I grabbed the orb and put it in my bag, and I immediately left form that place.
After all, the trailer is half buried diagonally in the soil. The hole had disappeared before I knew it, but the crack remained there and swallowing the trailer.
My body is so wet because of rain already and I didn’t want to carry around a skill orb, so I immediately contacted the company to ask for early leave.
On the other side of the phone, Chief Enoki was cursing me, but I only answer it with, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘I understand’, and then hung up the phone.
Then, one hour later. In my room, after I got out of the shower, I was sitting in front of a Kotatsu next to my bed all year round. [TN: Kotatsu is a table with a heating system installed]
“Well, well, how much will I get if I sold this?”
I can see the Skill Name by touching the orb.
The mysterious number below it, called the Orb Count, apparently represents the time elapsed since the discovery, and was already known to disappear when it reached 1436.
“May king / 0074. Hmm, The King of May, huh. It sounds amazing. Is it a Skill related to agriculture?”
When I started up my laptop, I went to JDA’s orb purchase list and typed in ‘May king’. However, the result was ‘none’.
The orb purchase list is a list of how much various companies, organizations, and individuals want to purchase a particular orb, and the discoverer can apply for it to trade through JDA.
After all, there is only one day to spare.
They don’t know when it will be discovered, and it was impossible to select and purchase products that are lined up like a normal store. Of course, there was no time to hold an auction, so it was common to buy and sell through direct dialogue with prospective buyers.
“It can’t be helped. Then, I’ll just check what kind of function it is…”
While muttered so, I accessed JDA’s skill database and searched for ‘May king’.
However, the search result was still “None”.
“Hey, is this an Unregistered Skill?”
The JDA database is naturally connected to the WDA. In other words, it’s a skill that has never been found in the world.
Unregistered Skills with unclear functions have almost no sales channels. After all, it can’t be priced. Of course, I don’t have time to look up for more information or to negotiate.
“What a shame… I thought I could get a lot of money fast and quit the company.”
I dropped my shoulders and imagined the hassle after I reached the company tomorrow.
Too much bad imagination in my mind, I shook my head from side to side and stood in the kitchen to boil water.
I took out a quite good brand of tea from the cupboard to change my mood while putting a kettle on the stove.
“Gyokuro no Hoshinomura is the best.” [TN : in raw, ‘星野村の玉露’, is the name of the tea, based on real product, you could try and search in google.]
After boiling it for a while, I took it off the stove. Then I looked at the orb on the desk again while I was waiting for the water to cool down.
“Is there no choice but to use it myself?”
I carefully put a little of ‘Yame no gyokuro’, poured it into a cup, and brought it to the table. First, I took a sip of it.
“Hmm? It tastes stronger than usual, but… What did I do wrong?”
Well, since it taste good, I don’t really care though. Then, I picked up the orb without thinking much.
“As expected, what I need to now is make a pact.”
I muttered so, and used the orb with a small scream.
“I will quit being human!”
It was a strange feeling. Something permeates my body, and I feel that my body is being dismembered and reconstructed…. It was a weird sensation but not that bad.
“Hmm…..”
When I opened my eyes, I move my hand to see how it felt.
I don’t feel that something has changed.
I was a little disappointed, thinking that the world might look dramatically different.
“Well, it’s the same as ‘Sex’, after you experience it, there’s noting really change…. Anyway, How do you use the skill?”
As usual, when you’re in trouble, go and search on the internet.
I searched for the stories of the guys who used the skill. Of course, I can’t tell if it’s a lie or a real thing.
“Hmm, how I say it, No matter what I read, the summary is ‘Somehow I Know How’…. Somehow… Somehow, huh…”
I closed my eyes, folded my arms, and drank the remaining tea, but the result was….
“…I don’t understand at all”
As expected, huh.
Did I fail to get the skill? With that in mind, I remembered the D card.
Certainly, the acquired skill should be listed on the D card.
“Where did I put the card? I’m sure, it’s in the pocket of my pants…”
When I took it out of the clothes basket, I slip my hand into the pocket and took out a dull silver card.
“Oh, there it is. Now, the skill is…”
————————————
Area 12 / Keigo Yoshimura Rank 1
May King
———————————–
“Oh, it was added properly…..”
