CH 309

"Man, it was my first time seeing it, but the marketplace sure was impressive."

"Indeed. It has become an informative scene to see how our meals are prepared."

Sierra replied in a dead serious tone to my comment.

In my case though, I was just stating my surprise the the visual appeal of the scene

I was amazed by the visual appeal, at the background scenery which has come to life in reality but it seems like this scene had different significance to Sierra, the resident of this world and the daughter of a count.

This is how the Extra-Dungeon that supplies resources like foodstuff etc exist in each places of this world. People working in them are hired by the Kingdom who gather resources from the Extra-Dungeon and supplies to the masses.

They're like the farmers of this world, except they don't grow anything. Mona from the Collection Department might work in such an Extra-Dungeon one day.

Extra-Dungeon dungeons are extremely large, so large that they surpass even intermediate dungeons in sheer size floor wise. They're also bigger than advanced dungeons.

The ‹Foodstuff and Livestock Dungeon› we're heading to has max 20 floors and the lower you venture, the larger the floor will be. It is so wide that to reach the final floor, you will need six days even with the shortest route.

A ‹Tent› is a must for these dungeons.

For this reason, though, the animals or vegetation that you will find there is extremely delicious. My plan today's to get hold of the stuff from the lowest floor.

"But will the place be fine with so many people? What if a fight breaks out or something?"

Lana, looking puzzled.

Well, she wasn't wrong in her question. It's inevitable for a fight to occur when resources are limited. Or so would usually happen.

However,

"Farmers here are employed by the Kingdom. They will lose their job if they cause any problem so they make sure to stay out of trouble."

Shizu replied to Lana's question.

I didn't even notice her when, but she had positioned herself beside Lana and was explaining various things to her.

My role...... No, the battle is still not lost!

"To add further, harvesting areas are properly divided among respective farmer families. There's no problem as long as they don't cross it. Besides, the out-of-reach areas are covered by fences to make it easier to understand."

I added further, to not lose to Shizu.

Sure enough, Lana, whose attention was towards Shizu, turned to me.

I did it! I don't quite get what I did, but it felt nice anyway, well if I leave aside the sharp knife-like gazes of Shizu boring into me that make me shudder immediately after, that is...

"Hmm, there, that's the no entry area. We can collect anything from anywhere as long as the area isn't surrounded by fences. Except in that area, you're free to do anything."

The fences were immediately visible on our right-hand side as soon as we entered the entry gate after verifying ourselves to the supervisor of ‹Ex-Dun›.

It was an untrespassable area even in the game, due to which, I was never actually able to verify how big this dungeon is.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is as wide as top grade dungeons either. Damn it, it's like the pie dangling in front of me but I can't eat it.

However, this is the reality. There's nothing such as no-entry fences. I will make sure to confirm it this time, more like by interviewing the people here though. I so much want to go past the fences here.

Speaking of, the main reason why this place is divided such is because it's an Extra-Dungeon in the academy. Other Extra-Dungeons have been completely transformed into farms.

Only the five Extra-Dungeon that are under the management of ‹Labyrinth Academy • Main Campus› are divided so, so that it can be a place for students to learn. Students are free to check out any area before the fences. They also have no limit to the foodstuff they can carry back, and they aren't banned from selling it either.

Well, moderation is necessary everywhere though, lest academy focus their attention on you.

"Woah! so this is the Extra-Dungeon, huh?...... isn't it like every other dungeon?"

"That's because this is still the entrance ."

Lana's excitement peaked for a moment before it plummet back to normal.

The scenes from the entrance are more or less identical to the other dungeons we have ventured into, It would only become apparent how different things were once we had walked away from the entrance.

"Anyway, let's get moving from here first. Ester, take the carriage out."

"Okay."

Ester took out our beloved carriage, ‹Thunder Javelin›, a sparkling, gorgeous carriage at my instruction.

