Chapter 57 – Chapter 01: Elf Heavenly Horse
And Enemy, a boss with a sad story, was waiting in the deepest part of the dungeon for a master who would never come.
‘In the original work, I was able to find this dungeon based on information about the pets that the ghost had in the past, which I accidentally obtained while researching the ghost.’
It occurred to Eugene late that the first step in finding this dungeon was to ask the protagonist to search for this monkey, in case the princess might be able to regain the innocence of any remaining nobles.
“What… ?”
Eugene, who remembered that fact and made a bitter expression at the sight of the awl monkey that was destined to die while waiting for its owner, soon tilted his head when he confirmed that another object also existed in the location where the magic stone resided.
“This… “I thought it was a quest reward?”
Eugene, who extracted the item along with the magic stone with a butcher’s dagger, found a choker and a bracelet with a very short broken chain, and muttered in a surprised voice.
‘It was clearly an imitation of the choker chain and this bracelet being connected by an invisible chain, right?’
Through him, I learned that it is an object that allows the person wearing the bracelet and the person wearing the choker to know where their respective positions are and the direction.
‘If this is a hidden piece, it is a hidden piece…’
Because it was a completely useless piece of equipment in the game, it was not treated as a hidden piece.
No, it was not something that could be farmed by hunting boss enemies like this in the first place. It was an item stored in the inventory after clearing this dungeon with the princess and completing the princess’ quest.
That’s why Eugene thought it was only a quest reward, so he never thought he could get it like this.
“Hmm… “I should keep it for now.”
To be honest, it was an item that Eugene didn’t really need, but since it was a bedding item, it would make money if he sold it.
Looking at it, it looks like it was created out of resentment by a monkey wanting to return to its owner, and it seemed a bit like throwing it away.
That’s why Eugene, who retrieved the large-sized magic stone of the giant awl monkey and stored it in a bag that had been safely thrown in a corner before the battle, finished the collection of the loot.
Afterwards, Eugene returned the cannon blade back to its planet form and stored it in the image world, and was able to discover a staircase that did not exist before.
As it is a stair-type dungeon, you must defeat the boss Enemy to move to the reward room where the final dungeon core is located.
Therefore, Eugene, who was not seriously injured although he may have used up his stamina and Unirat to defeat the Awl Monkey, started to go down the newly revealed stairs without delay.
“What there is… “Is it just the dungeon core as in the original?”
Eugene arrived at the reward room and found a dungeon core the size of a baseball floating in the air.
‘It’s something called a rechargeable essence stone, or a rechargeable stone.’
Unlike magic stones that can be used to hunt and extract energy, these are items that do not disappear as if evaporated but remain in their form even when consumed.
And over time, it was an object that could be called a core, a vessel that contained the essence, like Eugene’s Planet, which naturally absorbed the essence in the air and filled the vessel.
The difference with Planet is that it is a physically existing object.
Among wizards, it is better known as a Mana Stone, and unlike the Magic Stone, it can be used as a permanent power source even if it requires time to charge, so its price was the difference between heaven and earth.
‘Even if it’s something as big as a baseball like this, if you sell one, you don’t have to worry about one month’s worth of living expenses.’
For adventurers whose main source of income is conquering monsters and dungeons, if the magic ore that can be acquired through Enemy is the daily wage, the dungeon core, which is in the form of magic ore for most of them, could be considered as monthly wages.
Just because adventurers see a dungeon doesn’t mean they turn on their eyes and try to conquer it.
If you could secure and sell something the size of a baseball, you could not only increase your reputation as an adventurer by preventing future dungeon breaks, but you could also make a fortune.
‘If magic ore is a household battery, magic ore is closer to a resource for power plants.’
Of course, a mana stone of that size, excavated from an entry-level dungeon, could not supply such a large amount of mana.
However, as long as you have the time to charge it, it can be used permanently, and in addition to the magic stones that can be obtained from dungeons, you can also run a facility that produces magic stones on its own.
In that respect, the price is bound to be high because it has a significant impact on the maintenance of the magical civilization that is currently running on artifacts.
Right now, that rechargeable stone (magic ore) was a resource that not only the Empire, but also the Ain Union and the Federal Government wanted to secure with the highest priority.
“Absorption… , I guess I can’t do it either.”
Eugene could also be said to be a person with special abilities in the sense that even after looking at such a mana stone, he first checks to see if he can absorb it like an elixir.
However, unlike magic ores, magic ores that had a physical container could not be absorbed carelessly.
As long as the magic gemstone can resolve the Enemy thoughts contained in it, it is no different from an elixir because it is a product made entirely of essence, so it is possible to absorb it as is.
‘But this is because there is a physical vessel.’
In other words, if you swallow it to absorb it like an elixir, it will remain inside your body.
Depending on the person with this ability, it may be possible to use metabolism to excrete it, but the problem could be that there was an external essence core inside the body that did not obey one’s will.
Even if the ingested magic ore could be expelled when desired, the essence bound to the bowl was bound to be very difficult to absorb, unlike the magic ore.
In other words, even if you try to absorb it by ingesting it like an elixir, it is not effective.
