Gong Qiying sat on the spotless altar, staring blankly at the ceiling.
A new day had begun. The Crystal Ball was showing off the adventurers' latest antics, but he couldn't bring himself to watch.
Because he had suddenly realized something—was his life getting too monotonous?
All he did every day was patch up and repair the dungeon. It was genuinely interesting work, but a person couldn't spend their whole life doing just one thing, could they? He didn't want to become some dungeon immortal.
But he couldn't leave the dungeon to do anything else, either. All he could do was eavesdrop on the adventurers' conversations and imagine what the outside world was like.
It sounded pretty pathetic.
People always said that life was about connecting with different people. He'd been in this world for quite some time, yet he still hadn't made a single friend.
"I'm starting to feel a little lonely."
Boredom was written all over Gong Qiying's face as he continued watching the Crystal Ball. He did spot quite a few familiar faces.
Verde was back again. He seemed to regard his encounter with Sakaki (Gong Qiying) as a stroke of good fortune, believing he could gain something from Sakaki, who appeared to know all sorts of mysterious things. So, determined to keep the opportunity to himself, he had charged into the dungeon alone.
He'd ended up dying somewhere in a random nook or cranny. He probably wouldn't give up just like that.
The adventurer with Giant Race blood was there, too. He challenged the dungeon with tireless regularity, like he was clocking in every day. Unfortunately, he still hadn't even made it to the stone gargoyle guarding the area.
This guy was always chasing the thrill of battle. Even though he knew the Curse Frogs' spray could kill him instantly, he still waited until they had all gathered together before fighting them. It was honestly...
Respect. Blessings. Incomprehensible.
Maybe it was just Gong Qiying's imagination, but he felt like it was taking longer for the guy to succumb to Deathblight. Could dying over and over really build up immunity?
Sithran was there, too. This time she wasn't with her companions; she planned to face the monsters alone. Judging by her determination, she intended to map the place out even if it killed her.
With death already accepted as a possibility, she was all the calmer as she explored. The devious traps were no longer a threat to her.
To sum it up, the traps in Sain Underground City shared several traits: they were densely placed, dealt little damage, hindered movement, and were well hidden. They could only kill when working in tandem with monsters.
Sithran had figured out a pattern of her own: places with lots of monsters always had traps, but places with traps didn't necessarily have monsters.
Her explorations had shown that her conclusions were pretty much spot-on.
"This one's got some talent."
Gong Qiying had developed a growing admiration for her. This elf was the fastest learner among all the adventurers so far. She might not have made a great first impression, but she knew how to put what she learned into practice.
Look, Sithran had reached a bend in a narrow path. What would she do?
The moment Sithran spotted the corner, she stopped. She picked up a stone from the ground and cautiously tossed it around the bend.
"Clack, clack." The stone landed in the water with a series of splashes. Nothing else happened. That meant there were no monsters waiting in ambush around the corner, right?
Not a chance!
The best way to deal with a sneaky bastard was—
She pulled out a bomb and hurled it around the corner, fast and true!
"BOOM—"
"Aah!"
The explosion rang out alongside a monster's scream, and the smell of charred flesh drifted over. Sithran took a deep, blissful breath.
"Ah, that feels good."
"Exactly!" Gong Qiying snapped his fingers. He loved seeing adventurers improve!
"Time to give her a reward. Let's see..."
A little while later, Sithran saw a strange zombie lurching toward her. It was completely defenseless, swaggering along as if it wanted her to kill it.
It was actually cannon fodder Gong Qiying had sent over with a reward.
However...
Sithran frowned and sidestepped, watching the zombie pass right by her. She didn't attack!?
"That's suspicious. Maybe this monster will self-destruct if I hit it," Sithran mused to herself. "Or maybe it'll turn into some other powerful monster when it dies?"
Sain Underground City had trained her into a suspicious person.
"..."
Gong Qiying fell silent for a moment. Why was she overthinking this? Just hit it already!
He made the zombie walk in front of Sithran again. It stood there, staring at her with its arms spread wide as if it wanted to embrace her.
Sithran gave it a look of disgust, bent down, and slipped past it. Then she hurried away.
"Hey, you can just ignore that?"
Out of options, Gong Qiying ordered the zombie to charge at Sithran.
"So, you've finally shown your true colors!"
Sithran kicked the zombie's head off and immediately jumped backward, watching its corpse warily in case something unexpected happened.
There was no chance of that. The zombie turned to ash and vanished as soon as it died, leaving two glowing spots behind.
Huh? It wasn't a trick after all?
Sithran froze for a moment, almost unaccustomed to it, but she still walked over and picked up the glowing spots.
One was a weapon, the other a tool. The weapon looked like a pair of hooked claws. She had no idea how to use that kind of weapon.
"Maybe I should sell it."
The moment she thought that, knowledge of a Battle Skill called [Hound's Step] appeared in her mind. It was a skill that came with the hooked claws.
Once she understood what Hound's Step did, she smiled happily again.
"This seems like a really powerful Battle Skill. Wait, why does the weapon give me knowledge of a Battle Skill?"
She tried taking off the hooked claws. The knowledge of Hound's Step vanished from her mind, as if it had never been there.
"That's amazing."
Sithran marveled at it. She felt tempted to take the hooked claws back to the elves and have a craftsman study them.
Unfortunately, it was too far away. Taking them there would waste too much time.
The hooked claws were a treasure, but the other item left her rather confused.
It was a small box with a quaint, old-fashioned appearance. Inside was something golden and glittering, but she couldn't tell what it was at all.
As if it knew she wouldn't understand, a stream of information poured straight into her mind.
[Summoning Finger Medicine x5]
[When used, you can see Summoning Marks drawn by cooperators or duelists on the same dungeon level. Summon a cooperator, and they will help you conquer the dungeon until the area boss is defeated. Summon a duelist, and they will fight you.]
"What is this amazing thing?"
Sithran had never known there was an item that could summon people across regions!
"Can it really summon someone? Is the person I summon alive, or are they something else? Do they have items like this, too?"
A flood of questions filled her mind. She hesitated as she stared at the Summoning Finger Medicine. It seemed to be a consumable, but there were five in all. Surely she could use just one to test it?
Thinking that, she eagerly raised the Summoning Finger Medicine and scattered its contents into the air.
"What's going to happen? What does a Summoning Mark look like? I can't wait!"
As she watched with eager anticipation, a golden Summoning Symbol slowly materialized nearby.
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