Chapter 11. The Search for a Hidden Dungeon

Translator: Boko

Alishi dropped three items.

Firstly, Kang Oh examined the necklace, the most expensive-looking of the lot.

"Appraise."

[Hero's Alishi Necklace]

A necklace embedded with the four eyes of the Spider Queen, Alishi.

Each of the eyes shine a different color.

Though it is a beautiful necklace, gazing at it elicits a feeling of sadness.

+ Spider Queen's Power: Whoever equips this necklace gains the power of the Spider Queen.

The Spider Queen's power is as follows:

Poison: Imbues a weapon with the poison element and also inflicts poison damage.

Spider Webs: Consistently damaging an enemy will apply a slowness effect.

Earth Fragments: If you plant your weapon into the ground, shards of the terrain will shoot in every direction. (Usable once every 30 seconds)

Call subordinate: You may summon the mount, Ground Shade Spider.

Rank: A

Abilities: Main Stats +5, Charm +20.

Conditions: Requires the title, Spider Queen Killer.

It was an A-rank necklace.

It couldn't be compared to the magic sword, but it was still a good item.

But its conditions were limiting.

He wasn't sure if he could sell it since it required the Spider Queen Killer title.

Kang Oh equipped the necklace right away.

[By equipping Hero's Alishi Necklace, the Charm stat has been created.]

[Charm improves how others view you. The higher the stat, the easier it is to increase your closeness to NPCs.]

The necklace even caused the Charm stat to be created.

Kang Oh examined the next item.

[Hero's Ghost-Pattern Armor]

The armor bears Alishi's ghost-pattern.

The armor is elastic and consists of the tough carapace and skein of the Ground Spiders.

Anyone who stares at the armor will become confused.

+ Optical Illusion: There is a small chance that whoever looks upon the pattern will enter a confused state.

Rank: BB

Abilities: Defense +32, Magic Resistance +17, Physical +3, Sense +1, -3% damage from spiders.

Conditions: Level 30. 40 Physical. 15 Mental.

Pretty good armor.

But because of the level restriction, he couldn't equip it right away.

[Alishi's Soul]

The very essence of the poison that Alishi bore. Permanently increases Magic by 1. Also increases poison resistance by 1%.

Rank: B

Souls were a type of consumable item that permanently increased one's stats.

'And... it's all mine.'

Kang Oh glanced at Darion and then ate it.

It looked like a green grape candy and it tasted like one too.

[Magic +1]

[Poison resistance has increased by 1%.]

Kang Oh dusted off his hands and headed for the nest that Alishi had vacated.

"Oh!" Kang Oh exclaimed, having seen the inside of Alishi's nest.

Look at that!

Alishi had hoarded money, minerals, gemstones, sewing materials, etc... in her nest.

'Hidden dungeons really are the best!'

Boss monsters collected gold, valuable gemstones and materials.

Like a dragon's lair!

So what would happen if he defeated the boss of a hidden dungeon, one who'd never been discovered and had been constantly building its hoard?

He would be left with a fortune, like right now!

That's why users called hidden dungeons a gold mine; clearing them was just like striking gold.

Kang Oh was one such person who'd happened to strike gold.

"How much is all this!?"

Kang Oh picked up a beginner sewing material, the Spider Web Skein.

[Your inventory is full.]

He hadn't emptied his inventory and had been fully absorbed in clearing the dungeon. So much that, before he knew it, his inventory was full.

Kang Oh quickly dropped all of his junk items.

Spider's Leg, Spider's Eye, etc. All his trash items pertaining to spiders were sprawled onto the floor.

He extended his darkness-emitting jet-black sword over the junk.

He activated the magic sword's special ability: Predator!

[Ubist is consuming the Spider's Heart. Satiation has increased by 0.1%.]

[Ubist is consuming the Spider's Eye...]

[Ubist is...]

By the time he was done, the magic sword's satiation had gone up to 70%.

'Just a little more and it'll become even stronger.'

