Chapter 20: The Gains from My First Life-and-Death Battle

Through this first battle of his life, Siloque summed it up.

If you can gang up, then gang up.

Don’t pursue relentlessly.

Use the terrain flexibly and effectively.

Siloque secretly memorized these points, looking at the three corpses on the ground with a disgusted expression:

“What comes next is going to be a bit gross…”

Siloque walked towards a Goblin’s corpse.

The grotesque death, with an eyeball protruding from its socket, was a blow to Siloque’s mental fortitude.

But he shook his head, raised his broad sword once more.

“Namo Amitabha, rest in peace.”

Muttering, he sliced open the Goblin’s chest.

Ignoring the twitching body and the splattering blood, he extracted a small fragment emitting a bright yellow glow from the center of the chest.

This was a “Crystal Core”

“Crystal Core” was a magic crystal formed in monsters, the source of income for Explorers, and the foundation of this world’s operation.

Unlike games where you can simply write ‘Cas took the monster’s Crystal Core’ in one line, in the real world, you had to dissect the corpse yourself.

If Siloque hadn’t worked as a chef before, often butchering poultry, he would have vomited everything up by now…

It can be processed by human technology and utilized in various fields—such as rocket fuel, power company systems, and food preservation coolers.

Even the Ring Chart on Siloque’s hand was made from processed , so it was considered a valuable resource.

In short, the contains incredible power and can be exchanged for money at the Exchange Hall in the Dungeon Hall.

Simply put, it’s the money Explorers can directly earn in the Dungeon.

Speaking of Explorers in this world, it’s also a dazzling profession under Nationwide Spotlight.

A general term for those permitted to dive into Dungeon labyrinths.

After being accepted into the National Explorers Academy, one could enjoy various benefits—studying monster forms and the use of magic related to the Dungeon in the morning, and engaging in actual combat in the Dungeon in the afternoon.

The Academy of Explorers wasn’t just for further studies; many companies also came to recruit talent.

“Though most end up getting snatched by Benor Corporation and the Valosa Group…”

After all, students’ main curriculum was about how to infiltrate Dungeons.

Not just , there were other resources in the Dungeon supporting the energy industry’s boom.

For companies and institutions seeking an early edge in Dungeon research, “Explorer” was probably an ideal early-stage investment target…

However, rather than “Explorer,” Siloque preferred the term Golden Miner—a laborer who fights monsters and collects .

With such random thoughts, Siloque completed the task of extracting from the three Goblins.

Siloque looked at the three , each no bigger than a Fingernail.

Monsters on Layer 1–2 only had such tiny Crystal Cores, which didn’t fetch much money.

The Exchange Hall also based purchase prices on the size of the Crystal Core.

“With this much, it’s only about 100R, I guess.”

The reward for risking your life in battle was too little.

Well, it couldn’t be helped—this was the early map, after all.

As Siloque absentmindedly stared at the bright yellow crystals in his hand, the three Goblin corpses from which he’d removed the began to change.

First, their color rapidly drained away.

Then, their chests crumbled.

Finally, their whole bodies turned to dust and vanished without a trace.

The fate of monsters after losing their Crystal Core—to become nutrients for the Dungeon.

If he had lost the battle, would he have turned to dust like this?

“Store.”

At the command, the Ring Chart emitted a triangular pale blue laser, scanning the Crystal Core, and the bright yellow crystals in his hand quickly vanished.

They’d been stored in the Ring Chart.

Don’t ask about the details—just call it the power of technology.

Siloque pulled up the Ring Chart window and checked his stats.

[Name] Siloque

[Lv] 2

[Class] —Newcomer—

[Exploration Layer] —Layer 1—

Max HP: 10

Max MP: 9

STR (Strength): 3

END (Endurance): 6

AGI (Agility): 8→11

DEX (Dexterity): 5→17

INT (Magic): 8

[Talent] —Heating—

[Skill]

Dexterity increased quickly, probably due to fighting solo and dissecting.

Endurance didn’t budge.

Compared to Bried’s training, being chased three kilometers by monsters wasn’t much.

“This Talent is really just for show.

You can acquire Skills, but not swap out Talents.”

Siloque brought up the Map of the First Layer, confirming his location.

“Hmm?”

He was unexpectedly close to the Scraping Point he wanted to reach.

If he avoided the Spider’s territory and walked a few more minutes, he’d arrive.

Getting chased by Goblins turned out to be a blessing in disguise, greatly reducing the time needed to traverse the map.

Siloque noticed his hair, sticky with sweat, clinging to his cheek.

He wiped Goblin blood off his hand onto his pants, pulled out a rubber band from the Ring Chart to tie his hair into a ponytail, then used his sleeve to clean his broad sword.

Relying on memory, Siloque ventured deeper into Layer 1.

***

The Production Team’s game balance was a joke, but certain aspects were meticulously crafted.

Like the map.

Huge, messy, winding, and full of malice—fortunately, it didn’t refresh randomly.

Every fork, every crossroad, every strange sight, was carefully designed.

Yet even the two industry giants—Benor Corporation and Valosa Group—had spent ten years without fully deciphering each Dungeon layer.

At this moment, there happened to be someone who remembered every map.

That person was—

Me.

A terrain like a canyon, with a pitch-black chasm in the center so deep its bottom couldn’t be seen.

Siloque peered down into the abyss, shaped like a gaping maw, and broke into a cold sweat.

He looked across to the other side—over 50 meters away—his destination.

The wind whistling through the canyon was cold.

Siloque looked around once more, confirming he was in the right place.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

If he was wrong, he’d be dead.

He stepped forward off the cliff.

“…..!”

Siloque was certain half his body had left the edge.

Unlike the sand under his left foot, his right foot felt the texture of Marble Road.

He took a second step.

Both feet now felt Marble Road.

Siloque didn’t let down his guard.

He continued walking forward in the darkness…

If there had been a second person present, they would have seen a ponytailed boy walking in midair between two canyon cliffs—without using any Skill or Talent.

When the sensation of sand returned under his feet, Siloque had already reached the opposite side.

Now he stood in a bright pale blue space, completely different from what he’d seen from across the chasm.

A hidden space.

“Who the heck would know how to get to a place like this?!”

His heart nearly stopped.

To reach this spot, you had to cross the abyss with your eyes closed.

For some unknown reason, it wasn’t an invisible glass road or anything—if you walked with your eyes open, you’d fall straight down.

You had to walk across with your eyes shut.

The problem was that to even learn this info, you’d have to find the Vampire NPC on the third layer, by which time this Scraping Point would be worthless…

The Production Team’s sense of game balance was definitely a joke.

Siloque continued forward along the Map in his memory.

He’d reached a considerable depth.

He arrived at a small cave, about five meters in radius.

Gululu~

The sound of water colliding with something hard.

“Oh, here it is.”

Siloque turned toward the sound, drawing the long-handled axe from his back.

At the center of the space, rock mixed with greenish slime, endlessly shifting in form—

A Goblin wielding a stone axe was born!

Unlike the previous three, it was much larger—about twice Siloque’s size.

“…A monster refresh point.”

Siloque murmured, raising his weapon at the Goblin.