Chapter 208
[???]
An unnamed dungeon.
The dungeon was a vast plain with nothing in it.
A barren land with not a single blade of grass.
"There's nothing here."
"There really isn't a single monster."
Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo heightened their senses to the maximum to prepare for any surprise monster attacks.
"I told you it's okay."
Jeong-Hoon strode forward.
An endless plain unfolded before them.
Even after walking for nearly an hour, the surrounding scenery hadn't changed a bit.
It was as if they were endlessly walking in the same place.
└ What is this?
└ I feel like we're just going around in circles, is it just me?
└ What treasure is supposed to be here?
└ I don't understand.
The viewers also expressed their doubts, seemingly bored.
'Well, it's understandable that they're bored after seeing the same thing for an hour.'
However, the number of viewers was actually increasing.
Because of what he had shown them so far, they couldn't easily give up their anticipation.
"We're here."
Finally, Jeong-Hoon stopped walking.
"Here?"
"There's nothing here."
Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo tilted their heads in confusion.
"This is the place. It's the center of this dungeon."
If they heightened their senses to the maximum, they could sense mana flowing from the center of the dungeon.
Of course, it was so faint that they couldn't feel it unless they concentrated.
└ What's here?
└ Finally!
└ It would be funny if there's nothing here lol
There was no way there was nothing here.
Jeong-Hoon raised the pickaxe he was holding and slammed it into the ground.
Crack.
Cracks began to appear on the dry ground, and the range quickly widened.
Rumble.
Then the ground started to shake violently as if there was an earthquake.
"Uh... uh?!"
"W-What's happening?!"
Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo were bewildered.
Thud. Rumble.
A giant sinkhole appeared where Jeong-Hoon, Ha-Jin, and Bong-Goo were standing, and they fell downwards.
"Uaagh!"
"Aaack!"
Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo screamed, pale with fear.
"..."
On the other hand, Jeong-Hoon's face remained calm.
However, due to the broadcast settings, their faces were blurred, so the viewers couldn't see their expressions.
└ Gasp!
└ Crazy...
└ What was that sinkhole?!
The depth of the sinkhole was beyond imagination.
It took almost 5 seconds to reach the bottom.
"Is everyone alright?"
Jeong-Hoon, after landing, checked on Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo.
They seemed to have landed awkwardly, clutching their arms and legs and groaning.
"Ow... why is it so deep?"
"Ugh... if this was my real body, I would have died..."
Jeong-Hoon handed them potions and looked around.
There was an entrance to a mine in front of them.
"I've found the mine."
Jeong-Hoon's words caused an explosion of comments.
└ Whoa... there was a mine here?
└ Crazy... I thought there was nothing.
└ Treasure chest revealed lol
Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo exclaimed as they saw the entrance to the mine.
"Wow! There really was one?!"
"If there are entry restrictions even though there are no monsters, there must be something incredible hidden inside, right?"
Maybe it was because they were on air.
Their reactions were more exaggerated than usual.
Jeong-Hoon chuckled and nodded.
"I guess so."
Bong-Goo was right.
There were entry restrictions despite it being a ghost dungeon.
It was unfamiliar at this point in time, but soon, people would be frantically searching for dungeons like this.
This was because there was almost zero chance of dying since there were no monsters, and there was a possibility of hitting the jackpot with hidden treasures.
In fact, there was a case where a beginner who hadn't played New World before accidentally discovered a ghost dungeon and grew enough to complete their second class advancement, even acquiring a Legendary grade item.
'This isn't that kind of dungeon, but it's a very important place that reveals the existence of items with grades higher than Legendary.'
Jeong-Hoon entered the mine with his pickaxe.
The inside of the mine was bright because the ores embedded in the mine emitted their own energy.
It could be mistaken for radioactive material, but that energy was actually mana.
[Mana +1]
[Mana +1]
His mana increased just by entering the mine.
The mana emitted into the air was inhaled, and for some reason, the mana that entered his lungs quickly circulated and accumulated within his body.
"Wow... my mana is increasing!"
"This is really amazing..."
Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo couldn't help but be amazed.
The comments also exploded.