It’s too much for my brain, so I check the card twice.
“Huh?”
After loosening the inner corners of both eyes with the thumb and index finger of my right hand, I’m looking at the card again and the result did not change.
“Ra–Rank, One?”
The letters of ‘Rank 1’ were shining brightly there.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! I’m sure it was about 99 million, right!?”
However, after reviewing it many times, the 1st place is mean the 1st place.
Assuming that the ranking is based on the experience points obtained by defeating monsters…..
“That eerie voice that I heard for a while after the iron bar dropped to the hole, is from that?”
I can’t think other than that.
And I’m sure, I didn’t run over something with my car on the way home.
I suddenly noticed something and raised my face.
“Rank one, that mean I’m strong?”
It’s already been 3 years since the Dungeon appeared in this world.
The military guys would have been there since the beginning. Sure, there are now ordinary explorers, but the top ones are probably someone from military or police.
And I just passed the people who gained 3 years worth of experience?
However, I didn’t really feel it.
“But I don’t feel like I’m getting stronger at all. It doesn’t mean that I could twist the doorknob until it broke if I want too.”
Then, I tried to squeeze the knob on the front door with all my might, but nothing happened.
“Then, is it Magic?….. Wait, a skill different from a magic, right? I’m sure they’re different…”
On that day, I was forever searching on my PC for useless thing.
Here, the monitoring section of the Dungeon Management Division of JDA (Japan Dungeon Association) mainly deals with the generation of new Dungeons and the capture situation of Dungeon in Japan.
New Dungeons, even though it’s not generated often, are said to be born about once a year in each area.
However, since there are few countries like Japan where high-precision seismographs are installed on a nationwide scale, it was estimated that there are many dungeons that have not yet been found.
And, there was a reaction earlier, but…
“You just have to report as the way it happened.”
“Fu, Furai-san!”
When I looked up, Miharu’s boss was there. Kakeru Furai, 29 years old. The chief of the surveillance section.
He was a sensitive man whose forehead was about receding to at a young age.
“Especially if you’re confused how to explained it. if you included your own speculation, it might be more confusing later, you know?”
“Huft“
That’s true, but the result is…
Miharu was hesitant about the content that would make her look crazy if she reported it as it was.
“Hmm? Don’t put so serious face. What the hell actually happened?”
“No, that… Then I will report as what’ve been measured!”
“As I said from the beginning, just do it like that.”
I don’t care already. Let’s push the rest to our boss. Miharu decided so and began to talk fluently.
“At 14:32, it caught a tremor that seems to have generated a dungeon near the New National Stadium.”
“Is it right next to Yoyogi!?”
The Yoyogi Dungeon is a Dungeon that was generated three years ago between the NHK Broadcasting Center and the second gymnastic at Yoyogi Stadium.
“Is it about 1 km in a straight line from it?”
“That close? How big is it?”
“Ah, uhm… it’s deep-depth.”
“What?”
“If the measurement is correct, the depth is over 1400m.”
“1400m!?”
The Dungeon depth of Yoyogi Dungeon is only 280m. So, it’s roughly five times of that. There is no doubt that it is one of the deepest Dungeon in the world.
“Well, then the train track, the Oedo Line, is going to be messed up… Immediately contact the relevant parties!”
The dungeons that occur in the center of the city destroy the underground infrastructure. Three years ago, when the Yoyogi Dungeon was born, the train track, the Chiyoda Line, between Yoyogi Park and Harajuku was cut suddenly off, and a major accident was about to occur because of it.
It’s early afternoon on weekdays, and if the subway tracks suddenly disappear at that time, it would be catastrophic. However…
“Oh no, it’s near the Aoyama Gate, so it’s probably safe.”
As a result of research, it has been clarified that the space that actually occupied by the dungeon has a cylinder shape with a diameter of several meters to at most a dozen meters.
It is known that the dungeon quake is the impact when the needle of the measurement machine is driven in, and the extinction quake is the impact when the needle is pulled out.
From Aoyama Gate, the route of the Oedo Line is less than 200m away. If the measurement is correct, there should be no damage to it.
“But still, we need to report. We have to block the entrance, and the impact on the stadium that’s still under construction is inevitable. Contact the Olympic Committee too…”
“Please wait.”
“What?”
