Chapter 511: Grave (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 511: Grave (3)
It didn't make any logical sense. How could this book contain a name that I made up less than a day ago?
"...How is that possible? We just got here."
"To think this information would already be written down... Yandel, do you have any idea what's going on?"
"I'm not sure..."
But even as I said that I got a strange inkling. I couldn't put it into words, but somehow, I had a gut feeling I knew what was happening here.
The Records Stone...
A stone that had history from the beginning of time until the end of the world etched on its surface. This had to have something to do with that thing. The information was showing up here in the form of a book rather than a stone, but maybe this place had a similar purpose, serving as some kind of archive. The Records Archives.
The more I explore this labyrinth, the bigger the headache it gives me...
This development momentarily left me reeling, but I forced myself to snap out of it. I could always puzzle this over later.
"This must just be one of the labyrinth's countless mysteries. Everyone, stop getting distracted and let's get back to work."
"That's right! Let the wizards worry about boring things like studying and researching! Our only job is to explore!"
For the first time in a while, Ainar was right on the money. I couldn't help but smile at that as I continued to skim through the book. Although the origin of the monster's name was shocking, the entry itself had information that was extremely useful for me. Unlike the books in the city's library, this one had exact numbers listed inside.
[Agility: +8
Lightning Resistance: +15
Jumping Power: +30
Soul Power: +20...]
The basic stats were assigned numerical values, rather than just the adjectives high, medium, or low. Not only that but there was information about the colors and effects of the different essences it could drop, which was something that I'd been wondering about.
The green essence is Ironclad Feather.
The yellow essence is Thunderbone.
The blue essence is Bubble.
Was there even a point in the Magic Tower anymore? Well, the researchers there could still gain recognition by writing papers about this stuff, of course, but these books would sell for a massive profit.
"All right! Let's try this again!"
After reading through all the information inside, I once again used the book to summon some monsters.
[You have killed a Nightplar.]
[You have killed a Gullfrog.]
We didn't waste a second and ended the battle in an instant. Just like last time, after we defeated the summons, the stone door closed and a staircase leading to the third row of the massive bookshelf appeared. We split up, one team heading up the stairs to pull out books and flip through the pages. When someone found one with a picture, they quickly threw it down to the other team waiting on the ground floor so they could put it on the stone and quickly summon and kill the monsters inside.
[You have killed a Frost Wolf.]
[You have killed an Ice Golem.]
[You have killed a Death Knight.]
[You have killed a Vaikundus.]
[You have killed a Minotaur.]
[You have killed...]
Like I thought, the number and ranks of the monsters increased as we went higher up the shelves. As a natural consequence of that, the difficulty of each fight also gradually increased. To be honest, this was a pretty decent hunting ground.
There haven't been any new monsters, though...
Unfortunately, we didn't manage to find a book that had information about an entirely new type of monster, which I was hoping for.
...Then that means we need to have met the monster first for it to show up in a book, huh?
That may well be the case, but our sample size was still too small to confirm that hypothesis. That, and we still had a long way up to go on the bookshelf.
One day, two days, three days...
Time quickly flew by as we lost ourselves in the rhythm of simple, repetitive labor. Aside from taking some time to sleep and eat, we focused solely on hunting to try and climb up the bookcase as fast as we could. Because of that, we were eventually able to build up a sufficient enough sample size to solidify some key facts.
One: there were no new monsters in these books.
It was hard to say whether that was because there were simply no other monsters in existence, or if only monsters that had been "discovered" before would show up in their pages. That was something we'd only figure out after exploring other areas of this floor.
Two: the library wasn't a good hunting ground.
That was because it was an absolutely incredible hunting ground. In fact, while you might not get any EXP if you already defeated all the monsters in the book, if your goal was to farm mana stones and essences, this place might be the best place to do so in the entire labyrinth. The monsters came out of the stone door in an orderly fashion, one at a time, which made it easy for you to get in formation and attack them as a team. We also had all the time in the world to prepare ourselves before summoning them. That meant we could even activate skills and cast spells in advance if necessary.
