Labyrinth Exploration 101 - Chapter 96

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Labyrinth Exploration 101 Episode 096

 

Home Sweet Home(6)

 

I gathered all the magic stones in the village. It was about three baskets’ worth.

 

That’s enough.

 

I can’t say the quality of the magic stones is particularly good, but unless they’re top-grade, the mage’s capabilities are more important than the magic stones themselves.

 

Those are the words of Mage Tae Hyeok.

 

“…Hmm.”

 

I looked at the foundation construction site. The castle wall that had been sparse and gnawed like eaten by rats had now firmly established its foundation.

 

Smeshion built it together with the workers.

 

“Isn’t it somewhat rewarding?”

 

〔It’s a castle wall destined to crumble anyway.〕

 

“…”

 

I embedded magic stones into the castle wall. Small points rippling blue. Using them as a medium, I bestowed formulas.

 

Sssssss─-!

 

Geometric patterns, or spider web-like magical formulas spread across part of the castle wall.

 

“What an excellent formula.”

 

Suddenly Akiman expressed admiration. I felt somewhat embarrassed.

 

“What’s so excellent about it.”

 

It’s just Mental Visualization.

 

It’s still just Mental Visualization.

 

To grow further, I need not just Mental Visualization, but ‘Concept’.

 

However, a mage’s concept isn’t theory like mathematics or formulas.

 

A system properly established within the mage’s inner self. The principle that manifests the order established in one’s mental image.

 

That is a mage’s concept.

 

“…Ahhhhhhh!”

 

Some scream rang out loudly. Thudding footsteps followed.

 

Herb gatherer Hyeon Dan. She was practically rolling down the mountain slope. With four or five magical beasts trailing behind her like a tail.

 

The resolute archer on the castle wall─Kesooabi drew her bowstring.

 

Swish swish!

 

Three arrows precisely pierced through the magical beasts’ foreheads, and Hyeon Dan safely reached the castle wall.

 

“Phew!”

 

“How was today’s harvest?”

 

“Ah, it was amazing!”

 

Hyeon Dan grinned and showed her herb basket. There were all kinds of plants.

 

【Grass-like Herb】, 【Fever Herb】, 【Regeneration Herb】, 【Antipyretic Herb】, 【Regeneration Herb】…

 

They were all medicinal herbs.

 

“And this…”

 

Hyeon Dan smiled mischievously and slightly revealed a large egg hidden under cloth in the basket.

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Shh.”

 

She whispered while placing a finger to her lips.

 

“This is a very famous egg from a bird called Germont… it’s very delicious. Royal Inspector, please take it and-”

 

I covered it with the cloth again.

 

“Take it and eat it with your younger sibling.”

 

“Oh, it’s fine. Royal Inspector, you don’t even sleep at night. Those dark circles under your eyes are worrying.”

 

My stamina is like this, so dark circles are chronic. They disappear quickly if I sleep about 8 hours with Dream Bubble, but they come back soon when I use magic power.

 

“A Royal Inspector doesn’t accept bribes. Before it gets confiscated as public food supplies, eat it secretly. It’s the privilege of a hard-working herb gatherer.”

 

Rules need breathing room. They shouldn’t be too tight, nor too loose.

 

“…Hmph. I do work quite well.”

 

Hyeon Dan smiled proudly and hid the egg.

 

“Submit all the herbs to the Medical Office. The Village Chief will distribute meal tickets.”

 

“Yes!”

 

The Village Chief became a military medic. He originally dreamed of being a congressman in his youth, so he got the chance to fulfill his dream in his old age.

 

“Oh, should I manage the Herb Garden from now on too?”

 

“Yes. It’s Sergeant Hyeon Dan’s duty.”

 

Hyeon Dan is a sergeant. Considering the added responsibilities and subordinates given to her, at least this level of treatment seems necessary.

 

“Yes sir!”

 

Hyeon Dan rushed off to the Medical Office.

 

“Mr. Akiman. How are things on your end?”

 

I turned to look at Akiman.

 

“Not bad.”

 

The special unit he carefully selected consists of 8 members total.

 

The elites were divided into groups of four and given the mission of hunting wild animals outside the village. Special operation teams that succeed in hunting were to receive a portion of food supplies.