He replied without hiding the frustration of this busy situation.
“That’s, it… it’s gone.”
“What?”
“The, the dungeon.”
The boss looked dumbfounded. While Miharu was ready for the next storm, she wondering if her face looked like this when she saw the data.
“The deep-depth Dungeon that appeared in Tokyo…”
The boss glanced at his watch.
“It disappeared in an hour, you say? Is that a joke?”
Miharu dropped her shoulders as she looked at her boss, who said that with a faint laugh with while thinking to not forgive her if it was a joke.
“That’s why I wasn’t sure what and how to report. Anyway, the deep-depth Dungeon that occurred near the Aoyama Gate of the New National Stadium at 14:32 has already disappeared as of 15:20. There is also an extinction earthquake very similar like this in Denver. Recorded. Only minutes after the outbreak. “
Even in Denver, after defeating the last monster, all of the people inside the dungeon returned to the ground and a short time later, an extinction earthquake was recorded, and it was reported that only traces of collapsed holes were left there.
A similar phenomenon has been reported in the shallow dungeon that has been captured.
“Do you want to say that someone appears in a deep-depth Dungeon and captures it in minutes?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know, but the peace of the people of Tokyo and the schedule for the Olympics were able to be kept. That’s good, right?”
To his stunned boss, Miharu made up a line like that and bowed down because she couldn’t give more explanation than that.
The boss who heard the report asked Miharu with a serious look.
“So how should I report this to the section chief?”
This series… it differ in how long each ch is.. Anyway, this is the start point of the story. And also the ch that make me interested more in this series.
2. Keigo Yoshimura, Near Aoyamaguchi, New National Stadium 9/27 (Thu)
“Tsk, it’s raining.”
I muttered as I sat in the driver’s seat of the car that I stopped on the side of the road and watched the rain start hitting the windscreen of the car.
『 So did you do it well? 』
A moody voice can be heard from the other side of the hands-free phone. The voice is from Yoshitake Enoki, hmm, you could say he is my boss.
This time too, The client got angry because of his mistake, but he make me, his underling to go to apologize….. it can’t be helped if our sincerity will be doubted.
First of all, although I am always conveniently can be used in various departments, I am still a researcher. This, is a job for the marketing department.
“No … the transaction will be terminated.”
『 “What?! What kind of apology did you do!” 』
It’s a serious incident, and you sent me, your underling, of course it will end like this. Are you stupid?
I want to say that. I really want to say it.
“I’m sorry.”
『 “Sorry? In other words, it’s your mistake. Really, you’re so useless. Enough. I’ve lost an important business partner, so think that the salary cut is certain and the bonus is zero.” 』
Huh? Isn’t this mistake irrelevant in the first place? Isn’t it your bad management!?
When I tried to complain, the connection was cut off from the other side.
“…Huh.”
It’s kind of crazy. Salary reduction? No bonus? Is he has a screw loose on his head?
If you succeed, you will say it’s your power. If you fail, it’s my mistake. Why is such a guy in a higher position?
“…tsk, is it because he is that kind of guy, so he could climb higher?”
If you look only at his profile, sure, you will find a great career history.
“Oh. I feel like dying. I don’t want to go back to work …”
The sound of rain hitting the roof becomes stronger. So, I started the car engine and turned on the wiper.
At the same time, the music that started playing on the car radio suddenly stopped.
“Hmm?”
『 “Breaking news. It seems that a medium-depth Dungeon was finally captured in the United States.” 』
『 “Oooh!” 』
The people at studio is screaming at the news. Apparently, breaking news is being reported.
“Medium-depth dungeon, huh? I’m sure there was something amazing there.”
It’s already been three years since the Dungeon appeared in the world. The initial turmoil is already end, and dungeon exploration was like fishing in a slightly more dangerous place.
When it comes to defeating monsters, it feels like doing something dangerous, but the act itself is not much different from fishing or hunting. More or less, all of them is life-threatening.
I wonder if I can dive into the Dungeon and release the stress with an adventure. While thinking about it, I started the car.
Around this area —around Meijijingu Gaien— there were many Olympic-related buildings, and some large buildings were still being built.
The rain becoming even more harder, and the sound of water hitting the roof of the car echoed inside the car.