Plus, by the time we were about halfway up the bookcase, a singular book could have over one hundred monsters listed in it. There was no need to explain how amazingly valuable that was. This place was perfect for mass hunting, with no unnecessary wait times or hunting permits to speak of. And once we finished a hunt, we could just summon another monster right then and there and keep going.
In just three days, we'd netted more than ten million mana stones and seven essences. Well, six of the essences were under rank six, though, so we discarded those and only used a vial on the rank-five essence.
Yeah, when it comes to hunting, this place isn't bad at all...
Yet both me and my clanmates weren't satisfied with just that. Our goal for this expedition wasn't to kill mobs. We were the first people in history to ever step foot on this hidden floor. There was a lot more to be gained by exploring the unknown rather than just sitting around and hunting in one spot.
The other problem is... it'd be impossible to clear this entire bookcase at our current level.
Battle-wise, we were able to defeat most of the monsters on the middle shelves with relative ease. However, once we reached the beginning of the upper section, it became apparent that we wouldn't be capable of clearing it all.
Rank-three monsters start to show up in the books around here. That means that if we keep going up, we're eventually going to run into a rank-one monster.
[You have killed a Vaikundus.]
[You have killed a Minotaur.]
[You have killed...]
Like I thought, the number and ranks of the monsters increased as we went higher up the shelves. As a natural consequence of that, the difficulty of each fight also gradually increased. To be honest, this was a pretty decent hunting ground.
There haven't been any new monsters, though...
Unfortunately, we didn't manage to find a book that had information about an entirely new type of monster, which I was hoping for.
...Then that means we need to have met the monster first for it to show up in a book, huh?
That may well be the case, but our sample size was still too small to confirm that hypothesis. That, and we still had a long way up to go on the bookshelf.
One day, two days, three days...
Time quickly flew by as we lost ourselves in the rhythm of simple, repetitive labor. Aside from taking some time to sleep and eat, we focused solely on hunting to try and climb up the bookcase as fast as we could. Because of that, we were eventually able to build up a sufficient enough sample size to solidify some key facts.
One: there were no new monsters in these books.
It was hard to say whether that was because there were simply no other monsters in existence, or if only monsters that had been "discovered" before would show up in their pages. That was something we'd only figure out after exploring other areas of this floor.
Two: the library wasn't a good hunting ground.
That was because it was an absolutely incredible hunting ground. In fact, while you might not get any EXP if you already defeated all the monsters in the book, if your goal was to farm mana stones and essences, this place might be the best place to do so in the entire labyrinth. The monsters came out of the stone door in an orderly fashion, one at a time, which made it easy for you to get in formation and attack them as a team. We also had all the time in the world to prepare ourselves before summoning them. That meant we could even activate skills and cast spells in advance if necessary.
Plus, by the time we were about halfway up the bookcase, a singular book could have over one hundred monsters listed in it. There was no need to explain how amazingly valuable that was. This place was perfect for mass hunting, with no unnecessary wait times or hunting permits to speak of. And once we finished a hunt, we could just summon another monster right then and there and keep going.
In just three days, we'd netted more than ten million mana stones and seven essences. Well, six of the essences were under rank six, though, so we discarded those and only used a vial on the rank-five essence.
Yeah, when it comes to hunting, this place isn't bad at all...
Yet both me and my clanmates weren't satisfied with just that. Our goal for this expedition wasn't to kill mobs. We were the first people in history to ever step foot on this hidden floor. There was a lot more to be gained by exploring the unknown rather than just sitting around and hunting in one spot.
The other problem is... it'd be impossible to clear this entire bookcase at our current level.
Battle-wise, we were able to defeat most of the monsters on the middle shelves with relative ease. However, once we reached the beginning of the upper section, it became apparent that we wouldn't be capable of clearing it all.
Rank-three monsters start to show up in the books around here. That means that if we keep going up, we're eventually going to run into a rank-one monster.
