CH 25

I woke up in the morning and washed my face in the well in the inn’s backyard. I looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was already high in the sky.

I am a bit of a late riser today.

Last night I kept listening to Hans-san as much as I could until the closing time, and as a result, I went to bed late. Nevertheless, thanks to that, I was able to hear many good things.

I left the inn and headed for work in the morning.

The most interesting things Hans-san told me were about artifacts, ancient ruins, and other countries.

As for artifacts, it seems to be a general term for items that can no longer be made and can be found mainly in dungeons and archaeological sites. Strictly speaking, we do not know exactly what they are, and there are various kinds.

Famous artifacts that everyone knows include the holy sword Lufnir, which was once used by heroes. It is rumored that some country has it among their secret treasury, but the details are unknown.

It’s hard to tell from the information that comes to the general public. I wonder if information about powerful artifacts owned by powerful people is kept as secret as possible.

However, it seems that not all artifacts are strictly controlled by those in power. The effects of artifacts vary from one to another, and the strength of their abilities varies from one to another, as well as the number of artifacts. It is not surprising that a high-ranking party would have at least one artifact in their possession.

I arrived at the dungeon during my pondering.

As usual, I cast [Light Source] to secure light before going down the stairs.

Today, I continued to fight while practicing [Light Ball].

With the addition of the spell [Light Ball] in my arsenal, my monotonous work has changed a little, but it is still monotonous work. If I had to choose between fun and boring, I would say it’s definitely boring, but let’s face it, if you’re really into MMOs and aim for the top, this level of monotony won’t bother you. [T/N: Hear, hear.]

This is because hunting in MMORPGs ultimately boils down to endlessly repeating efficient fights. Hunting the same enemy, in the same place, in the same way, for hours on end. No matter how ingenious or innovative the game is, that is what happens when you are aiming for the highest efficiency, and if you want to get to the top, you have to do it. In the end, patience is the key. Even if you have plenty of time, if you do not have the patience, you cannot aim for the top. That was the game called MMORPG. [T/N: Well you can grind or pay your way to the top on most modern MMOs.]

Well, now that I have come to this world, I thought I would never grind again, but I guess it does not really matter.

Let’s switch it up.

I remembered Hans-san’s story again.

About ancient ruins.

Ancient ruins are, as the name suggests, old ruins.

Some are just old sites, and some are ruins where artifacts can be found.

Among adventurers, the latter are called ancient ruins, and the former is not even interesting and they are not particularly profitable, so I did not care much about those…

The difference between the two is that the former are unchanged, while the latter are ruins where artifacts can be found, and the ruins themselves are often huge artifacts made with super ancient technology.

The most famous place for ancient ruins is the aquatic city of Lucrezia, which is also well known to the masses. It’s a city built on the ruins of an ancient city, with clean water constantly flowing out of a huge artifact in the castle and spreading to every corner of the city, and industries that make use of the water resources are flourishing.

There are also ancient ruins of uncertain authenticity mixed within folklore and fairy tales, and Hans-san was looking for one of these legendary ruins.

You can make a name for yourself just by finding ancient ruins, and if you find them first, you can basically do whatever you want with the treasures inside the ruins.

It’s the search for ancient ruins that can make adventurers overflowing, with money and honor.

In the meantime, we arrived at the fifth floor, the lowest level of the dungeon.

I am going to defeat the dagger goblins at the bottom level as usual.

In fact, this dagger goblin is the reason why my earnings have improved compared to the first time. The magic stone dropped by this dagger goblin is E-rank, which is higher than the F-rank magic stones dropped by other goblins. Moreover, it takes about 30 minutes for them to reappear. In short, it would be more efficient to kill these dagger goblins as much as possible while hunting normal goblins in my spare time.

“Light, shoot down my enemy, [Light Ball]!”

Immediately shoot a [Light Ball] after passing through the door in the dungeon’s innermost room.

This room is well lit, so I can see my opponent, and I do not want to give time for the goblins to react. I am going to finish them off with one quick attack.

The goblins that were blown off fell, and are slowly absorbed by the floor, leaving magic stones on the floor.

“A failure?”

A magic stone and dagger dropped during my first kill, but apparently, the dagger was a rare drop and it does not come out every time. This time, the dagger didn’t come out, so it was a failure.

However, I think the probability of getting out a rare drop is good. Is this because it is the beginner dungeon? Or is the effect of [Luck] that I acquired at that place at the last moment was strong? I cannot say anything at this point.

Well, should I make money through the usual routine?

With that in mind, I remembered Hans’s story again.

The last story I heard from Hans-san. It is about the geography of this world.

First of all, it seems that geography is considered very important for tactical information in this world, and accurate maps are rarely available on the surface. Therefore, there were many ambiguous points in Hans-san’s story. When I tried to ask him about the specific locations of various countries and towns, he just gave me vague explanations like “east of something” or “if you keep right of something, you can find it”.

I tried to ask him to write it down on a piece of paper, but that didn’t go too well either.

Nevertheless, I was able to create a very simple map that would give me some vague idea of where I am.

According to the map, there is a large city called Rankfurt to the north of the southern village where we are now, and from Rankfurt there are large roads running north, east and west. The road on the north side leads to the royal capital, and on the east side is a mountain village with a thriving forestry industry. And to the west is the labyrinth city of Elem.

In addition, the name of this country is the Kingdom of Karim. Beyond the Southern Village, and the Beginner’s Dungeon further south, there are mountains surrounding them and the ocean. In short, this is a landlocked village with mountains along the southern coastline and no access to marine resources.

Now, I heard this information from Hans-san after squeezing out stories after stories. After hearing this, I had a vague idea of what I want to do.

Anyway, first of all, I want to see more of this world.

It would be possible to settle down in the city and live a stable life until I die. However, I do not want that. For whatever reason, I do not want to come to this world and just live in mediocrity.

There are risks and uncertainties, but this world is attractive enough to take it all in.

I want to travel to many countries, dive into various dungeons, find amazing treasures, and visit places that are told in legends.

Sometimes it is good to just do some sightseeing and find the best food.

That’s going to be my purpose for living in this world.