Collar de Garphas.
This was the numbered item I obtained under the name Crusher Knight at my first noble banquet. However, since he had gotten it so early in the game, he had had no hope of using it for years. To do this, you first had to have solid financial support.
But considering how many mana stones we have been receiving...
I concluded that I would be able to raise the target amount in a month or two. Furthermore, there was not a single thing in Basement One Plant that could give me as much momentum as this object right now. In a sense, the progress I could afford far surpassed anything an essence could do.
So the most important thing from now on is to get enough mana stones...
Even now, the piles of mana stones that had no doubt scattered across the boss island flashed in my mind. If we could go back and sweep them all when the rainy season was over, that would shorten my deadlines considerably.
Still, that would be too dangerous, wouldn't it?
... Wait.
A sudden thought hit me. «Wyatt Hektz. Come here for a moment».
«...Have you called me?»
«It's nothing important, I just want to ask you a few things. You said you came to that island of giants during the rainy season, right?».
«Yes, it was the first day».
«I remembered it well, then. Anyway, was the island of giants plagued by monsters like this island was?»
«...Yes?» Hektz confirmed, he still seemed confused by this line of questioning. Despite everything, he proceeded to explain how they witnessed «monsters leaving corpses» and «normal monsters» fighting to the death.
I assimilated it. «Isn't it strange?»
«Sorry...?»
«If all the monsters killed each other, shouldn't the island be covered in mana stones?». When we arrived at Giant Island, all we found were monster corpses, no mana stones.
«Now that you say it, it's true», Hektz realized. «I didn't give it any importance then... but just like the island with the people, the island we were trapped on should have also had many mana stones».
«When did you start venturing out of the cave after taking refuge?»
«It was about ten days after the rainy season ended. But back then, we didn't even know if it really had an 'end'».
«Ya veo.»
Now I had even more questions. Where did all those mana stones end up? No, first of all, if the rainy season occurred regularly, the ocean floor should be covered with them.
¡Crujido!
Even now, monsters fell into the ocean and died on impact, disappearing in bursts of light. For hundreds of years, the mana stones they left behind must have piled up and turned into underwater mountains.
But when I was down there, I didn't see anything special.
Hmm, should I jump into the ocean for a second to take a look?
The idea crossed my mind, but I asked the magicians for advice before committing.
«Yes... That's something I've also been quite curious about».
«Let's check the ocean floor right now!»
«But there are all kinds of monsters in the water...»
«Does that matter? We could discover a new law of nature down there!»
«Wait!», a voice shouted. «There's a way to check it out without having to dive in!»
«…¿Eh?»
At Versyl's proclamation, the excited magicians who were about to jump overboard stopped to listen to her.
«Let's use the mana stones we have to prove it», he said, taking out one of the mana stones he was carrying, tying a rope to it and lowering it under the silver waves. Afterwards, he used all kinds of spells to control his underwater status.
Thanks to these tests, we were able to obtain new information. I had no idea why it took us so long to find out, but...
«...Has it disappeared?»
«The only thing left is the rope».
The mana stones that fell into the ocean apparently disappeared.
***
The experiment gave birth to all kinds of theories and questions.
«Could it be that the silver coloration of the ocean is because it absorbed all those mana stones?»
«Hmm, I don't think we have enough evidence to connect the two phenomena at this point.»
«I agree – if it is because the ocean absorbed the mana stones, then the ocean should emit a mana signature of its own, but that is not the case.»
«Hmm... So if the mana stones dissolve and disappear into the ocean, what happens to the ones on land?».
I used to be someone who enjoyed intellectual discussions like this. Maybe I had lost my taste for it after living like a barbarian for so long.
«Um... Lord Baron, what do you think of all this?»
«Ugh... My head...»
For some reason, my head began to beat strongly the more I listened to his comings and goings, so I left with the excuse that I wasn't feeling well.
Well, magicians should be able to handle the investigation on their own.
I escaped from the magicians and chatted with my companions to pass the time.
