Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Entering the Ancient Ruins
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But contrary to Seong-un's worries, Rakrak was already brimming with interest.
He was a lizardman who had experienced far too many thrills from a young age to turn down an adventure.
From his childhood, where he lost his parents and had to grow up without anyone's help, to the time he was driven out into the wasteland and stood against the saber-tooth to protect his tribe.
After catching Seong-un's eye and showing the qualities of a tribal chief to lead the group, he became a priest carrying out the will of the god.
Borrowing the power of the god, he defeated the once-violent lizardman tribal chief Viewe, tamed the drake Manun with his bare hands, and when they crossed the wasteland once more, he vanquished a massive ancient scarab.
And then, he saw through the deceit of the froglin tribe he had never encountered before in his life, watching their lowly abomination get torn to shreds by the guardian of the Blue Insect God he believed in.
He had lived a life filled with刺激.
To Rakrak, a new adventure was not so much a danger as it was a driving force that could change his future.
When Rakrak insisted on going to the ancient ruins himself, there was opposition, but his stubbornness wouldn't bend.
Jaol said that if Rakrak was going, then she, his mate, must go too, and this time Rakrak couldn't win the argument with logic.
The next day, Rakrak and Jaol set out with six warriors, accompanied by Owen, who had taken on the role of guide.
Seong-un was a bit worried.
'Ancient ruins are different, aren't they? They might end up disappointed.'
Unlike the abominations and monstrosities that scaled in difficulty proportional to the players' divinity levels, ancient ruins had fixed positions set at the game's start, so their challenge level was predetermined.
Thus, at this stage, it wouldn't be surprising if they hit what gamers called an 'entrance cut'—getting blocked right at the entryway, leaving Rakrak disappointed.
'But even then, just discovering the ancient ruins has value. It might not be useful right now, but Rakrak's interested in writing. Rakrak's tribe or their descendants might uncover it someday.'
Ancient ruins offered a set few rewards upon successful entry.
'First off, ancient knowledge.'
Ancient knowledge, or ancient technology.
Despite the name 'ancient,' in the game Lost World, such relics rivaled cutting-edge civilization. Entering them allowed gradual acquisition of damaged advanced knowledge and tech over time.
'But usually, if your civilization level is low, you can't even pass the entrance.'
No matter what, it was safe to assume no one accidentally stumbled through the door.
They often required various archaeological knowledge or tech from the level just below.
Seong-un actually saw them as tech-farming dungeons designed to aid Lost World progression.
'So ruins with ancient knowledge aren't needed at this point. Maybe equivalent knowledge or tech?'
Equivalent knowledge or tech meant things like herding or farming—obtainable even now, but at a low civilization level.
Eventually, they'd be acquired over time anyway, so no need to find them in ancient ruins specifically, but if they could snag various knowledge and tech, it wasn't bad.
'For now, equivalent knowledge seems best. It'd appropriately level up experience for Rakrak, Jaol, or Owen too.'
On the other hand, some rewards felt good upon acquisition but were hard to use.
'Wonders.'
Some ancient ruins themselves held special powers.
Automatically generating special resources, hosting swarms of specific creatures, converting one resource to another, cursing or blessing the surrounding area, or inflicting status ailments on tribes or races deemed 'owners.'
'Wonders themselves are good. The problem is most are fixed-type. Rakrak's tribe, thinking of herding, couldn't utilize them properly.'
Splitting the tribe wasn't an issue, but geography was.
Wonders weren't always beneficial, and Seong-un had already lured Rakrak's tribe deep into a remote peninsula, far from other players.
Even good wonders would be hard to leverage fully.
'Beginners who snag a wonder try twisting their entire build around it, but in actual win rates, wonders rarely make a significant impact.'
Seong-un always trusted Lost World's stats.
Beyond such wonders, there was something he hoped wouldn't appear.
'Well, as long as it's not a demonic ruin, it should be fine.'
In Seong-un's view, anything but so-called 'demonic ruins' wouldn't be a bad outcome.
'Unique ruins probability is too low.'
Excluding ancient knowledge, equivalent knowledge, wonders, demonic ruins, and unique ruins, most fell into the 'miscellaneous ruins' category players called junk.
They might pile up decent treasures like the golden tablet Rakrak once found—valuable in medieval or modern eras, but not now.
'Well, if ancient artifacts like magic items pop out, they'd be useful. Advantageous in future battles.'
Seeing Rakrak's curiosity and boldness unlikely to lead to disaster, Seong-un decided to watch what happened.
The entrance to the ancient ruins was simple.
A heavy stone disk—several strong people pushing it aside was all it took.
From the easy entry difficulty, Seong-un could tell it wasn't an ancient knowledge dungeon or unique ruin.