"Amazing, this is the first time I'm seeing it. It is really a beautifully decorated carriage."

"Oh, I almost forgot you have yet to see it. This is our top grade mechanical carriage. The same type of model is to be delivered in the ‹Dean's Quest›. Of course, it's one of the bestest equipment Eden is proud of."

I briefly described the abilities of carriage to Rina.

"This is really wonderful. Now I can understand why Dean had been so willing to put forth so many QP to get this."

So you also understand its charm, Rina.

This is one of the finest equipment we, the Eden, have. This is why I also upgraded it with the ‹Equipment Reinforcement Jewel› just the other day.

I bet our exploration will become even more smooth the more we strengthen it.

I had been saving ‹Equipment Reinforcement Jewel› to later strengthen the high-grade or even top-grade equipment later but decided to use on ‹Thunder Javelin›.

Now it's specs are一一

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「Tent Lv1」「Item Box Lv3」「Interior Expansion Lv3」

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Mechanical carriage was a beginner's equipment but as it's abilities were infinitely closer to mid-grade equipment, I was able to strengthen it to +3 with reinforcement jewels.

The upgrade has increased its ATK from original 60 to 72, and passenger capacity from 7 to 8. Skill level is the same as before since I haven't used ‹Skill Reinforcement Jewel›.

I also informed Rina about the upgraded part.

"Huh, but Zephyr-san, then doesn't that mean not all members can ride it?"

"Fufufu, relax. We have one more carriage."

"Ehh?"

Ester took out another carriage receiving my signal. There were now two ‹Mechanical Carriages›!

Everyone who hadn't heard that we have another carriage too showed their surprised expression.

"Hold on, Zephyr! What's all this!"

"Fuhahaha! Well are you surprised!? Behold, this is my secret plan, ‹Mechanical Carriage V2›!"

I wasn't going to keep it a secret but eventually kept it a secret to raise the excitement of everyone.

I adopted a pompous attitude in jest in response to Lana who pointed at the ‹Mechanical Carriage V2› and asked me with a big smile hanging on her lips.

Sierra's party had managed to gather an extreme amount of ‹Bamboo Puppet› materials than I had expected and even after removing the delivered material count, we were still left with high-grade materials that were usable only in making ‹Mechanical Carriage›. That too in huge amounts.

Then of course the only option we could choose was to make another one, right?

Between, the reason why I kept it secret till now was just to have a look at their surprised expression. Fuhahaha!

As Lana and I were bantering with each other and other members around us were looking with a smile, Sierra took over the explanation knowing we will go nowhere at this rate.

"This is high-grade ‹Mechanical Carriage›. This may be smaller than ‹Thunder Javelin› and have less capacity of only 5 members, but we all will be able to travel together in them. V2 will be operated by Celestine."

"Very well."

Sierra and Celestine were in charge of the V2 budget so they already know about it.

To add more, Celestine's job, ‹Butler›, has the attitude to equip ‹Vehicle› accessories. But this job requires a specific skill to gain that aptitude.

That's why he had been leveling his job to Lv40 recently for this day and has successfully acquired ‹Carriage Aptitude› that's available in the third order tree. With this, he can equip any equipment that is classified as ‹Carriage›.

That being said, it was just an aptitude which doesn't come with ‹Knowledge about Vehicle Assault› or ‹Drive› skill like in the case of Ester, so he can't perform things like running over the monsters.

A monster attack can easily shave off a huge chunk of HP so caution is also necessary.

Although it was obviously a degraded version of ‹Princess Knight› job, being able to equip ‹Vehicle› equipment can be said to be its forte.

It should be an easy job as long as he keeps driving behind Ester's carriage while Ester takes care of the monster in the lead.

This might not be the best option to choose in a normal dungeon, but I bet this should be hella useful in a dungeon like this or in guild battle, we can use it to rack the win.

After all, ‹Butler› is a support job.

We went through our preparation after that and departed for the lower floor ASAP.