Chapter 551: Chapter 551: Secret Room (4) - Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Translator: RaidenTL

Chapter 551: Secret Room (4)

In summary, this was everything we found in the secret room:

A golden book containing the story of two unidentified siblings.

Well, that wasn't much use to me right now. But the other loot we got was a different story.

Seven summoning books.

They weren't regular old summoning books, either. Each book was one we hadn't seen on the bookshelves outside. One had ten rare Mimics inside it, while in another, the pictures of the monsters in blue, red, and other colors instead of just black and white. Another still had pages where the art of the monsters inside was instead replaced with "???".

Seven books, each with something peculiar about them.

And a suspicious fountain pen.

There was also the pen on Hamsick's table.

"(Hamsick, how do you use this fountain pen?)"

"(W-Well...)" After hesitating for a long moment, Hamsick seemed to conclude that we were indeed friends and decided to be honest. "(If you use this pen to color over the pictures in the books... you can get an essence of that specific color.)"

"(What?!)"

"(D-Don't shout! You scared me!)"

Then say it in a less surprising way.

A fountain pen that could be used to get whatever color essence I wanted? Was an item like that even allowed to exist? It was so overpowered that that was my immediate thought, but unfortunately, it did end up having limitations. It could only summon rank-threes and below, and it could only be used twice.

Yeah, there was no way something like that could be used an unlimited number of times.

I could feel the disappointment setting in, but since this was Dungeon and Stone, the emotion was tempered. I was the fool for getting my hopes up in the first place. In this game, an item like this was already amazing enough on its own.

Is this what it's like to be the first to step foot in uncharted territory...?

I now understood why all those adventurers went nuts after hearing Basement Floor One was open. The fifth, sixth, and seventh floors... when those first opened, there must've been overpowered items like this one hidden there as well.

"(By the way, Hamsick,)" I began, "(how do you know how the fountain pen works? Did you use it before I came here?)"

"(No way!)"

"(Hmm, but your explanation was pretty detailed.)"

"(I just knew it! I've known it from the moment I was born!)"

It hadn't used it itself, but Hamsick already knew how to use the fountain pen.

"(Why are you putting it in your pocket?!" Hamsick cried furiously as I tried to casually swipe it. "Th-that fountain pen is also something I need to give the right person...!)"

Oh, really? "(But can't you use it twice?)"

"(Yeah...?)"

"(How about I use it once and then you give it to that qualified person when they come?)"

"(B-But that's ridiculous—!)"

"(Or is there a rule that says this thing needs to be given to them with all its charges?)"

"(Uh... Not that I know of...)"

"(Then there's no problem!")

All right, then the fountain pen problem was solved. After using it once, I could think long and hard about what to use it on next and then try to convince Hamsick to let me.

With that, I turned my attention to the last piece of loot.

"A map..." I murmured to myself.

We'd found a map of Basement Floor One, with Stone Island as the starting point in the center and a whole host of islands drawn around it. Although the fountain pen was pretty good, this map was a huge deal. This would save us a lot of time we would have otherwise spent wandering around creating a map of our own.

"Looks like there are two islands here that we haven't been to yet."

When I asked our navigator, Auyen, he informed me that one of them was about a week away from Library Island. The other one would take us about a month to get to.

"A month... This floor is bigger than I thought."

"Yes..." he said, trailing off. "However, there is one thing that's worrying me about that island... The location is in the direction we saw that rainbow that one ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time."

"Then this island could be whatever was at the end of that rainbow?"

"Well...I can't say for certain, but I don't think it's a coincidence."

I was thinking along the same lines. As such, I hereby dubbed that particular island Rainbow Island.

"(Hamsick, do you know what lies beyond this map?)"

"(I don't know!)" Hamsick snapped as it glared dejectedly at the mess we'd made of its room. It looked upset, but it didn't seem to be lying.

Then it probably really doesn't know...

For now, it would be wisest to assume that the map didn't include every single thing on this floor.

My curiosity grew. What would we find if we tried to venture beyond the map's borders? Was it even possible to go further in the first place? I found myself sympathizing with the people of the past who thought the world was flat—I could understand why they would be so interested in finding the edge of the world.

Anyway, I guess I'll find out when we get there later...

"Mr. Yandel, look at this part," Versyl said, pointing to a spot on the map. It was a part of Giant Island—to be precise, it was a mark right over the cave we stayed in while we were there. "Do you see this symbol on the map?"

"It... looks like it's marking the location of the portal stone there."

"That's what I'm thinking as well."

The map seemed to include a symbol for the portal stone in the cave. However, there was also a symbol below that one that was rather intuitive.

"An arrow pointing downward..."

What could that mean?

Basement Floor Two.

Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, but no one said it aloud.

Versyl broke the tense silence as she slid her finger to a different location on the map. "...Then shall we take a look at this one as well?"

The first person to figure out where she was pointing was Auyen. "This... is the chief's island..."

"That's right. There are only two portal stones drawn on the map, and one of them is here."

As my eyes fell on the spot Versyl was pointing to, I felt my breath catch in my throat.

I couldn't tell if this was good news or bad news.

"At least we found the exit."

Below the portal symbol was an arrow pointing upward. We had officially found the way out of there. Well, to be more precise, we found a place we assumed might be the exit. Still, this was great news for us, considering we had been wandering around aimlessly without a clue.

With that, I turned my attention to the last piece of loot.

