Settlement After the Ordeal
I slumped down, strength draining from my limbs, and stared at Grilops's corpse. Gray light and black light. The former was probably a trait, the latter an item. …Haa. The sight of the black light drew an involuntary sigh from me.
'Misfortune, huh. To think I'd go through all that trouble just because I forced a revival on something I'd already killed. What? Chaos attribute, what about it?'
Forcing hardship on someone should have its limits. The first time it dropped me somewhere on the third floor instead of the first. This time a sword was stuck in its heart, it took chaos-attribute damage from the Steel Body effect, and then it had some kind of epiphany? I was starting to wonder what kind of situation would trigger it next.
'Chaos, exactly how much stronger do I have to get before the Misfortune entry disappears from the traits? Side effects from blood that doesn't match one's rank—if that's the case, how do I raise my rank to match?'
Chaos says that for now, the only option is to keep growing and steadily accumulate achievements inside the Labyrinth.
That was such an obvious answer. In the end, it just meant keep doing what I'd been doing—put in the effort and keep entering the Labyrinth. Defeating Grilops counted as an achievement, right?
Chaos looks downcast and says it's sorry for not being able to offer a clear solution.
'Can't be helped. Sitting around lamenting and feeling wronged won't change anything anyway. Chaos suits being bright rather than gloomy. So instead, smile and encourage me.'
Chaos grins and says it will always be cheering for you.
Yeriel, who had come running from afar to check on me, spoke with a worried expression. "Hau, look at how your armor's all banged up! Are you okay? I did heal you earlier, but… I've still got a few potions left. Maybe you should drink one?"
"Nah. Even if it looks like this on the outside, I drank a C-rank potion earlier and the armor's pretty good, so my body's fine. No need to worry that much."
"If you say so, then that's a relief… Whew, what a mess this turned out to be."
I just shrugged. "At least nobody got hurt. We should finish looting and get out of this cave."
Lumia agreed and suggested we start by searching the hidden space we were currently in. "I agree. Let's search here first, open the remaining treasure chest outside, then follow the markers we left and get out."
"Yeah. I'll check over there."
"Then I'll take that side!"
Yeriel and Lumia each headed in different directions to search. Jacob spoke up hesitantly. "Uh, Hyung-nim. Should I go help too? If you don't trust me, I can just stay right here."
'We look about the same age, so why does he keep calling me Hyung-nim?' I looked at Jacob and asked, "Hey, why do you keep calling me Hyung-nim? …No, age aside, we're not exactly close enough to be talking like brothers."
This guy was calling "Hyung-nim" the person who'd been ready to let him die. "Just call me by name."
"Uh, haha. Does age really matter? Our first meeting was the worst, sure, but we've been through life and death together now!" Jacob scratched his nose with an awkward laugh. "You probably don't know how impressed I was watching you fight that crazy monster. It was just insanely cool!"
I scratched my cheek awkwardly. If you put it that way, what does that make me—the guy who brought the golem and put everyone in danger, then only saved you because it was profitable? I felt oddly guilty toward the grinning Jacob.
"Fine. I already dropped the formal speech, and if that's what you're comfortable with, do whatever you want."
"Hehe. Yes, sir! I'll go lend a hand over there too." Jacob gave a quick bow and headed off.
Everyone was moving to do their part, so I couldn't just stand around either. First, the trait. 'Absorb.'
A low hum. Authority activates.
Mana Affinity (B)
A trait that the Memory Eater Grilops obtained by devouring the memories and experiences of a certain adventurer. It grants greater proficiency in controlling mana flow, faster casting speed, and improved regeneration. The effects are simple, yet excellent. Can grow through consistent mana handling.
— While controlling mana flow inside the body, receives correction and becomes more proficient.
— When operating mana, receives correction and transitions slightly faster into follow-up actions.
— Mana regeneration increases slightly.
— Affinity toward mana-based lifeforms increases slightly.
"!!" Holy crap. Whoa.
'Wait, B-rank?' From what I remembered, there had been adventurers on the lower floors who possessed B-rank or higher traits. It felt awkward dredging up dead people again, but… Scarlet's Emophilia had been B-rank too. I had no idea which adventurer Grilops had devoured to obtain this, but it was an incredible boon for me.
With so many traits, I hadn't been able to predict what would come out. Out of eleven positive traits, this one appeared. I was genuinely relieved that I didn't get Memory Eater—which obviously had disgusting activation conditions—or Crouch, which didn't suit my fighting style and looked lame.
'Yeah, something's definitely different.' The moment I acquired the trait, I could feel something change from inside my body. It was like blocked blood vessels had suddenly opened. Of course, my body had already been optimized by the Chaos Dragon Core, so it wasn't that. It just felt… refreshing, and the flow of mana seemed to have improved.
Whoosh! One more thing. The color of my mana had changed. Or rather, its true color had finally been revealed thanks to the trait. 'Gray…?'
It had always been formless and colorless before, only flashing blue briefly when I overused mana. When I focused it in my hand, black and white mixed evenly—mana that looked gray at a glance—flashed once and vanished. Was it gray because my body had been altered by the Chaos Eye and the Chaos Dragon Core? Well, the regeneration boost was meaningless, but good was good.
"Alright, only the item left now." I reached out and touched the black light. 'A book?'
The light faded, revealing a book with a black cover. It was a little different from Heinz's Terra's Tome.