[XylitolForever donated 100,000 won.]
- Where is this place? I'll donate another 1 million won if you tell me!
[SkyBlueParty donated 200,000 won.]
- Please tell me ㅠㅠ I'm a beginner and I want to increase my mana
Donations were pouring in.
└ Ah, it's so frustrating that they don't reveal the location during the live broadcast;;
└ This is so true. Please just reveal the location
└ Whoa;; I'm getting dizzy.
└ That's because you have high blood pressure lol
The comments were going wild.
But Jeong-Hoon wasn't going to reveal it here.
"I will reveal the location when the video is uploaded."
He ignored the exploding comments.
"So we just have to mine this ore?"
Ha-Jin raised his pickaxe, trying to mine the mineral that was emitting mana on its own.
Jeong-Hoon shook his head.
"Don't mine that carelessly."
"Don't mine it...?"
Ha-Jin tilted his head in confusion.
Even at a glance, it was an extraordinary mineral.
So he thought the purpose was to mine this mineral.
"There's a limit on how many times you can mine. You'll regret it if you use up your chances without knowing anything."
"There's a limit...?"
"Yes."
The treasure Jeong-Hoon was revealing was designed so that many people could benefit from it.
'Each individual is given exactly 5 chances.'
Those were chances to mine.
If they succeeded, they could take the mined mineral, but if they failed, their count would be reduced even if they didn't mine the mineral.
And when their chances reached 0, they would be automatically expelled from the dungeon and unable to re-enter.
'So we have to take the best ones here.'
The chances were fair, but the minerals were limited.
Moreover, there were very few high-value minerals, so whoever entered first and discovered them was the owner.
"Wow... it would be a real loss to mine here."
This was just the entrance to the mine.
They couldn't waste their chances here.
They had to carefully select and mine the most valuable ones.
"Let's go."
Jeong-Hoon took the lead and moved forward.
* * *
3 hours had passed since they entered the mine.
Yet, Jeong-Hoon was busy walking instead of mining minerals.
As a result, Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo had to keep talking.
"Haha, so yesterday, what happened was..."
"Wow! That must have been really fun?!"
This was because there were viewers watching.
└ Ah, damn it, you piggies, I'm not interested in that kind of story.
└ He's supposed to be opening a treasure chest, but he's opening a dunghill instead
└ If you're going to talk, at least tell an interesting story lol. This is so boring;;
Of course, the response was cold.
They were so boring that some viewers even demanded that Honey2 and Honey3 leave.
"What do we do...?"
"Brother... help us."
Finally, the two sent an SOS signal to Jeong-Hoon, who was walking ahead.
"Okay! This is it."
As if responding to their signal, Jeong-Hoon, who had been walking silently, finally stopped.
There was a wall blocking their path.
They had reached the end of the mine.
"Brother...? There's nothing here."
The problem was that there wasn't a single mineral in sight at the end.
"That's why I brought this pickaxe."
Jeong-Hoon raised the pickaxe high and struck the wall.
Thud.
As he struck the wall with the pickaxe, it couldn't withstand the force and began to crumble.
"Let's dig too."
Ha-Jin also started swinging his pickaxe, following Jeong-Hoon.
"Yes."
Bong-Goo also started swinging his pickaxe, and an exclamation burst from his mouth.
It was because he didn't have to exert any force to swing the pickaxe.
As expected of the Highest Grade Pickaxe, it automatically adjusted for him.
Thud.
As they continued to dig through the wall, minerals gradually appeared.
"This is...?!"
Ha-Jin's eyes widened.
The mineral that appeared was none other than an Enhancement Stone.
[Celestial Enhancement Stone]
- An Enhancement Stone that can enhance Celestial grade equipment.
- Can be obtained with a low probability when hunting bosses above Lv.500.
- Success Rate: 2% (applied to all enhancement levels)
- If failed, there is a 50% chance that the equipment will be destroyed.
It was a Celestial grade Enhancement Stone.
└ Huh? Celestial?
└ What's that??
└ Wait a minute! That's a new grade!
└ A new grade?
Jeong-Hoon grinned.
"Don't mine that."