Still, we would one day have to work toward clearing this entire library.
My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shout from a bookshelf a little ways away.
"Bjooorn!" Ainar hollered. "I found a book with a new monster!"
Wait, seriously?
Our scattered clan members stopped searching the stacks to circle up, all of us wearing looks of half-anticipation and half-skepticism, considering who we were talking about here. Ainar didn't seem to notice as she held the book up high to show us, clearly proud of herself.
The book featured a monster that was covered in tentacles. On its back were wings made of bones, though the creature seemed to walk on four legs.
"What do you think? Have you ever seen something like this before?"
"Definitely not... This is my first time seeing such a monster."
"Yandel, what about you?"
"This is my first time as well."
It seemed that this was, in fact, a new monster. But why did it suddenly show up now of all times?
"Hurry up and read it! What rank is it? It looks strong!"
I read the ancient text aloud for everyone to hear. Yet before the words even left my mouth, I started to get a strange feeling I knew what was going on here.
"Its name is Tentaculan. Its habitat is the Sea of Records—"
"Sea of Records? Isn't that the same place where we discovered the Gullfrog?"
"Yes. But don't interrupt me."
"Oh! Sorry."
"It's a rank-four monster, and it's classified as a beast-type."
"Oh! Rank four?! The abilities! What abilities does it have?!"
I thought I told her not to interrupt me... Well... I guess there's no point in getting on her case about it.
"It has the passive ability Pacifist, which is the same as the rank-four monster Sea Merchant. It also has a Gargoyle's Evil Sound, Medusa's Curse of Stone, and Riu Moby Dick's Water Roar."
"...So the monsters on this floor really are mixes of monsters from other floors."
Yeah. At this point, that seemed like the most likely explanation. The natives of this place seemed to be new monsters made up of various combinations of other monster's essences.
This find also helped us confirm something else.
"It also seems that the monsters that we find here in the library have to have been discovered by somebody at least once before."
"Huh? But isn't this a new monster?"
I nodded as I read the origin of the name that was written down. "Adventurer Maderkin Lilgreams named the monster after being the first to discover it while exploring Basement Floor One's Archives."
"Maderkin Lilgreams... That's the captain of the Silver Lion Clan who came here with us...?"
"I thought he might have died without us, but I guess they're getting around just fine on their own," Amelia said, looking kind of bitter.
She must have been upset since it felt a bit like he'd stolen some of our glory. Still, it wasn't like we got money for having our name written down in a book. Or, wait, was it that she was upset that her name hadn't been written down anywhere, yet this freeloader would forever go down in history?
Still, we would one day have to work toward clearing this entire library.
My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shout from a bookshelf a little ways away.
"Bjooorn!" Ainar hollered. "I found a book with a new monster!"
Wait, seriously?
Our scattered clan members stopped searching the stacks to circle up, all of us wearing looks of half-anticipation and half-skepticism, considering who we were talking about here. Ainar didn't seem to notice as she held the book up high to show us, clearly proud of herself.
The book featured a monster that was covered in tentacles. On its back were wings made of bones, though the creature seemed to walk on four legs.
"What do you think? Have you ever seen something like this before?"
"Definitely not... This is my first time seeing such a monster."
"Yandel, what about you?"
"This is my first time as well."
It seemed that this was, in fact, a new monster. But why did it suddenly show up now of all times?
"Hurry up and read it! What rank is it? It looks strong!"
I read the ancient text aloud for everyone to hear. Yet before the words even left my mouth, I started to get a strange feeling I knew what was going on here.
"Its name is Tentaculan. Its habitat is the Sea of Records—"
"Sea of Records? Isn't that the same place where we discovered the Gullfrog?"
"Yes. But don't interrupt me."
"Oh! Sorry."
"It's a rank-four monster, and it's classified as a beast-type."
"Oh! Rank four?! The abilities! What abilities does it have?!"
I thought I told her not to interrupt me... Well... I guess there's no point in getting on her case about it.
