Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 72
Chapter 72: Episode 20. The World Tree (1)
When I came back to the dungeon by forced displacement, Lyhee was looking at me with her eyes wide open, flapping her wings around me.
“Welcome back, Master!”
“Calm down.”
I took Lyhee, who was hovering like a butterfly, and placed her on the Dungeon Core to calm her down. Lyhee was a spiritual creature but was connected to the Dungeon Core, so I was able to make physical contact.
“Master, Master. Listen to Lyhee. I planted the Flower of Eternity on the 15th floor and made everything look so pretty. What do you think?”
Lyhee would never listen to me. She kept talking.
The Flower of Eternity was a present that I gave Lyhee when the first Auction of Devildom was over. It was a rare kind of flower that bloomed without any water. Almost ignoring her, I answered, “Okay.”
“I’m planning to move the bees, as well. Ly-Lyhee is very happy because the honey will taste much better now.”
“Okay.”
“But Master, don’t you have any presents for Lyhee this time?”
Lyhee looked sad that I hadn’t read her mind. Well, now that I thought about it, that was the only reason why Lyhee kept talking about the Flower of Eternity for no reason.
The Dungeon Core couldn’t expect presents from the master. I briefly thought about teaching her a lesson, but soon, I decided not to.
“Soon, it will come.”
I had actually bought a small thing that I thought Lyhee might like while looking around the market. There was some misbehavior related to the honeybees, but I thought I could let that pass for everything she had done for the dungeon so far.
Lyhee’s eyes were shining endlessly, her wings fluttering as if there was a motor on her back to move them so quickly.
“Wow! Lyhee didn’t misunderstand, right? Do you want me to guess? Let me guess. Hmm, acacia flower! Marron flower! Orange flower! Hee hee. Master, these flowers give amazingly sweet honey and…”
She was only guessing the names of flowers, which proved her love for flowers. It seemed like she was merely listing her favorites rather than making a guess, but I just let her continue to talk.
Soon, a crack in the air appeared near me.
All the items that I won from the auction started to arrive, and some useful items that I bought at the market came with them.
When the items from the Auction of Devildom started to appear through the crack, Lyhee’s jaw dropped, and soon, she couldn’t take her eyes off of one item in particular.
“Huh…”
King Bees!
They were huge bees that were around three feet tall.
It was low-level yet still considered a monster. The shop for everything didn’t sell it, but I had found it at the market and bought it. I remembered Lyhee telling me in my former life that a King Bee’s honey had better taste and aroma.
Lyhee instinctively recognized that this was her present.
It wasn’t the best-looking monster for sure.
Unlike regular bees, their antennae were incredibly sharp, and they had only one, along with gigantic mouths and eyes. There were a few dozen of them, creating a horrific scene. They didn’t really look like bees anymore.
“So cute!”
But they were just bees to Lyhee.
Lyhee disappeared, taking her King Bees along with a wide smile on her face. She even tried to kiss me on the cheek, and when I stopped her with my finger, she didn’t even care that much, simply shrugging her shoulder up and down before going away. She made it quite obvious that she loved the present by making loud comments such as “You’re the best, Master!” before going away.
While checking the lineup of my items, I took the Astral Code in my hand.
‘I should try this one first.’
I opened my Mind’s Eye to check the options on the Astral Code.
Name: Astral Code (U)
Details: Provide one option to an item.
*Add +1-2 Ability depends on item. Random choice of Ability.
**Possibility of failure increases if the user’s Mana is low.
It was an enhancing item that enhanced either a random ability by one or two points or the specialty of the item.
‘Which one should I enhance with this?’
After some thought, I chose Rage, my favorite armor among the armors I used.
There was also Sloth, but Sloth was a cape and not as important as the sword I always used.
‘I should enhance Rage.’
It was simple to use this item. “Astral Code.” All I had to do was to call out its name.
Soon, the black object started to shine in rainbow colors.
[Astral Code has activated. Choose your item to enhance.]
[1. Rage (Epic) 2. Sloth (Epic) 3. Paranormal (U)]
Those three were the only armors I owned right now.
I chose Rage right away.
[Item ‘Rage’ will be affected by Astral Code. Wait a moment.]
[High Mana (93) increases the success rate radically.]
[Proceeding 1%, 2% 3%…100%.]
[Enhancement complete. Item’s signature Skill ‘Rage (Epic)’ has lower requirements. Now with 76 Intelligence, no abnormal reaction from the item.]
I clenched my fists and breathed hard.
I thought it would be a joke if any random ability went up by two, but its signature skill had been enhanced.
It was a problem that concerned me and sometimes stopped me from using this armor, the requirement of intelligence for the skill ‘Rage.’ Luckily, my current intelligence was 74, so it would barely be affected by any abnormal reaction.
Without this, I would have had to obtain at least 80 in intelligence to use the skill, but now, thanks to Astral Code, I would be able to use the skill without a problem.
‘It’s a very good start.’
Well begun was half-done. I picked up the Recipe of the Fairy King.
‘It’s called a recipe because it’s a formula to make something, I guess.’
I couldn’t even imagine what the Fairy King of Darkness wanted me to create with the paper roll I had been given as a present.
I unrolled the few rolls of expensive paper to check what was written on them, but the letters were blurred, making them impossible to see with my naked eyes.
‘There must be a hidden message…’
Soon after, I remembered that the message had stated that a ‘Unique-level observation skill’ was required to read it. When I used my Mind’s Eye, the letters became clear.
