Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Reinforcement Stone Dungeon (1)
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[You have entered the secret dungeon ‘Cave Where Mystery Sleeps.’]
[For the first entry bonus, acquired experience will increase by 30% for three days.]
[For the first entry bonus, drop rate will increase by 30% for three days.]
[The effect of the title ‘Pioneer’ enhances the first entry bonus by 10%.]
Secret dungeon: Cave Where Mystery Sleeps.
The treasure slumbering in this dungeon, which had turned a worthless fief into a gold mine, was none other than its drop items.
‘Reinforcement Stones and Advanced Reinforcement Stones drop here.’
Reinforcement Stones, essential items for enhancing equipment to +6 or higher.
Advanced Reinforcement Stones, mandatory for +8 or higher and boosting success rates even at +6 or above.
While Reinforcement Stones and Advanced Reinforcement Stones dropped from all monsters level 200 and above, each monster had its own ‘probability.’
Typically, Reinforcement Stones dropped at under 5%, and Advanced ones at under 1%, but in this ‘Cave Where Mystery Sleeps,’ they dropped at remarkably high rates.
‘At least 10%, and from what players felt, around 15-20%.’
It was a secret dungeon, and a special one with limited clears at that.
There were a few other special dungeons with high drop rates for specific items besides this one.
‘Reinforcement Stones and Advanced Reinforcement Stones will stay at high prices going forward.’
It was about time for users to finish building affinity with the dwarf race and gain access to the ‘enhancement’ system, so their value would skyrocket.
Even +5 enhancements matched the efficiency of the next level bracket’s standard gear, and at +9, they rivaled the next tier’s unique-grade items.
Of course, he planned to fully enhance his own gear first, but he could also sell or trade these Reinforcement Stones and Advanced ones.
“For now, I need to gather as many as possible.”
Confirming the blue glow covering everything inside the cave, Rokan pushed aside stray thoughts and headed in.
[Mystic Stone Spirit][Lv 213]
All monsters in the Cave Where Mystery Sleeps were ‘spirit’ types.
The mains were stone spirits, fire spirits, water spirits, and wind spirits.
They all dealt attribute damage, but Rokan couldn’t carelessly swap his build. They didn’t just use magic—they frequently used physical attacks too.
‘And the damage isn’t negligible.’
Especially their combo skills mixing physical and magic damage were tough to block with a weak magic defense setup.
It was undoubtedly a honey spot, but far from an easy dungeon.
“Bombardment!”
Boom!
But tough was relative—Rokan was no slouch either. The moment a 50-centimeter stone spirit appeared, he unleashed his monstrous physical power, sending shards flying and severing its limbs.
Roll roll roll.
But the stone chunks soon gathered again. Like golems, they regenerated unless their ‘core’ was smashed.
“Force.”
[Critical!]
Crack!
While Rokan was subjugating monsters in the Rina territory, he’d completed his dwarf-forged gear optimized for critical hits. Now, even casual swings landed crits.
Rokan swiftly closed in and smashed the core, hearing a shell crack.
A fracture appeared, and successive axe blows shattered it completely.
[You have acquired a Mystic Fragment.]
“Use.”
The sole drop from mystic spirits: Mystic Fragment.
Rokan used it immediately.
It transformed into either a Reinforcement Stone or Advanced Reinforcement Stone.
[You have acquired a Reinforcement Stone.]
“Nice.”
Maybe thanks to the first-visit bonus, luck was on his side right away. A Reinforcement Stone from the start.
Mystic Fragments sometimes turned into junk if luck soured, but this time, it felt like he’d get a good haul.
“If not, I’ll just open hundreds or thousands.”
Even if probabilities didn’t cooperate, he’d brute-force it with volume!
In high spirits after testing his luck, Rokan pressed deeper.
He slaughtered every mystic spirit that appeared, collecting Mystic Fragments.
Instead of opening them one by one, he stacked them in his inventory.
“Probability items are all about the thrill of opening.”
He decided to hoard at least hundreds and crack them in bulk, rather than teasing himself one at a time.
He could enhance his gear first, but his absurd stats let him hold up fine for now.
Exploiting the mystic spirits’ trait of not attacking until entering range, he could overwhelm them with almost no counterattacks.
Whoosh!
Rokan’s preemptive strike scattered the mystic fire spirit into flames, but it spread wide and lunged.
“Let’s see who burns out first.”
Whoosh!
