Episode 21
021. The Optimal Place
[The system senses confusion at your eccentric actions…]
[…The system comprehends your intention.]
[Hidden Condition ‘Crafting for Destruction’ has been achieved.]
[You went beyond mere destruction, perfectly understood the essence of the target, recreated it, and then destroyed it.]
[The system recognizes your actions as the most respectful method of destruction.]
[Achievement: Destructive Artisan]
[The system is intrigued by your unpredictable madness.]
[Effect: When destroying an item, there is a 50% chance to recover its core materials.]
[Recognized as a perfect quest strategy.]
[Emergent Chain Quest: Echo of the Gear-Wheels has been ‘perfectly’ completed.]
Messages rose up frantically.
However, unusually, golden hand couldn’t help but be flustered by the messages.
‘That… wasn’t my intention…’
The system, arbitrarily paying its respects.
golden hand, feeling awkward, could only clear his throat awkwardly.
Meanwhile.
Regardless of what golden hand thought of the messages, the dungeon’s collapse began.
With the Ancient Heart destroyed, the dungeon, having lost its power source, lost its original form and began to crumble.
But golden hand wasn’t flustered.
A blue magic circle drawn beneath his feet.
The blue light emanating from that circle wrapped around golden hand.
Paaat-!
“Did he come today?!”
Ravi, shouting as she roughly flung open the door to the Magical Engineering workshop.
Clark just sighed, as if Ravi’s actions were hardly surprising.
“He’s not back yet, not yet.”
“How long has it been since we sent him into the Gear-Wheel Dungeon, and still no news?”
“That is true. If he died in the dungeon… he should have returned by now.”
Clark didn’t even mention the possibility of quest success from the start.
He seemed focused only on the fact that golden hand hadn’t died yet.
Then, as if suddenly curious about something, he handed Ravi a teacup and asked.
“But… Branch Head Ravi? Why didn’t you tell that friend golden hand that?”
“Huh? Tell him what?”
“That while it was indeed a testing ground… it’s now a place too dangerous to use and has been sealed. And that not a single person has ever passed this test. Including you, Branch Head Ravi?”
A sealed testing ground.
A dungeon once used for tests but now sealed.
Moreover, the test itself seemed impossible, as no one had ever succeeded.
“The conditions you mentioned were also from the old days, weren’t they? Aren’t the golems inside now impossible to avoid once detected?”
“Right? They’re broken somewhere, and once they spot you, they chase you like mad until you’re completely shattered.”
“Exactly. Then that friend golden hand would be in too much danger… Besides, being ancient golems, their level is far too high.”
Clark seemed to feel sorry for golden hand.
Even as an outsider, golden hand displayed skill was genuine, so Clark seemed interested.
Moreover, now that golden hand was recognized as a Magical Engineer, he was practically family; Clark likely thought it was too harsh on him.
But Ravi looked at Clark with something akin to pity.
“Then would that kid golden hand have entered that place?”
“Huh?”
“You know outsiders hate dying.”
“Dying… wouldn’t anyone hate it?”
“That’s not what I mean! Outsiders are those who come back to life even if they die, so what…”
Ravi was well-versed in the characteristics of players and death penalties.
She seemed to have detailed knowledge about the so-called ‘outsiders.’
“It’s a test of their mettle in its own way. Mettle and tenacity!”
“Mettle and tenacity?”
“If someone whimpers and gives up after dying a few times inside the dungeon, they’re hopeless, that’s all.”
Clark frowned at Ravi.
Rarely raising his voice, Clark spoke up.
“But you told him he could just take a look and come back!”
“Do you think saying that means he’ll actually just look and come back? Then what… I should tell him ‘enjoy the sightseeing’? That would make him a tourist, not a Magical Engineer.”
“You’re so difficult, so difficult.”
Clark let out a sigh looking at the demanding Ravi.
But it seemed Ravi had her own reasons for confidence.
Looking towards the basement stairs, Ravi recalled the hammer on golden hand back.
“Didn’t you see the hammer golden hand carries on his back?”
“Hammer…? Well…? It was a bit peculiar, true. A player with a hammer… and that heavy armor too.”
“That thing… didn’t seem ordinary… And the gear he’s wearing too. At that level, wouldn’t he have quite some mettle?”
Clark sighed, looking at Ravi’s oddly placed emphasis on ‘mettle and tenacity.’
Then he suddenly realized he hadn’t asked about one possibility.
“Um… by the way. What if, just what if, that friend golden hand passes the test?”
At Clark’s question, Ravi clicked her tongue.
