Chapter 9
Chapter 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 009
Chapter Title: The Forest at Dawn (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Whoa?! Reggin!! There’s one here too? A golden apple!!”
“Hm?”
About an hour after they had started walking along the path chosen by Manannan.
Reggin stared blankly at the apple tree that had appeared once again.
‘...Is this a bug?’
Reggin was one of the users known for being the most persistent among those who played DAT.
DAT was a game where drop rates or acquisition probabilities for items were not clearly indicated.
‘The probability charts posted on the cafe were mostly compiled by me and a few other users.’
Reggin was a veteran user who had personally tested those numbers through trial and error.
Since items were generally labeled as ‘very rare’ or ‘rare,’ many users relied on Reggin’s probability charts.
‘The probability of finding a tree bearing Dawn Apples on the 1st Floor...’
0.12%.
Reggin shook his head as he recalled the chart he had compiled.
Perhaps he had miscalculated the probability.
“But Reggin. Is this really rare? It’s not like they’re just scattered all over the 1st Floor, right?”
“......”
For this guy, they were appearing at nearly a 10% rate.
‘So far, we’ve passed about 20 apple trees. Normally, only one in a thousand bears fruit, but this guy has already found two in just 20 trees.’
Reggin briefly recalled Manannan’s settings, but there was no official confirmation that he was lucky.
‘But looking back, the guy in the game always had... a lot of money. Compared to his level or adventurer rank.’
In fact, in DAT, players could borrow a fixed amount of money from Manannan every day.
There were even users who wrote guides on how to efficiently use Manannan as an ATM.
...Of course, that user was Reggin himself.
‘It was an article I compiled while experimenting on how much he’d lend. Anyway, that explains where all that money came from.’
Maybe the guy was an unofficial luck character.
“Let’s pick all of these too.”
“Won’t your bag run out of space?”
“There’s still plenty.”
“Even if there’s plenty now... won’t it fill up after a few more?”
“Don’t worry about it. How much are we losing if we leave these behind?”
“How much do you even think these are worth... Fine, don’t look at me like that.”
“And I heard this might be something we need too.”
“......Something we need?”
He nodded.
“I heard it has a detox effect. Up to the 10th Floor, we won’t have to worry about poison if we just have these.”
“Really...?!”
In this world, antidotes were precious.
Poison resistance boost and detox effect?
‘No wonder it’s so expensive.’
From the first tree, they got a total of three apples, and here four more.
That was a pretty good haul from just two trees.
‘Open.’
Reggin slipped his hand into his bag.
He rubbed the bracelet inside where Manannan wouldn’t notice.
Then, he secretly slipped the farmed Dawn Apples into the small rift.
‘Sweet, so sweet.’
Six golden apples from the first farm.
Reggin desperately fought to keep his lips from curling up.
Excluding the ones Manannan had eaten, they had gotten a whopping six.
‘And I even have storage inventory.’
As Manannan said, the apples were a bit bulky?
In fact, food was one of the most cumbersome items to carry in DAT.
Their sizes and shapes varied, making it hard to pack them efficiently in a bag.
...A crazy game where you had to fit items by size and shape in the bag.
‘...And I did that all the way to the end.’
A game that became so much easier with just one inventory, yet they made it like this.
As always, he inwardly cursed the developers.
Damn bastards. He thought as he put the apples into the inventory.
If he survived, he’d track down the developers or whatever.
...He wouldn’t feel at ease until they paid the price for throwing him into the game.
* * *
“...Hm. It really is a rare apple, huh. They’re not showing up anymore.”
“Normally, it’s hard to even catch a glimpse of them. Anyway... let’s stop looking for apples. We should start preparing the campsite now.”
“Hm, is there a good spot around here?”
“This should do. The trees provide good cover for our bodies, and the flat terrain isn’t bad.”
For certain floors, it was important to understand the terrain and ecosystem well since you had to stay there for a long time.
No, in fact, camping in DAT was as crucial an element as combat.
Most攻略 runs didn’t end in a day or two but lasted at least a few weeks to months.
That’s why you had to be prepared to camp in any environment.
‘Shall I try building a house?’
Reggin thought as he stepped aside.
