For Now, in This Hidden Dungeon

For now, he emptied onto the floor the bones they had gathered in this hidden dungeon.

"Laid out like this, there really are a lot."

Kim Heeyeon sounded genuinely impressed. Calling it a mountain of bone would hardly have been an exaggeration.

"No kidding. Did we actually hunt this many?"

Yujun began sweeping the heap into the bone synthesis machine, and the monster bones were drawn in as if a black hole were swallowing them whole. Bone from these creatures was worth more than that of any monster short of a dragon.

Synthesizing the bones of a Transcendent... this is the first time.

And because it was the first, anticipation thrummed through him.

He accepted, of course.

Fwaaah—!

A brilliant light burst from the synthesis machine.

"Oh!"

The countless bones vanished, leaving only a few dozen behind. Bones were items, and yet their information could not be checked. They simply had a fine look about them, and that alone put him in a good mood.

"Master! Master!"

Unable to keep his legs still, Paranet pressed him to hurry.

"I know. Hold on."

Bone enhancement could be granted only to growth-type summons, and only with this Summon Enhancement Stone in hand.

Yujun pressed the stone to Paranet. It sank cleanly into his brow.

Paranet tilted his head.

"I perceive no change?"

"You will."

Yujun started hurling the bones on the floor at him.

"Urk!"

With no idea what was happening, Paranet took the thrown bones full in the body.

As the bones were swapped out, Paranet's appearance began to change with them. His already huge frame grew larger still, and his bones darkened to black—a complete, lusterless black.

"Whoa..."

Watching the transformation unfold in real time, Kim Heeyeon let out a breath of awe.

"He got so much cooler..."

Just as she said, he looked nothing like before. Calling him impressive was no exaggeration. The span of his shoulders brought the Pacific to mind, and his height reached a full four meters. His proportions were so finely balanced that "golden ratio" hardly seemed wasted on him.

At the sight of the newly imposing Paranet, a satisfied smile touched Yujun's lips.

"Worth the enhancement."

"Have I changed a great deal?"

"Move around a little. See if anything feels different."

"Power overflows this frame. The change seems greater still than when something was rubbed upon my head before."

"Of course it does. This time I threw bones at your whole body."

"..."

"I'm joking. We swapped in the bones of a Transcendent, so of course the effect is good. Ordinary monsters alone would have been fine, but a Transcendent's physical performance is on a completely different level from theirs. Well? Satisfied?"

"Satisfied? But of course! How could satisfaction rise any higher than this!"

"Then that's a relief."

"Yujun. Earlier I heard you going on about a witch or something... What's a witch?"

Kim Heeyeon asked.

Yujun disclosed only about half of what he knew. Understanding witches in too much detail would itself look suspicious.

Once she had heard him out, she spoke again.

"So we're done here?"

"Yeah. But this place... I don't think it's just an ordinary hidden dungeon."

At that, Kim Heeyeon nodded.

"I think so too. You said a witch isn't a common existence. If that woman made the boss from earlier... then this dungeon didn't form naturally."

"Which means there's a good chance something else is here. Might not be, though."

His intent was plain enough: search the boss room more thoroughly.

Kim Heeyeon caught his meaning at once.

Yujun's group, Paranet included, began combing every corner of the dungeon. After squandering about twenty minutes scattered apart, they regrouped.

Kim Heeyeon spoke first.

"Find anything?"

"If I had, I'd have called you already."

"Fair..."

"I have found something."

"What?"

"..."

Yujun's and Kim Heeyeon's heads turned at the same time.

"You found something?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"The very instant I began my search."

"...Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Pardon? Was our charge not simply to gather as much as we might?"

"That's true, but... take it out."

Paranet produced something he had hidden inside his armor.

"Wait. This is..."

The moment Yujun saw what it was, his eyes went wide.

"A skill book?"

"Indeed!"

"Why would a skill book turn up?"

"That, I could not say. It merely lay half-buried in a hollow of the floor yonder."

"Give it here."

A skill book was not an item that was especially hard to come by. As a rule, one dropped in every dungeon.

I've never gotten a single one until now, though.

That was because Yujun had been clearing nothing but hidden dungeons. Hidden dungeons rarely offered skill books as rewards. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Better rewards came in their place, and if that counted as a drawback, it was the only one.

And not every skill book is the same skill book.

The cover of the one Paranet handed over was silver. Use a silver skill book, and an A-rank skill was guaranteed.

"Yujun, use it already. I want to see what comes out."

"Hm? You don't need it?"

"Honestly, me asking for it would be pretty shameless."

That was true.

"Yeah. It would."

"..."

The thought had slipped out exactly as it was.

Yujun didn't refuse. He opened the skill book.

At last, a movement skill. Rapid Advance was regarded as the very best among A-rank movement skills.

Used right, it's genuinely useful. Luck's with me again.

Even so, something about it nagged at him. It wasn't a reward he'd been granted. After dealing with the dungeon's boss, the thing he happened to find in the boss room was a skill book, of all things.

