Item (2)
“Did you say item?”
“Yes. An item.”
“And where did you get something like that?”
“I haven’t mentioned this yet, but right after that incident happened, I happened to find a box.”
“A box?”
“It would be more accurate to call it a treasure chest. It was a wooden chest, the sort of thing you’d expect to see in some old fairy tale.”
“Well, this place really does seem to have everything, doesn’t it? Brother, wouldn’t you say so?”
Whether it was true or not, if this was a place called a dungeon, then it made sense that there’d be treasure chests holding items like these.
Personally, I was considering the possibility that these items might belong to Kim Hyunsung himself, but there was no reason to pick at that scab.
What mattered right now was what kind of gift Kim Hyunsung was giving us, and what I might be able to get out of it.
“How strange. If there were more boxes like this around, we could have searched for them…. It seems the number of chests scattered throughout the dungeon is limited. Maybe the one you found, Hyunsung, was the first and last of its kind. Or perhaps there are similar ones underground….”
“Yes. I think that’s likely, Kiyoung. I searched the entire area around here, but the box I found was the first one I’d seen. I wasn’t able to go any farther, though…. Anyway, take a look.”
“All right.”
I was planning to look regardless.
There was no need to activate Mind's Eye. The moment I picked the items up in my hands, information came pouring out.
I did briefly think it would’ve been nice if I were the only one who could see an item’s detailed stats, but that regret lasted only a moment.
[Iron Dwarf’s Steel Bracelet - Normal grade]
[An accessory created by the now-fallen Iron Dwarf race. Despite its crude appearance, it is a bracelet crafted with highly technical workmanship. Strength, stamina, and endurance each increase by 1.]
The bracelet already had an owner.
Judging by the fact that Park Deokgu was showing some interest in it too, it seemed like a good match.
All told, it granted 3 stat points.
The same amount of stats you’d receive when obtaining a class.
That was about right for a Normal-grade item.
I imagined that Heroic gear, and especially Legendary equipment, would have functions far beyond anything I could easily picture.
“Ooooh….”
It was the expression someone wore when they were handed a bit of pocket money by their grandmother.
The problem was the next item.
[Ring of Mana Shield - Rare grade]
[The place of origin is unknown. It is an extremely old item. Twice a day, it can create a mana shield using the mana stored within the ring. The user must recharge the mana personally. (2/2)]
[Holy Healing - Rare grade]
[The place of origin is unknown. A ring containing the low-grade holy spell Healing. It can be used once per day. (1/1)]
The remaining two rings were Rare-grade items.
The moment I confirmed that, my eyes widened before I could stop myself.
Damn, these are good.
I’d figured that following Kim Hyunsung around might let me pick up a few scraps, but I never imagined I’d get to feast on something this delicious so soon.
These were Rare-grade rings, for heaven’s sake.
And their effects were so good they were enough to leave even me flustered.
They didn’t raise stats the way Park Deokgu’s bracelet did, but they were far more valuable than his.
Take the Ring of Mana Shield, for example. If I assumed that casting Mana Shield consumed around 4 mana, then this ring was effectively worth about +8 stats in efficiency.
It couldn’t even be compared to a Normal-grade item with a +3 effect.
Nice.
Holy Healing was the same.
Since it was also Rare grade, it should provide at least the equivalent of +6 stats in efficiency.
A form of insurance that could protect the body twice a day, and another that could restore wounds.
The insurance Kim Hyunsung had chosen for his descent underground was the kind that protected against unexpected accidents.
Right. You’ve got to be thorough when you prepare.
As I nodded to myself, I lightly fiddled with the bracelet.
“It looks valuable… are you sure we can really take it?”
“Please don’t worry about it.”
“Ahem…. Well, if that’s the case, then the bracelet should go to me. I’ll use it gratefully, sir. You’ve done nothing for me, so I feel bad taking it like this….”
“Not at all.”
“I’ll repay the favor somehow.”
“Your gratitude alone is enough.”
The bracelet had been decided already, but the issue was the remaining two rings.
Honestly, whichever one I took probably wouldn’t be bad, but if it came down to it, the shield that could protect my body was more tempting.
Even if Jung Hayan equipped Holy Healing, I figured there was a strong chance she’d end up using the holy spell embedded inside it on me anyway.
That would be ideal.
It was a filthy line of thought, but it couldn’t be helped.
Unlike that side, which could toss around magic by the handful, I could end up exhausted after using any spell just twice.
While I was running the numbers in my head, Jung Hayan spoke up first.
“I-I’ll take this one.”
What she chose was Holy Healing.
I wasn’t sure whether she’d been reading my face, but she definitely moved in the direction I wanted.
“Then I’ll take the remaining one.”
The corners of my mouth kept lifting.
It was bizarre not to be in a good mood.
A life-saving insurance policy for twice a day had fallen right into my lap. I’d obtained a Rare-grade item without lifting a finger or taking on a single risk.
This is it!
“Still, is it really all right for us to accept something like this…?”
“It’s fine. I already have one myself, and… it seems that accessories with special stats are limited in how many you can wear. No, you can still equip them, but it looks like there’s some kind of restriction attached.”
