Mob
Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #93
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 93: Hyacinth
"We've made good progress so far, haven't we?"
Anna
said as she sat down on a chair in the classroom with a thud.
It
was completely dark outside from the classroom window.
It
was eight o'clock at night. Having accomplished our goal of reaching the E-rank
floor and collecting all the Carbuncle Garnets along the way, we decided to
call it a day and head back to the surface.
"But it was harder than expected. The changes in the
environment and the effects of the field were very tough."
Although
we did not have a hard time against the enemies on the way because we were on
the low floors, what stood in our way were the sudden changes in the
environment and the field effects that seemed to be harassing us.
A
desert under a blazing sun, a snowy mountain in a blizzard, a dense forest in
heavy rain, a limestone cave with freezing air, a volcano with flowing lava,
and a graveyard at night.......
Measures
were taken with various magic items, such as a Salamander cloak for the heat,
Eskimo bear fur for the cold, and a rune amulet borrowed from Anna to ward off
storms for the wind and rain, but... with the temperature differences and day
and night changing so drastically with each floor, my stamina was being sapped
away at a frightening rate.
Of
course, I had used magic to recover my physical stamina as I advanced, but my
autonomic nervous system was going haywire, or rather, my psyche was being
drained.
I
found that on each floor, a heaviness that could not be removed by magic
gradually built up.
The
field effects spurred this, and while I had no problem with enemy buffs because
the enemies were still small fry, I was overwhelmed by things like skill seals,
the inability to summon certain attributes... things that restricted our
abilities and cards were a real pain.
Especially
concerning skill sealing, we could not use [Clairvoyance] or [Trap Disarming],
so I was forced to explore the dungeon blindly for the first time since the
two-star promotion exam.
Proceeding
while being wary of unknown traps was quite mentally draining, and it made me
realize just how much I had relied on Eliza to conquer the dungeon.
“Speaking of things that were harder than expected, the
Carbuncles were particularly difficult to find. I didn't think it would take
this long to find them......."
"That's true..."
We
sighed deeply at the same time.
The
dungeon raid began early in the morning and lasted for over 15 hours, but the
biggest reason it took so long was the search for Carbuncles on each floor.
After
reaching the E-rank floor, I joined the search, but even though it had already
been nearly 10 hours since the start of the expedition, they had only collected
four Garnets by the time I joined.
On
the way, Oribe realized that if I used my Kimaris' powers, I could find the
location of the hidden treasure... in other words, where Carbuncle was. If she
hadn't realized this, we might not have been able to collect all the Garnets by
the end of the day.
"But if it's like this, there is little merit in
having Senpai go ahead of us. After all, it will take a long time to find
Carbuncle without Senpai."
“Hmm. Or I could leave Kimaris in the hands of the Garnet
collector."
At
my suggestion, Anna folded her arms with a troubled look for a few seconds...
"...... No, I don't think that's a good idea. Even
if we're on the same team, lending and borrowing cards can cause trouble."
......
Indeed. The biggest factor in the breakup of Tanaka-san's team, the man with
the hook nose, was also the loss of borrowed cards.
The
misfortune that befell Tanaka-san was not a trivial concern for me, as he had
many things in common with me, such as the Hamelin's Flute. ...... Even if the
lender is me, it would be safer not to rent or borrow any cards.
Cards
should only be rented if you can afford to lose them, or if you can cut ties
with them.
“If you absolutely need a fellow member's card, you
should buy it. We can buy it up as a team and make it a shared property for the
whole team. ...If you're okay with paying in installments by increasing the
share of the reward, that would be more helpful to us as well."
"Ahh..."
Anna
looked at me inquiringly, and now I was the one with the troubled look on my
face.
“Actually, I got an offer regarding Kimaris... with good
conditions. But I'm putting it on hold for now because I have some other
thoughts."
"Oh... it's a prize from the race, and Senpai has
become quite famous. I guess it will be a premium item, huh..."
Anna
hung her head in disappointment.