"Don't mine it...?"
"Yes. You don't have any equipment that can be enhanced anyway. There's no need to mine it."
It was a great success that it had surfaced.
They would now be aware of the existence of a grade higher than Legendary.
Now it was time to reveal the method of upgrading to that grade.
Jeong-Hoon increased his pickaxe swinging speed.
Several minerals were revealed.
[Highest Grade Energy Condensation Stone]
[Unique Enhancement Stone]
[Legendary Engraving Stone]
A variety of minerals.
However, Jeong-Hoon didn't mine those minerals and continued to dig through the empty wall.
After digging for a long time, a mineral emitting a pure white light was revealed.
"There it is."
Jeong-Hoon stopped swinging his pickaxe and muttered blankly.
[Celestial Enhancement Stone]
- An Enhancement Stone with celestial power imbued in it.
- Can be used to upgrade equipment of Legendary (fully enhanced) grade or lower, and the success rate is as follows:
- Legendary: 50% (1 needed)
- Unique: 0.005% (5 needed)
- Epic: 0.000001% (20 needed)
- Rare: 0% (cannot be upgraded)
- Normal: 0% (cannot be upgraded)
- If failed, there is a 99% chance that the equipment will be destroyed.
- The equipment must be fully enhanced to be upgraded.
Celestial Enhancement Stone.
It was an Enhancement Stone that could upgrade Legendary equipment to Celestial grade.
Jeong-Hoon started mining the Celestial Enhancement Stone.
However, even with a Unique grade pickaxe, it wasn't easy to mine.
It was firmly embedded and wouldn't budge.
'I knew it would be like this.'
Celestial Enhancement Stone.
This Enhancement Stone couldn't be mined without Unique grade mining equipment.
[Using Forced Mining.]
This was because a skill had to be used to mine it.
[You have mined a Celestial Enhancement Stone.]
He was only able to successfully mine the Celestial Enhancement Stone after using a skill.
'Alright.'
He acquired the only Celestial Enhancement Stone in this mine.
* * *
After mining the Celestial Enhancement Stone, Jeong-Hoon ended the broadcast.
This should be enough to reveal the treasure.
Jeong-Hoon then mined additional Celestial Enhancement Stones.
Although Ha-Jin didn't need them, they would be necessary for Jeong-Hoon.
After mining the Enhancement Stones, he mined the 'Highest Grade Energy Condensation Stones' with Ha-Jin and Bong-Goo.
On their way here, his mana had increased by 16.
Even though they were all Low to Mid-High grade Condensation Stones.
However, these Highest Grade Energy Condensation Stones had the effect of increasing all stats.
Moreover, there were only 30 of them, so they had to take them all.
'When we leave, my mother can come in.'
He wanted to bring his mother with them if possible, but she couldn't move separately because she was with Ho-Yeong.
"Hoon, I mined 3 Energy Condensation Stones and 2 Legendary Enhancement Stones."
"Me too!"
According to his memory, Legendary Enhancement Stones were also rare minerals, with only about 8 being found.
"Good job. Then let's get out of here."
Under Jeong-Hoon's command, the mining came to an end.
Now all that was left was to go back and inform Yeo Min-Ji and his mother about this.
However, there were 14 users waiting for them at the exit.
'What's this?'
Jeong-Hoon tilted his head.
A murderous aura was emanating from them.
That murderous aura was directed at him.
At a glance, it didn't seem like they came after watching the broadcast.
'Ah, Myth.'
He had familiarized himself with the faces of the Myth members during the siege against Sa Jae-Hyeok, and he could see about 6 of them mixed in with the group.
"You damned bastard. It was you who killed our Guild Master."
"We'll make you pay for your sins."
They also recognized Jeong-Hoon.
The situation was on the verge of exploding.
'It seems they made contracts with Transcendents.'
The fact that they knew he had killed Sa Jae-Hyeok meant that they had made contracts with Transcendents.
In other words, they were Avatars.
Jeong-Hoon took out Anima.
"If you can."
He couldn't leave Avatars alone.
Jeong-Hoon drew the bowstring and aimed at the one leading the group.