Chapter 232: Karma (1)
[Youve entered the dungeon, CODE-009.]
Raymonds hideout.
The first impression was that it felt familiar.
Even if you werent a player, youd recognize it.
The concept was obvious.
Its just a lab, isnt it?
Considering that the rift was a space where reality and half of the Arcana Continent were mixed together. Did this mean such a laboratory underground existed in the desert? Really, if you had a lot of money, nothing was impossible in this world.
Lets see.
First of all, there were CCTVs everywhere.
Smartphones could work properly inside ruptures. The CCTV was probably recording me properly, and Raymond Sean was also hiding somewhere, watching me.
Actually, I feel
I wanted to do something about the CCTV first.
Hadnt I properly declared it?
I didnt accept the invitation, I came to dispose of it.
As if that wasnt enough.
I met the conditions through counter threats and entered the rupture.
I dont feel good about it.
But with Grandfels pride and myLee Hoyeolsmiddle-class citizen mindset.
It couldnt be tolerated.
I passed the CCTV indifferently.
Even if you look into it, nothing will change.
Still, cant you be a little different, Grandfel?
How can you stay in those emotions for a period of time!
After a brief pleading, a familiar sight greeted me.
No matter how I look at it, thats an elevator.
A message kindly appeared before my eyes.
[B1-Lobby]
[B2-Laboratory]
[B3-Laboratory]
[B4-Deep Laboratory]
[B5-Deep Laboratory]
[B6-Control Room]
A laboratory within a laboratory.
It was definitely Raymonds hideout.
It was typical of an engineering student.
At the same time, I started questioning.
What was he experimenting and researching?
Fortunately, my curiosity didnt last long.
Actions speak louder than words.
I just had to check it myself.
Is it your way of being considerate?
Being considerate with using the elevator.
I had to admire the delicacy shown to the visitors.
Again, the problem was the other party.
I had said it, didnt I?
Rayman, Ill refuse all your hospitality.
In that case, I will still refuse.
Crash!
Without hesitation, I manifested my mana.
The landscape changed in an instant.
The stairs leading to the basement appeared beneath my feet.
The effect of [The Pentagram of Pure Knowledge].
With all my knowledge of minerals, I could skip the exploration process.
This time, I could manifest it quickly because I was familiar with the interference process.
I must have used this magic a lot, even the stairs.
I recalled the old days.
Well, I had always tried to make myself look convincing on the surface.
In order to gain as much experience point as possible, contributing to the disposal was necessary.
I gained a lot of disposal contributions from using the stairs.
Thanks to Harkon, it was great.
As expected, the old saying wasnt wrong.
Hard work should be done while young.
I never thought that the sloppiness I felt at that time would help me in this way.
The stairs rose up as they arbitrarily reshaped the structure of the dungeon.
Now Im used to the dizzying scenery.
The scenery below my feet seemed far away.
But it couldnt be compared to the Mage Tower.
I still felt numb when I came down from the top floor of the Mage Tower.
Anyway, I didnt know something like that existed.
Just like the message that appeared.
The place I arrived at was [B1-Lobby].
Since it was called a hideout, I thought the landscape would look out of place.
It was unexpected.
I saw an employee guarding the lobby.
Player Lee Hoyeol, Ive been waiting for you.
They didnt seem surprised when they saw me coming down the stairs.
No, it was understandable.
Anyway, I went straight to the point.
I want to meet Raymond Sean.
Surprisingly, the answer came back right away.
Hes on his way to the lobby.
He would come out to meet me with his own feet.
He saved me the trouble of looking for him.
Then I should run a simulation in my head while waiting.
The only certain thing was that I needed to talk with Raymond.
Even if he will only give me excuses.
I would also get information from that excuse.
Maybe even information that can lead me back to Arcana.
Of course, I had no expectations that he would readily spit information.
They said you could tell ten things just by looking at one thing.
I could glean from the way he was playing around at the entrance to the rupture.
Ding
The elevator arrived soon.
I stared at the door that slowly opened.
Still, lets stay positive.
Lets have a constructive conversation together, Raymond Sean.
Of course, only as long as Grandfels patience allowed it.
*
Time passed by.
Sung Hyunjoon carefully opened his mouth.
But may I ask you one more question?
The two men, Park Minjae and Yoon Sookyum, nodded.
Ive never seen him in person before Raymond Sean, does he look exactly like in the photo? How should I say this, when looking at his pictures, its surprising.
You mean that his appearance doesnt suit him, right?
Ah, yes.
Yeah, its too normal compared to his track records.
The worst war criminal in human history.
At the same time, he was the only person who knew the truth about the Cataclysm.
Despite that, Raymond excessively raised a good impression.
Park Minjae smiled rotten.
Two-faced people are common in society. Of course, I dont think theres anything wrong with that. The right amount of pretense and acting are necessary in a harsh society to avoid hurting each other. But.
Park Minjae paused.
That bastard is not at that level.
Park Minjae was confident that he had seen all kinds of people while working hard in society, but Raymond Sean was a person he couldnt explain in words.
Its not that he couldnt communicate, it just feels like our words were not mixing together. We obviously had a conversation about the same topic. But there was something unpleasantly foreign about it.
Wait a minute.
He couldnt pinpoint the reason back then.
Now that he thought about it, he felt like he understood.
Tak! Park Minjae hit his knee.
Yeah! That bastard didnt feel like a human being!
*
It was rolling around.
Raymonds head was rolling around the floor.
No, it would be misleading to say that.
