Secret Dungeon (2)

Merlogs were inherently weak, but Sanghyuk’s combat prowess was also exceptional, making his full-clear completion time nothing short of awe-inspiring.

A staggering twenty-seven minutes and twenty-two seconds.

Even considering that Merlog's Treasure Warehouse was a small-scale dungeon, it was an astonishing record that would have easily claimed first place in any time-attack competition. An ordinary player would have taken an hour or even two, but Sanghyuk had streamlined his routing to the absolute minimum while pulling and wiping out swarms of Merlogs all at once, executing a flawlessly clean sweep.

“Hmm. If I tighten the movement path just a bit more and line up my burst damage against the final boss with better timing, I could shave off at least another five minutes.”

It was already a monstrous record, yet Sanghyuk was already scheming ways to cut it down further. He truly was a man operating on a completely different wavelength from normal people.

Emerging from Merlog's Treasure Warehouse, Sanghyuk returned to Falcon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠City. Surprisingly, the second secret dungeon he needed to claim was located right inside the city itself.

He didn’t know its official name this time either, but on the broadcast, they had called it the "Honeypot Sewer Dungeon." Why, then, had Sanghyuk prioritized the Merlog dungeon over this one when the sewer was so much closer?

The reason was simple: on the show, they had stated that they found the Merlog dungeon first and only then discovered the sewer dungeon. That meant as long as he locked down the Merlog dungeon, securing the sewer dungeon ahead of them was virtually guaranteed.

To be honest, since he had no way of knowing the precise timeline of what they considered the "very early days," this was the only foolproof approach. Regardless, with the Merlog dungeon claimed, all he had to do now was secure the sewer dungeon as well.

Curiously enough, Falcon City already housed a Public Dungeon known as Falcon's Sewer. It was the very first starter dungeon experienced by players venturing into EL.

Yet one could not afford to look down on it just because it was labeled a starter dungeon. In sheer scale alone, it dwarfed the endgame raid dungeons of other VR titles. It was here that players truly grasped the transcendent pedigree of Eternal Life; people even went so far as to claim that a standalone game could be built using Falcon's Sewer alone. At this point in time, however, the overwhelming majority of players had yet to meet the entry requirements, so talk of Falcon's Sewer was virtually nonexistent on the forums.

If I remember right, serious raiding in Falcon's Sewer didn’t kick off until about a month after the official launch. That means there are still three weeks left.

Though Sanghyuk scoured every corner to monopolize whatever he could, he intended to bypass Falcon's Sewer entirely. For starters, he lacked the gear and levels to solo a Public Dungeon of that scale, and more importantly, the rewards paled in comparison to the immense effort required. He concluded it was best skipped. The secret "Honeypot Sewer Dungeon," on the other hand, was something he would claim by any means necessary.

Just outside Falcon City's perimeter lay hunting grounds teeming with Falcon Bandits. Slaying these humanoid, NPC-like monsters yielded an item called the Bandit Plaque.

These plaques served as quest items for "Falcon City Bandit Eradication," one of the most common repeatable quests available in the city. Turning them in granted bonus Karma scaled to the number submitted, up to an individual limit of ten thousand plaques. Moreover, turning them in raised reputation with the Falcon City Guard, making them exceptionally versatile items.

In EL, practically everything could be traded, and Bandit Plaques were bought and sold in massive volumes. High utility ensured both strong supply and heavy demand. Sanghyuk headed straight to the consignment shop and bought up a thousand of them in bulk. It drained most of the gold he had amassed hunting criminal players, but he didn't regret the expense in the slightest. Wasting valuable hours grinding bandits for a thousand plaques would have cost him far more.

Like most stackable items, the plaques condensed into a single inventory bundle, hovering with a crisp, holographic display that clearly indicated the number 1,000.

Carrying the stack of a thousand plaques, Sanghyuk made his way to the Falcon City Guard headquarters. He handed the bundle over to the quartermaster, receiving a modest chunk of bonus Karma. But bonus Karma wasn’t what Sanghyuk was after.

This was what Sanghyuk had been aiming for all along: the clearance to walk past the front desk and into the barracks interior.

Astonishingly, the "Honeypot Sewer Dungeon" was situated right in the basement of the Guard headquarters.

Turning in one thousand Bandit Plaques elevated a traveler's affinity with the Falcon City Guard to Intimate. Submitting ten thousand elevated it to "Comrade," granting official enlistment into their ranks. However, Sanghyuk had no desire to enlist, which was why he had purchased precisely one thousand.

The moment his clearance updated, Sanghyuk strode directly into the barracks. Thanks to his Intimate standing, every guard NPC he passed greeted him with warm, bright expressions.