"A map..." I murmured to myself.

We'd found a map of Basement Floor One, with Stone Island as the starting point in the center and a whole host of islands drawn around it. Although the fountain pen was pretty good, this map was a huge deal. This would save us a lot of time we would have otherwise spent wandering around creating a map of our own.

"Looks like there are two islands here that we haven't been to yet."

When I asked our navigator, Auyen, he informed me that one of them was about a week away from Library Island. The other one would take us about a month to get to.

"A month... This floor is bigger than I thought."

"Yes..." he said, trailing off. "However, there is one thing that's worrying me about that island... The location is in the direction we saw that rainbow that one time."

"Then this island could be whatever was at the end of that rainbow?"

"Well...I can't say for certain, but I don't think it's a coincidence."

I was thinking along the same lines. As such, I hereby dubbed that particular island Rainbow Island.

"(Hamsick, do you know what lies beyond this map?)"

"(I don't know!)" Hamsick snapped as it glared dejectedly at the mess we'd made of its room. It looked upset, but it didn't seem to be lying.

Then it probably really doesn't know...

For now, it would be wisest to assume that the map didn't include every single thing on this floor.

My curiosity grew. What would we find if we tried to venture beyond the map's borders? Was it even possible to go further in the first place? I found myself sympathizing with the people of the past who thought the world was flat—I could understand why they would be so interested in finding the edge of the world.

Anyway, I guess I'll find out when we get there later...

"Mr. Yandel, look at this part," Versyl said, pointing to a spot on the map. It was a part of Giant Island—to be precise, it was a mark right over the cave we stayed in while we were there. "Do you see this symbol on the map?"

"It... looks like it's marking the location of the portal stone there."

"That's what I'm thinking as well."

The map seemed to include a symbol for the portal stone in the cave. However, there was also a symbol below that one that was rather intuitive.

"An arrow pointing downward..."

What could that mean?

Basement Floor Two.

Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing, but no one said it aloud.

Versyl broke the tense silence as she slid her finger to a different location on the map. "...Then shall we take a look at this one as well?"

The first person to figure out where she was pointing was Auyen. "This... is the chief's island..."

"That's right. There are only two portal stones drawn on the map, and one of them is here."

As my eyes fell on the spot Versyl ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was pointing to, I felt my breath catch in my throat.

I couldn't tell if this was good news or bad news.

"At least we found the exit."

Below the portal symbol was an arrow pointing upward. We had officially found the way out of there. Well, to be more precise, we found a place we assumed might be the exit. Still, this was great news for us, considering we had been wandering around aimlessly without a clue.

It just had to be Chief Island, though...

That little fact was enough to make my throat tighten. That meant that if we were going to get out of here, we would need to face the village chief whether we wanted to or not.

"Th-then we can go back to the city?"

"We're free! Yeaaah!"

A few of the members let out shouts of joy at the prospect of an exit, but there were, unfortunately, quite a few obstacles still standing in the way of us from using it.

"But...will it really work? That portal stone on Giant Island didn't activate at all ..."

"That's true. It seems we need to fulfill some sort of condition, just like when we first came down to this floor."

As a few of our wiser members were pointing out, we weren't in the clear just because we'd figured out where the exit portal was. We needed to figure out a way to activate the portal stone first. Getting past the chief would be another issue entirely.

"The rainbow! The island in the direction of that rainbow! Maybe that island will be the key?"

We had a few things we could try out. It wasn't like we were sitting ducks or anything.

Rainbow Island has the highest probability of having some sort of clue, but even if there's nothing there, we should be able to figure a few more things out as we clear the other islands.

On that note, I asked Hamsick one last question. "(Hamsick, what monsters appear on the highest bookshelves?)" In other words, how much stronger would we need to become to clear Library Island? Hamsick's response to this question would help clarify things.

It didn't answer using the ranks we adventurers favored, but...

"(Tol-Lapupa, Kashan, Leviathan, Plahel, Ridger...)"

I sighed. So we'd need to defeat rank-one monsters in the end after all. I supposed I should count myself lucky that we'd only have to fight one at a time.

"(What happens after we beat all of them?)"

Hamsick's tone abruptly took a turn for the serious. "(I don't know.)"

"(Is that maybe the 'qualification' you were talking about?)"

"(I'll say it again, but I don't know. I don't have any knowledge of what will happen.)"

I see. So that was all I was going to get out of it, and I needed to figure out the rest myself.

"(Hamsick, what do we need to do to get out of here? Can I just walk through that portal thing?)"

We had finished investigating, and I concluded that we weren't going to find anything else here.

However, at my question, Hamsick tilted its head. "(Huh? You can't leave this place after entering it.)"

"(...What? Why the hell didn't you mention that earlier—?!)"

"(Eep! I'm joking! You can leave through there!)"

Jeez, that really scared me.

As I gave a baffled laugh, Hamsick grinned in apparent amusement and let out a pleased squeak! "(Friends joke with each other!)"

I couldn't even get mad when I saw how happy it looked.

I smirked and left the room with the rest of my group members. The wide-open stone gate kept glowing right up until Hamsick stepped out last. Then, the light disappeared and the gate closed.

"(But Hamsick,)" I asked, "(do you need to open the gate every time you want to go in?)"

"(Yeah?)"

"(It's just, that room seems to be the place you live. Isn't it annoying, having to open it up like that every time you want to go in?)"