Let me kindly add a detailed explanation.
Transformation magic.
The head of the mannequin covered in polymorph rolled around on the floor.
I had guessed this possibility the moment I saw the lobby.
Well, I noticed it when I saw the employee who greeted me.
That person was fake.
The Tower Master had a great influence in helping me recognize this transformed work.
There are days when that cat is helpful.
Once I witnessed a magic, I completely understood it.
How could Grandfels genius talent just watch the Tower Masters transformation magic and leave it alone? Exploration, interference, manifestation. Since I perfectly understood the structure, seeing through the magic was not difficult.
Actually, that wasnt necessarily the case.
I could sense it just by looking at the employees reaction.
Not only I had broken down the ceiling, but I even left the elevator intact and came down the stairs using magic. But they werent shocked at all.
Well, it was still the same now.
The thing that claimed to be Raymond Sean had its head rolling on the floor.
But the employee didnt show any sign of surprise.
What that meant was simple.
That one was also a fake wearing polymorph like Raymond Sean.
I recited.
However, thats not an excuse for not having pride.
Grandfels theory of pride was much more complicated than it looked.
Grandfel even determined the existence of pride in a green tea bag. But that didnt mean that he would ignore it simply because it was a doll and a fake and had no pride.
I calmly spat out harsh words.
Its just that that thing didnt learn it from you.
Simply put, it received the wrong home education, Raymond Sean.
If he thought he could fool me with something like this, he was mistaken.
I didnt know where he hid and put up a fake.
Wherever he was.
I just had to find it slowly from now on.
It was like conquering a real dungeon.
Crack
Wasnt it bothersome?
No, rather, it was what I had hoped for.
I just wanted to see it with my own eyes.
Cataclysm.
Reality and the Arcana Continent.
After committing something unforgivable in both worlds.
What the hell had he been doing stuck in a place like this?
I thought it would be better to check with my own two eyes.
Tap tap
I descended down the stairs.
My vision changed.
A message appeared.
[Youve entered the B2-Laboratory]
At the same time, a loud warning sound rang out.
Yeah, it was not called the dungeon rupture for no reason.
It must have been called a dungeon rupture because it had monsters appearing.
[Prototype Model E-89 : Lv.1,000]
As expected from the hideout guards, they had fancy levels. Even if it was a normal monster, its level was 1,000, making it the highest-level monster Id ever encountered.
There were hundreds of them.
If it were like the old days, I would have been scared.
But experience accumulated, not disappeared.
Now that I know that level wasnt everything.
I could objectively grasp the opponents power.
I can deal with it just by using magic.
It would be a mistake to think that a hideout was like the living room of your own home.
Underground.
For me, who could explore minerals extensively.
This kind of ground was no different from a home ground.
A prototype.
The machines that were made to live up to their name came to me creaking up.
As long as the [Blessing of the First World Tree] existed.
Magic efficiency didnt matter.
Mana pulsated from my body.
Is this a group welcome now?
Crunch!
Then the mannequins crumbled everywhere.
It didnt matter whether it was created in the reality.
Or the Arcana Continent.
The key was that it was made of minerals.
But this, too.
Tap tap
I strolled down the stairs at a steady pace and manifested my magic.
In the order in which they rushed at me.
The prototypes were falling apart.
I refuse.
Dump!
They knelt down as if worshiping my entrance and exit.
Of course, I didnt think it would end there.
In the first place.
Wouldnt the person who had been running Arcana until now know my level?
A least, with these monsters.
He knew he couldnt stop me.
As if answering my question, a message appeared in front of my eyes.
[Quest: Route Selection]
Intruder.
In order to move forward.
Choose one of the two crossroads.
B401-Deep Laboratory (Select)
B402-Deep Laboratory (Select)
Did this mean the modifier Deep was not added for no reason?
It seemed to have a more complex structure the further I went down.
By the way, I couldnt believe he was pushing me to do a quest.
Its fitting.
As of this time, he was the only operator of Arcana.
Raymond Seans biggest weapon would be the system.
Maybe Raymond Sean and the players were natural enemies of the highest order. Well, it was just like how the players got stuck with the operator back in the days when Arcana was just a game.
By the way, ironically.
I was one of those players.
There was a saying that I had been fond of for a long time.
Level and stats are all just numbers.
I wasnt sure but Grandfel had always distrusted the system since the beginning. Raymond, even if you try to break through the system, the answer is always the same.
Did you think that if numbers became letters, something would change?
Of course, the harsh words that came out were consistent.
You are truly foolish.
This made it clear.
Raymond.
It seemed we couldnt have a good conversation. No matter what the circumstances were, I thought I should give him a shot and have a conversation.
Naturally, now there was no such thing as choosing an option.
You have to carve your road by yourself.
Since I had seen their cards.
I also had to show my cards and show the corner I trusted in.
I reached out to my inventory.
What I took out was the [Torch of Hell].
Raymond Sean, I still didnt know what his intentions were for causing the Cataclysm. So I had no choice but to dispose of him only for certain offenses. That was Grandfels complex and heavy pride.
So, I hope you dont even think about lying.
Isnt that right?
As if responding to my question.
The Torch of Hell burned wildly.
I continued.
From now on, it is a battlefield for you.
Akshans Perseverance: Summon Akhshans demon hunters from the flame of Hell.
Raymond Sean.
You made him into a spectacle.
A new employee with outstanding experience was joining the ranks.
Shegwin.
[Sword Saint, Shegwin, answers your call.]
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