The Flame Spirits' Haven
“Fireball!”
Boom!
As Carpe's spell detonated, another soldier ant burst into flames.
It was the sixteenth one he'd run into since taking down the boss.
“Whew. These things are seriously gross. No wonder people call it an ant swarm for a reason.”
As Gillian had put it, the 15th underground floor was a paradise for ant monsters.
Not just soldier ants—worker ants, queen ants, and even ant eggs existed as monsters here.
“If only ant eggs dropped more often. Who knew there'd be monsters like that?”
-Not all eggs are monsters. Ants are a special case.
Of course, ant eggs had no attack power. But since they counted as monsters, smashing them gave experience points.
In other words, ant egg = free EXP.
They had high defense and HP, so it took a while to crack them open, but for Carpe with his armor-piercing skills, it wasn't too tough.
Unfortunately, they were rare—he'd only encountered one so far.
“But why are ant eggs even here? Shouldn't they be near the queen? Is there a queen ant on this floor too?”
-No. The queen ant is the boss on floor 40. No one can take her down right now, but in the future, she'll be one of the most famous boss monsters.
The so-called experience jackpot boss.
The queen herself didn't give amazing EXP, but killing her spawned endless ant eggs.
Just popping those could level you up by one easily, which was why the queen ant was always a top-priority target.
-That's why floor 40 is the worst spot for PK in all of Ant Hell. Not just the queen—any popular field boss draws the same chaos.
“Most games are like that.”
It was only natural for fights to break out over limited resources.
Carpe nodded and pressed on in the direction Cheonma had indicated.
“Ma Sword Penetration Mirror!”
Boom!
Carpe dropped another soldier ant, and a notification popped up.
“Phew. These things pop up constantly.”
-Floor 15 is especially bad for that. The other floors aren't as rough, so hang in there a bit longer.
The ants on floor 15 were high-level monsters pushing level 90, specialized in defense.
Even though Carpe had a good matchup against them, each kill ate up a ton of time.
He had to burn through a bunch of skills, draining his MP potions fast.
Carpe pulled a potion from his inventory, chugged it, and muttered.
“If they at least dropped decent loot, I'd farm 'em all. But nope.”
According to Cheonma, ant monsters were infamous as trash mobs for drops.
-The only decent thing is the royal jelly from the boss? Even that's not valuable yet. It becomes a baldness cure later on.
And their EXP wasn't great either.
Last Savior had systems everywhere to prevent power-leveling or buses.
One was the level-based EXP cap—even if Carpe killed monsters 30 levels above him, he'd get the same EXP as a level 65 mob.
-If you want to level fast, farming level 60s on floor 5 would be quicker.
“Eh, leveling isn't the main goal anyway. Can't be helped.”
That's why Carpe was avoiding fights as much as possible, slipping past monsters.
No point wasting stamina and focus on worthless mobs.
-Hey, we're here. See that dead end? It'll spawn there.
“How many floors does this one skip us to?”
-17th.
“Hmm. No vortex that jumps straight to 20, huh.”
-Nope. Might be one out there, but I don't know it. Floor 17 has one right to 20, though. Just a bit more grinding.
“It's no grind. This is a breeze thanks to you. Seriously grateful, always.”
-Ahem. Yeah. I'll make you a true lord, so don't quit—just go all the way.
“Quit? Why would I? Where else you gonna find a game this sweet?”
-Good. Keep that fire.
And so, after an hour and a half, Carpe escaped floor 15.
Floor 17, as Cheonma said, had few monsters.
The main enemies were bipedal dark earthwalkers—weird ones with no eyes or ears on their heads.
-No sight or hearing, but insane smell and taste. Got any food in your inventory?
“Lemme check. Oh, yeah—some apple pies I bought for snacks.”
-Perfect. If you run into one, toss a pie. It'll aggro on that, and you can slip away easy.
“Whoa, Cheonma-level pro tip!”
But he didn't need to.
Not a single monster between him and the next vortex.
Considering himself lucky, Carpe dove into the sand vortex leading to floor 20.
“Kyahaha! Master, this is fun!”
“Kyuu kyuu kyut!”
The sand slide dumped them onto floor 20—a totally different vibe from before.
“Whoa, it's hot down here.”
The temperature was night-and-day.
Ant Hell was chilly underground, but floor 20 was sweltering.
Like thick midsummer air.
“Lava nearby or something?”
-Not lava, but close. There's a top-grade flame spirit core.
“Whoa, that jacks up the heat this much? If top-grade is like this, what's a spirit king?”
-Spirit kings can reshape whole areas. Make real lava flow, probably.
“Scale's making my chest swell... Wait, isn't one of the Dragon's Eye evolution mats from a spirit king?”
Carpe glanced at his chest.
The legendary necklace Dragon's Eye.
