Chapter 24: You Should Be Used to It by Now
Chapter 24: You Should Be Used to It by Now
“What kind of rewards do you think we got…?”
Supported by Marlin, I climbed the altar that resembled a staircase.
Not only did I still have a splitting headache from excessive use of Mysteries, but the aftereffects of enduring lightning with my bare body spread throughout me. There was no way I could walk alone.
“Whatever you expect, it’ll be better than that.”
“A Tenth-Tier Mystery Tome!”
“That’s not expectation—that’s delusion. Invalid. Try imagining something within a reasonable range.”
When the Hidden Piece was used to raise the difficulty to its maximum, the best rewards appeared.
However, the boss specimen—the Corrupted Statue of Metherd—also became far stronger. Even the Harmony Church hesitated to challenge it and left the information unknown.
If an unfair gimmick triggered that even high-level priests could not handle, they might lose valuable personnel for nothing. It was a reasonable decision.
Even I probably wouldn’t have attempted it recklessly without experiencing it myself.
My memory of exploiting its weakness using Black Lightning Bloom had helped greatly during this strategy.
This was the charm of labyrinths.
Even the strong could die meaningless deaths in low-rank labyrinths, while the weak could achieve great feats if they had the right means.
No wonder I loved exploration.
“Kar, careful.”
With Marlin holding my staggering legs steady, we reached the top of the altar.
On the flat summit, various treasures were arranged like offerings.
There were four kinds in total.
Before checking the rewards, I examined the floor and nodded.
As expected…
This altar, where Hidden Rewards appeared, only emerged after defeating the boss specimen enhanced to its maximum level.
But traces showed that someone had already been here.
Someone cleared it before us and took the rewards.
No wonder Ermentaz had looked exhausted.
However, that unknown challenger must have used a method different from mine.
Survive for thirty minutes.
The Corrupted Statue of Metherd was actually a boss that became neutralized automatically if one survived long enough without dying.
The reward type changed, but the difficulty was similar.
“…Kar, why are you suddenly smiling?”
“Something interesting just happened.”
Who could it be?
I had no idea yet, but I was excited.
Unexpected variables that didn’t threaten my life were always welcome.
“You didn’t overuse your mental energy and damage your brain, right…?”
Marlin whispered quietly to Rosalia.
I pressed down firmly on Marlin’s head to massage it, then turned her head sideways.
“Marlin, look over there. Something you like.”
“…Huh?”
Her drooping tail suddenly began wagging rapidly.
“Gems!”
The first Hidden Reward was a collection of colorful gemstones.
Since they were always in demand for alchemy, magic, and craftsmanship, they could be sold at high prices.
“Pretty!”
“You can take all of them.”
“Really?”
Marlin’s eyes sparkled.
“When have you ever seen me lie?”
“Kar, thank you!”
Grinning widely, Marlin began greedily stuffing the gems into her leather bag.
It was nice to watch, but I was starting to worry.
If this continued, would she grow up into a miser obsessed with money? I hoped she would grow into a healthy pickpocket instead.
“Sister, please take this.”
I gave Rosalia the pair of boots placed beside the gems.
《Equipment – Softstep Boots》
《Prevents the wearer’s feet from sinking into sand, mud, or soil. Reduces footstep noise.》
Simple yet excellent footwear.
For explorers who must move cautiously within labyrinths, there was hardly better equipment.
And if someone as capable as Rosalia wore them?
Unless you were a tank, no one would stop her assassination.
“……”
Rosalia nodded quietly and stored the boots inside her shadow.
Her eyes clearly showed that she liked them.
“May I take the remaining two items?”
“Yes!”
Marlin answered energetically, while Rosalia silently agreed.
“Thank you.”
I had planned to take them anyway, but receiving acknowledgment made it feel easier to claim the rewards of our strategy.
First, I picked up the softly glowing necklace.
It was not flashy, but it had a small mirror surrounded by delicate decorations.
《Artifact – Copying Mirror》
《Copies the effect of one Mystery of Third Tier or lower. To think such a cheating artifact exists!》
This was one of the artifacts that allowed me to conceive the Immortal Cultist build.
It was unfortunate that it only worked up to Third-Tier Mysteries, but even so its applications were limitless.
I had already decided which Mystery to copy.
Dark Clouds Rumble.
A Mystery that enhanced another ability by half the amount of a decreased stat.
Currently, due to the curse Fertilizer Sprout from the God of Nature, it only applied to Agility among my reduced Strength and Agility.
But with this artifact, it could apply to Strength as well.
And now I had also obtained a Mystery capable of increasing Strength.
That’s the most important part.
Finally, I slowly picked up the last Hidden Reward—a yellow Mystery Tome—and brushed off the sand.
Unlike usual, the information did not appear immediately.
After a brief silence, letters appeared in the air.
《First-Tier Mystery Tome (Growth Type) – Avatar of the Earth》
《Strengthens the body by drawing in the power of the earth. This should originally be an innate Mystery of Earth Elves… so why does it exist as a Mystery Tome?!》
The font of the text was subtly twisted.
The shock was obvious.
《Confusion: Why are you not surprised? Did you already know about this as well? Even the Wise One is blinking blankly!》
“You should be used to it by now. This will keep happening.”
I scattered the floating text with my hand and looked at my companions.
“Shall we leave?”
I planned to return and rest for a while.
A room filled with luxurious furniture.