That was useful information too.
“Are you saying that even if you wear two rings, only one of their abilities will activate?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I thought I’d need to test it carefully later.
With a faint smile, I thanked him once more.
“Thank you, Hyunsung. Like Deokgu said, we haven’t really done anything for you….”
“T-thank you, Hyunsung….”
“No, not at all, Kiyoung, Hayan. Please don’t worry too much about it. We’re comrades, after all.”
A smile lingered at his lips.
He must have thought he’d just placed us in his debt. He’d clearly seen the grateful expressions on Park Deokgu’s, Jung Hayan’s, and my faces.
He believed we were showing him genuine trust.
Seeing that, I felt even more certain. Or rather, Hyunsung’s last line gave it away for me.
He intends to take us along.
We’re comrades.
Kim Hyunsung intended to go with me, Park Deokgu, and Jung Hayan. As for Jung Hayan, she’d been the sort of talent he’d always meant to recruit in the first place.
A mage with a future already set in stone.
It was only logical to nurture her carefully and make sure she stayed tethered.
Park Deokgu wasn’t bad either.
It was only a story from a game, but a reliable tanker was always popular.
His judgment in hunting, his stability, and his potential all fell short compared to someone like Jung Hayan or Jung Jinho, but his current stat spread was excellent.
Park Deokgu’s growth ceiling might be lower than the real monsters like Kim Hyunsung, Jung Jinho, or Jung Hayan, but he’d still more than pull his weight.
As for me, I was a slightly trickier case.
To be frank, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I’d slipped into the current Hyunsung faction by the back door.
I had a connection with Park Deokgu and Jung Hayan. To Deokgu, I was the dependable older brother he looked up to.
To Jung Hayan, I was in a position of intimacy close to that of a lover.
If he was going to take Park Deokgu and Jung Hayan along, then he had no choice but to keep me too.
Not making mistakes in battle and having a head that worked a little better than expected—those were qualities worth something, sure, but people like me were scattered all over the continent.
He might train me carefully and eventually use me as an administrator in the growing kingdom Kim Hyunsung would build.
Of course, living like a sparrow the way Lee Jihye did wouldn’t be so bad either, but if you wanted to protect your own body more reliably, sometimes you had to tear your stride a little.
It’ll be hard to keep up.
I decided I’d have to cling on with everything I had and quietly grab whatever advantages I could.
With a slight curl of my lips, I spoke.
“That’s right. We’re comrades.”
We were comrades who protected and cared for one another.
It made everything feel a little more solid.
There was no reason not to be pleased.
“That’s a fine sentiment, brother. Hah… comrades! Ah, so when are we going underground?”
“I imagine it’ll be soon. I haven’t told Jinho and the others yet, but… I think they’ve probably been waiting to go out hunting together too.”
“Mm. Come to think of it, they did ask to go hunting with us once. I turned them down because you told me not to go, brother….”
“You did well.”
Kim Hyunsung looked at me again.
A reasonable wariness toward the newly arrived group. It was basic, but he seemed grateful that I was helping establish that position for him.
“Just between us, though… I don’t have the best feeling about them.”
“Well, hearing you say the same thing as our brother here, I guess smart folks really are different. I had the same feeling too.”
“Even if we hunt together and clear the dungeon, we should still keep some distance. We can’t know what might happen, so it’s best to be careful. Something like what happened with Park Hae-young could happen again, so this time we need to be even more cautious.”
“I-I understand.”
At my words, not only Jung Hayan but Kim Hyunsung nodded as well.
“Kiyoung is right. To put it a little more strongly….”
“Yes?”
“I’d like you to approach this as though you were fighting alongside an enemy.”
Everyone nodded.
“An enemy?”
“Yes.”
Kim Hyunsung had made up his mind to step onto the stage.
“You don’t need to think too much about it for now. Still, I think it’s wise to prepare in our own way. We don’t know what might happen underground, before we even get to the people themselves.”
“It’s fair to assume the difficulty will be higher than the first floor.”
“Yes, exactly. Instead of dragging this out, I’ll speak to Jinho now. If time allows, we’ll leave as quickly as possible.”
“That quickly?”
“We can prepare while we’re on the way underground.”
“Ah. I see.”
Jung Jinho wouldn’t refuse either.
Whether his goal was simply to survive here or to indulge in his private little hobbies, it would be better to go together no matter what he wanted. He understood, to some extent, the difference in level between himself and Kim Hyunsung.
That was why he was keeping his head down.
When you think a fight is unfavorable, the most important thing is always a variable.
The dungeon-clearing expedition was highly likely to provide exactly the sort of variable he wanted. If he could just eliminate Kim Hyunsung, his own world might open up.
If he truly was a murderer, then this shelter would be the happiest place in the world for him, which meant he’d be willing to take the gamble.
If I were in his position, I’d want to kill Kim Hyunsung and the rest of us by any means necessary. It was a chance that looked good to both him and Hyunsung.
The smile on my face kept becoming more and more pleasant.
Since he was going to die anyway, the proper move was to milk him dry down to the marrow.
—