¡Crujido!
On the seventh day of the rainy season, the number of monsters falling from the sky decreased further.
[23:59]
After approximately 11:50 p.m., not a single monster fell.
Hmm... Is this clock ten minutes late? It occurred to me, but we decided to wait and drop the barrier at the agreed time. If a single monster ended up falling on the ship, it would damage the deck. Prevention was better than cure.
Tick, tock.
The clock hand moved. Everything around me fell silent as I focused on its ticking. Slowly, I raised my head to look around and realized that everyone was also looking at their own watches. It was like we were all counting down to the new year.
Tick, tock.
We waited in silence and, as time continued its endless march, the moment we were waiting for finally arrived.
[00:00]
The end of this damn rainy season.
«It's midnight!»
«Out?»
The adventurers on deck began to murmur among themselves, and I quickly gave the order.
«Let go of the barrier!»
With that, the magicians undid the umbrella-shaped barrier that surrounded the ship, and it seemed that the world was opening up around us. In a way, it was, as the barrier was soaked in the blood of all the monsters that fell and died on it.
«Sir!» As I walked towards the bow to enjoy the fresh air for the first time in several days, Erwen yelled at me from the top. «Look! Look there!»
And now what? I looked up at the top and saw Erwen pointing in the distance. Turning my head to look where she was pointing, I stopped dead. It wasn't just me. All the other adventurers who had turned to look also froze.
«…An iris bow?»
A rainbow had opened over the wide, endless silver ocean to celebrate the end of the rainy season.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple...
The range of lights was pleasant even to the naked eye. And as we watched from the top of a ship splattered with monster blood, the colors seemed even more vibrant than usual.
However, we couldn't just stare at him with our mouths open. We were adventurers. Whether it was a rainbow or a piece of hell on earth, if we saw something unusual, our first instinct was to run there to see if we could get money out of it.
«Auyen! Point the direction of the rainbow!»
«Excuse me? Oh... Yes!»
First we found out where the rainbow began. The timing of his appearance was too suspicious to ignore.
Something that can only be seen if you are in the ocean right after the rainy season ends...
What were the chances that it was a natural phenomenon? Furthermore, the rainbow we were seeing had a rather peculiar shape. If normal rainbows formed arcs or curves, it looked like a column of light shooting into the sky. It was like the scoreboard of a game that warns the player that something special is hidden there.
«Twenty-one degrees from our current position, and thirty-four degrees from Stone Island! As for the distance... I still can't say!».
Auyen spouted slang that I couldn't understand, but there was something I understood. He had managed to find out the address he was at.
But we still don't know how far away it is...
That was a small problem. Should we turn our ship in the direction of the rainbow right now, or should we continue towards our original destination?
«Hey? The rainbow is disappearing!»
Just as I contemplated our next move, the rainbow in the distance began to fade before disappearing completely. The show only lasted about five minutes.
So, when the rainy season ends, we only have five minutes to see it...
Wasn't that a sign that this was exactly what we were looking for? But still, I didn't give the order to turn the ship.
«Hey? Bjorn? Aren't we heading towards the rainbow?»
Ainar seemed confused by my decision, but as the leader of this group, I felt it was the only logical choice.
Giant's Island, Tree Island, or even Library Island... We hadn't gotten over any of them yet. We needed to improve our specs first and foremost, since we knew the general direction of the rainbow, we could always head there another time.
«Auyen, how long until we get to Giant Island?».
«We'll get there in about three hours!».
And so, we stayed our course for three more hours. When we finally made landfall, the first thing we did was gape. Man, I knew I had a good feeling coming straight here.
«...Mana stones.»
Thousands of mana stones covered the island's beaches.
The reason he had chosen to visit this particular island again was simple. Of the islands we had seen so far, this was the only one with a portal stone. That big giant we saw at the end still worried me a little, but I came to the conclusion that there were more secrets to find here if we were willing to take the risk and explore it.
¡Ba-dump!
