Chapter 37. Fight
7th day in the labyrinth.
Today continued much like yesterday.
The Orakans spent their mornings sparring, their afternoons exploring the labyrinth and expanding the map, and their evenings sparring again after dinner.
I focused only on exploration in the mornings and afternoons, and worked on building up my stamina in the evenings.
Even though my strength was sealed.
It was still good to steadily build up basic stamina.
Before going to sleep, I took out the map and examined it.
The area the Orakans and I explored today was Passage No. 8.
I planned to refrain from exploring any other passages for the time being until the map of Cave No. 8 was fully completed.
‘The map is looking pretty good now.’
Cave No. 8 was a maze with countless branching paths intertwined.
One wrong step and you could easily get lost.
That’s why we were drawing the map as we went along.
We also marked the spots where new paths branched out.
Even though the walls of the labyrinth were abnormally sturdy, the outer layer was weak enough that it wasn’t difficult to carve symbols.
In any case.
We no longer had to worry about getting lost near the entrance.
After checking the map, I carefully put it back in the box.
Then I settled down on the mattress and lay down.
［Let’s shout out with excitement! Doodoomba!］
“Doomba, Doodoomba!”
“Dance joyfully! Doodoomba!”
【Pururu】─Doom-ba! Doodoomba!
【Mysticism】─🤪
The Hedgehog Summoner, Therio, and Ayulla were still practicing their butt dance.
The only thing different from yesterday was that they danced for a bit longer today. Nothing else out of the ordinary.
***
8th day in the labyrinth.
The Orakans had started calling the monsters their masters.
They even referred to the Medical Mushroom, which healed them, as ‘Priestess.’
The Orakans each plucked a strand of their thick hair and gave one to the monsters.
Apparently, it’s their tradition to offer hair to someone who imparts wisdom.
But most of the monsters didn’t seem too pleased to receive it.
Most of them reacted like, “What am I supposed to do with this?”
The Dog Spider, with curious eyes, put the hair in its mouth and chewed on it,
［Siii?! Ptui! Ptui!!!］
and immediately spat it out, as if it tasted awful.
Well, why would you eat that in the first place…
【Pururu】─LOL stupid dog spider.
【Mysticism】─🤣
【Yumi】─So cute.
Unlike the others.
Psycho Clown seemed somewhat satisfied.
［Kirik. It’s not bad to have a spare in case Rizenova dies.］
Saying this, the clown carefully tucked the Orakan’s hair into his clothes.
When it was time to sleep, the Assistants suddenly started sending supplies my way.
『GOLD-tier Assistant ‘Pururu’ has sent support supplies!』
This notification appeared five times.
【Pururu】─Aren’t these Orakans kind of like guests at this point? You can’t just let them sleep on the bare floor.
【Pururu】─Give this to them. By the way, I spent my own money on this.
Pururu had sent mattresses.
No less than five, in fact.
It seemed they sent enough for not just the Orakans but for the other monsters as well.
“Thanks. I was feeling a bit guilty, sleeping alone on the mattress. But where did you even get these?”
【Pururu】─I rocket-shipped them through ‘Kkewpang’ last night. It arrived today thanks to express delivery.
【Pururu】─Since I’ve ranked up, I can send cheap beds now, but even the cheap ones are too expensive. Just buying the mattresses drained me.
Right after Pururu sent the mattresses,
Yumi’s support supplies arrived next.
『RED-tier Assistant ‘Yumi’ has sent support supplies!』
What Yumi sent were blankets and pillows.
【Yumi】─Just having mattresses feels lacking.
【Yumi】─I sent all the extra blankets and pillows I had stored away. There were quite a few in the closet.
“Thank you. I’ll put them to good use.”
As I was thanking Yumi while gathering the blankets and pillows,
Mysticism sent one last item my way.
『RED-tier Assistant ‘Mysticism’ has sent support supplies!』
【Mysticism】─😎
What dropped in front of me was a pair of underwear.
【Pururu】─?
【Yumi】─??
Judging by its worn condition, it was clearly not new.
It was definitely used by someone before.
【Pururu】─Is she crazy? Why would you send underwear?
【Yumi】─Maybe they’re just trying to send a hint to change your underwear? Now that I think about it, you haven’t changed it even once so far.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to change, it’s that I couldn’t. I didn’t have any extra underwear.”
I picked up the underwear between my thumb and forefinger.
Hygienically speaking, it seemed fine.
It was a bit worn, but there were no stains or strange smells. It seemed to have been washed properly before being sent.
“…It’s a bit small, but I can still wear it.”
【Pururu】─You’re actually going to wear that? It’s clearly used. That’s disgusting.
“Well, I can’t just throw it away. They probably didn’t have any new ones and sent a used one instead, but since it’s washed, it should be fine.”
【Mysticism】─🙂
【Pururu】─This crazy woman.
【Pururu】─But are you sure it’s men’s underwear?
【Yumi】─It looks like it’s unisex.
I slightly lowered my pants.
I planned to change into it before sleeping.
But then I remembered the Assistants were watching, so I quickly pulled my pants back up.
【Pururu】─Hurry and change. I’ll close my eyes.
