The Grind (2)

The Rank F dungeon didn't slow us down in the slightest. We cut down every monster the moment it showed its face and pushed straight through.

No Growth Stones. Figures.

By the time we reached the boss chamber we'd slaughtered well over twenty of them, and not a single Growth Stone had dropped. The recommended level for a Rank F dungeon was 5. We'd blown past that ages ago, so of course the system wasn't going to hand us any.

I clicked my tongue.

They really didn't have to follow the game's rules for something like this.

The disappointment left a sour taste in my mouth.

"Shall we head in, then?"

"Huh? Yeah, let's—wait a second."

"Yes? Is something the matter, Master?"

"Just hold on a minute."

I stopped Aquaril and pulled up the list of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠notification windows from last time.

The hidden treasure!

My eyes lit up the second I saw it. Just as I remembered — we'd never three-starred the Rank F floor of Greed's Uroboros Nest. Princess Prisia Lily and her fairy Evan had been with us last time, so there hadn't been any chance to poke around.

Dungeons had hidden treasure chests, and those chests held potions, Gold, items — the works. In Fairy Masters, hunting down a dungeon's hidden chests had been a core part of farming currency. There were whole strategy guides dedicated to chest locations, for crying out loud.

Fifty Gems!

Finding a hidden treasure chest also netted you an extra 50 Gems. For someone who needed to scrape together 3,000 Gems as fast as possible, even fifty was precious.

"There's a treasure chest in this dungeon. Let's find that first, then we take the boss."

"Yes, Master."

Together with our resident yes-girl, Aquaril, I started combing the dungeon. We swept every corner with a flashlight and even doubled back the way we'd come. Before long, we found a treasure chest tucked into a gap between the rocks.

"I'll open it."

"Yes, Master."

Aquaril had been the one to spot it, but I was the one who'd crack it open. Loot from treasure chests scaled with Luck, and mine sat at 18 points to her 10.

What was inside? I rubbed my hands together and lifted the lid.

Click!

In Fairy Masters, opening a chest came with a shower of sparkles and a tidy item list. This was reality. No sparkles. No fanfare.

A heap of gold coins. Resting on top of them, a pair of gloves densely studded with snake scales, and two bottles of potion the color of milk.

I pulled the potions and daily supplies out of my inventory and loaded the chest's contents in their place.

"Oh! Not bad."

For a treasure chest in a Rank F dungeon, that was a solid haul. The real win was the gloves — 1-star, sure, but gloves were gloves.

Five percent? Poison Resistance? Tch. The effect's garbage.

I clicked my tongue again. A five percent proc rate meant the thing would almost never go off. I'd been hoping for a stat boost. This was a letdown.

"You wear these."

"What? N-no, Master, you should—"

"I've already got gloves. So you wear them. I'll get you something better next time."

"Master… thank you. Truly…"

Her eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠welled up. Over this? There really was a satisfaction in giving gifts — not that I was sure this even counted as one.

"Ahem. Shall we go kill the boss, then?"

"Yes!"

Aquaril nodded so hard I thought her head might come off.

Hssssssss!

Aquaril's blade flashed, and the giant snake's head went tumbling through the air.

Wasn't there something about how a snake's nerves stayed live for a while even after you took the head? The thing still tried to bite us, jaws working, body thrashing without end. Then the thrashing slowed, and stopped.

A notification window I'd seen once before bloomed into view.

I'd killed this boss without much trouble even when I was a lot weaker than I was now. Whether the gloves had anything to do with it or not, Aquaril took the Three-Horned Serpent's head in ten seconds flat.

The wall to one side came down in a rumbling collapse, and a new passage opened beyond the rubble.

"Shall we?"

"Yes."

The windows popped the moment Aquaril and I stepped into the new passage. Recommended level 30. From here on, Growth Stone farming was on the table.

"Stay sharp."

"You as well, Master."

On the Rank F floor, Aquaril and I had taken turns wiping the monsters out. That was over. From here on, we'd be facing things above our level, and the boss was strong enough that Aquaril had barely beaten it even when she was 2-star.

I took point with my shield up. Aquaril fell in behind me.

Hsst! Hsssssss!

It didn't take long. A huge snake rounded into view, two horns jutting from its skull like a bull's. A Two-Horned Serpent.

"The snake of all snakes is a frilled lizard~"

I slammed my sword against the shield — clang, clang, clang — scraping at the monster's nerves like a man ringing a dinner bell. That must have pissed it off, because the snake swung its head toward me.

Unlike the Rank F trash, which hadn't been eager to engage, the things down here had no problem throwing the first punch.

Shaaaaa!