In EL, the affinity system was every bit as vital as character titles. It operated on two tiers: individual and organizational. Crucially, individual affinity always took precedence over faction standing. For instance, even if a player achieved Comrade standing with the Falcon City Guard, making a misstep in personal conduct toward a specific guard NPC could cause that individual to despise them, regardless of what the rest of the barracks thought. Most players currently overlooked affinity as a secondary mechanic, but as time marched on, everyone would come to realize how critically impactful it truly was.

Having had no previous interaction with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any of the guards, every NPC treated Sanghyuk with total goodwill. Consequently, he walked down the stone stairs into the basement without facing the slightest challenge or restraint.

Stepping into the chilly subterranean air, Sanghyuk recalled the scene the streamers had laughingly described on broadcast.

The dusty bookshelf against the far wall... they said to pull a specific book titled 'Falcon City Sewer Map.'

Just as described, Sanghyuk walked over to the worn bookshelf tucked into a dim corner of the basement. He scanned the leather-bound spines until he found the volume labeled Falcon City Sewer Map.

Found it.

Without a second thought, Sanghyuk gripped the spine and pulled.

A heavy mechanical rumble echoed through the chamber as the entire bookshelf slid sideways across the stone floor.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Bingo!

Knowing the exact answer in advance had made discovering the hidden sewer dungeon effortless. By skipping the tedious trial-and-error process and leaping straight to the solution, Sanghyuk had locked down two secret dungeons at an impossible pace.

For an ordinary player to locate both, they would have had to gather cryptic rumors across countless regions, cross-reference the breadcrumbs, theorize endless possibilities, and painstakingly test each one through manual exploration. Comparing their tedious journey to Sanghyuk’s targeted harvest was utterly meaningless.

The shimmering portal revealed behind the displaced bookshelf was visible to Sanghyuk alone. Confident in his absolute privacy, he stepped across the threshold, reviewed the dungeon parameters, and stepped back out into the basement.

Two exclusive hunting grounds secured. Now all that's left is to run them into the dirt.

Wearing a satisfied smirk, Sanghyuk exited the Guard Barracks and headed straight for the largest magic emporium in Falcon City.

The Abandoned Fishing Village where the Merlogs resided, and Falcon City where Sewer No. 77 lay—Sanghyuk planned to cycle relentlessly between the two locations to supercharge his leveling speed.

For the outbound journey to the Abandoned Fishing Village, he resolved to run on foot. Sprinting there took roughly an hour. In truth, using a Marking Book to cast Recall would have made the trip instantaneous, but his coin purse wasn't deep enough to afford a Marking Book alongside the expensive charges required for the Recall spell.

What he could afford, however, was a rechargeable Return Stone.

A ten-charge Return Stone was more than sufficient to snap him back to Falcon City the moment he cleared the coastal cave. He would have loved to purchase a one-hundred-charge version, but shelling out top coin for luxury utility was unnecessary right now.

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Once players outgrew Falcon City and scattered across the wider continents of Planet Trinark, Marking Books became indispensable survival gear. The triad of essentials every Dimensional Traveler relied upon consisted of the Marking Book, the Space Expansion Bag, and the Return Stone.

Without an innate inventory interface in EL, a Space Expansion Bag was mandatory to carry anything of value. A Return Stone was equally vital for rapid extraction back to a designated hearth. While the number of coordinates one could save in a Marking Book increased with level, attempting to explore Planet Trinark without one was utter suicide.

Postponing the expensive Marking Book for later, Sanghyuk bought the entry-level Return Stone and set out at a sprint toward the Abandoned Fishing Village. Had he possessed a Marking Book, he could have bounced back and forth between the two secret dungeons within seconds. Still, taking into account the one-hour cooldowns on both instances, using the Return Stone for the return leg was more than enough to maintain peak efficiency.

With all preparations complete, Sanghyuk threw himself into an unrelenting grind, shuttling between the two secret dungeons without wasting a single minute.

Merlog's Treasure Warehouse yielded vast torrents of Karma, while Falcon City Sewer No. 77 showered him with exceptionally valuable equipment.

In particular, the sewer dungeon's final boss, the Giant Sewer Rat, had a low probability of dropping pieces of a Magic-grade armor set. And that set was nothing short of extraordinary.

Equipment in EL followed a strict hierarchical progression: Common, Magic, Rare, Unique, Legendary, and Mythic. However, full set equipment was an exception to the rule, consistently punching above its weight class to rival the raw stat profiles of the rank directly above it.

At this early stage, when even standard Magic-grade gear was virtually nonexistent on the open market, a Magic-tier set matching the performance of Rare equipment held immeasurable value.

It was the armaments of Harkan, one of Falcon City's historic founding heroes.

Harkan's sword and shield, his tailored armor pieces, his billowing cape... Sanghyuk cleared the subterranean tunnels over and over, collecting every scrap of the Magic-grade set. By his eightieth clear, he finally assembled a complete, unbroken Harkan Set. The other components had dropped multiple times over, but Harkan's Helmet had stubbornly refused to appear until that very eightieth run, finally completing the legendary ensemble.