Chapter 59 - A Different Side Effect Than the Game

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Alfred had hoped he could convince Sean to turn back. Yet, now he saw that Sean was determined to continue pushing forward, and Cecilia agreed to carry on as well, so he knew there was nothing he could say.

In the deepest levels of this crypt, there had to be some kind of treasure precious enough to attract these two people, or they would not be so visibly moved by it.

It was impossible for Alfred to not be curious about their motivations, but no matter how much he wanted to know, he would not take the initiative to ask–this was just his personality. Therefore, since Sean and Cecilia were so set on going deeper, Alfred did not say anything else, turning to enter the second tunnel from the left, which wind was not coming from.

He tightly gripped the long sword in his hand, and Alfred could feel a strange strength welling up in the sword and being transferred to his own body. This peculiar feeling made him feel like his strength was increasing; his reactions and physical abilities also seemed to have been improved, and overall he felt like he had become much tougher. At this moment, Alfred knew that this long sword he held must be a magical weapon.

Only a magical weapon could strengthen a person’s combat ability.

Alfred strapped the long sword to his back. He was not very proficient at using this type of weapon, and if he was given the choice he would prefer to use his fists to settle things. Fortunately, even after he put the sword on his back, Alfred did not feel like the power flowing into him from the sword had gone away, and this made him feel much more at ease. After all, using an unfamiliar weapon in a real fight was something every combat profession tried to avoid.

So, with a slightly awkward atmosphere, Sean’s small team continued onward.

As the team continued to move forward, Sean needed to make more and more stops to rest. At this point, Alfred and Cecilia could both tell that, in the earlier fight with the Demonic Ground Spiders, Sean had used some kind of powerful secret skill that they did not know about. This must have been how he gained such a fierce and terrifying combat ability. However, the kind of secret skill he had used must have also had an equally significant side effect, and now the time had come for this side effect to come into play.

Adrenal Stimulation. It was not a difficult skill to attain, but this fact only applied to players. For the people of the Miracle Continent, any type of technique that could boost the user’s combat ability over a short period was classified as a clandestine special secret skill. Normally, only rich and powerful families with an ancient tradition would know of these skills. Hence, it made sense that Alfred and Cecilia would think that Sean had used a secret skill.

“Let’s take a break here,” Alfred finally spoke up when the team reached a small karst cave. “Let’s wait for your condition to improve before we continue moving forward. As you are now, your condition is simply unsuitable for further exploration. Moreover, in these narrow tunnels, once we encounter any danger, we won’t be able to offer you any protection.”

Faced with Alfred’s reasoning, Sean could only nod his head in agreement. His current condition was indeed becoming a burden.

The way this situation had developed was completely outside of Sean’s expectations.

From what he knew, when the skill Adrenal Stimulation was used before level three, it would apply a ‘fatigued’ debuff, and the debuff would continue to last for an hour. However, from the time when the debuff had been applied to the present time, more than an hour had already passed, but the effect had not yet ended. This was certainly something that Sean had not foreseen.

When he checked his personal tab, this debuff was listed in his abnormal status bar, but it did not come with the timer that most debuffs in the game would display. At this moment, Sean realized that now that he was in a real world, he could not rely on his in-game experiences anymore when it came to abnormal status effects. For a debuff like ‘fatigued’, he feared he might have to take a good rest before he could recover from it.

This was also why Sean had agreed to Alfred’s suggestion to take a break here in the small karst cave.

He did not want to become a burden to the team.

The effect of the ‘fatigued’ debuff reduced all abilities by 70%, which was a very serious consequence. Furthermore, after he had lent Charles’ Sword to Alfred, his overall abilities had decreased by an even greater magnitude. At this point, Sean only had 4 points left in his Strength and Endurance, and his Agility was at 3 points. Under these circumstances, facing a Demonic Ground Spider was out of the question. Even Cecilia, without using magic and just using her bare fists, could theoretically beat Sean to death.

Sean set down the backpack he was carrying, taking out some food.

The meal was basic, consisting only of a pack of condensed instant dry rations, a bottle of plain water, and a few sugar pills.

The condensed instant dry rations were a product of alchemy and were similar to the condensed nutrient solutions found on Earth. These rations looked like meat strips, only as thick as two fingers and around two centimeters long, and the energy content of one pack was almost enough to meet an adult’s recommended daily intake level. However, eating one of these things felt like chewing wax. Not only was it dull and tasteless, but it made one very thirsty, which was why it came in a set with sugar pills for taste and a bottle of plain water to wash it down.

This arrangement was a fairly common type of instant food product on the Miracle Continent. Compared to regular dry rations, this kind of food was more compact and took up less space, and they were very filling, so they were usually part of the standard equipment of the militaries of various countries. However, some wealthy adventurers or medium to large-sized mercenary teams would opt to purchase these products for themselves in case of emergencies. Naturally, the price of each standard set was not cheap.