But forget about the secrets that this island may or may not have: my heart began to beat strongly as soon as I saw the mana stones that covered the beach.
Of course, compared to Boss Island, there were far fewer mana stones per square meter on the ground. But the Giant Island was several times larger than the Main Island. What if we were able to collect all the mana stones here?
«This is amazing...»
There was a chance that he could reach the amount he needed with this island alone.
With that, we all got off the ship and got to work collecting all the mana stones that lay there waiting for us. Getting them wasn't as easy as I expected, of course. The rainy season had just ended, so there were still monsters lurking around.
Maybe it's because they are the ones who survived the rainy season, but these monsters are all a headache.
Those who remained were at least rank four. Furthermore, some new monsters with strange combinations of essences also appeared, making the combats incredibly tough.
However, little by little we began to get stronger. Myul Armin was the best example of this.
[Myul Armin has released Supersensitive Skin. Damage taken by your target increases by 30%].
[Myul Armin has released Eternal Fragility. The target's physical stats decrease by 30%, and the effectiveness of all curses used on it will increase by 1.5 times].
This guy was a necromancer specializing in curses and debuffs. His active abilities fell within that specialty, and his invocations also adhered to the subject.
[Myul Armin has summoned Spiral Insect.]
Spiral Insect, for example, was a summon that did not deal any physical damage, but each hit it dealt drained the target's life points by a set amount.
[Myul Armin has summoned the Corrosive Hound.]
Every time he bit a target, he reduced his stamina by a certain amount.
[Myul Armin has summoned the Self-Destroying Spirit of Vengeance.]
It was a summon that approached its target before exploding and inflicting curses on everything around. That's why I gave him the essence of the Man-Faced Bird. His passive Mother Bird ability was especially useful to necromancers.
[A summon within your range has dissipated. You have recovered 80% of the Soul Power used to summon it. The cooldown of the corresponding skill has decreased by 80%].
It was an essential skill if you wanted to rise through the rank of necromancer. With just this essence, Myul Armin had become five times stronger than before.
A rank two essence had that effect on people.
[Myul Armin has summoned the Self-Destroying Spirit of Vengeance.]
[Myul Armin has summoned the Self-Destroying Spirit of Vengeance.]
[Myul Armin has summoned the Self-Destroying Spirit of Vengeance.]
[Myul Armin has summoned the Self-Destroying Spirit of Vengeance.]
[Myul Armin has summoned the Self-Destroying Spirit...]
With PM's refund and cooldown reduction, he was able to chain summon as many spirits as he wanted.
¡Bum!
Since this did not deal physical damage to begin with, there was not much visible effect, but curses built up as the explosions continued.
It's much easier to hunt monsters when everyone has huge debuffs against them.
Furthermore, Myul Armin ended up being the perfect person to have around in our current situation. Theirs was a class that shone brighter when fighting a single strong enemy than several weaker ones.
«You worked hard, Myul.»
«I worked hard... I am not worthy of such praise.»
Hmm, lately, he seemed to be having trouble making eye contact with me. He also always called me Mr. Baron and had been rigid and somewhat distant.
Are you trying to retire now that you got everything you needed from me? Just in case I try to get it back?
The idea was a little depressing, but since it could just be my prejudices, I decided to keep an eye on it a little more before jumping to conclusions.
One day, two days, three days...
We spent several days collecting all the mana stones we could and fighting all kinds of monsters.
[00:00]
Before we knew it, three days had passed since the end of the rainy season. And it was in the midst of the joy of collecting even more mana stones that we received bad news.
«The mana stones... They are disappearing».
The mana stones that had not yet been collected were beginning to disappear like rotting fruit in the ground.
«How interesting... The mana is definitely dispersing... but I can't find a trace of where it's disappearing».
Whatever the reason, this was an unfortunate development for us, but there was also a silver lining.
«Versyl, how many mana stones have we collected so far?»
«Hey, if I had to do the conversion at the rates set by the exchange... I think we have about a billion stones...».
In other words, a profit big enough to bet on the necklace.