"I'm sorry, but it's difficult to pay more than the
market price if the team is going to buy it outright. However, if our team buys
it, Senpai will also have the advantage of retaining the right to use it."
"I know."
If
I sell it to Tono-san, I can trade it at a higher (premium) price, which is
more than the market price, of course.
If
I sell to this team, it will be paid in installments and valued at the market
price, but in a sense, the advantage is that it will remain in my possession.
I
can't use it for rank up or name it, but I can use it if I need it, which is
pretty significant. As long as the installment payment is still not completed,
I will be given priority to use it for purposes other than the Garnet
collection.
And
best of all, if I can get the installments paid in Garnets, I can increase my
access to the Garnets in a natural way......
I
felt like the stock price of Kimaris has unexpectedly soared here.
I'm
getting more and more distressed about trading Kimaris.
"But it's still a little surprising that Senpai
would suggest lending out a card......."
"Really?"
“Yes, Senpai likes to name cards, and I thought you had a
pretty strong feeling about that. After all, Kimaris is a first-rate card, not
even a second-rate..."
"Ah..."
I
see, it's like that huh...
“It's true that once I've decided to use the card myself,
I'll never lend it to anyone even if I haven't named it yet... I don't use all
the cards I get, and if I don't feel comfortable using it or haven't decided
whether or not I'm going to use it for real, I may lend it or give it
away."
For
example, the Nightmare I used during the Students Tournament, or the Fenja and
Menja I lent out to Ichijo-san.
There
were some cards that I used once because they were excellent in terms of
ability, but I let go of them because I didn't feel right using them for a long
period of time.
As
a master, it was more considerate to let go of such cards in the hope that they
would find their way to owners who would take good care of them, rather than
keeping them in my possession for a long time without proper use.
In
this sense, Kimaris did not give me a strong enough feeling that I wanted to
use it at once like Athena and the others, but neither was it so incompatible
with me that I would immediately let it go. It felt more like a trial period or
part-time job, so to speak.
I
guess we'll have to wait and see if Kimaris can become a full-time personnel at
our place.
"We're back."
"We bought dinner."
At
that moment, Teacher and Oribe, who had gone to the Dungeon Mart on the rooftop
to buy dinner, came back.
"Oh~, thank you."
"Saknyu. How much was it?"
“It's fine, just this much.”
"Nn, Anna and I will go shopping next time,
then."
"Got it."
I
returned my wallet and decided to accept the treat gratefully this time.
“.................. So, we've decided that starting
tomorrow, the whole gang will move together."
The
two nodded in agreement as they sipped their cups of yakisoba while Anna told
them about what had been decided while they were away.
"Understood. Well, there is no longer any advantage
to split up."
"On the contrary, if we work together, it will be
more efficient to conquer the floors where clairvoyant magic cannot be used. In
that sense, my suggestion was useless. Sorry."
"Well, that's hindsight, so don't worry about
it."
"Forgive me hyacinth."
“Ah, that's not something to apologize for, don't you
think? Though I regret not following through...... Oh, well, you really don't
have to be sorry. At that time, even Senpai, the owner, didn't realize that
Kimaris could be useful in this way."
I- it hurts me to be pointed out like that. I bow my head
slightly.
“Forgive me hyacinth1."
"Is that popular? I
don't know that though."
Oh,
Anna doesn't know this? That's unusual considering she knows a lot about manga.
Maybe she's not that interested in slice-of-life stories?
"Um, whatever. Let's go back to the topic. What we
haven't thought much about is about Carbuncle."
"Hmm, that's true. When I dived into other secret
dungeons, it was not this hard."
True,
when I went into a secret dungeon with Teacher to earn experience points, it
wasn't this hard to find a Carbuncle.
Well,
that's partly because it was an underground-type dungeon.
Since
the monsters appear in fixed locations in underground dungeons, they are the
easiest dungeons to find Carbuncles. If you search thoroughly, you are assured
of finding them again.