"It has the passive ability Pacifist, which is the same as the rank-four monster Sea Merchant. It also has a Gargoyle's Evil Sound, Medusa's Curse of Stone, and Riu Moby Dick's Water Roar."
"...So the monsters on this floor really are mixes of monsters from other floors."
Yeah. At this point, that seemed like the most likely explanation. The natives of this place seemed to be new monsters made up of various combinations of other monster's essences.
This find also helped us confirm something else.
"It also seems that the monsters that we find here in the library have to have been discovered by somebody at least once before."
"Huh? But isn't this a new monster?"
I nodded as I read the origin of the name that was written down. "Adventurer Maderkin Lilgreams named the monster after being the first to discover it while exploring Basement Floor One's Archives."
"Maderkin Lilgreams... That's the captain of the Silver Lion Clan who came here with us...?"
"I thought he might have died without us, but I guess they're getting around just fine on their own," Amelia said, looking kind of bitter.
She must have been upset since it felt a bit like he'd stolen some of our glory. Still, it wasn't like we got money for having our name written down in a book. Or, wait, was it that she was upset that her name hadn't been written down anywhere, yet this freeloader would forever go down in history?
...If we find another new monster later, I should let her be the one to name it.
That was all the information written down about the monster, so we quickly headed back down to the bottom floor to summon it.
Grrr...
It was much bigger than in the picture. But something was weird. Aside from the tentacles spilling out from its body, it looked entirely like a wolf. So why was it living in the sea?
[You have killed a Tentaculan.]
There was no way to know, so we focused on hunting it instead. Since this was our first time ever encountering this thing, we took things slow to make sure it couldn't land a hit on us. Still, it was only rank four, so it was an easy fight.
"That was... even easier than I was expecting."
Come to think of it, Missha had gotten pretty strong... That was the only thought in my mind as I watched her step forward and cut down a rank-four monster with a single slash.
"All right, everyone, let's group up for a minute."
Once that was dealt with, I gathered up the members of my clan for a vote. There was just one item on the agenda.
"Please tell me what you want to do. We can stay here and continue climbing the library's shelves, or head out and try exploring another area."
However, my team members showed no enthusiasm for offering up their opinions.
"...What's the point? You're going to be the deciding vote anyway."
"Exactly."
I sighed. Did I play my trump card too early? I should have saved my voting power for something more important.
"Don't worry. I won't be taking part in this vote."
They all eyed me with distrust, but after a moment, they gave in.
"Hmmm. fine."
"I guess we can hold a vote, then."
Once the vote began in earnest, the results were surprisingly unanimous.
We would stop exploring the library and try to find another area.
Honestly, I'd kind of expected that. Everyone was already bored of this simplistic hunting format, and finding Tentaculan in that book had just been fuel on the fire.
"This place isn't bad, but given how we have competition, this feels like a waste of time."
"At this very moment, they're probably exploring new areas and finding new monsters to name."
"And any essences they come across, they'll be able to sell them to the Magic Tower for a high price."
Yeah, this is the classic adventurer mindset.
However, even though the vote was unanimous, I still decided to have us stay here for another day or two.
"...We're not leaving right away?"
"Why? You're not the type to delay things for no reason."
My clan shot me looks that suggested I was acting like a dictator again. Their distrust hurt my feelings. I was just trying to make the most optimal call as the leader of this clan.
"Right now, we can summon rank-three monsters from these books. We should try to hunt as many as we can first and then we can leave right after."
Rank-two monsters would be difficult for us to take on, but we could still make quick work of most rank-three monsters at our current level.
"And Emily, aren't there still quite a few rank-three monsters that even you haven't had a chance to kill yet?"
"Th-that's... right."
"You too, Ainar. You still haven't gotten that essence I told you about."
"...Ugh!"
Ainar wasn't the only one, either. There were some rank-three essences that I also wanted Erwen and Missha to have. I still needed the essence of Bellarios as well.
"Then is everyone in agreement?"
I took their silence as consent. With our plan decided, we picked up the pace even more.