『 “It’s been three years since the Dungeon spread, and it feels so fast. Today, we will welcome a dungeon researcher, Haruki Yoshida. Mr. Yoshida, Nice to meet you.” 』
Haruki Yoshida, hmm.
It’s a name I often hear these days, but researchers are suspicious. Their D-rank (Dungeon rank) is not clear. Are they diving in properly?
『 “Nice to meet you.” 』
『 “First, the place of the Dungeon, it’s in area 36. It is a so-called Evans Dungeon found at Summit Lake in Mount Evans, Denver, Colorado, and has 31 levels. How was it, Mr. Yoshida?” 』
『 “Even in low-depth Dungeons up to 20 layers, there are only a few that have been traversed, so this could be called a feat.” 』
『 “I see. By the way, what is a medium-depth dungeon? 』
『 “Hmm. There are about 80 dungeons discovered so far in the world, but for convenience, they are classified into three types: low-depth / medium-depth / deep-depth.” 』
『 “I’ve heard of the great depth, but it’s that just a rumor?.” 』
『 “Yes. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, said that it is great-depth underground, and the term used for underground was not suitable for dungeon classification. That’s why a new term was created to avoid misunderstandings.” 』
『 “I see” 』
『 “They are defined by the number of layers, less than 21 layers are called low-depth, less than 80 layers are called medium-depth, and more are called deep-depth Dungeon.” 』
Rumor has it that as a result of the diving of the armies of each country, the firearms were decided at the boundary where they became useless.
『 “Then, the Evans dungeon is not so deep, even if it is called medium-depth, is that right?” 』
『 “No, it’s just a classification for convenience, so I can’t say that clearly. In the first place, the deep-depth Dungeon as defined, has not been confirmed yet.” 』
『 “what do you mean?” 』
『 “For example, in Tokyo, the SDF’s countermeasures have reached the 21st floor of the Yoyogi Dungeon. Therefore, it is certain that Yoyogi is above the middle depth…..” 』
『 “So, you can’t tell the actual number of layers without going down?” 』
『 “That’s right. When you actually get off, you can see that it is a medium-depth if there are 21 layers or more, but there are not so many dungeons that have conquered to that extent in the first place. When it comes to 80 layers, no one has reached it, so I don’t know if that layer even exists.” 』
『 “I see. Then, the fact that the Dungeon has only 31 layers is not confirmed too?” 』
『 “Yeah, It’s possible until someone reaches the 32nd layer.” 』
『 “However, domestic dungeons have been announced with a low depth of 5 layers and others are 4 layers. Do you why? 』
『 “It’s just an estimate. Nowadays, by observing a special tremor called a Dungeon-quake that occurs when a Dungeon is formed, the underground depth occupied by that Dungeon—in JDA, it is called the dungeon depth and is expressed in meters—. So, it is possible to do some estimation.” 』
『 “It is amazing.” 』
『 “In Japan, which was an earthquake-prone country, Hi-net and GEONET had already been prepared since the Dungeon appeared, so by comparing them with those records, it is estimated with the dungeon that already known and make a rough estimation.” 』
『 “However, it seems that the inside of the Dungeon is like a mysterious space, and it is not really known whether there is a strict relationship between the depth occupied and the number of layers. So it’s just a perception that if the Dungeon is deep, there may be many layers.” 』
『 “Is that so? I see.” 』
『 “The Dungeon depth obtained there is compared with the layers of the two low-depth dungeon traversed in Japan, and the number of layers of the other dungeons is estimated based on that, which is the estimation mentioned earlier.” 』
『 “I understand. By the way, at the bottom of the Evans Dungeon, some Skill Orbs have dropped. Unfortunately the content has not been announced.” 』
『 “When someone asked what you want to get from a dungeon, It’s the number one answer, the dream item to get from a dungeon.” 』
“Skill Orb, huh…”
When the dungeon appeared, the world was in a fuss. After all, monsters just like the fantasy world were wandering around.
But that just means a small increase in dangerous places like Taiga (boreal forest) and Rainforests, where dangerous carnivores lie for human society since a long time.
What really shook the world were the three items that came from it—cards, potions, and skill orbs.
The first Dungeon Card to be discovered-commonly known as the D-Card, was a fuss within the scientists because of its over-technology.