[Checking ‘Fairy King’s Recipe.’]
[Mind’s Eye level is overwhelmingly higher than the seal. No penalty applied.]
A few message windows popped up, but I ignored them and checked the words written on the recipe.
「Combination Skill above Unique-level is required to create the item in this recipe.
The Tear of the Moon + The Smile of the Sun = Essence of Mana (Curse)
Essence of Mana (Curse) + Elixir + Unicorn’s Horn = Essence of Mana (Pure)
Essence of Mana(pure)+Seed of World Tree = Sprout Seed of World Tree」
There were only three lines, but these were very meaningful lines.
‘This is how to grow the World Tree… Isn’t it?’
I didn’t know what to think and kept looking at the recipe for a while. The World Tree was the structure that best helped one to expand a dungeon. It was a tree of life, worth more than a billion points.
Oculus was the only one who had been able to grow it in the past, and Oculus kept how to get the World Tree to sprout his top secret.
I had to express my awe for a second. ‘So you have to combine it with other things.’
Just having the Seed of the World Tree wasn’t enough. One needed to use one’s combination skill to make a sprout, but nobody would possibly imagine that they needed to use the combination skill on the Seed of the World Tree.
The seed itself was very expensive and also hard to find. In my former life, it had been in the Auction of Devildom only three or four times during my whole life, and it was too risky to use the combination skill on it, because if I made the wrong combination, a random useless item would be created.
It was a pure gamble, but with the recipe, it was a different game. Well, I needed to trust the recipe from the Fairy King of Darkness, but since it was a present, it was very unlikely that he had tried to play a trick.
Moreover, the Fairy King wanted Devils to lose their balance more than anything, yet he tested me and chose me for his present… The World Tree was one of the best ways to grow influence and power. One could populate one’s monsters faster than others and receive a Fairy of Earth automatically. With its roots, it was also possible to create high-level armors as well.
‘The problem is my Combination skill.’
With my ‘Skill Combination (R)’ skill, I couldn’t combine the items. While trying to find the solution, I picked up the Secret Potion of the Wiseman that I had bought during the auction.
Name: Secret Potion of the Wiseman
Description: The essence of Alchemy. Upgrade skills that are below the Unique (U) level. When used on a skill of the Unique (U) level, they are only upgraded a half level to make Exceptional Unique (Ex U). No effect on skills above Unique.
Rare-level skill changes only when it reaches the Unique level. Unique literally meant one and only. There were many Rare levels all around the world, but when it came to the Unique level, a thing started to have a unique value of its own.
‘When I upgrade the Skill Combination, I’ll get a skill related to Combination. It depends on my past behavior, but the Secret Potion of the Wiseman gives random results.’
I had to decide if I really wanted to use it or not, but skills above Unique-level weren’t sold at the shop for everything. Well, I didn’t have any choice, as the only skill related to combination was ‘Skill Combination (R).’
To get another skill, I had to go through the Auction of Devildom or pass a special event, both of which were impossible at that moment anyway.
‘So there’s no other way.’
I had a very limited choice at the time.
I could have waited until the next Auction of Devildom, but that meant I would have to wait a year, while there was no guarantee that the skill I wanted would come out at the auction. The risk of wasting my time was way too high.
I had to pray I would get a skill that had a wide range so that I could combine items, as well. And it was possible that the Fairy King had predicted this situation as well. The Fairy King was clearly aware of what was being sold in the shop for everything.
If he had known that I wouldn’t be able to get the Combination Skill, he would have given me a related skill. I thought he hadn’t because he knew I would be able to handle this part by myself.
I drank the Secret Potion of the Wiseman, letting it rest on my tongue.
[You consumed one Secret Potion of the Wiseman. Choose your skill to upgrade.]
[1. Skill Combination (R)]
I had only one skill that could be combined anyway. All my other skills were at the Epic level, so the Secret Potion of the Wiseman would be useless.
Regardless, I had started this, so I had no regrets. I quickly chose my skill to upgrade.
[Skill Combination (R) changed to Combination of All Things (U).]
It was an unfamiliar name that I had never even heard of in my former life. When I looked into the skill on my status window, I was able to see the description.
Combination of All Things (U) – “All things” refers to everything in the world, but unlike its grand name, there are limits. Most things, including the user’s skill, can be combined with this skill.
I nodded. Fortunately, it was a skill that could be used for many different purposes.
‘Not bad.’
The result was much better than I had expected and made me smile with satisfaction. All I had to do was follow the recipe.
The tears of the moon, the smile of the sun, horns of unicorns, and elixir and… And the Seed of the World Tree.
It excited me already to think that I would be able to have the World Tree in my dungeon. Oculus had been able to reap many benefits with one World Tree and had all the high-quality monsters that other Devils couldn’t dream of.
I already had the upper hand on most other Devils, but if I had a World Tree, I would be on top in terms of dungeon quality without anyone who could compete.
With the World Tree, my Korean dungeon would be worth five dungeons elsewhere, and we were in the second year now. Later, the difference would become bigger and bigger.
I had two Seeds of the World Tree. If I found a way to sprout both of them, I would be able to have two World Trees.
This was unprecedented in history. I wasn’t able to calm down, since I was so excited that I could be the game-changer in this life by doing what nobody had been able to do in my former life.
I looked at the recipe again and called the shop for everything window to buy all the necessary items.