◈ The eccentric goblin Grilops, who learned the forbidden knowledge of Memory Eater through golden letters on parchment, was a highly intelligent mutant. Before his death, some interference allowed him to touch upon the principles of darkness, light, and chaos. A being who had only ever survived as the weak, merely sucking shallow knowledge and experience from corpses, he reached a flash of enlightenment, craved the light, and struggled—yet his end was nothing but a miserable death. In the end, the darkness containing Grilops's grief and desire, unable to mix with light, took the form of this tome. Cannot be damaged by mystery.
◈ When first opened, if the owner's mana is C-rank or lower, mana rank increases by two stages for one use only.
◈ While carried, slightly increases attack power of all offensive black magic.
◈ While carried, slightly increases duration of all curse-type black magic.
◈ While carried, allows use of unique black magic "Rippling Darkness" and "Craving Darkness."
After reading the description, I thought, 'This is obviously made for Lumia.'
Come to think of it, our party still only had three members—whether that was why or because the circumstances that brought us together were special, we hadn't set any rules about item distribution even though we split loot equally after escaping the Labyrinth. Same with the mid-grade potions and gauntlets we'd gotten this time. Whatever the case, the current method was to store everything in the spatial bag on my back, use consumables when needed, and give equipment to whoever it suited best.
'Some adventurers settle it by having the recipient pay the others a certain amount of money, or by holding an auction within the party… but I don't know.' I figured our current method was perfectly fine for now, at least until our party grew much larger. I should hand this straight to Lumia.
I called Lumia over and gave her the book. She accepted it with a blank expression. Before she could voice her question, I rattled off the item's details. "There, explanation over. Pretty good, right?"
"It is, but… can I really use it? I didn't contribute much in this fight. I don't think I helped enough to deserve something this valuable."
Lumia's face didn't show much, but she was clearly flustered. "Instead of me taking something, wouldn't it be better to sell it and split the money?"
"Come on! In times like this, you just say 'thank you' and 'I'll use it well.' Right, Aren?"
"Absolutely. It's much better to smile once and wrap things up warmly instead of refusing."
"You, why are you butting in? It was so natural I almost thought you were part of the party."
"Haha, but I did help take down the monster, so I should get at least this much say, right? We're heading to the portal together anyway, so just think of me as a temporary party member."
"Ugh. You're so slick."
Yeriel and Jacob, who had returned at some point, joined in to stop Lumia from refusing. When the banter ended, Lumia looked convinced. "You heard them? Don't even think about refusing. Use it to get stronger and stay with the party from now on."
"U-uh, okay. I'll gratefully accept it."
"What, what! Are you two dating?"
Zap.
"You little…"
"I'll shut up now." Jacob made a zipping motion over his lips.
Well, the most important thing was done. "Did anyone find anything?"
"Unfortunately, nothing on my side."
"Same here."
"I found one. Here." Lumia held out a black stone.
◈ A crystal formed by the gradual accumulation of darkness flowing from the depths of the cave. High purity; when used in weapon crafting, random black-mana-related options may be added.
Equipment wasn't even involved, yet a mere ore crystal was D-rank? Yeriel was wearing the full low-floor priest set Ivelin had provided, while Lumia's clothes were special but her weapon was just a plain staff. We could use this as material to make her a new weapon right now. Lumia hit the jackpot. With nothing left to do in this space, we should head out… Ah! I whipped my head toward the golem.
"Shoot! I almost left the most important thing behind." I picked up the orb the golem had been so obsessed with. The situation had been too urgent to check its information earlier. 'What the hell was this that it protected it so desperately? Let's see.'
Obscuritas — Sealed.
"…?" That was it? 'Hah, how anticlimactic. Still, since it's sealed, I should take it for now.' I shrugged and tucked it into my bag. One more thing left. I struggled to stuff Grilops's corpse into the spatial bag. The golem… couldn't take the whole thing. Crack. Thud. I infused mana into my sword and cut off a few parts, then took the core that was still faintly sparking even though only half of it remained.
"Alright, let's get out of here. We'll quickly open the last treasure chest outside and leave the cave entirely." Everyone nodded in agreement.
Grind— "Whoa, that startled me." Once we were all out, the space automatically closed, probably because no living beings remained inside. I was briefly surprised, but shook my head and approached the final treasure chest with the others.
"Opening it?" I glanced around once, then opened the chest. Clunk.
"Oh." Inside were one mid-grade potion, the Earth's Firmness I'd drunk to fight Grilops, and one scroll. Three items total.
◈ To use, designate a location within 5 meters and tear the scroll in half. When used correctly, the figure of an earth giant briefly manifests with mana and slams both palms down on the designated spot. The power is enough to shake the very earth for a moment.
◈ Enemies directly struck by the palm shape are guaranteed to be stunned for a short time if their durability is D-rank or lower.
◈ When the palm shape strikes the ground, nearby lifeforms are afflicted with shockwave and brief stiffness.
This would come in handy someday. I put everything in the bag and thought for a moment. I'd taken the orb and the corpse. Checked all the lights floating above Grilops. Searched the space and confirmed the chest contents. 'Finally, time to leave this damn cave!'
After enjoying a brief rest beside the pile of opened chests, I found the markers I'd steadily carved into the walls and began walking steadily toward the cave entrance.