Chapter 104.2

104 Part 2

He had felt a slight Level-Up sickness a while ago.

A large amount of monster energy flowed in, strengthening the body.

But even though he felt that Level-Up sickness, there was no other change.

There was no severe pain, and no discomfort at all.

“Perhaps I’ve completely recovered.”

“Still, don’t overdo it.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Haruki nodded obediently.

If he went about getting too much stronger too quickly, he could end up suffering the same thing again.

And if the same thing happened again next time, it could very well be the end of the man known as Karaboshi Haruki.

“Anyway, don’t you think it would be fine even if the Dungeon Lord’s materials turned out to not fetch a high price?”

“Really?”

“Yes, because these items are a testament to our first defeat of the Dungeon Lord. Whether they’re expensive or cheap, they’re still important to us!”

“…”

Haruki squinted, thinking Karen’s was a little bit too pure and a little bit too radiant.

— Sheesh. I’m a bit embarrassed to be always talking about how much money I can make…

“Well, yes. You’re right.”

“Hmph–”

Haruki carelessly patted Karen’s head in response to her lovely purity.

Karen combed her crumpled hair with her hand while complaining that Haruki should be more careful when stroking someone’s hair.

But her eyes were laughing.

For some reason, Rhea got agitated and started to slam at Haruki’s legs with her leaves.

It was very painful.

“…”

Haruki tilted his head in confusion, unsure as to why Rhea seemed to be in such a bad mood.

Then, Rhea put even more strength into her leaves.

Thinking there was nothing he could do about it, Haruki gently stroked Rhea’s head (flower).

Rhea crossed her vines in front of her, as if trying to say “that’s why you can’t cheat on me!”

However, it didn’t seem to be all that bad.

Rhea’s spiky leaves gradually became rounded once again.

After the break, Haruki headed to the place on this floor he had been  most interested in: the stone stage.

The stage was just a huge stone, 10 meters long, 5 meters wide and 1 meter high.

Its surface was flat as if it had been polished, but no pattern was engraved on it.

It was an object with nothing worthy of note about it.

However, Haruki felt a slight sense of discomfort on the stage.

He stopped right in front of that discomfort and observed closely.

Since the time he was working at a printing shop, it had been a habit that Haruki stopped whatever he was doing right in front of a feeling of discomfort.

If he were to leave even the slightest feeling of discomfort be, a big mistake could occur later.

For that reason, whenever he was checking the plate-making, Haruki did his work while carefully reviewing it without ignoring any of those feelings of discomfort.

Most of the papers that Haruki felt uncomfortable with ended up having some flaws.

Haruki knew well that a slight sense of discomfort was a sign of an oversight.

Therefore, Haruki pondered seriously about it.

What exactly was this sense of discomfort?

He looked at the stage, then at the ceiling, and then at the walls.

When he saw the stage again, Haruki noticed the truth behind his discomfort as if he had received a revelation.

“This stage looks man-made.”

“Man-made?”

“Oh. It’s such a flat and rectangular object. I’ve rarely seen something like this in a dungeon.”

The interior of a dungeon usually looked like a cave.

Starting from their middle section, dungeons also looked like open fields, albeit natural ones.

Haruki has never seen anything shaped like an artificial object inside a dungeon before.

“That’s right, but aren’t there stone roads here as well?”

“There may be some rugged stone roads, but they seem natural enough. But have you ever seen anything this perfectly flat in a dungeon before?”

“Well…”

“First of all, there are no seams in this stage. Did someone cut a huge slab of rock down to make this, or…?”

“Or…?”

Karen gulped in response to Haruki’s suspense.

“So this isn’t some meaningless thing?”

Haruki shrugged as if saying he wouldn’t go as far as saying that for sure.

Haruki was a former printing company employee, not a scholar.

He had the ability to notice when something was off, but he wasn’t able to analyze what he had discovered.

A seamless, man-made-looking stone stage.

Haruki kept wondering what it was, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with an answer.

Haruki put his hand on the stage as if to take his mind away from its supposed mysteries.

At that moment…

“–Huh!?”

“–Eh!?”

The color of the stage began to gradually become darker and darker from its top to its bottom.

Flustered, Haruki and Karen took a step back.

Then, the stage suddenly stopped changing color.

The upper portion of the stage was about 70% darker, while the lower half was about 50% darker.

“What did you do, Karaboshi?”

“I didn’t do anything…! I guess?”

He wasn’t so sure.

The color change started the very moment Haruki touched the stage.

He wasn’t confident enough to say that he hadn’t caused it.

“Ah, that’s right.”

At times like these, he could count on the Skill Board.

If some big change had happened, then there should be something logged about it.

Haruki took out his Skill Board and checked the logs.

<<Giant Dark Tree subdued successfully>>

<<3 Skill Points obtained for the first subjugation of a Dungeon Lord>>

“Oh!”

There was some new info displayed in the log.

Giant Dark Tree seemed to be the name of this Dungeon Lord.

Defeating it increased one’s points by 3.

For Haruki, this increase in skill points was a pleasant surprise.

The question was about the next part.

<<Absorbed energy from the dungeon’s core>>

<<Conditions have been fulfilled>>

<<Requesting Demo Graph functionality release due to fulfilling the prerequisites —- Granted>>

<<”Item Enhancement” function is now available>>

The last four lines of the log were way beyond Haruki’s expectations.