However, it did not have a big impact on our lives directly.
When the monster was defeated for the first time, a card with the human name and various information was dropped.
The phenomenon was just that, no more or less.
Even now, it is only used to check the skills of the Explorer, but at that time I had the impression that it was even more mysterious than that.
The strange characters used in the small 14-character string engraved on the upper part of the back side was talked in the philology area, but it could not be deciphered and only the types of characters were collected until now.
It was only talked again when the string was later found to match the string found on the surface of the changing tablet board found in The Ring.
However, the potion that was discovered next is different.
The potion that was dropped for the first time was dropped on a dying soldier whose lower body was amputated, and it was causing a sensation in the world.
The effect was as if it ridicule modern medicine. It connected his lower body that was amputated and that person survive the inevitable “death” itself.
That fact alone has led world-renowned companies, let alone governments and the military, to take the lead in sending people into Dungeons.
Due to the various items discovered since then, the Dungeon was recognized as a Mine of Special Resources.
And when the world, the first Skill Orb is discovered.
To sum it up, it was such an item that would take humanity to the next rank.
The person who used it became able to use magic.
Make the fantasy world a reality. That was the Skill Orb.
It is now being seriously debated whether it will be inherited or not.
It seems that military personnel at the forefront have registered their genetic map before searching. Probably for comparison with before and after using the Orb.
If the first Orb user had a child shortly thereafter, that child should be born soon, but no such news has been reported.
There were rumors that artificial insemination was used for mass production of it in less democratic countries.
In any case, if such items are on the market and used for crimes, the order of the world may be destroyed.
So, fearing that, the rulers quickly set up the World Dungeon Association (WDA) to manage items from the Dungeon.
But in the end, the Skill Orb itself couldn’t be managed.
There was an incident in which the Skill Orbs that were first collected from all over the world disappeared from the warehouse, even though they were stored strictly.
It was suspected that the staff made a mistake, But even though the Orbs just in small numbers, the fact that kind of thing happening around the world, it was difficult to just blame it as human error.
And, the result from the observation of the Orbs, it confirmed that the Skill Orb disappears exactly in 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds after appearing in the world.
That means, to distribute it outside the Dungeons was extremely difficult.
Even the law about the handling of Skill Orbs was confusing.
It is so rare that its economic value can’t be decided, and the value will always be zero after 24 hours. Whether or not such a Skill Orb could be called a property was controversial.
Various interpretations have been attempted, but now it is settled that the Skill Orb is not a movable property due to perfectly control it is hard, So, even if it is free to use, it can’t used as a gift.
Let’s say, Skill Orbs is considered to be something with value. In the first place, all Skill Orbs are natural products. Means, it’s movables when it still without owners.
For example, ‘A’ gets it, if he does not claim its possession, it remains as an unowned movable property. When ‘A’ gave it to ‘B’, it just mean that ‘A’ gave it as an unowned movable property, and ‘A’ is just a means to physically move the property.
No matter what route you take, if all the people in the middle do not declare ownership, you can only consider it as the property of the person who finally used it.
Of course, if it’s a trade, a Dungeon tax will be imposed.
It just that The world failed to manage the Skill Orbs, but in the end, the world’s order did not collapse.
The number of Skill Orbs was extremely small, and even fewer Orb users were unknown to the administrator.
Of course, crimes that used the power of the Orbs may not have been recognized as crimes, anyway it simply did not appear yet, but such crimes happened, they would say that crimes have existed even before the appearance of the Orbs, and as a result nothing will changed.
Still, an Orb couldn’t be used by humans who didn’t have the card. If you want to benefit from the Orb, you have to defeat the monster at least once.
As a result, tours to defeat weak monsters have become more frequent.
No matter how low your chances of getting a Skill Orb, you may happen to get a chance one day, so it’s better to be prepared in advance.
There were quite a lot of people who thought so. Especially in the one in developed countries.
At the beginning of the Dungeon, all the governments were always have a late response, but within a year, the law and management system were put in place, and each Dungeon was managed by the government and WDA. ..
“If you discover it, becoming rich is just not a dream, but it doesn’t circulate to the general public.”
There were rumors on the net that an item box was discovered or that there was a Transfer Magic, but the information of the Orb users tended to be hidden, so the credibility of that was low.
