Digging Into the Unknown

Before I started digging into the floor in earnest, I waited a little while in case my master showed up. I swung my sword for a while, watching Rainy’s ridiculous dance—she seemed to be in an especially good mood today. But the person I was hoping to see never appeared.

Rainy grumbled in an agitated voice, apparently still shaken by the dangerous moment I’d gone through earlier.

‘Hmm… he was trying to train me, so don’t be too hard on him.’

‘Is that so? Anyway, looks like I’ll have to train my swordsmanship alone today. Before that, how about warming up by digging into the ground a bit?’

I activated the trait and stabbed my fingertips straight into the floor.

‘Whoa?! It actually works?’

I reread the description of the Tunnel Destroyer trait with fresh eyes.

‘So this place really is ground, or something close to it… It’s not just my mind that gets transported here?’

I’d already suspected it was a physical world from the sheer number of things I’d killed and stored here, but a part of me had still wondered. Now I could stop wondering.

‘Then where the hell is this place? Do you have any idea? You’ve been here all day, after all.’

‘What? For real?’

I dug down vigorously to see if it was true.

Crunch crunch crunch— crunch—

‘Damn… the deeper I go, the resistance is getting insanely strong.’

I’d only dug about a meter down, yet the ground’s hardness was skyrocketing exponentially.

‘Still, the mana density really is getting thicker.’

No wonder my mana recovery felt abnormally fast whenever I came in here. This space had been overflowing with mana from the start.

I poured everything I had into digging until the ground refused to yield to my touch anymore.

‘The scratching sound is pretty satisfying.’

Scraaape— scraaape—

Simple really is best. The ground yielded honestly in proportion to my effort, so there was no need to think about anything else. Just that alone felt healing, and a smile naturally formed on my face.

And then—

‘Ooh! Keep going, keep going!’

The level hadn’t gone up even when I caught Nam Yong-seok or when I infiltrated the underground factory of the Evolution Stone organization, yet here it was skyrocketing after digging just a few meters.

‘Whoa. Jackpot. Speed and defense both shot way up.’

Every time the level rose by one, the depth I could dig increased a little more, but that only lasted for a moment. The limit came once I’d dug up to about the height of my head.

What was interesting was that the stone fragments I’d dug out with Tunnel Destroyer and tossed aside had somehow gathered together on their own and hardened into uniform, rock-like shapes.

‘Ugh, I can’t dig any more. This floor definitely isn’t normal.’

Even though I didn’t sweat, I instinctively wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. I picked up one of the crystallized fragments that had scattered everywhere while I was digging and examined it absentmindedly.

The fist-sized square stone was emitting a faint glow.

‘Seriously? A broken piece of floor needs Appraisal? But people with the Appraisal skill are even rarer than those with Purification…’

Those born with non-combat skills like Appraisal or Purification all tended to be extremely cautious with their bodies. If they fell into the wrong hands, they could end up locked in a prison for life, forced to use their skills until they died.

‘I’ll have to find one somehow. I should ask Yeonsu—she’ll know.’

I picked up another suspicious fragment with a pretty grain and tried injecting mana into it.

Woooong—

It seemed to absorb the mana for a moment, then pushed it back out.

‘Then…’

Since injecting mana alone caused no change…

‘Inject mana and… sensing power as well…’

I brought the two fragments together after casually pouring energy into them.

Clack—!

‘?!’

‘…… I was just experimenting. They fused into one?’

Some fragments were split into triangles, others into squares, but when I roughly matched the smooth faces and poured in both mana and sensing power at the same time, they became one as if by magic.

I tapped the stone with my dagger.

‘It feels harder now.’

‘……’

Clang—!

Even after striking it with my dagger using the skill, it only cut a few centimeters deep. If I hadn’t had Penetration and Spatial Slash, I probably couldn’t have even made this scratch.

‘Hoh… This. It might actually be useful.’

The mysterious stone that glowed even brighter after taking my attack.

Wooooong—

For now, I gathered up all the fragments scattered across the floor and began storing them in my subspace.

‘Hmm… If I stack them well, I could probably make something like a small igloo.’