A long-haired man sat on a sofa, gazing at the wine gently swirling in his glass.
For a while he merely swirled the wine before finally speaking.
“How was it?”
Ripple.
Rosalia, the red-haired assassin, immediately emerged from the shadows and bowed respectfully.
“It was excellent.”
“…I see.”
Odilon paused briefly, then smirked and wet his tongue with a sip of wine.
“Then it must have been quite impressive.”
That elf rarely spoke even when called by her master.
Yet she answered immediately when asked.
If she were an ordinary person, it would be the equivalent of excitedly rambling on about it at length.
“Better than expected.”
The cultist Kar.
When he discovered Hidden Pieces during two consecutive explorations, Odilon had already suspected something unusual.
He had been right.
“Then if we build an expedition centered around him, do you think it could surpass my brother’s and sister’s expeditions?”
“……”
This time Rosalia did not answer immediately.
After several minutes of serious thought, she spoke.
“The possibility is high.”
It was somewhat vague, but Odilon nodded in satisfaction.
Considering how strict this elf was when judging others’ abilities, it was practically high praise.
Did she really like him that much?
“I understand.”
No matter how he thought about it, Kar was talent that must never be missed.
He had to recruit him before the Harmony Church formally hired him.
Odilon took out a clean envelope from his pocket and handed it over.
“An invitation. Deliver it.”
“Yes.”
Rosalia nodded and soon vanished into the shadows.
Watching the spot where his assassin had disappeared, Odilon slowly drank his wine.
One assassin and one cultist.
Kar’s two wards were still novices, so excluding them, four more members were needed to fill the six-person expedition limit.
What kind of classes should he recruit to form the ideal expedition?
Odilon pondered while sipping wine, then suddenly frowned.
Her shoes have changed.
They must be rewards from this labyrinth exploration.
But why didn’t she report them?
Was she afraid he would take them?
That would mean she liked the new boots that much.
“…What does she think of me?”
He brushed back his long hair irritably.
Just how did she view her master normally?
Three days had passed since clearing the Grave of the Earth Elf.
During that time, I recovered from the fatigue accumulated in both body and mind.
In other words, I mostly rolled around lazily on the sofa.
“Kar, aren’t you staying inside too much? You should at least go out for a walk sometimes.”
Marlin, sitting beside me while reading a library book titled Basic Labyrinth Knowledge Even a Slime Can Understand!, scolded me.
“How cruel. How can you say that when your patron is suffering and barely moving?”
“I know you recovered two days ago.”
“That’s why I hate sharp kids….”
As Marlin said, my injuries had already healed.
But when resting, shouldn’t one focus solely on resting?
Anyone who had survived working under Manager Choi—the demon who assigned urgent work even on days off—would naturally be sensitive about their holidays.
Still, it’s about time to stop.
I must not forget.
If the most difficult labyrinth, Nightmare Dungeon, was not cleared within five years, this world would be destroyed.
Three days of rest was enough.
It was time to work again.
And today there happened to be something scheduled.
“Hello!”
As I prepared to go out, the labyrinth management priest visited the house.
It was the cheerful priest responsible for the Fire Ant Nest, the one with admirable professional spirit.
《Priest Reina (Human, 23) — A junior priest of the Harmony Church’s labyrinth management order Inquiring Lantern. Extremely talkative and cheerful. It would be best to keep her far away because she is noisy.》
“Here is your information payment!”
“Information payment!”
Marlin, who had been looking from the sofa, ran over excitedly.
“Nice to see you again, Sister Priest!”
“Our tiger friend looks healthy! That’s great!”
Priest Reina smiled brightly and handed two heavy money pouches to Marlin.
“First, this is the payment for the Hidden Piece information of Nest of the Sneaking Ghoul Pack and Fire Ant Nest! Fifty gold each, so a total of one hundred gold!”
“One hundred gold!”
“And this is the payment for information about what happens if you fully activate the Hidden Piece that strengthens the boss specimen of Grave of the Earth Elf! That’s eighty gold!”
A total of 180 gold.
Converted roughly, it was about 18 million won.
For E-Rank labyrinth information, it wasn’t an enormous sum.
But for a teenager whose eyes spun at the sight of money, it was a shocking fortune.
“……”
Marlin stood frozen as if she had fainted.
I poked her to wake her up.
“Kar, please keep giving us information in the future!”
“Any benefits for regular customers?”
“Of course!”
“Then I’ll keep selling to you often.”
“Great!”
Next, Priest Reina handed Marlin and me bronze shield-shaped identification badges.
“You are now Bronze-Rank Explorers!”
At last, we had the mark that officially recognized us as explorers.
Without this, one could not even be called a true explorer.
You would simply be someone wandering inside labyrinths.
“If you want to become Silver-Rank Explorers, you’ll need to take the examination!”
After the priest—who spoke with the voice of four people combined—left, I took the two siblings outside.
“Patron, where are we going?”
“Somewhere nice.”
I took out the invitation I had received a few days earlier.
Let us meet in three days.
— Odilon Brites.
The contents were ridiculously sparse for an invitation, but considering the cold and dried-up social skills of that young master, it was generous enough.
I patted Marlin and Abel on the shoulders.
“You two should behave politely.”
Odilon.
Among Korean gamers, his nickname was “God-dilon.”
“We’re going to meet the person who will take full responsibility for recruiting expedition members and financing us from now on.”