 

Proper compensation should be given to units that take risks, but we must be careful not to let them develop a sense of privilege.

 

“It might not satisfy our standards, but with a bit more training, they’ll definitely be considered combat-ready. They hunt quite well too.”

 

Besides the elites, we also organized 30 village residents into archers and infantry.

 

“Yes. That’s fortunate.”

 

With the castle wall completed, I walked into the center of the village.

 

Five new buildings had been constructed.

 

We greatly reinforced the Village Hall that would serve as headquarters to store crystals, and built a Food Storage and Dining Hall beside it. We also built a horizontally long Medical Building and Living Quarters for soldiers to stay.

 

Also, there are many soldiers shooting bows and wielding swords in the Training Ground. They only have 2 weeks to learn, but thanks to this, the village is coming alive.

 

“Hey! Over there!”

 

“Try to catch me, nyah!”

 

“I’ll make you eat farts!”

 

Children gather together and play around. Neighbors smile and greet each other warmly.

 

The expressions of despair that flowed until two days ago, the resignation before death, are now gone.

 

“Royal Inspector!”

 

I reached the most important Food Storage. A cook saluted and said.

 

“Food organization is complete!”

 

“Yes. Let me see.”

 

I examined the food supplies in the storage.

 

First, snacks were divided into cloth bundles and neatly arranged, and meat hunted by the hunting teams was butchered and stored in Cold Storage. Six trays of eggs had also been collected.

 

“Oh. You’re here.”

 

Mr. Yoon, the Poultry Farm owner, wore the title of supply officer and head cook.

 

“I was just thinking about the meal plan. Usually, it would be more efficient to dissolve rice grains like porridge and eat them with snacks. But occasionally, about once or twice a week? Serving meat as a special meal would help the village atmosphere…”

 

“Let’s do that.”

 

“Yes! Loyalty!”

 

Mr. Yoon saluted as I had taught him.

 

After inspecting the Food Storage, next was the Armory.

 

Skilled elders had already made hundreds of wooden arrows.

 

“Royal Inspector. How do they look?”

 

“Good. Everyone did well.”

 

I lit a fire in a large pot. I put molten metal and magic stones inside and flicked my finger.

 

Whoosh! The blazing flame melted the magic stones into the molten metal.

 

“Dip the arrowheads in this for about 3 seconds, then pull them out.”

 

If you dip wood in ordinary molten metal, the wood would naturally melt or burn, but this is magic liquid for enchanting. It will coat properly and stick to the arrowheads.

 

“It will become arrows lethal to magical beasts.”

 

“Yes, yes. Understood, everyone heard that, right?”

 

I left the armory.

 

「02:13:15」

 

2 hours remaining. In 34 hours, the village had taken on the proper form of a base.

 

Now it was time to install the crystal in the most secret place here, the command center.

 

I entered the village hall. I stored the crystal in the safe I had prepared in advance.

 

「Crystal installation complete」

 

「’Purification’ will begin 338 hours, 13 minutes, and 10 seconds from now based on Labyrinth time.」

 

Purification. It seems to be the crystal’s role.

 

If the attack team defeats the enemy and the crystal is preserved until then, it probably means the land being eroded by demonic energy will be restored.

 

“…The last thing.”

 

The real last thing remained.

 

A defense mechanism prepared for possible air raids.

 

I left the village hall. Akiman and Smeshion were waiting.

 

“Akiman. Smeshion. I’ll be away from the base for about 2 weeks. Please take care of things while I’m gone.”

 

Both of them nodded.

 

“Yes. Then we’ll see you shortly.”

 

I walked around the outskirts of the village, leaning on my walking stick.

 

With each step I took, I carved invisible formulas.

 

* * *

 

One day, articles related to Labyrinth Exploration NaN appeared.

 

│Labyrinth Exploration NaN Episodes 9-10 CVG Advance Booking Open│

 

│Watch Mitamnan at the movie theater? Episodes 9-10 booking begins│

 

It meant they would simultaneously broadcast the live show in movie theaters too.

 

No, not just simultaneous broadcasting, but they would keep it in theaters for the entire week.