However, concealment is not stipulated by law, and if the person himself publishes it, it is their freedom to do that. As a result, even if that person becomes a little inconvenient, their skill will surely be noticed.
Then, in the entertainment world, even a group called ‘Dg48’ was born. If you provide a Skill Orb to “Your Favorite Member”, it seems that you date her until the time when the Skill Orb disappears.
Speaking of no moderation at all, people ridicule that the handshake ticket business (Fans Meeting) had come to this point, but this is probably what it means to live boldly.
“I hope that I could live that way too, sigh. Oops.”
The traffic light turned green, but when I started the car, I felt that the tires were coming off, and the car bounced.
“What, What just happened?!”
The cars at intersection was bumping around.
“S, Shit!”
When I forcibly turned the steering wheel and plunged into some construction site from the road, the front wheel was taken off and the car spun.
There was a deep crack in the ground, and it seems that the tire was taken off there. If it’s like this, I have to release the accelerator and just wait for it to stop.
I felt that a small shadow appeared next to the car that made a clean turn, but the car is already out of control. The moment a loud bang was heard on the belly of the car, my cold sweat blew out at once. Then, just before the car hit a big trailer full of iron bar, the car finally stopped.
“Just now, don’t say that it was a kid…..”
The accident was pretty serious, and if it was involved, it wouldn’t be just end with a scratch, right? Every time after I complain about the company, misfortune always comes.
Anyway, I hurriedly opened the door, jumped out into the rain, and looked for something I bumped into.
The rain were getting stronger and I couldn’t see well in the smoke, but something black was lying a little further away from the side of the trailer .
“Hey, are you okay!?”
In a hurry, I rushed to the shadow and tried to reach out with my hand, but I noticed something strange.
I’ve seen it many times in the video, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it live. It wasn’t a person by any means.
“Go, goblin?”
In front of me who muttered that, what seemed to be a goblin was reduced to black particles.
Then there was a dull silver card left behind.
MC Illustration
———————————
Area 12 / Keigo Yoshimura Rank 99,726,438
———————————-
Dungeon Card—-It’s a card that people always get as a drop when they first defeat a monster.
It was a card full of mystery, like about how it get the owner’s name, and what was written on it, and there’s a time where it was rumored that the card was made with a rare metal, but it seems that it was just a common material after all.
The area represents the place where the Dungeon Card appears.
As a result of inductive estimation from the information on the Dungeon Card, the area 1 was set around 110-120 degrees west longitude, and thereafter, the area number increased with a width of 10 degrees longitude in the direction of rotation of the earth, So, once it increased until the area 36. It can be said that you just made a one rotation.
However, it is said that the polar region may have been set as Area 0 due to the recent acquisition of an Area 0 card by an Inuit man at Pond Inlet in Canada.
In any case, Tokyo at 139 degrees east longitude is the eastern end of Area 12.
“Rank 99,726,438, huh?”
The rank is said to be the rank in which all human beings are lined up based by something obtained from the defeated Monster—–for convenience, it was called “Experience Value” just like the game.
Since I’ve defeated a Goblin for the first time, there are more than 99 million people in the world who have defeated more than one Goblin.
The fact that 1/70 of humankind is already in contact with Monsters I don’t know at all whether this number is low or high.
Thinking about that, I exhaled deeply and muttered.
“Anyway, I’m glad that it wasn’t a kid.”
As I picked up the card and looked at it, I relaxed and leaned against the trailer behind me.
There is a voice of confusion and smoke coming from the intersection. Apparently, there was a big earthquake just now.
“Is my apartment okay?”
After all, it is a two-story rundown apartment that is looked like it was built 50 years old ago. So, it’s not strange that it might crushed by a big earthquake.
My whole body is already soaked in rain. Even if I go back to work, I don’t have any change of clothes there, maybe I should go home once…
When I thought about it, I slipped and my butt was on the ground.
“Ouch! What is it this time?”
As I said that, I looked back, and I saw the trailer full of iron bars going down.
“Huh?!”
It went down, and the place it going to fall, a large and deep crack spread there. Probably due to the previous earthquake.
Apparently, I just added the final push to the trailer, which had stopped closely near the crack.