I could now build a stylish stone house anywhere I wanted! Of course, making that happen would require a considerable amount of time and mana.

Having once been trapped for a long time against my will, these stones were incredibly valuable resources to me.

‘Whenever I have time, I’ll break up the floor… and someday build my own house for the crisis that’s sure to come.’

While I was thinking that, a sudden vibration rose from the ground I’d dug up. The nearly two-meter-deep pit began slowly filling back in.

Startled, I quickly jumped out beside Rainy. The destroyed floor filled up in an instant and returned to its perfectly flat state.

For a moment, only the flames rising from my body flickered in the dark space. Rainy and I stared at each other with dazed expressions.

‘Does it recover like this even when you pierce the ground with your roots?’

‘So natural assimilation is allowed… But what the hell is this place?’

Not only had I learned that this space connected to my subspace from the one I used while preparing for regression, and that I wasn’t the only one here, but now even the stones making up the floor were anything but ordinary.

‘…… Ah, whatever. Let’s just train.’

There was no need to think about it for too long. I’d ask my master about this too.

Whooooosh——!

I decided to focus on the space-cutting ability I’d learned yesterday.

Swish—! Swish-swish—!

Even though my concentration hadn’t reached its peak, sparks of flame rose in the air and sliced through space. It was like how, once you learn to ride a bike as a child, you can do it without thinking.

As soon as I started training, Rainy quietly closed her mouth and simply watched me. Occasionally her branches would wiggle as she danced, and it felt like she was cheering me on.

Thanks to Rainy, I was able to finish my training without getting bored until I was called by Yeonhee.

‘Phew— It’s definitely increasing.’

Rainy, who was frantically sucking up the mana flowing from my body, gently wrapped her branches around my head and asked.

‘The length and depth of the space I’m cutting. It’s only increasing by a tiny ant-tear amount, but it’s growing steadily with honest training. Is there any work more rewarding than this? Haha.’

Rainy gave me appropriate responses while completely wrapping my body with her branches as if covering me entirely.

‘…… Aren’t you squeezing me a bit too tight?’

‘I see…’

Being wrapped by Rainy made movement uncomfortable, but seeing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠message that popped up, I figured I could endure this much.

‘Since she’s alone in a place like this, she must be relying on me… That makes sense.’

Her growth was visibly fast, so I’d probably receive a reward befitting the seed I’d raised soon.

‘Grow strong and tall.’

As time passed and I felt Rainy’s embrace slowly loosening, an unexpected message appeared and left me feeling dumbfounded.

‘No Hayun took first place quite a while ago, but A-rin became second-class examiner? Her growth is being reflected.’

‘…… She’s using the bone dagger…?’

Did that mean she was comforting herself right now?

‘Hayun, what on earth are you doing from the crack of dawn…’

I remembered reading an article that said morning was when sexual desire was most active, but I wondered what she’d been doing after leaving work yesterday to be doing this now. I wished she’d refrain from draining her strength before dungeon exploration, but since No Hayun herself didn’t know that the results of her actions were being reported to me, I couldn’t really say anything.

‘Wow— Still, the fact that information collection jumped over 10% in one go means my guess was right. Huh?! It’s past 90% now!’

I mentally cheered on No Hayun, who was somewhere far away ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠diligently stimulating herself.

Wooooong—

As I stared intently at the information collection that had stopped at 90%, a massive door began to be summoned beside me.

Thinking that meaningful growth in Mimicry was coming soon, I smiled contentedly and said goodbye to Rainy.

For some reason, Rainy’s body was swaying like a drunk person, and she looked extremely happy.

‘Bye—!’

Clunk—!

Entering the door and exiting it happened almost simultaneously.

"Surprise!"

"Clack clack clack?!"

I couldn’t help but be startled every time by Yeonhee, who was always waiting to greet me.

‘I still can’t get used to how dazzling it is.’

I’d only crossed a single door, yet an entirely different world unfolded. And what divided that boundary was probably whether Yeonhee was in front of my eyes or not.

"Hmm? Sniff sniff— sniff—"

But Yeonhee circled around me, sniffing, then made a slightly puzzled expression.