[You have killed a Mechanical Giant. EXP +7]
[You have killed a Phoenix. EXP +7]
[You have killed an Usbin. EXP +6]
[You have killed a Garcian. EXP +7]
[You have killed an Abyss Skeleton...]
[You have killed...]
Compared to the middle section of the library, the difficulty of the battles had risen several times over, yet in return, the rewards were all the sweeter. We were able to kill and get EXP for many of the rank-three and rank-four monsters on the seventh floor's Dark Continent, which we hadn't really been able to explore yet because of the war. The only disappointing thing was that Beginner's Luck only kicked in once.
[No. 9999: Beginner's Luck has been activated.]
Still, it at least activated for Abyss Skeleton, a monster that appeared exclusively on the tenth floor. Since none of us could take advantage of its essence, though, we would have to sell it. Luckily for us, essences from the tenth floor were worth an incredible amount.
But from the looks of it, it seems that monsters that are rarer or harder to find in the labyrinth don't tend to pop up in these books too often.
Take, for example, Bellarios. I really wanted to get my hands on it, but we never managed to find it in any of the books even as our search came to a close.
"Let's stop."
Despite my disappointment, I eventually made the call that it was time to stop hunting. The difficulty of each battle was rising, and we were now being forced to face two rank-three monsters at once. Time-wise, that was hypothetically more efficient since we could hunt two monsters simultaneously. But in reality, because we'd been hunting without breaks for the past few hours and our fatigue was mounting, continuing on like this wasn't sustainable.
"Everyone, grab the books, and let's head out."
It was time to get going.
"Grab the books?"
"Other people might come by here. If we take the books from the top shelves with us, that means it'll be impossible for them to progress any further than we have. And it's not like they can climb the bookshelves to reach for a higher book since they won't come out."
"But if we take all these books, our sub-spaces might fill up."
"If they do, we'll just have to throw them overboard into the sea."
"What? Yandel, you..."
"What?"
"...are smart. Especially when it comes to things like this."
Everyone, including Amelia, liked my plan. They all thought it was a smart strategy and not underhanded in the slightest. That was because all of us were adventurers.
This is nothing in this line of work.
After ensuring that nobody could go up any higher than us, we all started to head back the way we came.
Stomp! Stomp!
Unlike me, who could easily climb the steps one at a time, my teammates all had to struggle to hop up each one. And when we finally reached the last step, we were greeted by an interesting sight.
"...B-Baron Yandel?"
For some reason, there were a bunch of adventurers gathered at the entrance staring at us, and they were all in battle formation, weapons drawn.
...If we find another new monster later, I should let her be the one to name it.
That was all the information written down about the monster, so we quickly headed back down to the bottom floor to summon it.
Grrr...
It was much bigger than in the picture. But something was weird. Aside from the tentacles spilling out from its body, it looked entirely like a wolf. So why was it living in the sea?
[You have killed a Tentaculan.]
There was no way to know, so we focused on hunting it instead. Since this was our first time ever encountering this thing, we took things slow to make sure it couldn't land a hit on us. Still, it was only rank four, so it was an easy fight.
"That was... even easier than I was expecting."
Come to think of it, Missha had gotten pretty strong... That was the only thought in my mind as I watched her step forward and cut down a rank-four monster with a single slash.
"All right, everyone, let's group up for a minute."
Once that was dealt with, I gathered up the members of my clan for a vote. There was just one item on the agenda.
"Please tell me what you want to do. We can stay here and continue climbing the library's shelves, or head out and try exploring another area."
However, my team members showed no enthusiasm for offering up their opinions.
"...What's the point? You're going to be the deciding vote anyway."
"Exactly."
I sighed. Did I play my trump card too early? I should have saved my voting power for something more important.
"Don't worry. I won't be taking part in this vote."
They all eyed me with distrust, but after a moment, they gave in.
"Hmmm. fine."
"I guess we can hold a vote, then."
Once the vote began in earnest, the results were surprisingly unanimous.
