377 - Hammer, Anvil, and Enhancement Stone 2

377 - Hammer, Anvil, and Enhancement Stone 2

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: Posted in discord

Join the discord! Here

Han Se-ah's face contorted with confusion as she unexpectedly acquired a house while looking for temporary lodging. But upon reflection, she realized this was the 50th floor's reward.

After all, there was a precedent of the princess giving a mansion.

At some point, she had started staying in the stone dwarves' underground city and rarely used the mansion managed by butler Sebastian and maid Emma. But story-wise, there was clearly a mansion provided to the player. So it made sense that a new mansion would appear on the 50th floor for season 2.

Unlike being homeless or staying at inns, mansions were supposed to provide some kind of system assistance to players, but she couldn't quite remember the details.

"So, where should we build it?" asked Granny Shasha.

"Um... just a moment," Han Se-ah replied hesitantly.

It was understandable to be flustered when told they'd demolish a workshop and build a house wherever she chose. The stone dwarves of the archipelago seemed to have become incredibly progressive and action-oriented, perhaps influenced by Laurencia's great escape.

Granny Shasha confidently grinned, boasting she'd build a large two-story mansion for five people. The noisy stone dwarves clamored to participate, cackling and shouting.

Everyone seemed burdened by the offer to build an entire house, but the crowd's cries that one house was cheap compared to the lives of hundreds of dwarves finally made our party understand. Han Se-ah saw the streaming potential, the party members nodded in agreement, and things progressed quickly.

"So you're planning to go down to the underground city and use that gate thing too?"

"Yes. We probably won't stay in the mansion long if plains exploration takes a while."

"Whether you stay long or not, we gotta build a good house!"

"Ahaha, yes, yes..." Han Se-ah laughed awkwardly.

It felt like a dieting granddaughter watching her overbearing grandmother serve five bowls of rice, insisting she eat just a little.

Still, she couldn't keep refusing the offer to build lodging, so she leaned over the old parchment map with an awkward smile. Her camera drone moved skillfully, showing viewers the map Granny Shasha had spread out.

The stone dwarves' workshop area was the size of a decent village, likely due to the many slaves captured from the underground city.

"Hmm, this spot looks good location-wise."

"Granny, ain't there an alchemy workshop next door? Won't the air be dirty? I heard them squishies have sensitive nostrils."

"Right. The squishy laborers who come sometimes wrap something around their face holes for protection."

"Is that so? Then this spot won't do."

The stone dwarves' advice poured in even more intensely than the viewers' comments. They all craned their necks to study the map intently, so I took a step back. The camera swiftly turned towards me, determined not to miss anything this time.

Of course, this wasn't the magic tower, and there was nowhere to run, so I'd simply stepped back to give up my spot. The camera immediately returned to the map.

"It seems comfortable, except for being a bit narrow. Honestly, those stairs were... a little scary to walk down."

Was she afraid at times like this despite being bold in combat? Irene slightly approached, seemingly scared of descending the towering cliff, so I gently held her waist. Han Se-ah's camera noticed and focused on filming that part.

Irene nestled in from the front, Grace clinging from the side, Katie gripping my forearm while observing the cliff and elevator-like magic tool. Looking at it this way, it really felt like the cover of some romantic comedy manga.

"By the way, can we enhance equipment right away?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, do stone dwarves accept gold? ...When we took quests in the city under the kingdom, they mostly asked us to bring weird stones and stuff."

-Come to think of it, that's right. Weren't most of the quests we did last time about gathering stalactites and such?

-They're starting to trade with humans too, so they'll probably accept gold

-LOL maybe when we get there they'll tell us to gather materials for enhancement through barter

-Would BB Games allow user-friendly gameplay? These bastards who make bosses like that?

-If you can enhance with gold, is Han Se-ah gonna suck Teacher Roland's marrow again? Even leeches would suck less than this

"Hey! Have I ever drained teacher's wallet buying equipment? I'm frugally playing the game, carefully managing my inventory and earning gold!" Han Se-ah protested.

[Han Se-ah the Pathmaker donated ₩10,000!]

You spend most of your gold on bombs, you seven-consecutive-failures

[Roland's Mighty Greatsword donated ₩10,000!]

LOL hey, how many times do you think we rewatch your streams?

"...Wow, that last comment is kinda scary?" Han Se-ah muttered.

As Katie simultaneously expressed expectations and concerns about enhancement, and Han Se-ah, who tried to draw attention with my and Irene's flirting, shuddered at the unexpected spark that flew, the elevator naturally arrived at the underground floor.

Recognizing us, the worker driving the cargo carriage quietly held the reins, gesturing for us to disembark first. So I hurriedly led the group off to clear the way.

What we saw then was the rather familiar stone dwarf city. The fantasy-like underground city of master craftsmen, with all sorts of buildings carved from massive stone blocks in a large cavern, looked fantastical even from afar.

"...Wasn't this place an empty ruin?"

"Was it?"

One thing that bothered me was that this was the 50th floor.

It was definitely supposed to be a ruin used as a burial ground for old and decrepit stone dwarves, but now it looked no different from the underground city on the 41st floor.

Didn't I bite the empress to death in a frenzied state while killing the boss on the 50th floor about a week ago? Including travel time to and from the empire, about two weeks must have passed in-game... They rebuilt not just one building, but an entire city in two weeks?

No wonder Granny Shasha confidently claimed she could build a mansion in half a day.