Fortunately, the trailer stopped halfway through a crack in the ground, but the large amount of iron bars that had been piled up (all of it was very thick and long) slipped into the hole.
“No, this was naturally the cracks’ fault, right? It’s not my fault, right? I have not enough money to compensate it….”
I was watching it with a cold sweat.
Anyway, the rain drops over my body, from the top of my head to the tip of my feet. I was thinking that it might be not my cold sweat… While I keep thinking something that even I couldn’t understand, and even though I keep waiting, I couldn’t hear the sound of the iron bars hitting the bottom ground.
When I approached to the side of the crack, thinking that there’s something wrong with the fall, something like an eerie voice echoed from the bottom of the ground, and suddenly an afterquake attack violently.
“Wha-!”
Then, the feeling of being pushed up by something from inside of my body occurs continuously, and when that is over, a beautiful rainbow colored Orb appeared in front of me.
When I saw it, I instinctively calculated the fall distance in my head and escaped the reality. If iron with a diameter of 4 cm and about 10 m fell freely, it would have been about 15 seconds…… It must be over 1000 m.
“If the iron bars falls vertically, it’s still unlikely to reach terminal velocity.”
In front of me who muttered so meaninglessly, an Orb was still floating.
1. Inscriptions, Currently Nevada on a certain day of September
During the daytime in Nevada at the end of September, it is still above 25 degrees Celsius, a hot and dry wind is blowing.
At a government research institute, director Aaron Ainsworth screamed. [TN: In source, his name written アーロン＝エインズワース, I’m wondering whether it’s Auron or Aaron, But I guess Aaron is better.]
“What did you say?! ‘The Dungeon Passage’ theory has been proved?”
“No, you can’t call it a proof.”
The liaison officer who brought the information to the swordsman gave a relaxed explanation.
Just about a month ago, a special skill orb was found in a dungeon between Surgut and Nizhnevartovsk in the Ob River basin in Russia.
The name of the skill sealed in the orb was “Different World’ Language Understanding”.
The orb was about to be sent to a laboratory in Moscow, but bad luck, suddenly bad weather prevented the plane from taking off, and the orb, which is at the last minute of it’s time, was used to a D-card holder who happened to be nearby.
“So, is the name of the skill acquirer published? It’s for science purpose, so the name can’t be hidden, right?”
“Yes. According to the published paper, that person called Ignat Severny.”
As far as Aaron knows, no Russian dungeon researcher had such a name.
“This is the content of the announcement, ‘a partial translation of the inscriptions found in dungeons around the world’.”
I inserted the memory card given by liaison into the slot on my tablet, entered my passcode, and immediately opened the file.
The content written there was shocking.
According to it, the dungeon is a passage to another world and a terraforming tool.
The Dungeon that pierced that place like a needle works as a tool to conveniently transform the connected world.
A group of demons overflowing from the inside is used as a means to create a substance called “Demon” that may not exist in the connected world.
Exactly, it can be called terraforming.
And the dungeon that exceeds 128 layers seems to be a “Passage” that leads to the connected world.
“If it ’s true, it’s really a shocking news.”
“Yeah.”
But, For now Ignat Severny is the only one who is supposed to understand their word.
Even if he could really read the inscription, no one could verify what he claimed to have translated.
At this point, only the god in heaven can prove that he has not reproduced his delusions on paper.
“The only way to verify the content is to get another same skill orb and have another person read it.”
“Is the monster that dropped it confirmed in Japan?”
“Drop monsters have not been announced. However, the discovered dungeon is a dungeon called Kirias Cliegan Dungeon, where Rika Cliegan is dungeon connected to the Ob River, and the monsters in the captured range are open to the public based on the International Dungeon Treaty. So, you just need to use that keyword to look it up further.”
“It’s too roundabout, but I guess it’s unavoidable.”
Aaron gazed at the fading landscape of Nevada from the window.
At the end of September, The sun set in Nevada comes with a sharp drop in temperature.
Is it because of the cold air that made me tremble involuntarily? If that’s not the case, it may have been due to some force that came from 120 meters below the foot.
The WN has different story line than the LN ver. The start may be the same, but the story progress differently.
