"Grave Robbing?"
"Grave robbing?"
"Hey now! Grave robbing? Archaeology, excavation. You know, there's a perfectly good word for it."
"Yeah, whatever... fine."
Surprisingly, Tud's proposal was none other than grave robbing. More precisely, unearthing long-lost items buried underground—but it was hard to call it mere archaeology or excavation with excuses like that.
Because every region in Sarucha had been off-limits to development by royal decree. Sure, some areas allowed limited digging, but the places and items Tud had in mind were obviously not among them.
"I could do it if I wanted, but what exactly are we digging for? Even the resistance fighters from that era weren't anything special. Got a particular item in mind?"
He was talking about excavating relics from the Demon King War buried in the preservation zone. Of course, it wasn't impossible. The zone was preserved, but not heavily guarded with massive forces. The problem was blindly digging without knowing where anything was buried—you'd get caught in no time.
To avoid damaging unearthed items required meticulous work, but that took too long. Others had tried before, only to get chased off by guards or fined heavily before finding anything worthwhile.
Tsk tsk tsk. Teach you one thing, and you only learn that one. What good are relics from guys who got stomped flat by the Demon King's army?
"Huh? Then what?"
Dig up the Demon King's army goons who stomped them, obviously.
"?!"
They're weak sauce too, but no need to use 'em as-is. The Demon World has materials that don't exist in the middle realm. Mix those in, and you might craft something fun and useful. Plus, hunting demons? Items laced with demonic energy, weak as it is, could help detect them.
But Tud was thinking differently. Not resistance relics, but Demon King's army ones. The city had fallen to them and been razed, but the resistance hadn't gone down easy. Plenty of demons died in the process, and their gear was likely buried here too.
'Demon World materials... not a bad idea.'
It made sense. Top-tier items would've been recovered, and strong demonic energy would've corrupted the land and been found already. But mid-tier stuff? Probably buried everywhere. After all this time, who knew how many still worked—but worth a shot.
'Good thing I've got this.'
Vulcan had Dragon Eye. Others would get nabbed blindly shoveling, but he could pinpoint and dig fast. Careful excavation only when close to the item meant he could snag several in a night.
"Let's do it."
Vulcan decided on his next move. And while at it, some shopping too.
Had no one ever dug up and sold items like this? Wrong. Plenty scavenged surface-level or shallow stuff, like in Smell. He'd use Dragon Eye to cherry-pick and buy those.
'Time to head out.'
"Huh? What's this?"
"Why won't it let me in?"
"The dungeon's gone?!"
Exiting the instance dungeon, Vulcan ran into users in chaos. A dungeon around since launch had vanished—naturally confusing, with no explanation.
'No system alerts or announcements, good.'
Slipping through the pandemonium, Vulcan escaped. Perplexing, but plenty would just move to other hunting grounds to level up. Communities would figure it out soon anyway.
"These two, please."
And grab that one on the right too while you're at it.
Back in town, Vulcan hit stalls and shops as planned, buying unidentified items needing appraisal—and, per Tud, some near-junk broken ones.
'Why these?'
He bought them, but didn't get it. Tud had pointed at a measly Common-grade rusty, chipped longsword.
What do you take yourself for?
"Huh?"
Got Repair just to boil soup with it? Look beyond the surface—to the essence!
"...Ah."
It clicked. Rusty and chipped now, but not irredeemable. Vulcan had legendary repair skills that could restore most anything short of total ruin.
Repair
Vulcan whipped out his repair kit and activated the skill. A few hammer strikes shed the rust, oil gleamed faintly.
"...?"
Appearance cleaned up, durability bumped from rock-bottom—but no fundamental change.
What're you doing?
Tud watched from above with pitiful eyes.
"Didn't you pick wrong, Tud? No change at...!"
Whack!!
Vulcan protested indignantly, but got a dizzying tail swipe and scolding.
You idiot. Think wiping rust fixes it? Check material and craft method, heat slowly, restore like art! Ugh, me as incarnation to a guy like this...
"Urk. Then say so earlier... Ow! Stop hitting!!"
Repair kit's quick fix wouldn't cut it—just rust removal and basic durability patch. True restoration needed forge heat, material-matched temps, reinforcing damaged parts like museum work.
'Makes sense. If kits worked, everyone'd know by now.'
Users had tried. No quick hammer taps meant no lottery-ticket attempts. Vulcan felt sheepish; too advanced for now. He'd borrow a forge later. For now, he bought promising stuff with his coin.
Waiting for nightfall.
Darkness Assimilation
Night was Vulcan's domain. Darkness Hunter set still worked great, and the preservation zone—undeveloped—bristled with shadows. Dim lights barely pierced it.
Proper excavation needed more than a night anyway, but it'd spot suspicious moves easy.
"Time to dig."
Plenty of shadow for Darkness Assimilation; Vulcan stealthed with wide vision.
Ziiing—
His intent gaze summoned black light beams. Faintly demonic items beckoned from underground.
Just needed fast shoveling before guards noticed!
"Right up my alley."
Thud thud thud thud!
Power and weight on one shovel plunged him deep instantly. He'd done it in-game and IRL mining, confident as hell.
You seem suited for this? Even with architecture helping...
Legendary Architecture's basic construction aided effortless, speedy digging. So natural even Tud conceded.
"Piece of cake."
Undetected entry was simple. No need for wide pits—he drilled down like a machine. Refocus: beam became a pinpoint.
"Eh? This?"
Deep under sediment, but just dirt. Vulcan reached target fast.
Hold up. Don't touch.
"Huh?"
A trilobite-like stone lump. As Vulcan reached, Tud stopped him.
That's an Infection Worm.
"Infection Worm?"
Tud's grave tone made Vulcan yank his hand back, eyeing him questioningly.
Yeah. Burrows into skin, spreads demonic energy. Weak alone, but controls and demonizes hosts—real pain.
"Like a parasite?"
Parasite? Dunno that, but kill host, it jumps to another unless you eradicate the core. Without host, turns stone-like waiting. Guess the massacre here left it hostless. Won't parasite demons already infused.
"Hm? Then why bury here with Demon King's army?"
Usually travels with, but host too weak. Drains life force instead of granting demonic energy.
Got it. Parasitic demon beast: infests non-demonic life, demonizes by sucking life dry till death. Jumps hosts endlessly—tricky. Kill demonized host, become next if careless.
"So how?"
Don't let it touch skin. Eats flesh fine, but can't pierce metal.
Easy. Vulcan grabbed a metal gauntlet from daytime buys, carefully bagged the worm in inventory.
"Infection Worm, huh..."
...What crazy scheme now?
Vulcan's eyes gleamed meaningfully. Pain in the ass if loose, but controlled? Fun uses.
"Eats monsters too, right?"
Obviously, unless from Demon World originally.
"Farmable then?"
...What?
Lock monsters in a no-escape spot, farm 'em. 'Free EXP if it works?'
Avenger title: 20% extra EXP from demons/monsters. If it demonizes normals, applies? Just a hypothesis, but Vulcan grinned.
Maybe recoup lost EXP from Cave of Lamentations another way.