Level 2 Item. Root of the World Tree.
However, this wasn’t exactly a well-used piece of equipment in the game.
That was because it was a long-distance communication device with no range limitations. But it wasn’t something that could be used right away.
At present, the World Tree’s root was in a deep slumber.
To awaken it and bring out its true abilities, one needed a “Leaf of the World Tree”.
That wasn’t something easily obtained, and it required visiting a specific dungeon.
The “Ancient Elf Forest” where the Leaf of the World Tree could be found was located at least on the seventh level field or higher.
For now, it was impossible for Jun and his companions to go there.
Of course, that was only according to the official route.
But Jun knew of another method.
“You’ve got a pretty sly look on your face… Well, anyway, it’s a relief you found what you needed. So, when are you planning to depart for the Ancient Tower? I’ve just gotten word from the Count.”
“I’ll set out as soon as everyone’s gathered.”
They had already prepared all the necessary supplies, and the Root of the World Tree, their last needed item, had come into Jun’s possession sooner than expected.
There was no longer any reason to wait.
“Alright. This time, please try not to cause any major incidents. Spare a thought for me. I’m the one who has to file the reports every time.”
“……”
Jun thought it was a pity. If it weren’t for the mountain of paperwork stacked around Chloe, he could have shown her some good old-fashioned mercenary shamelessness.
***
A few days later, Aiden and Maya returned to the Black Forest Fortress.
“Good work, Aiden. Nothing too rough out there?”
“Don’t even start.”
The reply came not from Aiden but from Maya who was grumbling beside him.
Aiden only gave an awkward smile, which made Jun tilt his head in curiosity.
If they had survived even on the fifth level, what trouble could they have had on the second level?
Still, now that he took a closer look, their gear definitely showed signs of heavy use.
“What happened out there?”
“It’s a long story…”
“Why, did an Irregular show up? Even then, the ones on the second level shouldn’t have been that tough.”
Jun and his companions had encountered an Irregular on the second level before.
That was back when they entered Eternal Slumber alongside Colton’s mercenary band.
At the time, the real trouble had come from the appearance of an Eroder Camp. Dealing with the Irregular itself had been relatively easy.
“If it had only been one, it wouldn’t have been that hard.”
“Oh… so you ran into it twice?”
“Five times.”
“..…??”
What kind of curse did it take to run into an Irregular five times in one run, something most people would be lucky (or unlucky) to see even once in a year?
Then Jun clapped his hands as if remembering something.
“If it’s a spot on the second level where Irregulars show up often… wait, don’t tell me…the Lizard Marsh?”
“Ah…how did you know?”
“There are two types of boss monsters there. One’s the Lizardman Warrior, the other’s the Lizard Queen.”
The Lizardman Warrior was normally an elite-level Lizardman that appeared on the third level, while the Lizard Queen was a subspecies of Lizardman with extremely high reproductive capacity.
“Especially if the Lizard Queen appears as an Irregular, there’s a decent chance her offspring will also be Irregulars.”
That would explain why they’d faced multiple kinds of Irregulars.
“Ah… but we also ran into an Irregular in a completely different dungeon. Could that be related?”
“No. That’s just bad luck…”
“……”
“……”
Aiden and Maya both shook their heads, as if at a loss for words.
Still….if you could call it a silver lining, the items dropped by the Irregulars were worthy rewards for the effort they’d put in.
“In any case, the Break Mercenary Group got lucky. Without you two, they might have been wiped out.”
“They were actually quite capable. We learned a lot from them in different ways.”
“Oh, yeah? Guess that just proves Joseph knows how to pick his people…”
While Jun was quietly impressed with Joseph’s judgment, Aiden glanced at him and asked cautiously,
“But… are you doing alright, senior?”
“Me? Why?”
“Your dark circles…”
“Ah… I’m fine. I’ve just been learning a lot lately. I’ve been working with Sir Shylock on various projects.”
“….…”
Aiden thought back to Jun’s usual schedule.
Up at dawn for physical training, reading magic books over breakfast, going back to his room to read more magic books, coming down for lunch while still reading magic books…
And now he was collaborating with someone like Shylock, a leading expert on enchantment magic.
…Maybe we actually have it better.
Aiden liked books too, but that had only been back when he was confined to the Imperial Palace. And even then, most of what he read were travelogues or novels.
If someone told him to stay holed up in a room all day with a magic book full of complicated formulas like Jun did, he was sure he couldn’t handle it.
“Still, I’ve been making quite a bit of progress lately, so it hasn’t been a bad use of my time. Just wait, you’ll see in the next battle.”
“Well… that’s good to hear, I suppose.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m still getting a solid hour of sleep every day.”
Even for a mana user, it wasn’t normal to cut down on sleep to that extreme.
But it didn’t seem like Jun was going to listen to anything Aiden said about it.
And before Aiden could continue, someone appeared who was so unsettling that even Maya instinctively brought her hand to her sword.
“Ah, Eleanor. Finished working out the formulas you were struggling with?”
“Uh… yeah. All wrapped up.”
“Don’t forget to organize them into a written document. Otherwise, you’ll just forget them again.”
“Already did tha—ugh! The sunlight!”
Why was someone with their eyes covered by an eyepatch in pain from sunlight?
No…before that, wasn’t she a priestess of healing who specialized in manipulating light?
