had to be leveled up from scratch.
At first, he thought it was a trap… but after learning more through the Knowledge Crystal, he realized it was a blessing.
Because this meant more opportunities to obtain new permissions.
All this time, he had misunderstood. He thought every Dungeon Lord received identical permissions, because things like Teleport and Mimicry seemed universal.
But no.
Each Dungeon Lord's permissions were unique.
Every dungeon level-up generated new permissions based on the Lord's traits. A permission like Rogue would never appear for anyone else.
Now, leveling up felt like opening blind boxes—Wade was genuinely excited every time a new permission appeared.
The Knowledge Crystal also revealed—
Permissions could be stolen.
If two Dungeon Lords fought to the death, the victor could plunder one of the loser's permissions.
But doing so prevented them from taking over the loser's dungeon. The loser died, and the dungeon entered a dormant state.
Which meant choosing between a dungeon and a permission became a serious decision—sometimes a single permission was more valuable than the dungeon itself.
Wade couldn't help wondering what permissions the Nest Dungeon might hold.
The day of the deathmatch drew closer. He checked Kindred Heart again and saw that it already displayed Sword Saint Gapar's portrait—though the bond value was miserably low.
"Let's try killing the Sword Saint a few more times before then. When the time comes, I'll throw him into the swarm and let him bomb some fish."
Wade sounded truly wicked.
Meanwhile, the adventurers' exploration raged on.
Someone had already been sent back to the beginning.
Maru and Terl.
Both had unfortunately acquired negative effects during an Event Stage and were later killed by an elite.
To their surprise, they weren't sent back to the bonfire—
They returned to where the run had begun: the teleportation chest in the dead-end alley.
Originally, if they returned to the bonfire, they planned to leave the dungeon entirely.
The run from Firelink Shrine to the Graveyard roguelike was long and exhausting.
But now, sent straight back to the start of the stage…
"Again?" Maru looked at Terl.
Terl nodded, eyes burning with determination.
This time, he was certain he wouldn't make the wrong choices.
And he would kill the monster that killed him.
"Charge!"
Sometimes, addiction sparks in an instant.
Now then—let's look at the strongest among the roguelike players: the Sword Saint. Surely he must be clearing everything smoothly, right?
No. At the moment, he looked ready to drop dead.
"There's still no cure for this…"
Gapar's face was turning pale—the rot had already eaten away half his vitality.
If the next stage didn't contain a cure, he would be forced to leave in disgrace.
Humiliating. Absolutely humiliating.
He died once to the Basilisk, now once to Scarlet Rot. What next?
He suddenly paused mid-cough, a bewildered expression appearing.
Why am I assuming I'll die again!?
Have I stayed in Sein Dungeon too long? Is my thinking getting distorted?
"This dungeon really messes with people."
Gapar glanced at his slightly damaged longsword, took a deep breath, and opened the teleportation chest.
Please… let the next stage have a cure.