Chapter 23: CH 23

“Woah? This is pretty good.”

Not expecting much in terms of taste, Yongno was pleasantly surprised by the flavor of the gourmet bread. Once he felt full, Yongno stored the remaining food and firewood in his inventory. Though he could endure most chilly temperatures without concern, he still stashed the firewood in case he ever needed it for anything. 

“I don’t really need any rest.”

The Golden Pill Immortal Technique was a cultivation method that could be trained in any setting, so Yongno had been continuously cultivating and recovering as he swam. His internal power, which had dropped to nearly nothing when he was caught deep in the sea, had already fully recovered.

“Hmm. It seems it’ll take another day before I can completely refine my power.”

His internal energy had a murky quality to it, and though it wasn’t cumbersome to use, Yongno decided to refine it. He nodded after noting the process. His internal energy didn’t all originate from the Golden Pill Immortal Technique. Some of his internal energy was derived from the Dark North Sea Divine Technique, a skill that forcefully pulled natural qi from the environment. Since these two types of internal energy came from different sources, they did not work together seamlessly. Hence, even though Yongno had been refining his internal energy for a long time, he had not been able to raise the maximum level of his internal energy. Moreover, his current Golden Pill Immortal Technique worked by constantly refining internal energy rather than gathering or collecting qi from outside oneself. In other words, Yongno needed to unify his internal energy before he could start expanding it.

Additionally, Yongno recognized that he wouldn’t be able to increase his internal energy unless he leveled up, as he was restricted to a certain amount of internal energy due to his level. Since he wouldn’t be able to expand his inner force, gather internal energy, or level up anytime soon, Yongno tried to be efficient with his time by focusing on cultivating more Golden Cores. These were the basic building blocks of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique.

“How much further do I have to go?”

Yongno went back into the water and continued swimming. At a certain point, he had already traversed over ten kilometers. If anyone else were to travel this far underwater, they wouldn’t be able to survive. 

‘Ah, is this the end?’

Yongno had reached the end of the hallway, and he was met with one final door. He was wondering how he would open it, but as soon as he grew close, the door opened automatically. Originally, this was meant to be a Boss Room. One would only be able to reach this room after clearing all the Guardian Knights in the previous rooms. Only then would the door to this Boss Room open. However, the Guardian Knights had never materialized in the other rooms since Yongno didn’t enter them, so the Boss Room’s door just opened for Yongno. 

Rumble!

As the large stone door opened, Yongno stepped into the room. If one of the users who cleared the previous rooms were here instead, they would not have entered so carelessly. The large stone door had a sign that clearly read Boss Room. Yongno was entering a place that held the ultimate monster within the dungeon. The Boss would have the environmental and power advantage in any scenario. As such, it would be difficult at best, if not near impossible, for a group of users to clear the room. However, since the rewards were commensurate with the difficulty level, there would surely be users who’d challenge the dungeon, but that did not lessen the fact that it would be almost futile to try clearing the Boss. 

In any case, everyone who knew of these facts would have hesitated to enter the room. If a person went inside and was within the attack range of the monster, they would have to enter battle instantly. If that individual was not properly prepared, mentally or physically, entering was essentially a pathway towards a quick death. Thus, most parties would formulate a plan of attack and run various scenarios to fully prepare before entering a room. Of course, it would be relatively easier for those who had quick reflexes or outstanding defensive skills, but either way…

“Hmm? This place is?”

Yongno was astonished at the sheer size of the room. The space was about one square kilometer in area. However, the entire place was empty. Initially, this would be where the Boss would appear, and since the room’s size was proportional to the monster’s, one could easily tell that the Boss in this room should have been a behemoth. Moreover, the size of a monster usually reflected how strong it was.

As such, there should have been a Boss. It should have been present…

‘So empty.’

There was nothing in this vast space. Absolutely nothing. Moreover, the door to the reward room across from the entrance was open. The place where there should’ve been a chaotic fight was eerily quiet… as there was no monster.

This world was recreated for Yongno’s specific mission. In other words, this dungeon was assembled specifically for the basic mission of transporting items. And so, there was no monster. If there were a Boss, beginner users like Yongno would’ve never been able to pass.

‘Is that the exit? There’s nothing here, so I guess I’ll head over there.’

Yongno peacefully walked through the area that should have been filled with anguished cries, bloody fighting, and extreme difficulty. If other users who were currently shedding blood and tears to clear their dungeons saw Yongno, they’d all cry out in anger. Yet, there were no such eyes observing him, so he moseyed on into the reward room. 

Plunk.

“Oh, there’s air in this room.”

Yongno rose past the surface of the water and, utilizing his water attribute power, quickly shook off any excess water that was on him. Like magic, his skin was no longer wet but remained moisturized, as if he had just stepped out of the shower and dried himself. Since Yongno had done this several times before, he was no longer astonished by this ability. Instead, all of Yongno’s attention was focused on the various boxes that held the rewards.

“There doesn’t seem to be any traps.”

Using Aura Vision and the basic vision to look at the items provided by the system, Yongno determined that there weren’t any traps. There were sixteen boxes in total, and this was because it should have taken sixteen users to clear the dungeon. Without much thought, Yongno walked over to the first box and opened it.

