NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31: Equivalent Exchange
Dungeon.
A place teeming with monsters where you could obtain treasures if you were lucky. For hunters, it was a word as familiar as the system itself.
'Why is there a dungeon in a place like this?'
Ferda's eyes narrowed.
It was a location he'd never seen in the novel. The description of this place, the closed underground waterway, only mentioned that Silvan Arcdute from Season 5 had used it as a hideout.
But a dungeon?
It was natural to have doubts.
"Ferda?"
Then Silvan, who was far away, called to him.
"Is there some problem? Should I come over there?"
"It's fine. I'm coming out now."
Ferda, having regained his composure, answered.
After a moment, leaving the dungeon entrance behind, he returned to the original location. Then Silvan's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"What was inside?"
At that question, Ferda hesitated briefly.
Should he tell the truth? But his deliberation wasn't long.
"I don't really know either. It was too dark to see well."
If he told him as it was, Silvan might become curious. He might even suggest they go in together.
"It probably wasn't anything special."
The dungeon inside was uncharted territory.
He didn't know the difficulty, the types of monsters, or even the grade.
Truly a situation with no information whatsoever.
'I can't enter such a place with Silvan.'
No matter how much it was just exploration, it was a place with many risk factors.
There might be unexpected dangers lurking.
So let's bury this place.
Of course, only from Silvan.
He'd discovered a new dungeon.
Though he was a former hunter, it was natural for excitement to surge. Ferda's eyes sparkled like stars.
"More importantly, I'm getting hungry. Shall we head back now?"
"Yeah!"
Silvan smiled brightly.
He was probably excited about eating duck. Ferda chuckled and walked alongside him.
While secretly turning his head to memorize where the dungeon was located.
'Just wait a little.'
Because he'd be back tonight.
***
After dinner ended.
Ferda got up from his seat.
"Then rest well, and I'll see you tomorrow."
Click—
Footsteps gradually growing distant.
After a moment, Silvan sat by the window. Then he quietly watched Ferda passing by the first-floor entrance and heading toward his lodging.
Only after his figure completely disappeared did Silvan withdraw his gaze.
"But you know."
Silvan's eyes stared into space.
What was there were specters. Hardy, Squishy, and Spiky.
"Will it be okay? That thing in the underground waterway."
[You don't need to worry.]
As soon as his worried muttering ended.
The three specters spoke in unison with the same answer.
Then Silvan tilted his head.
"But you said it smelled dangerous, right? That there was something damp and powerful inside."
When the underground waterway wall had collapsed, the three specters had been visibly agitated. Along with words that there was a powerful being inside.
So Silvan had made a somewhat anxious expression. He couldn't help but be concerned when told there was something dangerous beneath his feet.
[Though it is a being with high dignity.]
[It cannot compare to the King.]
[So you may rest assured.]
But the specters shook their heads. Their attitude was quite different from when they were in the underground waterway.
Though the confident answer gave him some relief, his uneasy feelings didn't disappear.
"But why do I have this feeling..."
Silvan's eyes, reflected in the moonlight, trembled faintly.
***
That night.
Ferda visited the underground waterway alone. As he moved forward, driving away the darkness of the underground waterway with a lantern he'd prepared in advance.
"Found it."
The half-collapsed wall.
A smile naturally formed upon discovering his destination. Having arrived at the dungeon entrance, he quietly reached out his hand just as he had during the day.
The difference this time was that his hand was wrapped with sufficient magic power.
Then, instead of stinging pain, a system message appeared.
=====
[Notification]
*You have contacted hidden dungeon [??????].
*Would you like to enter the dungeon?
-[YES] / [NO]
=====
There was no need to deliberate.
As soon as he pressed [YES], his body disappeared as if being sucked into the dungeon.
Feeling familiar dizziness, Ferda opened his eyes that had been closed.
"This place is..."
The first thing to greet him was a dense forest.
There were countless giant trees, and the lush undergrowth was long enough to reach past his thighs to his chest.
A place that would be better called a jungle.
Ferda muttered quietly.
"Forest Cave, perhaps."
Not all dungeons were shaped like caves. Some dungeons moved like the inside of a giant creature's belly, and some were high in the sky with barely any footing.
And regions with dense undergrowth like this jungle were called 'Forest Caves' by Earth's hunters.
"So it's at least a B-rank dungeon or higher."
Dungeons were classified by grade according to their type.
In the case of Forest Caves, they existed from minimum B-rank to maximum S-rank.
In other words, if he was unlucky, this place could be an S-rank dungeon.
It was natural for Ferda's brow to furrow.
"...Ugh."
If it were before, it might be different, but with his current body, it was a somewhat overwhelming difficulty. After hesitating briefly about what to do, he soon reached a conclusion.
"Let's explore first and then think about it."
He could get a rough estimate just by looking at the monsters.
If it seemed dangerous, he'd go back.
With that thought, Ferda moved forward.
Then, another system message appeared.
=====
[Notification]: You have entered the dungeon.
*Analysis rate increases as you proceed with exploration.
*Current analysis rate: [1 / 100]
=====
It was familiar content.
A message that any hunter who had entered a dungeon even once could see.
Ferda waved his hand to dismiss the message. Then he lowered his posture as much as possible and carefully moved forward.
