I searched the Graf corpse as I muttered that I was in the first place, just in case.
[You have completed the ‘Graf Extermination.’]
[You have gained 1500 points.]
[You have gained a Silver Box as the first completion reward.]
Yeonhee was automatically assigned second place while she was resting, and my heart skipped a beat as the Silver Box opened. I had gotten points in “The Man Who Overcame Adversity” from a Silver box, even though points for it should only come out of a Gold Box. Despite my disappointment at getting only 11 points, if it happened again…
[You have gained 12 Earthquake points.]
[Earthquake: F(12)]
I was very disappointed, as I would need to throw away the Earthquake skill in the future. The Silver Box was meaningless.
[Accumulated Points: 2100]
I tried opening a Bronze Box to test things.
[You have opened a Bronze Box.]
[You have received 3 Strength Points, but they are canceled.]
Since my Strength stat was already E class, I could not receive points from a Bronze Box. Now two boxes had been duds, and I wore a rigid face. I had no ritual before opening boxes, but now I was tempted to wash like Yeonhee. However, the thought did not last. I had tried such superstitions before in my previous life, like lighting incense and praying.
I had even used someone who had betrayed me, he had planned to use me as a sacrifice, but I used HIM as a sacrifice. I considered it self defense, so I had no regrets afterwards. Although his begging… Nothing worked for me. Humans were strange as I had a ritual for strengthening items, but not for opening Dungeon Boxes. Well, at least that ritual had worked often enough for me. I decided to finish spending my accumulated points.
[You have gained 7 Stamina points.]
[Stamina: F(34)]
That was not bad, and I used the remaining points to open two Silver Boxes.
[You have gained 31 Perception points.]
[Perception: F(94)]
[You have gained 4 Strength points.]
[Strength: E(19)]
**
After I returned, Yeonhee checked whether I was wounded, and except for a few bloodstains, I was the same.
“Focus on your own recovery.”
She had prepared a meal and heated up some canned goods. (EN: It was SPAM. ^_^ )
“It’s all right. The Revival Trait is working, and I can move now.”
I understood that, as the Trait enabled people to move when they were almost dead. While it did not alleviate pain, it was an amazing Trait. She would be able to go on fighting with her regeneration abilities. That suited an attacker more than a healer. While I had been matter-of-fact at Yeonhee’s Hate skill, both of us were going outside the box as hunters. We were not fixed on one role. I was a tanker and an attacker, and Yeonhee could both heal and attack. Have I known anyone like this?
I sat down when Yeonhee gave me two rings. One of them was the Ruler’s Ring, and she said the other had been the One-on-One second place quest reward.
[Ring of Flames (Item)
Effect: The ring shoots flames. Each monster the ring kills adds to the number of stored charges in the ring by 1. Maximum number of charges is 5.]
[Class: E]
[Cooldown time: 5 minutes]
[Stored Charges: 0] (EN: I know, it doesn’t seem to make sense. I think you can use the ring to shoot one flame every 5 minutes, and use the stored charges whenever you wish. We’ll see.)
I spoke as I wore both of them.
“You did well. It is a good item.”
She would want to hear those words, and they were true. Yeonhee smiled brightly and grimaced right afterward. It seemed that her broken cheekbone gave her pain whenever she moved her face muscles.
“Can you eat?”
“I’m doing this to eat, aren’t I?”
She was joking around and seemed to be in a good mood. I ate the first meal in days. We realized how hungry we had been after the first bite and continued to eat for a long time. We also ate cold canned goods, and Yeonhee’s eyes widened as the empty cans began to surround us. She looked a bit embarrassed.
“We’re going to eat everything at this rate.”
“I think it’s ok. We will fish for food from now on.”
While we only had the boss fight left, we did not know how much further the end of this dungeon was yet.
“Fishing?”
Yeonhee looked askance. She saw the weird creature a few days later. I brought a strange creature from a big pond near where I had killed the Middle Graf. It was not a dangerous monster as it did not give me points. We would have to think of this as a deep-sea creature instead of an alien if we wanted to eat it without being sickened.
“Think this lucky. We have food and water here.”
Yeonhee could not eat it at first and looked at the boiled flesh with disgusted eyes as she knew where it had come from.
“We cannot eat monsters as they’re poisonous, but we can eat them.”
Yeonhee looked disgusted more than ever and asked me with her eyes whether I had tried one before.
“Creatures that look like animals who do not give points are edible. But be careful, don’t eat anything you’re not sure of. Remember this.”
Yeonhee looked deep in thought whether she should eat this. However, she could not avoid my gaze and closed her eyes to eat one. She did not taste the flavor, even though it was actually quite tasty.
We walked up to where the Middle Graf lay, and Yeonhee saw its size for the first time. She looked at it with disgust but then looked at me with respect.
I then went to the dungeon box with her, and she readied herself. I reached out for the boxes and opened them.
[You have gained an item ‘Protective Gloves.’]
[Protective Gloves (Item)]
[Effect: The gloves absorb a little physical damage.]
[Class: F]
I would have eight items now, and the achievement for doing so was ‘Gluttony’ if I remember correctly.
[You have gained the Achievement ‘Gluttony.’]
[You have gained the ‘Collector’ Trait as the first place reward.]
[Collector (Trait)]
[Effect: Lowers the probability of an item disappearing after reinforcement failure by little.]
[Class: F]
This was the first time I had seen a Trait like this, and while it was much better than what I would have normally gotten, I needed to think things over whether to keep it or not.
I opened the second box and hoped for something GOOD…
[You have gained ‘Phobia (Individual).]
[Phobia (Individual)]
[Effect: The subject becomes afraid of a person.]
[Class: F]
Was this a curse? However, Yeonhee did not seem to know I had gotten one. I signaled her to heal me. It was then I saw her looking at my rings with passionate eyes. She would be stupid not to know their value and she had actually worn the Ruler’s Ring. I also had seven other items, and Yeonhee had given me more than half of them. She may think she had been wronged, but she could not attack me as I was stronger than her.
Yeonhee had not gone through the Trial Tests yet, but humans were evil by nature. She would also be a threat, and I would need to remove her before she could betray me. Not now, but…
[Yeonhee Woo used ‘Heal Fear.’]