novelPredation Part III
| ← Ch.187 | Ch.189 → |
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
I had completely forgotten about selling the Croc materials because of the Dungeon Mole. I took the one million golden rings the merchant gave me absentmindedly, said goodbye to Benenti and left the general store. I then Blinked away to the nearest secluded area and looked back down at the thing in my hand.
"Hah..." It was still there. It really made itself at home, too. I petted it to feel its soft and furry belly. This definitely wasn't a dream.
"Oi, Mr. Dungeon Mole?" I asked, shaking my hand a little. It was acting friendly right now, but it was my enemy not long ago. It had tortured me for four months in Kazunari's dungeon thanks to its Invincibility and incessant begging for banana candies.
Now that its ownership had passed on to me, however, I no longer hated it like I did before, but I still had some ill will towards it. That was why I wanted to bother it some more.
I tightened my hold around the mole and gave it a good shake. It squeaked and stared at me, as if telling me not to bother it.
"Hah...oi, Mr. Dungeon Mole, you should be on your knees, begging for my forgiveness right now." I then started to toss it in the air and catch him repeatedly.
'I'm getting dizzy!'
When I heard it shout, I caught it and didn't throw it again. I felt a little bad bullying it when it couldn't do anything against me. I looked down at the mole. It was playing the victim from being thrown into the air a couple of meters even though it barely reacted to my kicking back in the dungeon. But, those puppy eyes did their job.
"Yeah, I guess you've done nothing wrong." The real enemy was Kazunari, not the Dungeon Mole, and I had already taken my revenge against him.
I stroked the mole from head to tail. I never got to really feel it when I kicked it around like a soccer ball. Its fur was as soft as velvet. The mole finally uncurled itself and looked up at me.
-Do you have banana candies?-
"Hah!" I couldn't help but laugh at it."Right, banana candies. You really like banana candies, don't you?" I took out a piece of banana candy I had purchased before. I had developed a taste for these too, so I decided to bring some with me in my inventory. I opened the wrapper and placed the candy in front of the mole.
-Banana candy! Banana candy!- It bounced up and down on my hand and began licking the candy.
I ripped open another piece of candy and ate one."It belongs to me and Shaman Ko. So that means Shaman Ko is partly responsible for this." That was all I could deduce, however.
"Well, whatever. It's not like I can figure it out on my own by just thinking about it, " I said to myself, passing the time watching the mole eat the candy.
——
One hour later...
I could easily tell that it was pretty cute, but I needed to check Predation. The mole was seemingly the only one I could use it on.
"Predation, " I said to the mole, still happily licking at its candy.
[You have consumed your target.
Target: Dungeon Mole
Time applied: 24 hours
Effect 1: Dungeon Teleport
Teleport to all dungeons you've visited by breaking through their space.
You can teleport to any dungeon within five kilometers without having to use dungeon entrances. (This does not work with hidden dungeons or unrevealed dungeons; can only be used on revealed dungeons. )
Last dungeon visited: Mt. Fuji Dungeon. (Altered as Benten-jima's created dungeon no longer exists. )
Can be used 3 times a day.
Effect 2: Dungeon Search
Can search for dungeons within a small range.
Cannot search for hidden dungeons.
Can be used once a day.
Daily use can be increased. Each time the counter is increased, the range increases as well. Can be increased up to 100 times.
Current usage count: 1]
"Holy...!" I definitely hadn't expected much from either Predation or the Dungeon Mole. But these effects were much better than I had thought. Too bad I could only use them for 24 hours.
"Dungeon Teleport and Dungeon Search, eh...?" I read through the descriptions once more in case I had missed something."Does Dungeon Teleport to the dungeons the mole has been to?" The last dungeon recorded was at Mt. Fuji, and I hadn't been there yet.
"Dungeon Teleport." I could use it three times a day, anyway.
==[You may Teleport to any of the following dungeons.
47th low-grade dungeon (Bukhan Mountain Dungeon)
83rd low-grade dungeon (Seorak Mountain Dungeon)
...
31st high-grade dungeon (Siberia's Iceman Dungeon)
14th high-grade dungeon (Alexandria's Pharos Dungeon)]==
All of the dungeons I had been to were all recorded. I knew where to go first."I'll Teleport to Mt. Fuji, so that it's recorded in this list." The list only had the dungeons I had been to.
"Dungeon Teleport: Mt. Fuji Dungeon."
==[You will now Teleport to the high-grade dungeon in Mt. Fuji.
You will be moved to a random place on the dungeon's first floor. ]==
A white light soon enveloped me as soon as the message appeared.
——
"Freeze that side!"
"If they get back to the swamps, they'll restore their HP!"
"Keep them away from the swamps!"
"Ice Field!"
I heard the sounds of battle first. If the Dungeon Teleport's description was true, then this was the Mt. Fuji Dungeon. In other words, those fighting right now were members of the Nayuta Guild.
"Blink 1." I quickly Blinked away to the opposite side the sounds were coming from and hid in a crevice in the wall. I poked my head out to watch the battle.
-It is the Nayuta Guild!- I could clearly see the guild's emblem of a blooming chrysanthemum on their uniforms.
