The Golden Temple of Tremendous Treasure

The Golden Temple, said to hold tremendous treasure.

"Hyuri. Thank you."

"If you and Harp hadn't been there, Mister, I'd already be dead."

"I'll put what I took from the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠temple to good use. I promise."

"Okay!"

He had just swindled an innocent deer—no, a water deer—and the smile ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the corner of Yujun's mouth showed no intention of leaving.

"Hyuri, are you going to stay here?"

"Yes!"

"Golden flowers are your staple, aren't they? Can you eat them on your own?"

"Yes! I'm the only one who can touch the flowers here. Hehe."

Hyuri said it with unmistakable pride.

Yujun nearly told the truth, then swallowed it. He couldn't bring himself to break a pure child's innocence.

"Don't get hurt. Grow up healthy, all right?"

"I will!"

After that, Harp and Hyuri said their goodbyes.

Yujun decided to seek out the Golden Temple before he bothered with the Golden Race. The name alone was anything but ordinary, and capturing the Golden Race to raise his contribution would surely profit him less than simply looting the temple. More than that, the moment the event was cleared there would be no way in at all. Better to dash over and back before it ended.

The Golden Race doesn't look like it'll be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠caught anytime soon, anyway.

He judged he had time enough. The temple was nearby, so there was no need to run himself ragged searching for it.

Things are going so smoothly it's making me uneasy.

As if they had ever failed to. His luck had climbed to a height even the System would have to acknowledge.

"You sad?"

Yujun asked Harp.

"About Hyuri?"

"Yeah."

"I am a little, but it's okay! All I need is Dad!"

It was endearing of Harp to say so, but anyone could see the little one was downcast.

I'll have to find Harp a friend someday. Someone on Balrog's level, or the Lord of Blood's, and he ought to be content.

Yujun set a hand to the earth and drew his mana up, searching for the temple. If it really was nearby, as Hyuri had said, he would pinpoint it in a single sweep.

And just as expected, he found it.

He couldn't be certain. By sense alone, all he knew was that some structure of piled stone waited below.

Still, this has to be the temple.

He poured mana into his sword and drove it into the ground.

The skill was devastating against anything ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with its feet planted on the ground, and just as useful when one meant to dig. Either way, it was a skill that upheaved the land. In the blink of an eye, a massive pit yawned open.

Did I pour in too much mana?

He had only meant to dig something on the order of a tunnel, but the force had run away with him and left an entrance far too huge.

"Won't this stand out?"

Even Paranet, apparently worried, went so far as to say it.

"True. Should I fill it in a little?"

"Please leave just enough for me to pass."

"You are disgustingly huge, I'll give you that."

"I am not disgusting..."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Master. I do not wish to grow any larger."

"Why?"

"In all honesty, my bulk is swelling without rhyme or reason, is it not?"

"Well... fair."

The fellow already looked to stand eight feet ten. His level had risen and he had grown stronger to match, but Paranet's increasing size also meant a certain measure of new constraint. He wore a miserable face, yet it was not something Yujun could fix for him.

"Endure."

"...Yes."

Only after filling the tunnel in partway did Yujun finally go inside. It was a burrow thrown together on the spot, so a fall would drop him straight into the sanctuary. Paranet, coward that he was, hesitated faintly up above.

"What are you doing?"

"I am heavier than you, Master, am I not? Will I be all right?"

"Last time you fell out of the sky, you used Thousand-Pound Drop and came out fine."

"Ah...?"

"And if you're that scared, just use Space Movement. What are you hesitating for?"

"Good heavens. I have been a genuine fool."

"Think before you speak next time."

"Understood."

Paranet went so far as to spend spatial-movement magic just to come down. When Yujun stared at him blankly, the fellow turned his head as if embarrassed. So much for the claim that Paranet's cowardice had vanished.

Has he gone soft again because there hasn't been anything to fight lately?

The tunnel was pitch-black, but his high Agility kept the space directly before his eyes from going unseen. Harp, though, was a little uncomfortable, so for his sake Yujun lit Light. It was basic magic, its mana cost next to nothing, and it could be left running indefinitely.

"This does not appear to be an entrance."

At Paranet's words, Yujun nodded.

"An entrance is something you make."

Yujun drove his fist into the sanctuary roof. KWAANG! He had moderated his strength just enough that the misfortune of the entire ceiling collapsing did not occur. Only a huge hole appeared.

"Master. You seem to be growing ever more violent."

"Call it using force efficiently."

He did not forget Dolf of the Golden Race, either. The sanctuary was not particularly large—about the size of a branch of a major café chain. A full circuit did not look as though it would take long.

That was when it happened.

He had wondered, and sure enough, there really was a guardian.