We would stop exploring the library and try to find another area.
Honestly, I'd kind of expected that. Everyone was already bored of this simplistic hunting format, and finding Tentaculan in that book had just been fuel on the fire.
"This place isn't bad, but given how we have competition, this feels like a waste of time."
"At this very moment, they're probably exploring new areas and finding new monsters to name."
"And any essences they come across, they'll be able to sell them to the Magic Tower for a high price."
Yeah, this is the classic adventurer mindset.
However, even though the vote was unanimous, I still decided to have us stay here for another day or two.
"...We're not leaving right away?"
"Why? You're not the type to delay things for no reason."
My clan shot me looks that suggested I was acting like a dictator again. Their distrust hurt my feelings. I was just trying to make the most optimal call as the leader of this clan.
"Right now, we can summon rank-three monsters from these books. We should try to hunt as many as we can first and then we can leave right after."
Rank-two monsters would be difficult for us to take on, but we could still make quick work of most rank-three monsters at our current level.
"And Emily, aren't there still quite a few rank-three monsters that even you haven't had a chance to kill yet?"
"Th-that's... right."
"You too, Ainar. You still haven't gotten that essence I told you about."
"...Ugh!"
Ainar wasn't the only one, either. There were some rank-three essences that I also wanted Erwen and Missha to have. I still needed the essence of Bellarios as well.
"Then is everyone in agreement?"
I took their silence as consent. With our plan decided, we picked up the pace even more.
[You have killed a Mechanical Giant. EXP +7]
[You have killed a Phoenix. EXP +7]
[You have killed an Usbin. EXP +6]
[You have killed a Garcian. EXP +7]
[You have killed an Abyss Skeleton...]
[You have killed...]
Compared to the middle section of the library, the difficulty of the battles had risen several times over, yet in return, the rewards were all the sweeter. We were able to kill and get EXP for many of the rank-three and rank-four monsters on the seventh floor's Dark Continent, which we hadn't really been able to explore yet because of the war. The only disappointing thing was that Beginner's Luck only kicked in once.
[No. 9999: Beginner's Luck has been activated.]
Still, it at least activated for Abyss Skeleton, a monster that appeared exclusively on the tenth floor. Since none of us could take advantage of its essence, though, we would have to sell it. Luckily for us, essences from the tenth floor were worth an incredible amount.
But from the looks of it, it seems that monsters that are rarer or harder to find in the labyrinth don't tend to pop up in these books too often.
Take, for example, Bellarios. I really wanted to get my hands on it, but we never managed to find it in any of the books even as our search came to a close.
"Let's stop."
Despite my disappointment, I eventually made the call that it was time to stop hunting. The difficulty of each battle was rising, and we were now being forced to face two rank-three monsters at once. Time-wise, that was hypothetically more efficient since we could hunt two monsters simultaneously. But in reality, because we'd been hunting without breaks for the past few hours and our fatigue was mounting, continuing on like this wasn't sustainable.
"Everyone, grab the books, and let's head out."
It was time to get going.
"Grab the books?"
"Other people might come by here. If we take the books from the top shelves with us, that means it'll be impossible for them to progress any further than we have. And it's not like they can climb the bookshelves to reach for a higher book since they won't come out."
"But if we take all these books, our sub-spaces might fill up."
"If they do, we'll just have to throw them overboard into the sea."
"What? Yandel, you..."
"What?"
"...are smart. Especially when it comes to things like this."
Everyone, including Amelia, liked my plan. They all thought it was a smart strategy and not underhanded in the slightest. That was because all of us were adventurers.
This is nothing in this line of work.
After ensuring that nobody could go up any higher than us, we all started to head back the way we came.
Stomp! Stomp!
Unlike me, who could easily climb the steps one at a time, my teammates all had to struggle to hop up each one. And when we finally reached the last step, we were greeted by an interesting sight.
"...B-Baron Yandel?"
For some reason, there were a bunch of adventurers gathered at the entrance staring at us, and they were all in battle formation, weapons drawn.