I had never been to the Mt. Fuji dungeon in my past life, but I had heard about what sort of dungeon it was. The entire terrain here was swamps.
-It worked like a charm...-
I really liked this ability that I got from consuming the Dungeon Mole. Going in and out whatever dungeon I wanted to whenever I wanted to was an invaluable skill. I could even enter them without the guild in control ever finding out I was there.
I contemplated for a second if I should go and attack the 20-man party while covering my face, like I did as Duck Duck. I knew I could kill the entire party in an instant.
-No, I shouldn't. I don't want them to find out what I can do now. -
If it ever got out that I had outright invaded their dungeon, I risked sparking an international incident. I doubted I could even hide my identity from anyone anymore.
-Tsk. Count yourselves lucky today. -
I really didn't like them one bit.
"Dungeon Teleport: Pharos Dungeon."
==[You will now be teleported to the Pharos Dungeon.
You will be moved to a random place on the dungeon's first floor. ]==
—
My surroundings soon turned into a familiar setting."Hmm. I give it 9. 5 out of 10!" I was pretty satisfied now with Predation and the Dungeon Mole. All I needed to check on was Dungeon Search.
"I think... I'll save it to increase its counter." I still had the Dungeon Seeker special at 14 points. I wanted to get it to 50 points, that way I could get a Rank 10 Random Item Chest. I wasn't planning on getting hung up on it, though. Most of the world's dungeons should have been discovered by now, and it wasn't like I was that desperate for a Rank 10 Random Chest.
"Alright! Time to do what I came here to do!" I had left home to get back to hunting.
"Mana Conversion - Fire. Warrior's Brave Spirit. Howl of the Wolf."
I activated my battle skills and charged in at a small horde of Mutated Crocs.
——
The next day...
I had hunted for about 24 hours straight and rested at one of the Myth Guild's FOBs. I was on my way out of the FOB when a message appeared before me.
==[Shaman Ko's Selfish Prick Roulette Wheel will now spin. ]==
"Nice." I wasn't completely sure about this, but something told me that the wheel was going to land on Predation again, and was going to as long as I didn't have the scroll in my inventory.
==[You have obtained Predation.
You have received a single use Scroll of Predation in your inventory. ]==
"Hehehe." That was enough proof for me.
I happily continued my hunt after that. As I had expected, the Roulette Wheel landed back on 3 after that. It was just as I wanted.
——
I spent the next two weeks hunting Crocs non-stop.
"Summon: Dungeon Mole."
-Banana candy?-
"Yeah, yeah, here you go."
I occasionally summoned the Dungeon Mole whenever I rested to play with. I gave it a candy to eat. It was pretty precious to me now. It was kind of healing to watch it hold the candy with its forelegs and lick it.
"It would be nice if I could also summon Shaman Ko." I was positive Shaman Ko resided inside me. I learned of its existence when it consumed Predation.
"Summon: Shaman Ko."
"..." It didn't work, obviously. I did have another good thing happen though.
==[Warrior's Brave Spirit's level has been increased. ]==
==[Level 1: 8 hour cooldown. For one hour, raise your ATT by 20%, CRIT chance by 1%, CRIT damage by 50%, movement speed by 5%, and ATT speed by 2. 5%. For one hour, Slightly Awkward Indomitable Spirit effect is placed (Slight Awkward Indomitable Spirit decreases chance to avoid damage by 10%). Fatigue does not rise while skill is in effect. ]==
==[Level 2: 8 hour cooldown. For two hours, raise your ATT by 25%, CRIT chance by 2%, CRIT damage by 100%, movement speed by 10%, and ATT speed by 5%. For two hours, Indomitable Spirit effect is placed (Indomitable Spirit decreases chance to avoid damage by 12%, increases DEF and MDEF by 10%). Fatigue does not rise while skill is in effect. ]==
It was the first time a skill of mine leveled up naturally. Its effects had gone up considerably now. Thanks to Make My Skills Work Longer, the skill would also work for more than two hours now. It was starting to seem that the four months in the dungeon weren't a complete waste now.
——
A month and two weeks had passed since I had started hunting. I was initially going to spend a month at most since I left home, but I was staying longer than I had planned. Why? Because it was getting fun again. I could visibly see myself getting stronger by the day. If I hadn't gotten a call, I would have stayed longer.
"Young master!"
"Yes, what is it?"
"I'm calling because I think you should know something."
"What's going on?"
"A quest appeared in all Stores."
"...What quest is it?" A quest that appeared in all Stores meant only one thing: the reward was going to be extremely valuable, just like the Time Attack quest.
"It's called the 'Bring the Best Treasure!' quest."
"..." I knew exactly what quest it was. I also knew that the quest reward was as great as the Time Attack quest reward.
"I'll return home ASAP."
"I understand."
I hung up my Comm Link and thought for a moment. I took out the notebook I still had in my inventory and opened it. There wasn't much in it, but there was one thing I had written about an event from my past life: how the treasure of an underdog could very well be the origin of disaster.
"That means I have to participate this time." Obviously, this was a quest that I formerly wasn't able to participate in. In the past I had owned nothing that could even be considered a treasure, but this time was different. I had too many to count now!
| ← Ch. 187 | Ch. 189 → |