Treasure Trove

"A-ahh…?"

As Des stood before a massive expanse, his eyes wide with shock, he was forced to witness a different kind of horror.

He was currently standing in one of the many expanses that existed within the Dungeon Floor—almost like the one where the Colossus dwelled, but different in nearly every way.

The only similarity they shared was their absurd size and the presence of several Luminous Crystals.

This place was occupied by Horrors resembling the Colossus, but somewhat smaller in size. They also existed in swarms—like the Worms.

Some even had wings, like the Bats.

Yet… in what appeared to be minutes… they were all lying dead on the floor.

Right before his eyes, Des witnessed a full-on slaughter, with one person standing at the center of the carnage, breathing in the chaos she had wrought.

Her name was Eve, and she had set her sights on him.

'I already knew she was strong, but… not this strong!' His thoughts echoed inside him as he struggled to make sense of what he just witnessed.

"Get over here, Des!"

Before he could even process her words, his legs were already moving in her direction. He had to be careful not to trip over the several corpses that littered the ground, so he made sure to pay them a lot of attention before reaching her.

Once he did, his bulging eyes had somewhat relaxed. Still, that didn't mean he had completely recovered from his shock.

"How did you even—?"

"It's easy once you understand their pattern of movements and their abilities." She told him. "Nothing much to it."

Horrors in a Dungeon respawned after a set period, so it was possible to challenge the same kinds of Horrors multiple times—learning things about them with every trial until all there was to know was burned into the mind.

Eve had been living in the bottom Floor for over twenty years, so she must have had a lot of time to fully analyze most of the Horrors in the spaces within the Floor.

That said, her subjugation of so many of them was still amazing.

'Will I be able to get to that level eventually?' He wondered, looking at Eve with eyes of admiration and strong desire. 'I wonder what level she is. Master? Maybe even Grandmaster? I can't even tell!'

"Don't worry. Starting tomorrow, I'll have you run simulated training sessions with the Bats, Worms, and Colossus. If you manage to win, you'll have to face the Centipede Horror again. You'll do this until you memorize everything there is to know about them, and also to make yourself used to combat." Eve burst his thought bubble by saying all of these while patting his back with her energetic attitude.

"Y-yes, ma'am…" He could only mutter.

"In any case, the reason I brought you here isn't to show off."

Eve said that, yet her actions showed something entirely different. No matter how one sliced it, killing off hundreds of Horrors within mere minutes was showing off.

"Look around you, Des. What do you see?" Eve nudged him, almost as if she already knew what he was thinking about.

"Erm…"

As he squinted his eyes, he took in the details of the massive space around them.

There were Luminous Crystals hanging on the ceiling, which gave the entire space a bright glow, but those weren't the only things that shone.

There were tons of other stones and crystals that didn't resemble the Luminous kinds that reflected the light displayed by the Crystals.

The obsidian-black surfaces of the walls also seemed to glitter like tiny stars. And the ground was littered with blood-red and azure crystals that seemed to sprout up like they were plants. All of these were not counting the jagged spikes that the walls had, which appeared to be a little brighter than the surface of the walls itself.

Then, there were the corpses of the Horrors, and the Cores that glowed amidst their entrails and sticky fluids.

'Damn… Eve is really merciless with her—'

"Focus!" She jabbed him, returning his attention to what she wanted him to pay heed to.

"I see a lot of special materials. The blood-red crystals here are used to make Healing Potions, if I remember correctly. And the azure ones are Magia Crystals, for replenishing Mana or part of the ingredients for making Enchanted Items."

He looked around him a bit more and focused his gaze on the obsidian walls.

"I think those are Orichalcum Ores… but to think the walls would be coated with them… that's wild. I'm not sure, but I suspect those lighter-colored spikes are Mythril. I hear the darker they are, the better… but to think I'd see one closer to the complexion of Orichalcum." He mumbled even more.

Mythril and Orichalcum were minerals with distinct, but incredibly important functions.

Mythril conducted Magia with near-perfect accuracy, without losing as much energy as most other minerals would. Since it was also plenty durable, it could sustain a vast amount of Magia, making Items made with it useful for Spells or Aura Releases.

Compared to Mythril, Orichalcum had terrible conductive capacity, but its durability was amazing—phenomenal even.

It was only second to Adamantite.

Despite how durable it was, the mineral was also lighter than other metals which had inferior levels of durability. It was also resistant to a lot of negative effects, which made it capable of resisting attacks outside of damage.

Rust, Corrosion, and a bunch of other conditions that would put anyone at a disadvantage were properly dealt with using this Mineral.

'It's also possible to make an alloy using both Mythril and Orichalcum to obtain similar features for both. That way, a weapon has incredible durability, but it can also conduct Magia at a phenomenal rate.'

However, since these minerals were rare, an alloy was almost impossible to find anywhere.

That was what made this place amazing.

It had so many rare minerals in abundance—just littered about.

When Des and his now-deceased teammates first arrived at the bottom floor, they were greeted with a lot of Luminous Crystals and other incredibly rare ores that would make anyone set for life.

Luminous Ores contained Magia, which was what made them function the way they did. They also had the distinct properties of absorbing Magia, so the bigger one was, the higher its energy-absorption capacity, and the more Magia it could store.

That made them great treasures already.

Compared to Luminous Crystals, though, these rare minerals were far more valuable.

'This… this is amazing!'

"Your information is… well, correct for the most part, but… you're still missing one more mineral," Eve said, slamming her feet on the ground while smiling.

"Look again."

Des' gaze slowly fell to the ground, and as soon as he did so… his eyes turned bloodshot.

He had no idea why he never noticed it until now.

Perhaps he was too occupied with the Horrors—both when they were still crawling around, and now that they were nothing but paste and pieces—that he didn't properly take a good look at the floor that they were standing on.

Even now, despite being sullied by the blood and flesh of the Horrors, Des could see it well.

It had a smooth, reflective surface like glass… yet gave off a dense sound that echoed with every firm stomp that was made.

The slightly purple shade of black, coupled with the warbling effect it had on the senses if focus was placed on it too much, told Des this could only be one thing.

"A-Adamantite?!" He nearly screeched, stumbling backward until he found himself tripping and falling.

Despite humiliating himself so badly, he didn't seem to care.

His senses were overwhelmed with so much shock that he thought he would pass out from sheer disbelief.

"Adamantite has even higher durability than Orichalcum, similar Magia absorption as Luminous Crystals, and only slightly inferior Magia conduction as Mythril. It's heavier than Orichalcum, sure, but its benefits are completely out of this world." 

Des recited those lines, remembering everything he learned about these minerals and how they functioned over the course of his very short life.

He could not believe that the whole ground was coated in this stuff.

"Haha! Glad to see you so excited, Des!" Eve cackled out loud, dragging him back to his feet with one quick pull.

"I-It's crazy…"

He gawked like a kid as his eyes sparkled with amazement.

This was a place filled with too much riches.

—Too much!

"There are still other places to explore, and other things to show you, but let's start with something you can easily understand due to your background as an Explorer."

"Y-yes…"

"We'll be using these as case studies; Red and Blue Crystals. Luminous Crystals. Mythril. Orichalcum. Adamantite."

Each had varying functions, properties, and their respective means of application.

Their method of production, as well as the kind of items that could be made using them also varied—whether in little or in much larger ways.

All of these things were what Eve sought to show Des—just for starters.

"Now then… shall we begin?"

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[A/N]

Thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I know I certainly did. Remember to check out the character illustrations of both Des and Eve in the book's profile, and tell me what you think.

Happy new month, everyone!