Alfred took a glance into the backpack and saw that it was stuffed full of up to thirty portions of the rations. It seemed like Sean was not kidding when he said he prepared ten day’s worth of food. Even so, to buy thirty portions of these rations, one would need at least 4 Portoroa gold coins. From Alfred’s point of view, Sean was richer than the average person, which further confirmed his belief that the treasure at the deepest levels of the crypt had to be something extremely valuable.

At least for Alfred, he had never heard of anyone daring to bring a three-man team to explore underground tunnels, especially with such a large amount of condensed instant dry rations prepared. Normally, to explore an underground passage, regardless of what kind of situations one was expecting, it was necessary to bring a standard ten-man team. The most important thing was to ensure a good team composition of two defenders, at least one thief, one Demon Hunter from the Demon Hunter Guild, and one magician who was experienced in combat in the wilderness. On top of this, it was crucial to have a specialized cartographer, and the rest of the slots could then be filled by other Combat Professions.

In Sean’s case, needless to say he had no defenders or thieves, but he did not even have someone who could draw them a map. If and when they found the treasure, how would they find their way back out of the underground tunnels?

Along the way, as they made progress forward, Alfred inspected the tunnels carefully. These underground passages were definitely the work of clans from the underground dungeon, and it was very likely that it was the combined effort of several different clans.

The excavation marks looked to be very similar to the workmanship of the dog-headed people, and the smooth stone walls on both sides of the tunnel could probably be attributed to the secretions of demonic cave monsters. The structural blueprints of these cave tunnels probably came from the dark elves or the crypt fiends, as only members from these two clans would excavate two-meter high underground tunnels to befit their stature. Based on the clues he had discovered so far, Alfred was leaning towards the blueprint-makers being the latter because the demonic cave monsters were domesticated by the crypt fiends.

If Sean could have known what Alfred’s hypothesis was at this very moment, he would have offered him some heartfelt praise because the truth was not too far off from his assumptions. This was proof enough that the time Alfred spent as a mercenary team commander was not just for show, and he did have the skills to back it up. At least when it came to understanding the handiwork of the underground dungeon inhabitants, Alfred was much more knowledgeable than the average person. Moreover, this wealth of knowledge could only be accrued through many long years of experience fighting with the inhabitants of the underground dungeon.

However, Alfred kept his peace, so Sean naturally had no idea about all of this. He persevered through eating the pack of condensed instant dry rations, then fell into a deep sleep. The effect that the ‘fatigued’ status had on him now was truly too much for him to bear.

After he saw that Sean had fallen asleep, Alfred grudgingly said, “These underground passages are more than they seem. It’s still not too late for us to turn back now.”

“Sean would never agree to that,” Cecilia replied, shaking her head as she quietly munched on a pack of rations. “There is something that we must get our hands on in the deepest depths of this place, and now that we’re already here, we’ve exposed our whereabouts. If we try to leave now, it’s quite possible that the people following us would be able to make an easy profit at our expense.”

“You were already aware of them?” Alfred raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Sean found out long ago,” Cecilia answered in a soft voice. “His original plan was to use these underground tunnels to completely bury those people here.”

Alfred was in awe at this plan. Sean was making a big move, and it was a ruthless ploy. He could not help but start to sympathize with the people tracking Sean. At the end of the day, however, this was a product of those people’s greed. If they did not covet Sean’s great wealth, those mercenaries from Cyroda Village would not have acted like this.

At the same time, this had long been an unspoken rule of the industry, and many mercenaries were not averse to acting like robbers and bandits. The looting of traveling merchants was commonplace, and they would sometimes even make a move on other mercenary teams. As long as they did a clean job, leaving no traces or survivors to report the crime, the Mercenary Guild would not investigate their illegal activities. This was not a problem unique to the Mercenary Guild, as the Adventurer Guild and Demon Hunter Guild faced the same issues.

The only guild that could be said to be absolutely righteous and disciplined was the Pioneer Guild because this guild’s sole purpose was to strive hard to save the world.

“Ugh,” Alfred let out a sigh, “my eyelid was twitching non-stop that night. I should have known from the start that joining your team was going to be a whole load of trouble, but I didn’t think trouble would come knocking at our door so soon… In these underground passages, there are crypt fiends, aren’t there?”

“Yep.” Cecilia did not deny it, explaining, “Sean said that a group of crypt fiends resided in the deepest levels, but they were banished and are considered traitors. There’s not a lot of them, probably only ten or twenty. The real problem is the three demonic cave monsters they are keeping. Sean’s idea was to let our ‘tail’ be the bait, and once the two sides have taken heavy casualties, we’ll clean them up.”

Alfred’s eyelid twitched several times. He had said ten to twenty of them was not a lot?