Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Hideout and Mine
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After drifting off to sleep while savoring the soft warmth of Sua's body, I woke up feeling more refreshed than ever.
Feeling her nestled in my arms one more time, I opened the door and stepped out into the living room.
In the living room, Lussera was in the kitchen preparing food and sharing it with Lije.
Watching Lussera take care of the blind Lije in her own way filled me with a sense of pride.
"Pilot, did you sleep well?"
Lussera spotted me and handed over a piece of toast.
"Thanks, looks good."
The toast Lussera made was slathered with my favorite blueberry jam and topped with a fried egg.
It was my first time eating food made by a vampire, but surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all.
"This is delicious."
"Thank you."
Seeing me enjoy it brought a smile to Lussera's face.
As I was eating, Sua seemed to wake up and came out of the room, approaching me.
Lussera handed her a piece of toast as well.
"Thank you, Lussera."
"No problem..."
I'd thought yesterday's events might create some awkwardness between them, but Lussera didn't seem fazed. Her loyalty to me must have been pretty high.
Lussera looked at me and spoke up.
"By the way, Pilot, why haven't you been sending the Valkyries to the mine?"
"Huh?"
Come to think of it, I'd completely forgotten about the mine system. Sending them there let them level up gradually and mine diamonds, making it an essential feature in this game.
"Oh, right! We should send them. What kind of mine is it this time?"
"I'm not sure. We'd have to check with the Mining Guild."
Mines changed attributes every week.
They cycled through Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth, so it was crucial to send Valkyries with matching affinities.
Valkyries had affinities based on their attributes.
Fire is strong against Wood and Metal: 1.5x to Metal, 1.2x to Wood.
Water is strong against Fire and Metal: 1.5x to Fire, 1.2x to Metal.
Wood is strong against Water and Earth: 1.5x to Earth, 1.2x to Water.
Metal is strong against Wood and Earth: 1.5x to Wood, 1.2x to Earth.
Earth is strong against Fire and Water: 1.5x to Water, 1.2x to Fire.
That was the setup.
Each had one 1.5x and one 1.2x advantage, while neutral attributes dealt standard damage.
The mines worked similarly, but they also shifted monthly between Sun and Moon attributes on top of the elemental ones.
For Sun attributes, send Celestials; for Moon, Demons.
For example, in a Sun-Metal mine, you'd send a Celestial Metal Valkyrie.
Sending the wrong ones wasn't impossible, but efficiency dropped sharply.
For a Fire mine, sending the counter Water dropped efficiency to 50%, while Wood or Metal—weak to Fire—also hit 50%.
The developers explained that Wood and Metal struggled against Fire's flames, and Water weakened the mine itself.
Earth had no counters, so it could pull 75% efficiency.
A perfectly matched A-grade team mined 15,000 diamonds, but anything below B-grade yielded less.
Higher grades mined more, of course.
Level didn't matter for mining—only rank did.
"Let's check out the mine before heading to the hunting grounds today."
"And what about the hideout? Aren't you going to make one?"
"Hideout? What are the benefits of having one?"
The hideout was a home customization system. Normally, you could only bring six Valkyries with you, but inside a hideout, you could release more based on its rank.
A max-rank hideout allowed up to 20 Valkyries.
You could watch them live freely in the in-game house—sleeping, cooking, exercising—following their AI routines.
It was a pay-to-win inducement. No real advantages otherwise, so I'd skipped it.
"So you'll just keep carrying us around forever, Pilot? You'll need more for 15-player battles later. And you have to build affinity too."
Her words hit me like a smack to the head.
"You mean a hideout lets me summon 20 Valkyries inside?"
That was the core idea—housing your top 20 main Valkyries.
"You get it."
Right now, I could only manage six, but a hideout allowed 20.
Leveling was urgent now, so six fixed slots worked, but PvP required swapping for enemy affinities—especially 15-player matches needing full rosters and high affinity.
In the game, summoning in a hideout didn't raise affinity, but here, with real interaction, it was essential.
"How do I get a hideout?"
"Buy a house."
"Here in Astera?"
"Of course."
Lussera replied as if it were obvious.
"Must be expensive. Capital city prices."
"Yeah. For one that holds all 20, you'd need at least 1.5 billion gold."
Like Seoul apartment prices.
I had 3 million gold. 1.5 billion felt impossible.
"How long to save that..."
"Seriously, Pilot... You really know nothing. There's Valkyrie-collateral loans."
"What? Like a home equity loan?"
I thought I'd misheard.
"No, Valkyrie-collateral loan."
Whoa... Lending money against Valkyries now?
"What's that? Do I have to transfer ownership of my Valkyries?"
"Hehe, of course not."
Lussera chuckled softly.
"Valkyries measure strength and potential here. An A-rank gets you 70% loan-to-value for a house. SR is 80%, SSR 90%."
"For real?"
"Yes. Pilot, you know so little despite everything."
Jackpot. With Lije, an SSR, I could borrow 90% LTV—just needed to verify her.
Jenellu said I should join the Hainel Kingdom's knight order.
Since entering this game world, I hadn't really had a clear goal.
Just joining the Hainel knights, maybe?
In this vague story progression, setting goals was smart.
Joining the knights in three months. After that, who knows—but securing a hideout here could be a goal itself.
Hideouts were pricey. Even with a Valkyrie loan, I'd need a chunk upfront.
Saving for that could be my target.
"Shall we go house-hunting right now?"
"Absolutely. They'll all love it."
"Good. Let's get ready."
I told Lussera, who relayed it to Sua and Lije.
They bustled about, preparing for an outing.
"Wait, Lije and Lussera—you two can't come."
"What?? Why??"
"!!!"
Lussera gaped like a startled rabbit, and blind Lije turned toward me with what I imagined was wide-eyed shock.
"Both of you standout too much for me to bring around right now... Just bear with me for three months."
"Haaa..."
Lussera sighed deeply, Lije mirroring her.
"But we can party up in hunting grounds."
"If you say so, Pilot."
"Thanks for understanding."
"Then we should unsummon?"
"Huh? Yeah? Why?"
"This is temporary lodging. Once we check out, we can't follow you, so auto-unsummon."
Another new fact. This world differed from the game in so many ways.
I'd never worried about Valkyries after logging out.
"Once we have a hideout, no unsummon needed?"
"Right."
"Yeah. Hideout first, then."
Securing a hideout became priority. I wanted to let the Valkyries roam freer.
I unsummoned the disappointed Lije and Lussera, heading out with just Sua.
My first stop wasn't the real estate office.
It was the Mining Guild.
Housing mattered, but mining was key too.
I needed to level the Valkyries I wasn't using.
Diamonds weren't urgent for me—I'd match attributes if they were—but dungeons leveled them gradually, which was the real gain.
True to its name, the Mining Guild was a rugged iron building looming ahead.