Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society - Chapter 11
Chapter 11. The World Becomes A Dungeon (4)
Chapter 11. The World Becomes a Dungeon (4)
Apart from light shining down on my future as a dungeon explorer, my final day as a high schooler was approaching. It was graduation.
βThe scent of the evergreen pine tree…βππππ²πeπ£π·π°Ρ΅eπ. com
At the auditorium, the schoolβs old fashioned and childish song was playing. Of course, none of the graduating students were paying attention to the song nor the principalβs instruction. Only when a few students were going up to the podium to receive awards did anyone check to see if it was someone they knew.
Just like that, my graduation ended. My sister came and handed me a flower bouquet.
She had long, straight hair and a doll-like face. Although her short height could be considered a flaw, other than that she had a body even a model would be jealous of. Her chest which wasnβt all that big could also be considered a flaw as well, but to my eyes, it was one of the things that made her perfect.
βOppa, congratulations on graduating!β
βThanks, Yua. How pretty.β
βHehe, I picked it myself.β
βNo, I meant youβre pretty. I wonder who your lucky brother is?β
βEhehe, oppa.β
Seeing my sister laugh with such a lovable smile, I lightly hugged her. As my height went down to 190cm and my body no longer looked massive, Yua stopped instinctively trembling when she saw me. It was the dungeon that turned me into a human capable of communicating with my sister!
As I was enjoying happiness by holding the bouquet and embracing my sister, my mother slapped me on the head.
βHey, stop right there! Youβre both my son and daughter, so donβt get any weird ideas. If you want, Iβll even let you do a DNA test.β
βEh, M-Mom.β
βOf course weβre your son and daughter. We take after your pretty looks.β
βWhew, after you started going to that dungeon, only your talking has gotten smoother.β
As I partied with explorers from other worlds for the last 3 years, I too noticed that I had become a lot more sociable. Even in the short span of time where party members gathered to defeat the Orc Lord, a lot of internal problems could happen, just like what had happened between me and Palludia.
As a party leader, I learned to deal with situations like those. It almost felt like I learned a passive flattery skill, not that thatβs a good thing.
βLetβs go to a restaurant! We can celebrate oppaβs graduation with steak!β
βBut Dadβs not here.β
βFatherβs probably fooling around somewhere. Letβs just go eat without him.β
A few days ago, when I met Peruta for the third time, he taught me the high-rank spear technique that made use of mana. The first technique allowed one to attack for a long time by lightly imbuing the spear with mana. The second technique was an explosive thrust where one instantly imbued a large amount of mana into the spear. With just these two techniques, I was able to easily tear through the wraiths on the 6th floor.
I could now move forward. What was more important was my father. He still did not have mana, and could only remain on the 5th floor.
Some time ago, I showed myself swinging my spear with mana. He then said as he grabbed my shoulders, βteach me.β
βFather, you see…β
I could not leave a mana pathway in his body like Peruta had done for me. He couldnβt summon Peruta to his body either.
As a result, he decided to walk the same path I had. He would grind for compressing elixirs, obtain the Orc Lord equipment, and try for a 1-man boss fight. But because he was a lot smaller than me, I was worried that he wouldnβt be able to ingest too many compressing elixirs. I made sure that he knew the negative effects of overdosing on compressing elixirs. As my father was the type to worry for his safety, I did not worry too much.
βSo youβre saying your fatherβs in the dungeon?β
βYep, heβs probably fighting for his life right now.β
βWhew, when will he grow up…?β
βYou know, heβs going to get slimmer like me.β
β… Really?β
βHeβll get stronger too.β
β…Gulp.β My mother swallowed.
In truth, father wasnβt so bad looking. It was just that his body made him look muscle-brained. Seeing mother change from disparaging father to looking forward to his transformation, Yua made a dumbfounded expression.
βWhew, whoβs the adult here?β
βHahaha.β
Seeing my sister act grown up was too cute, and I couldnβt help myself from petting her head. Thinking how happy I was, I laughed. If only things continued like this… Of course, I knew my life would always be slightly more special than othersβ.
But life didnβt always go as one expected.
That day, two moons rose above the sky. The world had begun to change.
Monsters appeared. Not inside the dungeon, but in the outside world.
