Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: That Must Be It (2)
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"Be careful."
Ian’s quiet warning reached the three of them.
Even at a glance, no monsters were visible inside the room, but no one let their guard down as they silently kept watch on the interior.
After waiting for the drifting dust to settle a bit, they all cautiously stepped inside following Ian’s signal.
Rin took the lead with her shield raised, while Ian in the rear readied his orb, prepared to hurl Ice Prison at a moment’s notice in case of emergency.
The room’s interior looked like a long-abandoned laboratory that no one had entered in ages.
More precisely, a neglected one.
Since its owner, the black mage, was surely long dead by now.
Because of that, the mage’s equipment and materials were left intact inside the room.
Ian cautiously scanned the surroundings.
As a secret space carved out in a narrow area, the room wasn’t particularly large or complex.
The area, serving as both lab and storage, was filled with shelves and crates for holding items, and there were no more spots where anything could hide.
The mercenaries, who had been on alert due to Ian’s warning, slowly lowered their gear.
"Captain. Doesn’t seem to be any monsters?"
"…Yeah, looks like it."
The Black Mage’s Laboratory that Ian knew from the game was a boss room set against the backdrop of ruined lab debris, where a giant scavenger lunged the moment you opened the door…
But there wasn’t a trace of any such monster here. Only the pristine, undamaged laboratory remained.
…Had the giant scavenger not been created yet?
Thinking that, Ian examined a nearby shelf more closely.
Even without digging into the backstory, it was easy to guess that the variant scavenger in such a lab had come from the items here.
The giant monster rampaged and destroyed the lab, after which the player arrived to take it down.
That was the sequence in the original game…
Judging by its current intact state, it seemed Ian had discovered the lab beforehand.
Ian had only ever seen it destroyed in the game, so this was his first time seeing the lab in perfect condition.
As Ian relaxed his guard, the team members began slowly looking around the interior.
Having confirmed no monsters were present and their wariness faded…
What arose next was curiosity.
According to Ian’s explanation, this was a place used as a secret storeroom.
Meaning there might be something valuable hidden away.
Everyone began surveying the area, now tense with a different kind of anticipation.
Ian carefully picked up one item from the shelf he’d been examining.
[Amplification Reagent]
- Alchemy item
- When added as material: +20% crafting effect
Some items had turned into dusty clumps from age, but those classified as magic items remained in perfect condition.
As Ian turned to look at the other shelves, he discovered quite a few items still there.
In this game, black mages didn’t use any particularly bizarre or evil materials.
Black mages were ultimately a subclass derived from mages, sharing most equipment and materials with regular ones.
If you delved deep… it was probably just to avoid wasting resources on black mage-exclusive items, so they used the same as mages.
In short, despite the name Black Mage’s Laboratory, it was ultimately a place brimming with expensive materials used by mages.
Realizing that, the team members’ eyes lit up.
"Captain! Can we look around too?"
"Go ahead. But be careful not to touch anything weird."
Everyone quickly scattered in all directions.
"Mika! You’re the mage. See anything good?"
"Mika! What’s this? Is it expensive?"
"Mika! Look at this!"
"Mika…."
Rin and Tanya rushed every promising find over to Mika.
This was a mage’s workshop, and Mika was the mage, after all.
"……."
But Mika just stood there with a stiff expression, giving no reply.
…She had no clue what any of it was.
The materials and reagents her friends brought were complete mysteries as to their uses.
Mika was a mage in name only—a total beginner who’d never touched magic research in her life.
She still didn’t know a single spell she could cast…
Meanwhile, Ian headed toward the bookshelf area.
In his memory, it was the spot with the room’s sole reward.
Unlike the destroyed version he remembered, the shelf now stood intact, packed with countless books.
Ian checked item infos as he went, eventually picking out one hidden magic book.
After browsing for a moment, he pulled a single volume from the shelf.
[Magic Book: Black Magic]
- Trait item
- Use to gain [Black Magic] trait
※ Requirement: Possess [Dark Affinity] or [Dark Specialization]
This was the original reward from the boss room.
Which magic book dropped was random, but it was usually a dark-attribute one like this.