Rare among legendaries for being evolvable, but it needed specific materials.
-Oh yeah. Tears from the water spirit king, Ariadne.
“So eventually I gotta fight terrain-warping bosses.”
-Don't sweat it. Looks impossible now, but level 300 makes it doable.
“...That's still forever away. Sigh. Anyway, spirit core for now.”
Carpe advanced slowly. Unlike before, floor 20's walls were covered in indecipherable pictograms.
“Smells like hidden piece city. Bet there's meaning here.”
-That? Nothing special. Just spirits scribbling nonsense in their language.
“...How do you even know that?”
-'Cause I can read it.
“Whoa, not memorized—you read it?!”
Carpe stared in shock, and Cheonma gave a wry chuckle.
-Learned it two regressions ago. Found a book in a hidden dungeon written in spirit tongue—couldn't read it at first. Banged my head against it till I could.
“...Normal people find an NPC or buy a translation item, no?”
-Thought learning it myself might unlock another hidden piece. Total waste, but whatever.
“How do you game that hard? Learning a whole new language?”
-...When RaSe owns your life, you do anything. Anything.
“...”
Carpe's head drooped at the tearjerker line.
-Not that big a deal. Languages share structures. Crack the rules, and it's easy. Earth's languages too.
“Uh, sorry to pry, but how many languages you speak?”
-Lemme see. Korean, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese... a bit of Chinese. Seven?
“Respect, bro.”
He knew the guy was smart, but this smart?
STEM brain and linguistics prodigy!
-You're overselling. Plenty of folks can do that. Hitting arena rank 2 on pure physicals? That's impressive.
“Nah... seven languages is way crazier.”
Carpe tilted his head.
He thought he knew Cheonma pretty well, but this felt like the tip of the iceberg.
“Oh? So RaSe straight-up invented a spirit language not on Earth?”
-Pretty much. Referenced Earth ones a lot, though. Who the hell made this game...
“Wild. Looks like gibberish squiggles, but it's a language? What's it say there?”
Carpe pointed at the wall script, and Cheonma answered casually.
-"Modern low-grade spirits are ill-mannered."
“...Total nonsense. You sure you're not making it up 'cause I can't read it?”
“No way, Master. I spent time as an elf, so I know a bit of spirit tongue. Feels right.”
“Really? You too, Mirage?”
“Yeah! But not as perfect as Sir Strategist. Amazing, Sir Strategist.”
“Impressive indeed. Even high elf scholars struggle with spirit tongue. Proof of your heavenly wisdom, Sir Strategist.”
<Hmmm. I still don't get it. How's this even a language? Amazing, Strategist!>
“Kyuu kyut!”
-...Is it that big a deal?
Just similar to Earth languages—easy pickings.
The praise for Cheonma kept rolling till he yelled to cut it out.
Today, the Church of Cheonma was as sticky as ever.
“Here?”
-Yeah. Nailed it.
“Whew. This path is a maze from hell.”
A tucked-away corner of floor 20.
The hidden area was buried in the hardest spot imaginable. He'd looped around who-knows-how-many times to find it.
The dungeon wall before Carpe bore more bizarre drawings, like the rest.
-But this ain't spirit tongue. Similar, but it's a magic circle. Leads to the spirit core vault.
“How'd you even know about this?”
-Wasn't me who found it—overheard it. Probably The Sun's guild master was first.
“For real?”
-Yeah. Mentioned it in an interview. Related to his class or something.
“Hmm.”
To access the spirit core vault, certain conditions applied.
-Need nature energy on you, or an item with it. It's a spirit hangout.
“Wait—what? Then I can't enter? Got no such item.”
-Nah, you're fine. Among users, you've probably got the most nature vibe.
“Me?”
-Put your hand dead center there.
“Here?”
As Carpe placed his hand on the wall, a notification appeared.
You may enter the hidden area Flame Spirit Haven.
Only those infused with nature's energy may pass.
World Tree Rudram's Blessing detected on the player.
Entry conditions met.
“Ah! Got it.”
-Duh. Owner of the World Tree itself—nature incarnate. No way you don't qualify.
He wouldn't have guided here if entry was impossible.
Ding.
This area supports a maximum of 4 entities.
Exceeding this prevents entry.
“Hmm. Four-man party limit?”
-Not quite. Parties count only users, but here it counts retainers too.
“Ah... so one of us can't go?”
Current count: Carpe plus Mukhyang, Tina, Mirage, and Gillian—five total. Cheonma as patron spirit was exempt.
-Yeah. Drop Mirage? She's not combat anyway.
“Yeah! Master! I'll sit it out! I'm great at sitting out!”
“Alright, then Mirage chills in the Room for...
But the plan went out the window.
Ding.
2 entities currently in Flame Spirit Haven.
“...Huh?”
Someone had beaten them to it.