But Rokan didn’t dodge. He swung his battle axe at full power, smashing its center.
His face got badly singed, but he trusted the iridescent pearl’s effect. A bit of fur singed was nothing.
Like a stuntman in a fire suit, he registered the flames but felt no fear or pain—just an itchy tickle he could barely endure.
“Lethal Strike!”
But complacency was dangerous. Their crimson flames could chunk even Rokan’s health.
His attribute defenses kept it from being one-shot, but repeating fight-and-heal wasted too much time.
It was already a great dungeon for Reinforcement and Advanced stones, but with the first-visit bonus, he needed to grind efficiently.
Lethal Strike, Wheel Wind, Frenzy.
He unleashed the trio whenever their cooldowns reset, chugging expensive mana potions like water.
He cleared mystic spirits in seconds and pushed deeper.
“What, boss already?”
After hours of hunting, the cave’s end appeared: the boss room.
[Mystic Rock Spirit][Lv 234]
This cave’s boss was a rock spirit, tougher and tankier than stone spirits.
Scrape scrape.
But instead of tensing, Rokan sat at the boss room entrance, sharpening his axe blade. Too many stone spirits had worn down its durability.
Once durability maxed out, he kicked off and charged.
“Rage Slaughter.”
Rumble rumble rumble!
Rage Slaughter unfurled!
His ultimate, slamming ten enhanced Lethal Strikes at once, overwhelmed even solid rock.
The rocky masses that served as muscle and armor crumbled like pebbles, exposing the core—its weakness.
“Explosion!”
Then, the mystic rock spirit played its last card.
With all defenses nullified, its combo skill Explosion triggered, hurling shattered rock chunks like shells at its foe.
“Counter!”
‘Think I’ll give you time to recover?’
Rokan’s body shot backward, then blasted forward fiercely.
He ignored the stone shards battering his body like bullets.
Super Armor from Unyielding Advance kicked in, letting him bulldoze the stone storm without hesitation.
Then, the plunging Lethal Strike.
Splat!
The child-head-sized core shattered like a lollipop.
That one blow, infused with Lethal Strike, packed dozens of times a normal hit’s damage.
[You have leveled up.]
An anticlimactic death for a boss, but Rokan took it in stride.
Rage Slaughter was a monstrous skill that consumed not just mana but life force too.
‘If it didn’t go invincible until the rock was cleared, it’d end in one hit.’
As he thought, without the core’s invincibility until all rock was stripped, it might’ve ended instantly.
“Whew! Body’s all tingly.”
Health and mana refilled instantly with the level-up.
Aside from sore muscles from the exertion, no debuffs.
Rokan stretched lightly, then grabbed the massive Mystic Fragment from the core.
[You have acquired a Mystic Fragment (Guaranteed).]
A guaranteed-reward Mystic Fragment, separated in inventory from normals.
Using it yielded the promised prize.
[You have acquired an Advanced Reinforcement Stone.]
One reason this cave was so alluring.
Boss kills guaranteed an Advanced Reinforcement Stone!
After its discovery, the lord raked in cash selling ‘entry tickets.’
Leading NPC soldiers and knights himself might profit more, but casualties mounted subtly, and with Mystic Fragments being lottery-like, selling tickets at a fair price was smarter.
But now, Rokan monopolized it.
‘Even with rotten luck, three thousand runs should do it.’
At least three thousand Advanced Reinforcement Stones guaranteed.
Plus, drop bonuses netted over a hundred Mystic Fragments this run—most spirits dropped them.
Lowballing at fifty per clear meant 150,000 Mystic Fragments arithmetically.
Even 10% yield was 15,000 Reinforcement or Advanced Stones.
That volume could manipulate central continent prices for ages.
The moment the Cave Where Mystery Sleeps fell to Rokan, Reinforcement Stones became power, not just items.
“Return! Use Rune Book, to the mine!”
Having cleared the dungeon, Rokan returned to the village instantly. Then used the Rune Book again to warp home—to the dungeon entrance.
Then, repeat.
Enter home, lock the door, open the dungeon, slaughter every mystic spirit.
Rock spirits, crimson flame spirits, storm spirits, abyssal spirits.
He crushed the rotating boss monsters each time, claimed guaranteed rewards, and looped.
Infinite hunt. Infinite farm.
With the lord’s permission, for three days he grinded nonstop like a miner hauling ore—future Reinforcement Stones.
Sucking every drop from the first-visit bonus, he ran and ran.