βBreaking news. In Seoulβs Ahyeon-dong, a 2 meter tall wolf appeared and began attacking people.β
βThe two moons and the mutant animals. The relationship between the two will be discussed by our panelist…β
βAfter βTwo Moon,β reports say that parts of the mountain ranges have changed formation and that the oceanic crust are acting up…β
βMembers of the government are saying that a state of martial law must be proclaimed…β
βReports say that mutant marine life have begun to attack major harbors and vessels. This incident, which is estimated to affect sea commerce, is…β
βBreaking news. A man seemingly fighting against the mutant life forms, which have shown to take little damage from guns and knives, saved several nearby citizens. Experts say this is an effect of the βTwo Moonβ…β
βAt the same time that mutant life forms began appearing, people with the power to fight against them also appeared…β
βMutants that suddenly struck humanity with calamity. Would you believe that these mutants possess a secret that could advance our medical and chemical knowledge by 100 years?β
After the so called βTwo Moon,β the world became a mess. The government had even barred its citizens from stepping outside our homes. Because of strange creatures that suddenly began appearing all over the world, 20 percent of the human population suddenly died. Although various countriesβ militaries managed to drive them out, guns, knives, and even missiles were ineffective against them. These monsters flat out drove some countries to ruins, and feeling the danger of these monsters, the remaining countries formed an allied force against them. However, even the allied forces could only stop their advances by a little.
In this situation where Earth was going crazy, like vaccines, people that could fight against the monsters appeared.
Some beat down monsters with strange auras they imbued into their weapons, some burned them down with strange fires, and some twisted their necks off with telekinetic power.
Although they were weak by themselves, they could fight well against monsters in groups. As a result, the government began to gather these people with powers and formed new divisions to fight against the monsters.
In humanityβs sudden moment of crisis, there was no time for countries to fight amongst themselves. Soon, a global anti-monster institution was established and monsters were chased out until they no longer appeared in areas populated by humans. Consequently, monsters began to gather in previously unpopulated areas or areas that had been abandoned by humans.
With this, the fight between ability users and mutant life forms seemed to slow down.
Ironically, the war resumed when scientific analysis of the mutant life forms, now called monsters, finished. Surprisingly, the monstersβ corpses themselves, substances extracted from them, and blue nuggets very rarely found inside them all seemed to possess significant value for use in science, medicine, the military and energy.
As a result, the government began to change the way they worked. They began to use these special divisions, formed to protect citizens, to instead collect these resources. People were very sensitive to this change, and under the pretext of protecting the rights of ability users, many left the government divisions and formed their own institutions.
Such phenomenon occurred on a global scale. In the end, two main structures emerged for ability user institutions. One was βGuardian,β formed under the government. The other was βFreedom Wing,β formed by independent ability users.
What was at first considered a calamity for humanity was now considered an important resource for human advancement.
βFather.β
βWhatβs up?β
βThe world became a dungeon.β
βIt did.β
We spoke as we watched an interview from a representative of Freedom Wing.
βBetween fighting monsters in the dungeon and fighting monsters here, what do you think will earn more?β
βI donβt really care about money, but wouldnβt the monsters here give more money? They say itβs 200 million won for just one.β
βIt looks easy, doesnβt it, son?β
βIt does, father.β
βWant to go hunt some together?β
βItβll be annoying if anyone finds out.β
βWho cares? We can just say weβre rogues.β
There were, of course, ability users who were not part of either Guardian or Freedom Wing. As Freedom Wing was once part of Guardian, it still had remnants of an organized structure. Ability users who disliked being tied down hunted individually or in small parties, then sold monster corpses to those that wanted them. It seemed trading centers for monster corpses were also in the making. According to the rumors, America already had them set up.
βIt will be really annoying if we get branded as ability users. Iβd rather go to dungeons. Besides, even if I hunt monsters here, I donβt get any stronger.β
βIs getting stronger all you care about?β
βYep. I want to conquer the dungeon all the way to the 100th floor.β
According to Ellos, no one had ever reached the 100th floor of the dungeon. I wanted to see the 100th floor with my own eyes.
Although I was only level 7, if I traded all the gold I had accumulated from 3 years of hunting the Orc Lord, I would have more than 500 million won. It was an awful lot of money for someone who had not even gone to college yet. Ah, of course, colleges were currently closed due to monsters. The point was, I didnβt plan on doing anything bothersome just for money.
βFather, do you want to obtain an ability user license?β
βIβm thinking about it.β
βBut you already earn a lot.β
βYou can never have enough money.β
βWhat do you need more money for?β
βI can buy a bigger house, a bigger car, a bigger ring for your mother, more expensive clothes for Yua…β
βWhat about me?β
βYou can make your own money.β
Father did not get licensed right away. It was partly because he had yet to obtain mana, but more importantly because the world wasnβt yet stable. I agreed with his decision.
Although ability users were amazing human resources, beside the fact that they could fight against monsters, they were no different than normal human beings. It was impossible to know whether anything untoward would happen.
It took another half year before everything calmed down. It was a stormy period where the paradigm of human history was changing. Some sang of the end, while some sang of a new beginning.
My mother busily stockpiled canned food and ramen, my sister studied at home as schools were still closed, and my father continued to fight the Orc Lord in hopes of obtaining mana.
Of course, in that half a year, I devoted my entire time to the dungeon.