"A place like this would feel incomplete without a guardian, a golem, or a statue."

The guardian was a goblin statue a full ten feet tall.

"Is this garden a place that worships goblins as gods?"

There did seem to be an unusual number of things tied to goblins. The event's objective, in the end, was to birth a golden goblin and slay it—and now that he had entered the hidden Golden Temple, two more goblin statues were here to greet him.

Yujun glanced back, but Dolf only shrugged.

"I can't tell you. A prohibition's on it."

"Figured as much."

The moment he raised his sword, both statue-goblins charged at once.

Fast.

Yujun's eyes widened a fraction. He had been thinking how strong the guardian statues of a temple this size could possibly be, and their speed had left that guess behind. He jerked his sword up and caught both attacks. Each goblin statue wielded a pair of axes, so four axes met his blade at once.

KWAAAAANG!

The four axes vanished without a trace. No—there was a trace. The stone fragments scattered across the floor were it. The goblin statues were not living things, so they were not flustered, but losing their weapons left their movements awkward. They began to act as if they were still holding them. Naturally, neither attack could reach Yujun. He stared at the statues in sheer disbelief, then shattered their bodies with a single swing.

The fight ended in anticlimax, but that was purely a matter of weapons. Stats, skills, and traits had found no opening to intervene at all.

"All the strength just drains right out of me."

Paranet, who had been bracing for battle, let his sword hang, looking hollowed out.

"If it ended without anyone getting hurt, that's a win. What's hollow about it?"

"You are right. And yet it feels as though the last time I distinguished myself was ages ago..."

"Your day will come soon enough."

"It will, won't it?"

"Yeah."

Yujun swept the statues' remains aside with the flat of his sword. No items had dropped, or anything of the sort. His level had not risen either, so he had not expected much—but still. Once the statues were dealt with, he roamed the temple without pause. It was not wide; even searching slowly and thoroughly, he reached the end in no time.

In the temple's final chamber, a single crystal orb rested atop an altar.

"What might it be? It looks suspicious."

"Who knows. It's probably there to be touched."

Without hesitation, Yujun laid a hand on the crystal orb. And in that instant—

"Don't need it... a temple."

He had already ransacked the place, and there had been nothing like an item. He could not even tell what was special about this temple. He had brought the guardian down, too. Becoming its master offered him nothing—and yet the System message spoke as if mastery of the temple were some tremendous thing. It was not a reward he particularly wanted, but having come this far, turning back would be strange in its own right.

Just in case.

The trial did not seem to take place inside the temple. The place where he stood had changed. More precisely, his body had been warped. Dolf and Paranet, however, were not sent along. Only Harp, clinging to Yujun, had come with him.

The moment he realized the other two were nowhere around, he sent a thought straight to Paranet: keep a close watch on Dolf. They were summons bound through the soul, so it would have reached him well enough.

The problem was the environment. It felt as if he were swimming through lava and his body were burning away. He raised a shield to cut off the heat. It was so hot that no small amount of mana was consumed, but this much was within what he could bear. Harp, who had been holding his breath tight, hauled it back in ragged gasps.

"I—I thought I was going to die."

"Sorry."

"It's okay! I'm fine!"

Made considerably more at ease by several layers of powerful shielding, Yujun took in his surroundings. Heat rising from the ground set the air to shimmering. Dark earth. This was certainly no desert, and it was not asphalt either—just a peculiar ground, drab and dark and washed with violet. The searing heat began there.

"Do I pass if I just endure it?"

As if in answer, another crisis arrived. Far off, a great tsunami came rolling in. For a tidal wave to strike a region where not a single puddle could be seen was disorienting, but if that enormous wave was the end of it, it hardly qualified as a crisis at all. An ordinary impact would never destroy Yujun's shield. Far from destroying it, even making the shield tremble was difficult.

Disappointing.

If the trial was easy, there was no way the reward would be any good. He even found himself wishing the difficulty were a little higher. As expected, the wave dealt him not the slightest harm.

This isn't the end, is it?

Fortunately, it seemed not. Hundreds of presences brushed his senses.

"Giant worms?"

Not ordinary giant worms. What emerged were giant worms mottled in green, purple, and red. True to the name, every one of them was enormous. Each was the size of a building or larger—that said it all.

"Dad. Shall I sweep them all away?"

"No. You'd exhaust yourself and collapse first. The ones you can see right now aren't all of them."

A far greater number of giant worms were waiting underground. Harp's breath held tremendous power, but that energy was not infinite. If anything, it was closer to a single burst. So Yujun decided to handle the giant worms himself. In any case, only he and Harp were here; there was no choice but for him to resolve it.

First, he used Sword Unity.