"... I was thinking, this dungeon is obviously
bigger than usual, right?"
"I knew it. I
thought so too."
“Yea, the higher the rank, the wider the floor
becomes......."
Everyone's
eyes fell on Teacher.
“Un, let’s see. Certainly, the dungeon is quite large
compared to other C-rank dungeons. It is probably one of the largest among the
C-rank dungeons."
“Ah, it really is, huh....."
We
drooped with dismay at the confirmation of a professional adventurer.
In
addition to the 3 obstacles of random environment, field effects, and roguelike
dungeon, the size of the field is another modest obstacle.......
"What did you find particularly difficult when
Senpai explored the dungeon ahead?"
I
answered Oribe's question as I thought back over the day,
"I think, the toughest part of the day was the skill
sealing floor... It was a pain to not be able to use [Clairvoyance], but more
than anything else, it was scary not being able to use [Trap Disarming]. Like
the teleporter traps.”
The
traps in the dungeon also become more and more vicious as you go up in rank. I
have a guardian goddess, Eliza, so I am not usually afraid of traps, but in
some ways, dungeon traps are more frightening than the monsters themselves.
Especially
from the C-rank, there are teleporter traps.
This
trap is not as bad as ‘in a stone wall2' from a certain game, but it is a trap
that sends you to someplace in the dungeon completely at random.
If
that is all, you may think it is not much of a threat if you have a
transference(teleportation)-type magic item, but the trouble with this trap is
that it will separate you from the card you are summoning at the time.
Since
each floor in the dungeon was basically independent of the next - it was
already proven that you could not reach the next floor by digging your way
underground - if the master and the summoned card were separated by even a
floor, the card would go into a sleep state.
In
this state, the master can neither invoke nor return the card, and the summoned
monster cannot maintain its materialization. In other words, the card becomes
like a ghost, conscious but unable to be seen or touched.
This
state was referred to as the 'Stray state' in the adventurer world, and it is
necessary to go and retrieve the card to release it from this state.
If
a card in a Stray state moves carelessly, it becomes extremely difficult to
reunite with the stray card, so basically, the card should stay where it is and
the master should go to the stray card to pick it up.
This
prevented the master from staying on a safe floor and only dispatching cards to
attack the dungeon.
By
the way, this was the same reason why it is not possible to stay inside a cross-space
type card and only give instructions. Since the inside of a cross-space type is
also isolated from the outside, the card outside can become a stray. Therefore,
to prevent this, the cross-space type card would be set so that if the master
and their card exist separately inside and outside, the space is not blocked
and anyone can come and go as they please with visible access.
If
I were to fall into a teleporter trap, I would be in a lot of trouble. I would
get separated from Eliza as I have her summoned all the time when exploring a
dungeon.
The
teleporter trap also had the effect of erasing the location information of the
transference-type magic item, so even if I manage to make it to a safe zone, I
won't be able to immediately reunite with my card.
Since every transference-type magic item can jump to the first floor, it
would mean starting over again from there.
Some
of the top professional adventurers, however, are said to be strong enough to
take advantage of the teleporter traps when they find them on the lower floors
to improve the efficiency of their strategies.
"Indeed, we must be careful of the teleporter traps.
If you are caught in a teleporter trap and it is at the D or higher rank floor,
don't hesitate to use the emergency evacuation card. Please value your life.”
Anna
said this with a serious face, and we nodded in understanding.
Well,
this group should be able to survive on their own for E-rank floors and lower
ranks.
“And as for the enemies, they were not much of an
obstacle because they were F-rank, but if they were D or C-rank enemies, it
would be pretty bad. Those guys usually have a lot of skills."
“...It seems like the biggest hurdle will be the skill
seals. According to the information... there's one within the D-rank floors,
three on the C-rank floors... One on the main route, and two on the
sub-route."
Three
in the C-rank floors, of all places... I frowned.
"Teacher, from a professional perspective, are there
any other effects that are scary?"