Rustle rustle—
He didn't forget to cut down the undergrowth up to his ankles. It was natural since he could get lost if he didn't leave such markers.
How long had he walked like that?
Ferda suddenly stopped.
Splash!
A swamp area appeared out of nowhere.
A typical swamp glowing dark green. He carefully sent out his magic power. Since no special messages appeared, it didn't seem to be a poisonous swamp.
'But at this rate...'
Continuing forward would be difficult. He didn't even know how deep the swamp was.
At that moment, a strange sound came from not far away.
"Croak! Croak croak!"
It was the cry of a toad.
When he raised his head to look there, there really was a toad.
Though it was nearly 2 meters tall, walked on two legs, and held something like a sharp skewer.
Ferda's eyes lit up.
'Toadman.'
A creature commonly seen in Earth's dungeons too.
Originally, they moved in groups of four or five. But somehow, only one was visible before his eyes now.
Feeling something strange, Ferda looked around with sharp eyes.
But he couldn't sense any particular presence.
'What should I do.'
Looking at its appearance, it seemed to be moving somewhere. So he could just wait for it to pass by quietly. But there were benefits to defeating that creature.
'The dungeon's analysis rate would increase.'
When the analysis rate reached 100 percent, he could learn many things like the dungeon's name, grade, monster types, presence of boss monsters, and so on.
Also, even without reaching 100 percent, he could obtain some information, so it was better to increase the analysis rate by hunting monsters or exploring terrain when possible.
After consideration, Ferda picked up a stone nearby.
'I should catch it.'
As soon as he made the decision, his body moved naturally.
Whoosh! Thud!
The stone struck the Toadman's head precisely.
"Croak?!"
The Toadman let out a strange scream.
It was just a stone after all. It wouldn't be enough to inflict fatal damage.
Instead, he succeeded in drawing its attention.
"Croak! Croak!"
The creature's head turned red. It seemed quite angry.
The reason he drew attention while giving up the advantage of surprise was simple. He didn't want to fight in that slimy swamp area.
"Croaaak!"
The Toadman charging through the water looked like a wild boar.
Watching this, Ferda took out a dagger from his inventory. And the moment he had about five steps left with the Toadman!
Whoosh—
He quickly kicked off the ground and sprang out. While admiring the bewildered look in the Toadman's eyes, he filled the dagger with plenty of mana.
And.
Crack!
The dagger lodged into the Toadman's forehead.
With a gruesome sound, the Toadman trembled then fell backward. Looking at its thick tongue sticking out, it seemed to have died instantly.
But Ferda didn't let his guard down. There might be enemies hiding that he hadn't noticed. However, there was still no presence he could feel.
"Phew."
With a short sigh as a signal, Ferda finished the hunt.
Meanwhile, a system message appeared. It would be about the dungeon's analysis rate increasing. Obviously.
As he was about to wave his hand dismissively with an annoyed expression,
Stop—
His action froze for a moment.
"This is..."
Looking closely, it wasn't about the analysis rate.
Ferda looked at the message with narrowed eyes.
=====
[Notification]
*You have defeated a monster belonging to the dungeon.
*The Yggdrasil System interferes with the relevant dungeon.
*Current interference rate: 0.1%.. 0.2%.. 0.3%..
=====
"Interference rate?"
It was a term he'd never seen before.
Also, looking closely, this interference rate seemed to keep rising.
Numbers rising faster and faster.
Ferda quietly watched this sudden change.
Some time later.
The interference rate reached 100 percent. And the system message that appeared.
=====
[Notification]
*An extra skill of [Yggdrasil System] has been unlocked.
*Extra Skill: [Equivalent Exchange]
*Effect: Corpses of monsters defeated by the system owner are automatically converted into random items of equal value, proportional to each individual's worth. However, please note that this is only effective in 'dungeons' where the interference rate has reached 100 percent.
*Warning: Interference rate only automatically increases in 'S-rank and below dungeons.'
=====
"...What?"
Ferda's mouth hung half open.
The Yggdrasil System had an extra skill? He'd never heard of such a thing. As he made an expression clearly showing bewilderment.
=====
[Notification]
*Toadman's corpse confirmed.
*Extra skill 'Equivalent Exchange' activates.
=====
Along with the system message.
The Toadman's corpse glowed white.
After a moment, instead of the Toadman's corpse, an unfamiliar potion and a stone were placed there.
"...!"
Ferda's eyes went wide.
Because he'd seen a similar scene before.
The main stage for hunters. Earth's dungeons.
When you hunted monsters in Earth's dungeons, equipment, consumables, and materials like magic stones dropped.
The difference was that back then, all hunters accepted such changes naturally, and now only Ferda enjoyed such benefits.
"Low-grade healing potion, lowest-grade magic stone..."
Items that would be hard to obtain naturally from a Toadman.
Ferda muttered with a hollow laugh.
"Haha, this is quite surprising."
It was a skill so surprising it was shocking.
Of course, one healing potion was much more valuable than a useless toad corpse. Though it came with the condition 'only in dungeons where interference rate has reached 100 percent.'
"I originally planned to move as stealthily as possible..."
Today's purpose was exploration, after all.
But his thinking changed a bit.
Grip—
When you defeat monsters, items drop.
What hunter wouldn't be excited by this fact?
Feeling motivation surging, Ferda gripped his dagger tightly.