It was unfortunate for Mika, but a magic book she couldn’t learn.
She could acquire the necessary affinity or specialization if absolutely needed, then learn it… but black magic wasn’t worth that effort.
Ian wasn’t sure if he’d ever need to hire a black mage mercenary, but for now, he stowed the book in his bag.
Worst case, he could learn it himself and use debuffs.
"Captain! There’s something here!"
"What is it?"
"Mika says it’s an elixir!"
"What?"
Ian looked up and headed toward the clustered team members.
After the initial sweep of the lab’s interior…
Ian decided to keep the lab’s existence a secret and reseal the door.
His original plan had been to defeat the giant scavenger, report it to the guild, and claim the subjugation reward…
But things had changed.
For one, they couldn’t haul out this much stuff, and there was no place at the inn to store it anyway.
At least until they secured a warehouse, the items would have to stay in this secret room as is.
Afterward, what the Ian Mercenary Corps did was…
Clean the room.
They tidied the dust-caked space, discarded unusable materials, and repacked the viable ones into crates.
By the time they finished cleaning and exited the underground sewer, night had fully fallen.
Returning to the inn, the mercenaries all flopped exhausted onto their beds.
Ian unpacked his gear and pulled out a vial he’d brought from there.
Inside the bottle were three round, golden pills.
He’d left most materials behind, but carried out a few key items by hand—this was one of them.
The elixir Rin had found in the lab.
[Trait Growth Agent: Talent]
- Elixir item
- Randomly strengthens one initial trait upon use
- Maximum uses: 1
Ian had never seen this item drop in the sewers before.
He couldn’t help thinking it might be the reason the giant scavenger had spawned.
Depending on the scavenger that ate it, its trait could have evolved it into something even larger.
The team members crowded into Ian’s room, all peering down at the vial.
"Captain, do you know what this medicine is?"
"It’s a potion that grows your talent."
"…There’s an elixir like that?"
To Rin, elixirs were things that boosted physical abilities.
In other words, ones that directly raised stats like strength or stamina.
That was the common type known among mercenaries.
But the elixir they’d found in the lab today affected traits.
Initial traits—the ones characters had at level 1—strengthened randomly.
"How much would this sell for?"
"…Sell it?"
"Wouldn’t something like this be pricey?"
…It went for one coin at the shop.
Ian had never even considered selling one.
Considering its effects, it was definitely valuable.
But whether it could actually sell… who knew.
No one could see traits as clearly as Ian, and most lived without even knowing their own.
They’d be hard-pressed to feel any effect from the elixir.
Grows your talent, huh.
It’d probably just be treated like those superstitious lucky charms that mercenaries gossiped about.
Ian mulled over whether there was a way to sell it for big money, then quickly let it go.
Rather than agonize over something he’d never tried, he decided to stick to his usual playstyle.
The only thing Ian could trust right now was his gameplay experience.
In other words, clearing the game meant doing things the way he always had—however he wanted.
Ian uncorked the vial and shook out its contents.
"Here. Take one each."
"Huh?"
Everyone took a pill with confused expressions.
Tanya seemed the most flustered as she asked Ian,
"U-um, me too? Not you, Captain…?"
"It wouldn’t do much for me anyway."
As a player character, Ian had no initial trait, so the elixir would be useless to him.
Under Ian’s urging, the three hesitated while watching each other, then cautiously swallowed their elixirs.
The moment the pill touched their tongues, it melted like smoke and vanished down their throats before they could even swallow.
The team members’ reactions to taking the elixir were all different.
Mika and Tanya wore ambiguous looks as they peered down at their bodies.
Talent growth.
Had it… grown?
While the two seriously inspected themselves, Rin, in contrast, stared down at her body in shock.
A hot something bubbled up inside her, like a talent she’d never noticed before was blooming.
"Ooh… I really feel stronger!"
"…Y-yeah."
Ian watched Rin’s joyful expression for a moment, then quietly looked away.
Mercenary traits have changed.
[Tanya]: [Cooking] → [Cooking+]
[Mika]: [MP Boost] → [MP Amplification]
[Rin]: [Frustrated Desire] → [Frustrated Desire+]