“Sigh, Clark. It’s a dungeon even I couldn’t clear. Do you think an outsider could succeed? With a blacksmith base, not even a combat class?”
“But isn’t there always an ‘if’?”
“Well, it’s unlikely, but if by any chance…”
The scenario where golden handsuccessfully cleared the dungeon and passed the test.
Just the thought seemed to enchant Ravi, a smile forming on her face automatically.
However, that smile was quite a combative one.
“Then… the tables would turn. Because we’d have a hidden card to deal a blow to those old geezers.”
“Old geezers… you mean the elders of the Magical Engineering Academy? How?”
“Well, since it’s an impossibility in the first place, why bother knowing? Anyway, let’s see how long it takes for golden hand to give up. Clark, time it, time. It’s already been three days…”
Ravi leisurely awaited golden hand return.
But Clark looked at Ravi with a dissatisfied expression.
What he wished for now was for golden hand to clear the dungeon.
So he could see Ravi’s flustered expression.
For a moment, Clark was lost in the fantasy of golden hand succeeding.
He soon shook his head.
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible.
But then.
Creak-
Creak-
Creak-
The stairs golden hand had descended.
The sound of someone stepping up from those stairs began to be heard.
“Huh? Is golden hand returning?”
“Finally… coming? But it’s a bit disappointing?”
“Returning via those stairs means he never died even once… So he must have just looked around and came back. Ha, this is really…”
Clark lamented for golden hand.
If golden hand had died while researching the ancient golems in the Gear-Wheel Dungeon, he couldn’t have climbed the stairs.
The resurrection point for outsiders was the Recovery Center located in the center of town.
All outsiders active in the town resurrected there.
But an outsider, golden hand, climbing the stairs again?
That meant, as Ravi said, he had just toured the place like a tourist.
Stealing a glance at Ravi’s face, hers too had lost interest.
It was already filled with boredom.
But.
“You’re all here.”
golden hand, who had climbed the stairs and faced them.
Unlike when he entered, his armor was covered in countless scratches in many places.
And simultaneously.
Grrrumble-
The stairs, spewing dust, collapsed mercilessly.
“The stairs… collapsed?”
As soon as golden hand emerged from the Gear-Wheel Dungeon, the stairs collapsed as if waiting for it.
Meaning the entrance to the Gear-Wheel Dungeon had completely crumbled.
And what that signified was just one thing.
The clearing of the Gear-Wheel Dungeon.
And a perfect clear at that.
Ravi, knowing well what that meant, could only stare at golden hand in disbelief.
Ravi and Clark wore dazed expressions.
To the two of them, golden hand spoke.
“The Gear-Wheel Dungeon… I had a good look around. There was more to learn than I thought.”
golden hand casual remark.
Hearing that, Ravi started giggling, then burst into hearty laughter as if losing her mind.
“Kyahahahahat! This means… we can really turn the tables now, can’t we?”
Ravi lightly moistened her dry lips with her tongue.
Clark looked back and forth between Ravi and golden hand faces with an uneasy expression.
“R-Ravi-nim… what does this mean? Even if golden hand is an outsider, if he perfectly cleared the Gear-Wheel Dungeon alone… doesn’t that mean he passed the test?”
“The test? Why ask the obvious?”
“Huh, then…”
Ravi and Clark seemed to be having a conversation, but their words didn’t register.
Because as Ravi acknowledged the dungeon’s clearance, system messages poured in.
The rewards for the Emergent Quest Ravi had proposed.
[Emergent Chain Quest: Echo of the Gear-Wheels has been perfectly completed!]
[You have resolved the long-standing wish of the Magical Engineering faction.]
[Acquired Title, ‘Successor of the Gear-Wheels.’]
[This is a title granted to the legitimate successor of the Magical Engineering faction.]
[Effect 1. When interacting with NPCs related to Magical Engineering, you receive special treatment, and the chance of obtaining hidden quests or information greatly increases.]
[Effect 2. When crafting, the base stats of crafted items increase by 15%.]
[Effect 3. When crafting a golem, there is a low chance for ‘Ego’ to imbue the golem.]
[Effect 4: The Command stat is unlocked, and you receive a +30 bonus.]
golden hand calmly read through the messages.
He couldn’t help but be surprised by the title’s effects.
‘Ego… can imbue?’
The description mentioned a low chance for Ego to imbue.
Seeing that, his heart began to race.
The title’s other effects.
Receiving special treatment from NPCs or a 15% increase in base performance of crafted items.
Considering the existing base performance increase, that’s a cumulative 50%.
An astounding figure.
On top of that, the unlocking of the Command stat.