“Should’ve gone gladiator.”
“What?”
“Chopping and hauling wood would be better with a gladiator.”
“Khuk khuk. Hey, once our ranks go up, we’ll be better.”
Whoosh—!
The spot they chose as the campsite.
Fire ignited on the pile of leaves on the ground. It was Manannan’s 1st-tier flame magic.
“And we’re still better at the miscellaneous stuff right now.”
“......Hm.”
Reggin subtly shook his head.
Well, starting a fire might be easier for us.
But was building a wooden house with trees an easy task?
Even if built simply, it took quite a bit of time and energy to make something livable for several days.
Of course, there were about 30 efficient building methods posted in the community for construction.
‘And I’m the one who wrote most of them.’
This info had help from a user claiming to be from architecture, but Reggin had done most of the organizing.
That person knew real-life architecture well but not much about game characters.
Stamina allocation and structures for monster defense—Reggin had established those through personal experience.
“Manannan.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s start.”
Reggin and Manannan began slicing the large and small trees around them with magic.
They cut them to appropriate sizes, stacked and wove them together, creating a decent shelter.
“Manannan, we’ll be staying here for 3 days.”
“3 days? That’s kinda vague.”
“It’s the minimum. It might take a bit longer, but let’s plan for this and move accordingly.”
“Tsk. Shouldn’t have said I’d stay?”
“Khuk khuk. Too late, you know that?”
“Why?”
“If you leave now, I get all the golden apples.”
Manannan looked at Reggin in panic.
“Hey, we got them together... We said we’d split fairly?”
“That’s not it.”
Reggin shook his head firmly.
“I’m the one who picked the golden apples. Ownership should be mine, right?”
Manannan let out a hollow laugh.
“What kind of thug are you?”
Not a thug.
Just clearer judgment criteria, directed only at himself.
“Instead.”
“Yeah?”
Reggin sat on the neatly built temporary wooden house and looked at Manannan.
“I plan to split items obtained with party members exactly half and half.”
If you have complaints, don’t party up.
Reggin smiled leisurely as he drank water boiled and sterilized over the fire.
[Tower 1st Floor, Day 1.]
The weather is good, but the time of day seems fixed. Just as Master Nuada said.
—Manannan, Exploration Log.
“What’re you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Why’re you writing so diligently?”
“Oh, writing the exploration log.”
“Log...? You writing yesterday’s log the next morning?”
“I was so tired yesterday I forgot after saying I’d sleep.”
The next morning.
They took turns on night watch and spent the night.
Night or not, the time of day was fixed, so nothing changed.
That made it even more important to sleep well and wake up properly to avoid breaking patterns.
“Well, writing it down is fine, I guess.”
‘It’s a bit premature to get complacent right now.’
When Reggin shot him a look, Manannan stood up and grabbed his staff.
“Manannan.”
“Yeah.”
Growl—
Monsters began appearing one by one around them.
Mostly the common goblins known to all. Green-skinned ones with sharp teeth and claws.
Zap zap zap!
“Thunder Bolt!”
Manannan’s elemental magic sliced through the air and struck a goblin.
Growl!!
The goblin turned into a charred corpse and flopped onto the dirt ground.
Reggin looked at the charred remains and smiled at Manannan.
‘Useful young man.’
“Thunder Bolt! Flame Ball!”
Manannan unleashed the low-tier spells he learned from Master Nuada, killing the emerging goblins one by one.
‘Fighting well. Very well.’
No need for him to expend effort and scrolls.
Because he already had a solid fighter.
Still, he should help a bit.
Even goblins.
Spells that missed aim could be dodged.
Dodging entirely was trickier than tanking hits.
Sizzle—!
Reggin’s hand moved quickly. He tore the scroll he was holding and launched mana forward.
The lowest 1st-tier attribute spell from the association: Flame Ball.
Fwoosh!
“Manannan, finish it!”
“Okay!”
The goblin with flames on its body. As its mobility weakened, Manannan struck with elemental magic.
Growl!!!
Thud—
The blackened goblin corpse fell to the ground.
‘It’s coming. I can hear it.’
The sound of experience rising, that is. Of course, it wasn’t audible.
No experience bar visible.