‘If the essence that makes up the bowl, like Dragon Heart, is so pure, it could be melted into the bowl…’
Unless it was a dungeon core that maintained a dungeon of enormous size like a pro-reflation dungeon, it was really magic ore that did not exist other than Dragon Heart, so discussing it itself was useless.
‘Even in the original game, Orbital World, that kind of magic ore ended when I completely conquered the dungeon that existed under the Academy, hunted the dragon among the Four Heavenly Kings, and obtained the Yeouiju it held.’
Even in the original work, it is meaningless to discuss the magic ore that can be absorbed, which was limited to being obtained twice per episode by twisting the body in all kinds of ways.
“If you are trying to absorb it, it is not by ingesting it, but by simply absorbing the energy flowing out from the body little by little…”
With this, you will be able to accumulate Unirats outside of the dungeon in much the same way as when cultivating special energy (essence processing form) inside the dungeon.
In fact, among adventurers, there were some who did not sell the dungeon cores they had acquired but used them for their own strength.
‘But even so, it is not as efficient as training inside a dungeon.’
Therefore, rather than keeping the dungeon core, most adventurers choose to simply sell it, find a new dungeon, and gain practical training to become stronger there.
“… “In the end, selling it is the answer.”
And that also applied to Eugene.
No, for Eugene, who can build Unirut through magic stones whose murderous intent was removed through the planet in the first place, the dungeon core is a good thing to use only until he reaches the level of a superhuman and then sell it.
At the very least, I wanted to keep it for a while because I needed to fill up the planet’s bowl as much as possible before I reached the level of a superhuman, otherwise I would have just sold it.
‘First, collect it.’
Eugene, who was examining the dungeon core, which was emitting a faint light as the name Magic Ore suggested, reached out and retrieved the dungeon core.
And when he retrieves the dungeon core and puts it in the bag on his back, the subspace dungeon, which has lost the core that was maintaining the dungeon, begins to quickly close.
Coo coo coo coo!!
‘This is already my second time experiencing this, but it’s a sight I’m not used to.’
The interior of a building with huge walls quickly erected and an open ceiling. And the green, heterogeneous sky visible beyond the ceiling.
Eugene could not help but feel an eerie feeling that he could not get used to at the sight of the virtual environment built by the dungeon core melting and collapsing.
It feels as if you too will disappear along with this huge, collapsing environment.
Even though he felt a little goosebumps at the sensation, Eugene calmly waited for the environment to completely collapse.
And soon, when everything collapsed, Eugene, who was alone in a dark space, was said to have been expelled out of the dungeon without any problems, contrary to his eerie feeling, and tumbled in front of the entrance where he entered the dungeon.
+++
“So, it looks like you made it through without any injuries?”
“Were you waiting?”
After conquering a dungeon, obtaining a certain amount of magic stones, and recovering the Boss Enemy’s magic stones and the dungeon core, Eugene returned to Yeonhwa’s now familiar house.
Even though he set out to attack the dungeon early in the morning, the attack itself was a time-consuming task, so Eugene could only return home late in the evening when the moon began to rise.
And Eugene was honestly a little touched by Yeonhwa’s behavior of coming to meet him as if she had been waiting for him when he returned so late.
Still, he thought that Yeonhwa had become attached to him as they had been together for over a month, but Yeonhwa answered Eugene in a tone of voice that said there was no need for that.
“Hmm, the only thing I can do at home without you is meditate to eventually reach enlightenment, but this is where I have been meditating for decades. “I know very well that meditating for one or two more hours will not bring enlightenment.”
Yeonhwa, who replied in a casual tone that she had rather been waiting for Eugene during that time, slowly approached Eugene and looked around at his body.
“Hmm, you said it was an entry-level dungeon, and it looks like you made it through it without a single scratch, as expected? Good job.”
“Well, if I had been at the highest level of an ordinary initiate, I might have suffered at least an injury, but as you know, I was not at the highest level of an ordinary initiate.”
It was said that it was only natural to not get injured in an entry-level dungeon, given that one must immediately reach the level of a superhuman to be able to use the Unirut Raider, a skill that is only possible.
Instead, I used up a lot of my stamina and energy, but this was something I could easily recover by sleeping overnight and practicing once.
“Heh, okay. It was okay if there were no injuries. “Did you enjoy your dinner?”
“First of all, I ate the food I brought with me before fighting Boss Enemy.”
Yeonhwa asked with a small smile as if she was satisfied after checking it again with her own eyes, even though she already knew that she was not injured through her senses.
Eugene felt a slightly strange feeling about that question. Why did you ask that? When I answered with a question, Yeonhwa let out a slight moan.
“… Hmm. Yes, that means I ate it. … Still, after all the fighting, didn’t you get hungry again? … “I guess so?”
“… “Maybe?”
Why not here? I’m full. In response to Yeonhwa’s behavior, which seemed to indicate that she would not forgive him if she answered, Eugene instinctively gave her the answer she wanted.
Then, her expression relaxed as if she was a little satisfied, and she spoke with an attitude that everything went well.
“Yes, it just turned out well. I was also hungry at the time, and there was no one to cook for me, so it was the first time in a long time that I cooked for myself, right? So, now that things have come to this, let’s have a meal with you.”