The snake came at me like an arrow. Its skull slammed into my shield with a heavy, jarring WHAM.

"This is nothing!"

A snake that had to weigh at least a hundred pounds, and the hit was weaker than I'd expected. I could tank this all day.

"Die already!"

I swung for a counter the instant the blow landed, but the thing was faster than it looked. It caught my blade on one of those horns. Brand-new or not, a 1-star iron sword wasn't cutting through something that hard.

Shaaaa!

The snake pressed in, weaving its head side to side, probing for a gap. It must have decided it could swallow me whole, because it came on in earnest, body surging across the stone.

I glanced back, confirmed Aquaril had already moved, and gave ground in a slow retreat, sword and shield working to keep the thing's eyes on me and only me.

"Hah!"

While I bought time up front, Aquaril finally struck. She used that speed of hers to slip behind the snake in a single burst and started carving it apart from the tail forward. The blade in her hands moved faster than the eye could follow — she had to be using Swift Sword.

Shaaaaaa!

Pain lit up its tail and the snake whipped around in a panic.

"Not a chance!"

I wasn't about to let it. The neck was wide open. I brought my sword down with everything I had.

CRUNCH.

Shaaaa! Hsssst! Shaaaa!

The blade sank halfway through. Whatever the tail cuts had felt like, this was in another league — the snake convulsed, that massive body thrashing in raw shock.

I hammered it from the front. Aquaril kept the pressure on from behind, dancing on those quick feet. The snake couldn't decide which of us to kill.

"Die!"

Shaaaa!

After a stretch of ugly back-and-forth, my sword took the head clean off. The thrashing got worse before it got better. Then the body went slack.

"Yes!"

I must have been sitting on a pile of leftover experience, because the level-up hit the instant the snake died.

Clatter.

A small stone rolled out of the dead snake's jaws. Exactly what I'd come here for — a Lower Growth Stone.

"Ah…"

I didn't bother hiding the disappointment. The plan had been to feed Aquaril every Growth Stone the second it dropped. Of course the first one had to be Agility. She was still 1-star — eating this wouldn't do a thing for her.

"Guess this one's mine, then."

I shrugged and popped the stone into my mouth on the spot. A moment later, the window appeared.

Factor in the buff and I was sitting on 21 points of Agility. I'd just passed Aquaril.

"Good work, Aquaril."

"Not at all, Master. You worked far harder than I did."

"Can you keep going?"

"Of course. I'm not even winded."

With me holding the snakes' attention up front, she was about as fresh as she'd started. We hunted down every last serpent that showed its face.

Once every monster short of the boss was dead, we called the run and walked out. A lot of time must have passed — it was already night.

"Oh-ho?"

The windows hit me the second we stepped outside, and I couldn't keep the satisfied smile off my face. My real target was the Rank E floor. Having to slog through Rank F every single run would have been a pain.

In Fairy Masters, a Relay Dungeon still threw every difficulty at you even after a full clear. I'd figured this place would work the same way. It didn't.

"You've worked hard, Master. I'll prepare a meal."

"Hm? Ah, yeah."

Aquaril set down her sword and pack and went straight to work on a late dinner. I watched her back with a warmth I didn't bother hiding.

Nice.

Coming here had been the right call. Clearing the Rank E floor had put a serious dent in both our level curves.

On paper, an E-rank run should have been impossible for us. The sensible play would have been to farm the Rank F dungeon — recommended level 20. But becoming Uroboros's Avatar had pumped every one of my stats by 8 points. Stats-wise, I was already knocking on 2-star.

On top of that, my mythic-grade trait — Incarnation of the Snake of Greed — came with two effects that might as well have been tailor-made for this hole in the ground: two hundred percent extra damage to reptile-type enemies, and a ninety percent cut to damage taken from them.

Snakes were reptiles. Recommended level 30 or not, we'd carved through them like they were nothing.

The efficiency is insane.

I'd jumped a full two levels, and another Lower Growth Stone — Agility, again — had dropped along the way. I ate that one too.

At this rate, I'd hit level 20 before long.

Aquaril had climbed too — 16 to 17. Swift Sword had gone from level 2 to 3, and she'd swallowed one Strength stone, two Endurance stones, and two Magic stones.

I'd figured on about twenty days of this… if the pace holds, we can wrap the farming grind in ten.

The levels were nice. The stat gains were nicer.

If I had my way, I'd push every stat to 20. Realistically, that was impossible. The exact Growth Stones I needed would have to drop, one after another — and what were the odds of that?

We'll go as far as we can. And once I hit 2-star…

I would start preparing to take down Hwaryongwang.