Jaol wedged jagged stones to keep the entrance from closing.
"I thought we'd need to light firewood for a dark cave, but no."
"Indeed. Is that glowing moss?"
The interior was a massive cavern.
Roughly hundreds of meters across, the empty space was dizzying, but green and red glowing moss bloomed everywhere, hinting at the full scale.
Zigzagging arch bridges of stone connected the cavern, descending in spans dozens of meters high.
"Looks like we have to cross all those stone paths."
"It'd be nice if we could just jump down at once."
"Shall we pray to the god?"
"No, I don't want to bother him over something this trivial... Plus, I can't be the only one going down."
Jaol almost asked Rakrak, full of anticipation, 'Won't it be boring?' but held back.
Rakrak, Jaol, Owen, and four warriors huddled briefly.
Weaving long vines into ropes seemed plausible, but considering the time, descending the existing bridges was better.
With no sharp ideas after minutes, per Rakrak's usual doctrine of ending meetings quickly, they moved to action.
The lizardmen's sturdy legs began navigating the bridges downward.
But soon after starting, trouble appeared.
"What's that?"
"Rats... but huge."
Owen, who had lived long in the area, spoke up.
"Nutria. You've caught them before."
"Ah, right. I wondered how rats got so big. But these look even bigger."
Normal nutria were about 60 cm long and 10 kg, but these seemed a meter long—likely dozens of kilos.
And something striking caught Rakrak's eye.
"I know why I didn't remember. Normal nutria don't swarm like that or charge at people baring their front teeth."
"Hm, hard to call them nutria then."
"Let's just call them monster rats."
A simple but fitting name.
In Rakrak's view, normal animals weren't always hostile to people—they usually fled.
Monsters, however, charged like they had purpose.
"Maybe they're guarding this place. Just rats, but... everyone, weapons ready."
The fight started but ended quickly.
Twenty monster rats was a fair number, but Rakrak and his warriors were veterans.
The narrow bridge, tight for seven standing abreast, saw the rats impaled on spears mid-charge.
Rakrak pulled a monster rat corpse off his spear blade and said,
"Think we can eat them?"
Jaol poked the corpse.
"Doesn't look problematic, but why divide everything into edible or not?"
"That's the most important question."
"Not wrong. But we could look at it differently."
"How?"
"Like with water buffalo—can we 'raise' them or not?"
"Interesting... Let's gut them and move."
As they butchered quickly, Owen asked,
"What does 'raising' mean?"
"Well..."
Rakrak realized he didn't know exactly.
Water buffalo were for meat, but drake Manun wasn't.
They wouldn't eat Manun.
'Like slaves then?'
Not quite—slaves were dissatisfied with their lot, while raised creatures seemed content. Slaves rebelled with will, requiring suppression; raised ones didn't.
"Not sure."
Rakrak looked to Jaol expectantly, but she pondered too.
Jaol soon gave up.
"We haven't raised much lately, so I'm fuzzy. We're raising water buffalo and drake Manun now—from buffalo we get meat, from Manun power. In return, we find grass for buffalo and feed Manun separately. We hope this lasts. That's my answer on what raising means."
Owen seemed satisfied.
"Then maybe we could raise fish."
"Fish? Don't they just appear and vanish?"
To Rakrak, yes.
In the swamps and ponds he'd known, fish dwindled when caught, eventually vanishing.
But Owen, from big ponds living with aquatic froglin, knew better.
"Fish lay eggs and breed. Froglin avoided catching them during spawning seasons."
"They had that wisdom."
"Until the two-headed abomination showed up."
Rakrak agreed.
"So, raising?"
"Some fish grow big and easy to catch young, but get eaten by others. Stack stones or wood for weirs to protect juveniles?"
"Dam the water?"
Rakrak thought it tough for vast deep lakes but didn't say so.
The idea was novel and good, even if practical hurdles loomed.
'And I'm planning to split the tribe. Winters are brutal for those staying too.'
Rakrak nodded.
"Worth trying to figure out."
Then, a warrior butchering a rat yelped, "Ack!"
Rakrak whipped around.
"What happened?"
The warrior clutched his hand in pain; faint burnt smell from his fingers.
"The monster rat's still alive."
"Doesn't look bitten."
"Just touching the live one hurt."
The skewered rat glared; another warrior raised his spear to finish it.
"Hold!"
Rakrak stopped him and reached for the rat.
"Dangerous!"
"Don't worry. I can handle that wound."
Rakrak touched the monster rat.
-Zap!
A vivid spark.
Rakrak vaguely knew static from dry winter fur, but this pain dwarfed it.
He flexed his tingling fingers.
"What is this?"
Only Seong-un, watching everything, realized.
'Was it the demonic ruins I suspected?'