‘But I can check my status. Means I can check on level up.’
NPCs didn’t use ‘level’ but expressed it as ‘realm’ usually.
They’d say ‘Your realm has risen’ in 10-level increments.
If no status window, they’d have to memorize in such broad units.
‘Less hassle. Matching mana amount to realm is work, and not precise anyway.’
Anyway, leveling up was important.
Realm or level.
Or skill tiers.
Whatever, raise them to a decent level to survive higher up.
“Done. Let’s clean up.”
After sweeping the goblins near the campsite, Reggin sorted the mana stones from them and sat down.
He pulled out dried apricots and grapes from his bag.
Crunch—
Dried fruit was the easiest to pack, tasty enough for meals.
“......”
“What, don’t like the dried grapes? Have apricot then.”
“No, not that.”
Manannan looked at Reggin and continued bluntly.
“You said we’d split half and half. The mana stones.”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t this a bit much?”
“Hm?”
“Hey, count the numbers. I got 7 while you got 3?”
Hm.
He had noticed.
Crunch—
Reggin nodded as he ate a dried apricot.
“Can’t help it. Scrolls are limited. Once they’re gone, I can’t fight. Manannan.”
“Then you should’ve whacked them with a wand! Using a few Flame Balls with scrolls and just watching... Mana drain is no joke, I’m dying here...”
Right.
Friction with party members could happen anytime.
‘Tch. Saving scrolls too obviously, huh.’
He calmly organized his thoughts.
Didn’t he anticipate this?
Swoosh.
Reggin naturally changed his expression.
...To one that seemed even more wronged.
“Manannan.”
“Yeah?”
“You clearly said it in front of the portal. That you’re aiming for... grand mage.”
“......Yeah. Gotta have that kind of ambition.”
“You want to become that someday, right? Yeah?”
“......Right?”
“Among the mages we know, who’s closest to grand mage?”
“Master Nuada?”
“Yeah. Do you think Master Nuada was strong from the start...?”
The guy was an NPC with a rivalry toward Reggin.
And had big ambitions.
“I think it all comes from tons of practice. If not on 1st Floor, then 2nd? What about 5th where environment changes completely?”
“......Hmm?”
He subtly stoked that ambition.
Manannan didn’t realize.
“I’m just offering you a very easy and efficient method.”
“......”
“I want to kill monsters with scrolls too... but does that help us?”
“......Huh?”
“I’m just tearing scrolls—no combat experience gained. Even if any, not as efficient as you training mana yourself.”
Never backed down in countless keyboard battles, the community’s ghost.
Even wrote a 4,000-character rebuttal comment when DAT was called trash.
Kept presenting other views tirelessly, eventually earning ‘god game’—a man of tenacity.
“I just didn’t want to take away your chance to get stronger.”
“......!!”
Unaware he was falling for it.
“......Jeez.”
Manannan nodded unwittingly.
“......Well, goblins aren’t too tough yet. Feels like I’m getting the knack the more I kill.”
“Yeah, seemed like it. Barely missing any in the latter half?”
Before he knew it, the guy’s lips were curling up in satisfaction.
“Khuk khuk. Yeah. Goblins are now one-shot... no. Reggin.”
“Yeah?”
“Putting that aside, I have a question. We came to suffer in this tower... yeah. Just one.”
“Sure.”
“All good with the hardship, but why exactly are we staying here?”
Manannan pondered briefly before asking Reggin.
“Isn’t proper exploration from 5th Floor? You admitted 1st to 4th are inefficient.”
Correct.
Hunting, farming—all less rewarding than upper floors.
If spending the same time, better to start from 5th—several times better.
‘...That’s why it took 4 years wandering.’
Reggin’s eyes changed. The playful glint teasing Manannan vanished.
A veteran’s gaze, using every means to survive in DAT, took over.
“Rafflesia.”
“What?”
“I need that.”
Manannan looked at Reggin as if hearing it first time. Expected.
Hidden stage.
A story about the hidden stage existing on the 1st Floor everyone rushed past.
Another flower inside it.
“......How do you get that?”
Reggin answered with conviction.
“We wait. As long as possible.”
An answer shattering preconceptions about the well-known 1st Floor.