He was already anticipating what new abilities the magic sword would have.

In any case, he needed to worry about all the materials at hand!

"Hoo hoo."

Kang Oh began to fill his now empty inventory with all the materials.

Arth's system of currency was simple.

100 silver = 1 gold

1 gold = 10,000 Won (~$10 USD)

Alishi had amassed 50 gold, excluding all the other materials.

Though it was such a low-level hidden dungeon, the boss room had yielded more than 500,000 won.

Aside from the gold, he'd gained a substantial amount of beginner materials like green jade, iron ore, spider web skein, and even thread made of spider webs.

'As expected. There's a reason Dungeon Hunters exist.'

Dungeon Hunters sought to be the first to find a dungeon. They were, in essence, gold miners.

Though hidden dungeons would yield riches, they were extremely difficult to find.

If not for Kang Oh's Hyper Intuition, he would never have found this hidden dungeon.

But on the other hand...

'I might be able to find another hidden dungeon with my Hyper Intuition...'

And if he could...!

He imagined himself being filthy rich.

Kang Oh decided to forgo everything else and use his Hyper Intuition to find more hidden dungeons.

"Let's leave."

There was nothing left for him to do here, so he left the dungeon.

* * *

The sun was setting, the red rays of the setting sun colored the sky.

Kang Oh and Darion passed through Altein's giant eastern gates.

"I'll get going now."

Darion was ready to leave Kang Oh the moment they arrived at Altein.

He obviously wanted to get away from his evil employer as soon as possible.

"Darion," Kang Oh called as Darion attempted to leave quickly.

"Here. This should be enough."

Clink.

Kang Oh dropped 4 silver coins into Darion's hand. He'd originally planned on giving him 3 silver, but he'd decided to be generous and give him 4 instead.

"Oh, and by the way, you can get disrespectful sometimes, so make sure you watch out for that."

"..."

"See you tomorrow."

Kang Oh patted Darion's shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.

Darion felt mixed as he looked upon the four silver.

He'd gotten caught up with the wrong crowd and was only rewarded 4 silver for his trouble.

Moreover, his contract lasted a week, so he'd have to see him tomorrow too.

"Haa."

With slumped shoulders, Darion weakly returned to the Holiseum.

* * *

Kang Oh, having parted ways with Darion, was walking through a street surrounded by street stalls and stores on either side.

"I'll buy it!"

"Selling accessories to give to your girlfriend. Come by and take a look!"

It was the yells of touting merchants.

Kang Oh merely continued on his way without giving them the time of day.

He passed a street wide enough for eight wagons to go through side-by-side, and then went through a small alleyway.

Kang Oh stopped at an old and shabby looking building.

Creak.

The door creaked as he opened it.

"Sseup."

An old man, who had been sleeping in a rocking chair, awoke and cleaned off his drool.

"Haahm." (Yawn)

The yawning man walked over to Kang Oh.

"I'd like to go to the sewers," Kang Oh said.

The old man took one of the keys from the bunch on his desk and walked over to one of the walls.

The door consisted of steel bars, like that of a prison.

Creak.

The old man opened the door.

"There are skeletons down here so be careful," the old man said.

Kang Oh nodded his head and entered Altein's sewers.

* * *

Kang Oh possessed substantial knowledge regarding Arth.

It was the knowledge he'd studied during his six months of physical training.

Obviously, that information pertained to the dungeons and hidden dungeons that had been made public.

In addition, this included the experiences of those who'd first discovered these hidden dungeons; this allowed him to pick out some locations where he thought a hidden dungeon might reside.

One of those locations was Altein's sewers.

There were three reasons he'd picked the sewers.

"First, there's no boss monster reported to be here."

There may be a boss monster here; it could just be hidden like Alishi.

"Second, it's quite complex."

Altein's sewers were so complex and large that it possessed more than 50 entrance points.

Since it was the waterway of Arth's largest city, it was only natural that it was so large.

"Finally, there are a lot of rumors that there's a hidden dungeon down here."