“Hmm, any effect in the C-rank floor would be tough, but
the effects of 'summoning subordinates', 'immortality', 'presence concealment',
and 'two-card summon limit'... I think these are the ones people dislike the
most."
Just
imagining that every monster on a floor has a summoning ability makes me sick,
and the summoning limit of two cards means that it's impossible to conquer it
solo.
"There's a lot...."
Of course, there is more than one in the D-rank or floor
or further, Anna said, and everyone sighed at the same time.
"Ahh, stop it, stop it! No
more gloomy talk! And it's not all bad in the C-rank
floors...right?"
"That's true. Items drop from C-rank floor
onwards."
Until
the D-rank floors, the monsters in the dungeon only drop cards or magic stones,
but from the C-rank floor onwards, they also occasionally drop magic items.
For
example, a wyvern will drop a Flying Dragon's Wing Membrane, a salamander will
drop a Salamander Cloak, and... Kisshoten will drop Amrita.
You'll
be able to obtain items derived from the monster's lore or skills.
Of
course, the drop rate of rare items such as Amrita was reasonably low, but
common magic items such as high potions and magic cards were said to drop at a
decent rate.
This
was why there was an insurmountable income gap between professionals and
amateurs and one of the reasons why semi-professionals were willing to take
risks to become professionals.
To
be honest, the income from dropped cards isn't that great.
Certainly,
the Guild will buy cards at 50% to 80% of the market price from the C-rank
card, and the reward for breaking through the dungeon is more than three times
that of the D-rank dungeon... so at first glance, the earnings from the C-rank
dungeon seem tasty.
However,
the drop rate of C-rank cards was only 0.1%. In fact, the probability is that
only one card will drop after 1,000 monsters have been defeated.
No
matter how high the purchase price of C-rank cards may be, it is not a number
that can be used as a pillar of income.
In
fact... considering the field effects and the easiness of defeating monsters,
it was said that defeating five or more D-rank monsters is better in terms of
'hunting efficiency per hour' than defeating a single C-rank monster.
As
for the magic stones dropped by monsters, the stronger the monster, the bigger
the stone, but their selling price doesn't necessarily increase with
rank."
In
other words, if you only consider the cards and the magic stones dropped, the
C-rank dungeon was not a very tasty place to earn money.
----
However, the story changed when magic item drops were involved.
The
probability that a monster will drop a magic item depended on the monster, but
it was not low by any means, at about 10%.
The
items that the monsters drop do not contain jackpots that exceed their rank
like disappointment boxes, but they also do not yield big misses, either. A
minimum level of quality was guaranteed.
In
other words, unlike before, the more monsters you fight, the more profit you
get.
This
was a great change from the D-rank floors, where there was basically no benefit
to fighting monsters unless you were after cards or experience points.
Since
the discovery of [Spiritual recurrence], items that were once worth little now
have a value, and I could only look forward to it.
***
Notes:
1 Decided to put the note here so you can be confused first, hehe. This is a gag/joke from Nichijou. People say it may be a nonsense joke cause the ‘hyacinth’ has no relation whatsoever in the conversation. But some people found out that purple has the meaning of ‘please forgive me’. So “forgive me hyacinth” can also be seen as saying “really, REALLY sorry” still in a joking tone ↩
2 From the game ‘Wizardry’. The spell 'Marol' allows you to teleport to a specified relative coordinate. If you input the coordinates incorrectly and materialize inside a wall, you will be ‘in a stone wall’. When you defeat an enemy, a treasure chest sometimes appears. Most treasure chests are trapped. One such trap is a teleporter that randomly teleports your party to a new location. If you accidentally trigger this and end up inside a wall, you'll be 'in a stone wall'. And 'in a stone wall' will result in Lost! (Lost: Your character is completely gone and cannot be revived. You can only delete the character from your saved data.) In Wizardry, unless you cheat, you only have one save file. No matter how much you love a character, if they're Lost, they're GONE FOREVER. ↩
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