 

“…Huh?”

 

Even Lee Si-ah, a devoted fan, tilted her head in confusion. She checked the community reactions.

 

[Mitamnan Episodes 9 and 10 premiere booking begins]

 

─Isn’t this too much;; Is it that good.

 

─Mitamnan is fun when you watch it together

 

─Wow, they say the dragon vein will open too ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 

─According to inside rumors, the next labyrinth turned out really well. Even high-ranking broadcasting station officials are really looking forward to it.

 

─But who would pay money to go to a theater when you can just watch it at home.

 

─If the leak rumors are true, it might be worth going;;

 

Leak rumors? Lee Si-ah, puzzled, quickly searched.

 

1. The next labyrinth is open world. Half cyberpunk worldview, half Eastern worldview. 2. SHW, KH, KT, LJH will have a lot of screen time 3. SHW and KH fight almost to death. Their relationship probably got quite bad due to this labyrinth’s aftermath. 4. SHW has many active scenes. If he’s currently on the border between major and minor, he’ll probably rise to complete mainstream from this labyrinth. 5. There’s actually a strange atmosphere between SJW and SHW even in the dormitory. 6. LJH assaulted KDK…

 

A user famous for getting more than half right, presumed to be an insider or acquaintance of an insider of Mitamnan.

 

─If the leak rumors are true, it’d be worth watching in theaters lol It’s not like Seol and Kang completely ignored each other lol

 

─Ah, no wonder there haven’t been any stills of them standing side by side lately..

 

The unexpected discord theory between Seol Ha-woon and Kang Hyeon. Suddenly it piqued her interest.

 

┌──Labyrinth Exploration NaN──┐

 

Meanwhile, Mitamnan Episode 8 began.

 

Lee Si-ah browsed the community with her left eye while watching TV with her right eye.

 

─Yoo Ji-in : Today is tier reselection!

 

Tier reselection from the opening.

 

─Yoo Ji-in : The results of this tier reselection will be maintained until the first voting count!

 

[ S Tier: Kang Hyeon, Ryu Yeon-hwa, Seo Ji-woo, Lee Jun-ho, Jo Woon, Kate ]

 

[ A Tier: Kim Du-gyeom, Kim Dong-ha, Ryu Wei, Yoon Hwa-rim, Im Hae-jun, Jin Ho-jong… ]

 

S tier, A tier, B tier, going down the list, Seol Ha-woon is C tier.

 

It’s ridiculous. Seol Ha-woon who beat up Kim Du-gyeom, how is he C tier?

 

-Isn’t Seol Ha-woon ranked too low?

 

-He’s limping, so C tier is just right.

 

-I heard Kim Du-gyeom got totally wrecked by Seol Ha-woon;;

 

-Wasn’t that a month ago? He must have grown rapidly in a month since he’s a genius

 

-Ah fuck stop with the genius theory already. It’s all scripted for broadcast you idiots believing everything

 

The Seol Ha-woon genius theory is a regular community topic gaining momentum lately. Whether he’s a genius or not, yes or no, popular posts go up daily in various communities.

 

Well, there are many people who have analyzed even the most trivial things.

 

─Yoo Ji-in : Now. The dormitories will be reassigned according to tiers. But before that, it would be disappointing to just move on, right? There’s a competition with prizes.

 

The live broadcast follows a daily life, mini-game flow.

 

It’s called a staring contest, and from round 1 it’s Seo Ji-woo versus Seol Ha-woon.

 

-Don’t those two also have some rumors going around?

 

-There’s supposedly something there.

 

-Hahaha no way; I mean, unless Seo Jiwoo gets shot in the head;

 

-They say he has one-sided feelings.

 

The staring contest begins.

 

Seol Ha-woon and Seo Ji-woo’s gazes clash. At first nothing happens. Fitting the staring contest format, there are no words or actions, but suddenly.

 

Seol Ha-woon smiled. At that moment, Seo Ji-woo wavered.

 

─Seo Ji-woo : Why, why are you laughing? What’s so funny?!

 

─Seol Ha-woon : What do you mean?

 

Thanks to that, Seo Ji-woo was eliminated, and Seol Ha-woon advanced to the higher round. SilTalk also had a huge reaction.