【Yumi】─I’ll close mine too!
【Mysticism】─🤥
“See you tomorrow.”
After saying that, I blocked the Assistants.
Then I took off my pants, changed into the underwear, and lay down on the mattress.
Once again, nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened today.
***
9th day in the labyrinth.
While I was eating an apple for lunch, a Centaurides came running toward me in a hurry.
［Explorer! Will you mate with m— oh, ahem! That was a slip of the tongue.］
【Pururu】─How do you even slip up like that?
After clearing her throat, the Centaurides explained that one of the Centaurs had found a vending machine.
Hearing this, I immediately stopped eating and climbed onto her back.
I also brought along the Black Magma Slime.
Gotta have a bodyguard with me, after all.
［We’re heading out! Hold on tight!］
【Pururu】─Giddy up! Yah, yah!
【Mysticism】─😝
We rushed to the location.
As you’d expect.
At full speed, riding the Centaurides was much faster than running with my speed magic. She handled curves gracefully too.
For reference, Psycho Clown’s superpower was only useful for short bursts of speed, so it wasn’t great for long-distance travel.
Anyway, after riding the Centaurides for about two hours,
［Explorer! We’re here!］
I could see a Centaur in the distance waving at me.
Next to him was a vending machine.
I got off the Centaurides and nodded in thanks to the Centaur.
Then I checked the vending machine.
There were 16 minutes left before it disappeared.
A little more delay, and I wouldn’t have been able to use it.
【Pururu】─We got our second vending machine!
【Pururu】─Geon, buy up all the tickets! Seems like vending machines are hard to find even after a full day of exploring.
I didn’t need to be told.
I was planning to buy everything except for the useless tickets.
‘Let’s see… the tickets for sale are…’
★━━━ 【The Assisted One’s Vending Machine】 ━━━★
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 『Ticket Purchase』 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
➤ Low-Rank Invitation Ticket ▼
◇ 1 ticket: 10 coins
◇ Available quantity: 10
※ Allows you to request low-level assistance. The method of assistance and the Assistant candidate are chosen randomly. The request text cannot be modified.
➤ Mid-Rank Invitation Ticket ▼
◇ 1 ticket: 100 coins
◇ Available quantity: 1
※ Allows you to request mid-level assistance. You may designate one person, either yourself or a monster you tamed, who has had contact with you within the past five days. The request text can be written by you.
➤ Designated Dispatch Ticket ▼
◇ 1 ticket: 250 coins
◇ Available quantity: 2
※ Dispatch one tamed monster to another dimension for 24 hours. You can designate a dimension connected to the Explorer.
➤ Return Ticket ▼
◇ 1 ticket: 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 coins ㅋ
◇ Available quantity: 3
※ Returns you to the world you came from. You will lose your qualification as an Explorer.
➤ Transferable Return Ticket ▼
◇ 1
ticket: 12 coins
◇ Available quantity: 5
※ A Return Ticket transferable to Drifters.
║ ⚠ Please check your coin balance before purchasing ⚠ ║
⏳ Time remaining before vending machine disappears: 00:15:46
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Unfortunately, there were no Evolution Tickets for sale.
‘The Designated Dispatch Ticket is cheaper than last time.’
Still expensive though…
But since I had no idea when I’d find it again, I decided to buy it.
The Transferable Return Ticket was more expensive than last time, but since I had enough coins, I bought it without hesitation, along with the Low-Rank Invitation Ticket and the Mid-Rank Invitation Ticket.
As for the Return Ticket, it was impossible to buy.
It was way out of my price range.
‘How many zeroes is that? Are they joking?’
It was clear they didn’t actually want me to buy it.
The more coins I saved up, the higher the price would go.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Return Ticket didn’t even exist.
After completing my purchases, I checked my remaining coins.
『Coins remaining: 6』
Only six coins left.
I’d spent them frugally.
Without the 1 coin Pururu had sent and the 5 coins Mysticism had sent, I would’ve been left with exactly zero.
【Pururu】─Geon! Did you buy everything?
【Pururu】─What kind of tickets were available this time?
【Mysticism】─🧐
On the way back.
I told Pururu about the tickets I bought and asked them to send me all the money I had left.
I think I had about fifty million won left?
I planned to exchange it all into coins and keep it with me.
You never know when you’ll find a vending machine again.
It would be a disaster if I found one while Pururu wasn’t around.
『GOLD-tier Assistant ‘Pururu’ has sent 5,000 coins!』
『Notification』
◇ Assistant rank up ◇
● Target: Pururu (001)
● Change: GOLD → PLATINUM
***
10th day in the labyrinth.
For lunch, we caught a Pig King.
Now, we could get a Pig King anytime we wanted.
While exploring Passage No. 8, I found an area where they were abundant.
Oh, and.
We had something else to eat today.
■Laser Leaf
─ Actual danger level: S-class.
─ Current (nerfed) danger level: B-class.
─ Ability: Laser
Laser Leaf.
A monster made of leaves that shot lasers from its mouth.
Its leaves were completely safe to eat.
Rizenova tried it first and confirmed it was edible.
So today, we made wraps with leaves, meat, and apples on top.
【Mysticism】─😋