“…Are you alright?”
“Oh, you’re here. Good work out there. Don’t worry about me. I still get thirty minutes of sleep every day.”
“……”
In the strangely solemn mood of their reunion, the group moved on to their next plan.
***
After taking two days to rest and recover, the party packed up their things and left the Black Forest Fortress.
“As I’ve mentioned before, our next destination is the Sandstorm Hills on the fifth level.”
Inside the swaying carriage, Jun’s explanation drew the group’s attention.
Having already been stranded on the fifth level once before and barely surviving multiple brushes with death, everyone understood that this mission wouldn’t be easy.
“It’s very much a field-type area.”
“Is there some kind of field effect?”
At Aiden’s question, Jun shook his head.
“Not exactly. It’s just that there are a ridiculous number of monsters there.”
“A desert with a lot of monsters?”
“You don’t run into them often, but when you do, they move in groups. The real problem is that most of them are small-type monsters.”
Small-type monsters.
At first glance, that might sound like they’d be easier to handle.
But small-type monsters were usually insect-type creatures.
And those things traveled in swarms. Hundreds at the very least, sometimes even thousands…
“They’re annoying to fight and a pain to collect loot from afterward.”
The loot dropped by small, insect-type monsters was naturally even smaller. And under the blistering sun in the middle of the desert, they had to collect that loot piece by piece.
In those moments, all sorts of thoughts inevitably crossed one’s mind.
Why am I here, going through all this hell…?
“Ugh…”
Aiden frowned, as if he didn’t even want to think about it.
For that reason, the Sandstorm Hills were treated as a half-abandoned field.
“Of course, mages sometimes come here. Tiny magic stones are quite hard to obtain. They’re also used a lot in artifact crafting.”
Aside from the difficulty, there were actually plenty of valuable materials to be found here, such as ingredients for potions.
“Plus, a mage’s area-of-effect spells are perfect against those things.”
“I see…”
Aiden looked faintly disappointed.
After all, he had been hoping to test the skills he’d honed during their previous journey. But if they had Jun’s magic, there wouldn’t be much room for him to shine.
“Oh, but don’t let your guard down too much. Large monsters do show up from time to time. Things like the Rage Worm, or desert wraiths.”
“I know the Rage Worm, but what’s a desert wraith?”
“According to geologists, the Sandstorm Hills was once a vast forest. For some reason, the area turned into a desert, and the elves who once lived here became wraiths that now wander the sands.”
“Are they ghosts?”
Maya, who disliked ghost-type monsters, tilted her head in concern. Jun shook his head.
“They don’t fly through the air.”
“Then that’s fine.”
What bothered Maya were monsters that burst out of the ground or from inside buildings. If they had a physical form and didn’t fly, she had no problem with them.
After giving a thorough explanation of the Sandstorm Hills, Jun and his party spent nearly forty days traveling before finally reaching the fifth level.
***
“Whew… we’ve finally arrived.”
After riding the tiered descent, they were greeted by a vast desert, scorching sunlight that heated their entire bodies, and winds thick with sand and dust.
“But, Senior, it took quite a while to get here. Do you plan to come back down again?”
“That would be difficult. It’s far too much of a waste of time.”
In general, those above level five rarely descended to the lower levels.
“Still, there’s a fairly large checkpoint in a nearby field. If we run short on supplies later, we can go there.”
This was one of the reasons Jun had been so intent on improving his information network.
The higher the levels you climbed, the more likely it was that even just traveling could take several months in the blink of an eye.
For that reason, it was always best to have information personnel stationed nearby, ready to take requests or move toward the next destination whenever needed.
“Anyway, I was thinking we’d head out right away… but I think we’ll camp here for the night.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
The sun was still high in the sky, and the party wasn’t all that exhausted yet.
Jun stared into the air.
“A sandstorm will be coming soon.”
He could see the irregular surging of magical currents.
Sensing instinctively that it was a sign of an approaching sandstorm, Jun quickly located a sturdy rock formation nearby.
“Let’s head over there.”
[Dig]
Approaching the rocks, he dug out a pit and reinforced it with various spells.
[Enchantment: Elemental Armory]
[Enchantment Attribute: Gold]
Then, pulling out long steel rods from his bracelet, he drove them into place and fixed them with [Rock Hold].
Finally—
[Enchantment: Memory Page]
He imbued all the spells into a blank book so that they would maintain themselves by consuming mana on their own without Jun needing to manage them directly.
“Wow… this is incredibly cozy!”
Aiden’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the completed temporary bunker.
“You’ll be using things like this a lot from now on. From the upper levels onward, it’s not just monsters….you can be wiped out by natural disasters like this too.”
“Ah…”
The unexpectedly grim explanation left Aiden pulling a sour face.
And the reason for it became perfectly clear the next day.
“…Uh, Senior.”
“Yeah?”
It was early morning.
Aiden glanced around the shadowed surroundings and spoke.
“I’m pretty sure that mountain over there wasn’t there yesterday.”
“That’s because of the sandstorm. Damn it. We’ll have to take a detour because of that.”
“Whoa…”
Aiden suddenly felt a growing admiration for those who managed to survive in the upper levels.
To think they were living in a crazy environment where an entire mountain could appear overnight!
Leave a Reply