Chapter 3 Part1 (1/2)

<chapter 3.=”” level=”” up=”” -=”” 1=””>

”It's a good view.”

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo carelessly muttered. Although he was underground, mana was everywhere, and harmoniously floated about. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo stretched his bare hand, and the mana briefly remained at his fingertips, and then went somewhere else. It seemed it was because his Beginner Magic Affinity was still only level 1.

'Getting this skill early on was definitely a good call.'

He stayed there, playing with the mana a bit more, and then, withdrew his hand and nodded his head. After experiencing the mystery of mana, he finally felt like he was in a different world. He had felt, how should he say it, that it was just a survival game up until now.

'If the blue bone was this effective, then what would the red bone do? It feels like the red bone would've been really helpful. I can't ignore Perium anymore... oh.'

[A quest has occurred!]

He wasn't that surprised this time seeing the quest message. Before the message appeared, he saw the mana in front of him distort, and not only that, he had predicted that it would appear at around this timing.

[The Ability to Survive Here]

[Though you have safely infiltrated the Empire, you are still too weak. The Underground Empire is vast, and there are powerful undead who have lived a long time within. However, there are fortunately some who evaded the undead curse and continued to live. These living beings inhabit an isolated environment, the dungeon.]

[You must first build up your strength in the dungeon before you start your battle with the undead in earnest. Pick a dungeon nearby and get to level 2. When the sum of your stats reaches 200, the karma that you've gathered up to that point will determine your future appearance and potential.]

[However, be cautious. The dungeon itself is safe from the curse, but those who were cursed and entered into the dungeon are not.]

[Quest reward - Open Heroes' Chatting Channel]

”What!?”

After he read the entire quest, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's eyes glared. A chatting channel? It would've been nice if they'd opened the chatting channel earlier!

If not, is this karma too!? If that's also not it, is getting to level 2 the prerequisite to entering the chatting room!?

”Let's go now. Right now.”

[The dungeon's location is being shown on the minimap.]

However, contrary to his ma.s.sive complaining, he immediately nodded his head and accepted the quest. He had been lonely since he hadn't had anyone to talk to, but a channel where he could talk to the other heroes inside the Empire? He would be lying if he said he wasn't happy.

Furthermore, realistically speaking, this chatting channel would be helpful. The heroes agreed that their mission was to save the Empire. Then that meant they were on the same page. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo hoped that the heroes deep within the Empire would each say a word or two to their junior.

'No wait, I might be thinking too optimistically since I've been starved of human contact, but... in any case, I'll know when the channel's open.'

As long as he behaved himself, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo would be able to use this chatting channel effectively. He was extremely satisfied with the quest reward, nodded his head, and finally noticed the last phrase of the quest.

[However, be cautious. The dungeon itself is safe from the curse, but those who were cursed and entered into the dungeon are not.]

He tilted his head. The monsters inside the dungeon aren't affected by the curse, but the heroes who had entered the empire have already been affected by it, so be cautious if you don't want to die, is that it? He was an undead that was blessed with immortality, so he didn't really worry about it too much.

'...Alright, let's find a suitable dungeon nearby.'

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo leaned against a nearby building's wall and concealed himself; then, he gently closed his eyes and saw the minimap.

Things like the monsters' locations didn't appear on the minimap, but aside from that, it showed the surrounding area in fair detail. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo tended to not have a good sense of direction, so showing the surrounding area would give him a solid sense of direction.

'There are three s.h.i.+ning points above the minimap... Their size is subtly different; does the difficulty correspond with the size?'

There were three dungeons in the immediate vicinity. Right now, he couldn't tell what kind of monsters were in a certain dungeon, nor could he tell their difficulty level. He wouldn't know until he personally entered the dungeon.

If that's the case, picking any of them should be fine. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo started to walk towards the closest dungeon. First, he needed to get out of the ruined city; then he would need to go past the desert terrain, which was all he saw, to reach his destination.

'The surrounding area should be safe. Since those skeletons just stayed atop the castle wall.'

Of course, he couldn't afford to be careless. After all, a Treasure Eater had appeared in the external pa.s.sageways, which could be considered the tutorial stage, just because a Lv2 item had appeared.

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo still wasn't confident that he could beat a Treasure Eater one on one with ease. The wall called 'levels' was huge and st.u.r.dy. However, it would change soon. As long as he raised his stats by 9, that is.

'First, let's be cautious of our surroundings...'

He had been afraid of the Empire ever since he saw the quest alert window, and he had comparatively been recklessly charging forward until now. Even so, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had no choice but to be on his guard. He couldn't afford to be reckless, even when taking on level 1 skeletons as his opponents.

However, fortunately, his concerns were unfounded. He hadn't encountered a single zombie or skeleton before reaching the dungeon that hid on the outskirts of the ruined city.

'...It's strange though.'

Since he hadn't encountered anything, he was even more concerned. How could there be fewer skeletons within the Empire than the skeletons guarding the external pa.s.sageways? To him, who had prepared for a much more dangerous fight with the Treasure Eater, he felt all his energy drain away.

'Perhaps it's a matter related to the dungeon.'

He didn't ignore this sense of disharmony. He returned his bow that he had taken out to intercept enemies from a far distance and tightly gripping the bone spear. Then, he cautiously moved forward, being watchful of his surroundings.

His level 4 Beginner Spearmans.h.i.+p would be better than his level 2 Beginner Archery against a strong opponent. More importantly, his bone spear was at level 2. He felt more rea.s.sured when he held the spear than the bow.

He recollected his faint experience in the army, and instinctively guarded in all directions poorly, and after a while of walking tactically, he finally arrived at the point that s.h.i.+mmered on his minimap.

The problem was that it kept s.h.i.+ning.

'I arrived but... So where exactly is the dungeon? Do I have to dig into the ground or something?'

The dungeon entrance was so well hidden that if the dungeon's location hadn't appeared on the minimap, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo wouldn't have been able to recognize it.

He couldn't find it by looking at the ground, and it was a structure where he would find the stairway that led underground only after digging for quite a while, but honestly, there was a secret that was hidden here. And before he went through the effort of digging, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo, fortunately, realized that.

”What's this pattern?”

There was a pattern on the ground that faintly emitted light. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo scrutinized it for a while and realized that the pattern didn't actually exist but was a trace of mana that had become fixed, albeit faintly.

'This does look like the dungeon's entrance. What do I have to do for the mana to, oooh.'

The moment Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's bare bone came into contact with the trace of mana, the magic circle that blocked the dungeon's entrance responded to Lee s.h.i.+n Woo and started to strongly surge up. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo instinctually directed the mana that was gathered in his bone and touched it.