There were plenty of rumors that there was a hidden dungeon located here.

Because Kang Oh possessed Hyper Intuition, he was confident that he could find the hidden dungeon here if it indeed existed.

"This place satisfies all of those conditions," Kang Oh muttered.

Water was rushing through the canals on either side of the arch-shaped passageway.

There were also skeletons roaming around, which were a collection of yellow bones in a roughly humanoid shape.

Skeletons were level 30 or higher bone monsters. They weren't particularly strong.

And so, these sewers were both easily accessible from several places in Altein and were a popular hunting place for low-leveled users.

"I don't have to share experience with Darion, so let's enjoy this."

Kang Oh walked forward and the roaming skeleton rushed towards him.

"Heup."

Kang Oh swung his magic sword as if he were swinging a baseball bat.

Beok!

The satisfying sound of impact. It felt good, as if he'd scored a home run.

Kang Oh continuously bashed on a skeleton.

The thick magic sword, which emanated darkness, broke apart bone as if it were a hammer.

Who cared about its weaknesses? He just kept whacking it again and again! Red shards burst from the skeleton's body.

[You have defeated a Beginner Skeleton.]

The skeleton instantly became bone powder and pieces of bone.

"Hey you, come over here."

Kang Oh pointed towards the next skeleton and walked over.

Whack!

Whack!

Whack!

The skeletons tried to mount a resistance by swinging their bone swords, but they were no match for Kang Oh, who'd defeated a berserk Alishi.

He soon defeated the remaining skeleton, leaving only its remains on the ground.

Kang Oh picked up the bone fragments, which were junk items, and strode forward, stepping on the bone powder, as if he were stamping on used charcoal.

* * *

Why were there so many rumors of a hidden dungeon in Altein's sewers?

"This is it."

It was because of the stone statue before him.

A statue of a winged beast, which could often be seen in older houses in the west; a gargoyle.

He pressed on the head of the gargoyle statue, which was said to protect one's residence from the devil. It rattled and bowed its head.

But nothing happened.

'As I thought, nothing happened.'

There were several types of statues all across the sewers that bowed their heads and made the same sound.

Thus, there were rumors that if used right, a hidden dungeon would appear.

'My Hyper Intuition isn't telling me anything either.'

He'd felt a peculiar sensation when he'd found Alishi's nest, but he felt no such feeling this time.

At that moment, a skeleton's blade came swinging at Kang Oh's back.

He'd sensed the skeleton's presence through Hyper Intuition, and had felt the chill just like always.

In other words, there was nothing wrong with his Hyper Intuition.

Kang Oh turned, deflected the bone sword, and cut off the skeleton's head.

Whack!

The skull rolled over and over on the floor!

Once it lost its head, it immediately attempted to search for it.

It was quite an odd sight. Kang Oh kicked its butt, knocking it down, and ground it to dust with his sword.

After that, Kang Oh continued to search the sewers until late at night, but he didn't find anything worthwhile.

It was unfortunate, but he decided to try again tomorrow and logged out.

* * *

[I have emailed you the broadcast schedule and the contract. Please take a look at it.]

He'd received a text message. It was from Park Jin Cheol.

Jae Woo immediately turned on his computer and checked the email.

One unread email.

The email was attached with the broadcast schedule and his contract for the featured broadcast.

Jae Woo skimmed the details regarding the Fight Against 100 Men broadcast but looked over his contract in more detail.

His contract was simple.

He'd be given 10 million won (~$10,000 USD) a week after signing the contract, and if viewership surpassed 5%, then he'd be given an extra 2 million (~$2,000 USD) more.

GBS's average viewership was around 4-5%.

Thus, if the broadcast went well, he would receive another 2 million won.

'This is a gift.'

This had not been a part of their verbal agreement but had been added to the final contract.

There was also a message from Jin Cheol asking him to take care of him next time too.

Jae Woo sent his reply. He was quite satisfied with the contract and wanted to meet in person to sign it.