 

“Seol Ha-woon… always only smiles at Seo Ji-woo.”

 

Meaningful. Actually, there is a plausible hypothesis created by Seol Ha-woon’s fandom, including Lee Si-ah.

 

Seo Ji-woo’s older brother, Seo Ji-hyuk, and Seol Ha-woon were UDT classmates, so the reason Seol Ha-woon is particularly nice only to Seo Ji-woo is…

 

Before long, the screen switched.

 

The editing was a bit unnatural, probably because of Kim Du-gyeom.

 

“…It must be the Labyrinth right away.”

 

It’s a set stage like an arcade. The explorers gathered in one place look around with tense faces.

 

─Im Hae-jun: What will it be this time?

 

─Kang Hyeon: I think it might be related to entertainment. What do you think, Seol Ha-woon hyung?

 

Seol Ha-woon, Im Hae-jun, and Kang Hyeon. They still seem friendly so far.

 

-Is it a fact that they really fought?

 

-They say they fought seriously

 

-Ah fuck stop talking about shit only you guys know where did you pick up such bullshit rumors

 

-Seol Ha-woon Kang Hyeon fight to the death @@@@@@@ one of them definitely eliminated@@@@@@ Seol Ha-woon Kang Hyeon fight to the death @@@@@@@ one of them definitely eliminated@@@@@@ Seol Ha-woon Kang Hyeon fight to the death @@@@@@@ one of them definitely eliminated@@@@@@

 

-Ah that crazy bastard

 

-Fucking asshole

 

-Press report then they get banned

 

There are really many people who aren’t in their right minds. As the viewership and buzz have become tremendously high, many malicious people who seem like real psychopaths are also latching on.

 

─Yoo Ji-in: Today is Return to Labyrinth Day, and this is the last labyrinth before the first tally.

 

What kind of labyrinth could it be for such leaked rumors, or sources intentionally released by the broadcasting station, to be circulating?

 

─Yoo Ji-in: The theme of the labyrinth is… Open World!

 

Open World.

 

Lee Si-ah’s eyes widened greatly.

 

─Yoo Ji-in: You all must achieve a specific objective in this world and return here. You’ll gradually learn what the objective is inside the labyrinth.

 

Yoo Ji-in explains about the labyrinth. Lee Si-ah’s heart pounds accordingly.

 

World Labyrinth.

 

Among labyrinths, it’s the one with the highest buzz by far.

 

─Yoo Ji-in: Then now, shall we enter?

 

At that moment the screen goes pitch black.

 

─Yoo Ji-in: Everyone, I wish you good fortune.

 

Yoo Ji-in’s voice seeps in somewhat bleakly.

 

〔 NaN WORLD 〕

 

Text floating up fully.

 

The opening is Kang Hyeon. He’s placed in some city. Airships fly in the distance, and it’s a skyscraper plastered with outdoor billboards and hologram panels.

 

[ West – Rainos ]

 

Kang Hyeon, who seemed confused for a moment while looking around, soon takes a step.

 

After that, cross-editing Kate, Ryu Yeon-hwa and various other explorers to show each one’s situation… for an instant.

 

Thud.

 

A clear sound in her ear. Now just hearing this resonance makes her heart race like Pavlov’s dog.

 

“…Wow.”

 

Lee Si-ah let out an exclamation without realizing it.

 

In the thick, dark atmosphere that seems mixed with oil, a man in a long coat stands.

 

Holding a walking stick, he quietly observes the city. He steadily gazes at the streets that have sunk stickily under countless neon signs, beyond the filth spreading in the atmosphere.

 

It’s a different place from Kang Hyeon. A much more inferior and dirtier place.

 

Therefore, it’s even more picturesque.

 

-Was he born here?

 

-Fuck I just got goosebumps;; He fits so damn well.

 

-He really has the look of a mage

 

-Seol Ha-woon does have some style

 

-Right, he’s been openly handsome lately;

 

Now, a person who can captivate the public’s attention with just his appearance.

 

A scene stealer who makes every single scene attractive and impossible to look away from.

 

Seol Ha-woon.

 

He is no longer minor.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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