No. Think of it positively. I really don't have many skills for my level. If anything, it's stranger that no skill book has turned up until now.

In truth, he was not particularly short on skills or traits. It only felt that way because he had grown so quickly. On top of that, every skill and trait he did possess was high-rank.

Yujun smiled, satisfied.

"Something good?"

"I'll show you."

Rapid Advance was overwhelmingly influenced by the Agility stat. In short, it was a perfect fit for Yujun, whose Agility stood far above the rest.

The instant his feet left the ground, he activated Rapid Advance (A).

In the blink of an eye, he was behind Kim Heeyeon, who had been five paces away. When he vanished from in front of her, her eyes went round and she looked wildly around.

"Here."

"Ah—! You scared me!"

When ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he spoke from behind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her, she jumped.

"Didn't see me, did you?"

"...N-no. I couldn't see you move at all."

"That's what happens when the gap in Agility is big. It's not teleportation."

"You got something good. Congrats."

"But you didn't get anything. What are we going to do about that?"

"No, I did. I received an achievement judgment."

"What? You?"

"Yeah. For surviving a Transcendent."

"...You did?"

He had killed the Transcendent and received no achievement, yet Kim Heeyeon had gotten one merely for watching from a distance.

It's not as if the achievement transferred... Don't tell me the standard rises every time I earn one?

If that guess was right, it was hardly welcome.

Well, I've been grateful enough just to keep receiving achievements that should have been impossible...

Even so, he didn't think he would stop earning them from here on. He was growing at a tremendous pace, and his level was still low by comparison.

"Yujun. Where are you headed now?"

"Me? I was thinking of stopping by the Black Market."

"The Black Market? You don't mean that auction house on the twenty-second floor?"

"Yeah. But I hear it's famous as a black market, not just an auction house."

"I heard that place is incredibly dangerous..."

"Why? Everyone wears a mask when they go in, right? You don't even have to reveal who you are."

"That's the problem. The only people who show up are the kind who need to hide their identities. And nobody even knows who runs the auction..."

She wasn't wrong. The Black Market was not an entirely safe place, nor a clean one. It was shady enough to buy and sell slaves—but in exchange, things that were otherwise nearly impossible to obtain turned up there in quantity.

"It's fine."

What could suddenly happen to a Black Market that had been running smoothly all this time? And even if something did, it didn't matter. Yujun had confidence in his own strength.

"Then you'll have to climb to the twenty-second floor?"

"That's right."

"Can I come with you?"

"You really know how to squeeze every last drop out of me."

"I can't...?"

"I don't mind."

Going alone or going together made no difference.

Yujun and Kim Heeyeon returned to the residential district first, then met again the next morning. After that, they went to the statue on the twenty-first floor and challenged the Trial of Ascent at once.

Shhk!

Thud!

A single strike split the young cyclops cleanly in two, and the twenty-first-floor trial was over.

Yujun flicked the blood from his sword onto the floor and put the blade away. For a one-eyed boss monster possessed of monstrous strength, it had been bland.

I could probably keep clearing them like this all the way to around the fortieth floor.

Maybe even higher.

"...It's already over. Guess we should've just done this yesterday before we left."

At Kim Heeyeon's words, a faint smile crossed his face.

"I'm heading to the Black Market."

"Then I'll look for dungeons on the twenty-second floor."

"Be careful."

"Yeah. I will."

"If you get kidnapped again, message me."

"...Got it."

If she died—the one so good at finding hidden dungeons—the loss would be considerable in more ways than one. The truth was, he had grown fond of her, too.

After parting from Kim Heeyeon, Yujun headed straight for the place where the Black Market was said to be.

The Black Market did not stand on the Continent, where the residential district lay. It sat on the twenty-second floor, and there were several reasons for that. Reaching it filtered out low-level players, and the twenty-second floor itself was a wasteland with no living things at all.

There were no dungeons here, no monsters, no wild animals. Only players.

Yujun put on the mask he had bought when he stopped by the residential district, and he equipped gear completely different from his usual set, cutting off every trace that might ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠give him away.

Can't summon Paranet, either.

The fellow had become nearly as famous as Yujun himself. That was only natural—he summoned him and took him around whenever he got bored. He was an unusually distinctive undead summon, besides.

Once one climbed to the twenty-second floor, the Black Market lay a long walk due north. He had been walking well over an hour when he saw it: a staircase leading underground.

The stairs descended so deep their end could not be seen. Lanterns hung at intervals, so the way down was not all that dark. Yujun took the steps at a quick pace.

"Halt."

Partway down, two hulking men in fox masks barred his path. Gatekeepers, guarding the entrance to the Black Market.

"What business brings you?"

"Trade."

Yujun pitched his voice low.

"Have you used the market before?"

"This is my first time."

One of the gatekeepers handed him a wooden plaque about the size of a palm.

"Each time you complete a transaction above a certain amount, you may renew your rank certification plaque."

"Thank you for using the Black Market."

The gatekeepers opened the way.

Yujun continued down, turning the wooden plaque over in his fingers.