0. Prologue – 3 Years Ago (2015)
On that day, a huge accelerator built by the United States with prestige was in operation at Groom Lake in Nevada. [TN: It’s near Area 51]
A large accelerator with a circumference of 120km that extend from Groom Lake to Mt. Bold, which was built 150m underground, was increasing its output to confirm extra dimensions.
When the collision energy far exceeded the LHC, the collision of a large number of particles was recorded in the memory through the measuring instrument, and the result was displayed on the monitor. [TN: LHC is Large Hadron Collider.]
“We’d confirmed that… Micro Black Hole is being generated!”
All of them cheers, It’s the symbolic moment when the new theory was proved.
“Dr. Tyler, you did it!”
Dr. Theodore Nanase Tyler, who was in charge of this experiment, right now all the scientists around him quickly approaching him asking for a handshake.
“Ted! We did it!”
“Stop it, that name, it sounds like that stuffed animal that seems to start talking.”
Tyler laughs and holds his hand. It was a time of glory.
The young scientist, who was looking at them with respect, suddenly turned to the monitor after sharing the excitement.
Even after the experiment was successful, the computer was doing the job it was given.
The information accumulated in femtosecond is properly processed according to the program… And an unbelievable result was displayed on the monitor. [TN: It seems, femtosecond is 10-15 of a second]
“Dr. Tyler!”
The screaming call he made was enough to get the attention of the people around him.
“What’s wrong?”
“The, The Micro Black Hole…. it’s not disappearing!”
That’s impossible. Everyone who was there thought so.
If the theory is correct, Hawking radiation should evaporate and make it disappear in an instant. The mass used to generate it is at most that mass of the proton.
“Some of the ‘MBH’ are moving at high speed in air! It’s like… It’s like some force trapped it…”
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
At first, it was just a quantum-level of spatial distortion.
The distortion that occurred during the momentary time was taken as a chance, one in lifetime, to fulfill ‘It’s’ wishes.
Then, when ‘It’ caught the distortion, ‘It’ carefully added energy and expanded it.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
『There is a huge mass in the fixed force field… What is this?!』
From the speaker, someone scream could be heard, and at the same time, the monitor was covered with white light and dimmed, ending the video.
“That ’s all?”
A nervous man, dressed in Chester Barrie’s stunning three-piece suit, fixed his legs position and asked.
“Hmm, this is the only video recorded from the Ground Control of the accelerator experiment at Groom Lake Air Force Base.”
“In other words, is the Ground Control safe? And what about the nuclear power plants built for power supply, is it also safe?”
I’m sure in this guy head, he is thinking about that three mile trouble. But, even Nevada, certainly they don’t want it to happen for the second time. [TN: the Three mile in this is about Three Mile Island accident happened in Japan.]
“There is no big impact on the ground. The only place I couldn’t get in touch with was the basement where the accelerator was installed, I’m sure the nuclear power plant was safe.”
“What about the MBH that was generated?”
“I don’t know. But no matter what, it’s unthinkable for it to expand and swallow the Earth.”
The man heard it and nodded to reassure himself.
“What about the rescue of the basement?”
“The first time will be done by the base members.”
“But because The elevators stopped completely and did not move at all, so they used the emergency stairs at point 3 on the west side of Mt. Bold to go down…”
Then the one who supposed to reporting it, projected like a still image on the monitor.
“…… What.. is this? Is it Hollywood’ new movie or something like that?”
There was something like a humanoid with scary face and bluish skin.
“He is over 10 feet tall. That life-form is the first thing that the troops who rushed in met.”
If it was a fantasy movie, it must have been called a Troll or an Ogre.
“The first two people who fired reflexively were sacrificed. The GAU-5A ASDW is like a peashooter to it, and the M855A1 bullet seems to have had no effect.”
“Oi, oi, did they also do some kind of teleportation experiment to mars?”
The stunned man screamed at how the sight looked like the setting of the game he was crazy about when he was young, but immediately he shook his head and think what they could do now.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
The organism did seem to be doing some intellectual activity.
Some part of its body, which constantly generated weak and complex electric currents, suggested various things to ‘it’.
Between the moment and eternity, when ‘It’ trembling in joy, ‘it’ released a huge energy. To fulfill its own wishes.
On this day, the first dungeon, later known as The Ring, was born 150 meters underground on Groom Lake, Nevada.