“Wow!”

Yongno whistled at the sight of a bunch of gold coins. Although he was unsure exactly how the currency worked in DIO, Yongno felt confident that the amount he was seeing was a fairly large sum.

“Well, better put it away in my inventory.”

Then, he went to the next box. This time, the box was filled with jewels. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds the size of one’s thumb; there were two of each. The jewels looked flawless and seemed to have been cut by an expert. These jewels were definitely not just any ordinary commodity.

“In you go as well.”

Yongno continued on and opened the following box. Just like the first one, this too was filled with gold coins. As Yongno opened the boxes in succession, he found that thirteen of the sixteen boxes were filled with either gold coins or jewels. There were even some boxes that contained both.

“Wow, isn’t this a tremendous amount? I wonder if it’s really okay for me to take all this?”

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Despite mumbling about whether he should be doing this, Yongno faithfully took all the items from each box. Even though it was a large number of gold coins and jewels, he could easily carry it all in his inventory, so there was no issue with transportation. After this, there were three boxes left. These remaining boxes held items other than gold coins and jewels.

“This?”

There were two items in one of the boxes. One of the items was a black pair of glasses with golden engravings and motifs on them. The other item was a red marble bracelet that fit comfortably in Yongno’s hand. Once he picked both items up, Yongno focused on appraising them.

“Woah… this is great, right?”

Curious, Yongno put on the glasses. Seemingly imbued with magic, the glasses felt very comfortable. However, once Yongno put them on, a set of text appeared in front of him.

/The magic item’s required level far exceeds your current level. The functions of the item will not operate./

“Damn, a level requirement. I’ve heard that there are level restrictions… I guess this is what it’s like.”

It was obvious that there were items that needed a certain level or higher to use. Since DIO’s system required users to raise their levels through constant level testing, the system wouldn’t allow magic items to be used by just anyone. If this rule didn’t exist, some users might be able to clear level tests using items rather than depending on their abilities. 

“I guess I’m not able to use these. Still, the red marble bracelet has a rank eight user requirement, so if I gain a couple more levels, I’ll be able to try it on and use it.”

Eventually, Yongno found that neither of the items could be worn at the moment, so he stuffed them both into his inventory. He then went on to the next box.

“A high-grade magic stone… I guess this is decent?”

Without little expectations, Yongno utilized the system’s appraisal function… and he couldn’t help but choke on some air. The amount of spiritual power contained in the magic stone was…

“450 points? That’s nine times my maximum internal energy limit!”

It was a tremendous amount of power. Yongno didn’t know this, but there was no user in DIO who even had 450 total points. The reality was that no other user had ever come across a high-grade magic stone. A high-grade magic stone was an incredible treasure. However, since Yongno wasn’t familiar with the different levels and ranks within DIO, he simply thought that he came across a useful item before tossing it into his inventory. 

“Later on, once I gain some levels and my stat limits increase, I should convert the magic stone into a qi core.”

Of course, if Yongno really did this and consumed the resultant qi core, he would undoubtedly die. This would be similar to shoving ten tons of food into a tiny child’s body. Since his internal energy was only at 50 points, 450 additional points, which would convert to fourteen cycles and ten years, would cause lethal turmoil in his body. Consuming a qi core with those values would essentially be suicide.

“Well, I suppose I can’t use this item as well. I guess it’s time to look in the last box.”

After tossing the magic core into his inventory, Yongno opened the last box. Yet, the box initially seemed empty.

“Huh? It’s empty? I guess they can’t all be filled with great things- oh wait, there’s something inside.”

In a small crack within the box, Yongno found a ring. It appeared as though someone had carelessly placed it in the box as an afterthought, but Yongno decided to appraise the ring in earnest regardless.

“If there really are trash boxes in this game, then I guess this would be it, but if not, then this item should be at a similar level to the gold coins, jewels, and the items in the other boxes, right?”

“Only 9th Tier? However, the description states that it’s a unique item, so I guess the tier rating and rarity are separate.”

Yongno slid the ring onto his left middle finger. The ring was a size larger than his finger, but true to its description as a magic-imbued ring, it shrunk in size until it fit snugly on his finger.

“Oho. Not bad. It looks so luxurious.”

All alone in the room, Yongno raised his left hand into the air and appreciated the sparkling ring. Then, he put some of his internal force into the ring.

Woong.

The ring turned warm to the touch and started vibrating. It was Wicalein’s Ring. Soon, writing began to appear around the ring.

Poof!

A fist-sized ball of light appeared in front of Yongno. It was a vestige thought being that was connected to Wicalein’s Ring. As the vestige thought rotated around him, Yongno tried to reach out and touch it.

“Soft?”

Yongno was surprised at how the vestige thought being rubbed against him, much like a cat. As if trying to play a game with Yongno, the vestige started pushing itself against him before running around and circling him. To test something out, Yongno took out a blade fish and tossed it towards the vestige. 

Clank!

As the blade fish hit the floor nose first, a metallic sound rang out. Yongno focused on observing the vestige’s movements. The vestige didn’t show any response to the blade fish, and it continued to float in the air. Within his mind, Yongno imagined the vestige raising the blade fish by the nose.

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