Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 181

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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181. Coma Abandoned Mine (1)
My task was straightforward: clear out the mineral spirits within the abandoned mine before time ran out.
The probability of encountering other monsters was low. The Gate’s objective itself was to deal with spirits.
“Light it up first, Min-jae.”
We had entered the mine’s entrance. Behind us, light streamed in, but a transparent barrier blocked our exit—even jumping wouldn’t work.
Ahead lay the abandoned mine in name and darkness. Not a single source of light existed.
“Yes!”
Since Ignition consumed considerable mana, Min-jae conjured flames around the party members.
With slightly improved visibility, I noticed torches scattered sporadically throughout the mine as we advanced along the path.
“Let’s light them as we pass. The interior might have a complex layout, so we can mark our route this way.”
Still, the gaps between torches were quite substantial, making visibility difficult with them alone.
It seemed I’d need to maintain the flame continuously. We had lanterns, but using them would tie up a hand.
“Tell me if your mana runs low. We can rotate.”
“I have enough. This flame focuses purely on brightness. That’s thanks to Chun-bae. You don’t need to use any, sir.”
As a mage, I was already specialized in this area, but after Chun-bae’s assault training, my mana efficiency had become far more refined. Using Holy power hadn’t been wasted.
The light source problem was solved. Mister tilted his head with a slight frown.
“Hye-ah.”
“Yes?”
“If they’re mineral spirits, shouldn’t we use a hammer against them?”
Hunters don’t always rely solely on their primary weapon. Different enemies require different armaments.
For instance, one couldn’t simply swing a spear or sword against a stone golem.
Of course, you could still deal damage. Against enemies with significant level gaps, you might dispatch them easily.
But when entering a Gate matched to the recommended level, you couldn’t afford to be stubborn about your weapon.
‘This is one reason hunters carry so much baggage.’
Mister’s concern was justified. I’d heard of mineral spirits before, but my knowledge was limited. Rare monsters, you might say?
Fire spirits took the form of fire; water spirits took the form of water—it was worth considering.
Fluid-type creatures could be cut if you coated them with mana, but metal spirits were obviously going to be hard.
Such rare monsters weren’t even documented in the Hunter Encyclopedia stored in the Subspace.
‘Chun-bae.’
But I had Chun-bae.
‘Should I pull out the hammer?’
-It would be better to do so.
‘Really?’
-Affirmative. Mineral spirits are typically quite hard. Some have only their core as mineral while the rest is fluid-like, but such types are rare.
‘Understood.’
Following Chun-bae’s advice, I opened the Subspace immediately.
“Using a hammer is better.”
“Right?”
As my level increased, I’d acquired various items with Guild funds. Weapons were no exception.
They were superior to the sledgehammer I’d used to shatter the Evil God’s lingering will.
They were two-handed hammers that medieval knights might have used, each of them D-rank items.
Even though their rank was lower than our weapons, there was nothing better for confronting a mineral spirit.
“Let’s go.”
With all preparations complete, we ventured deeper into the Coma Abandoned Mine. And less than three minutes had passed….
-Thud!
We encountered a mineral spirit. As Chun-bae had said, it didn’t match the image of a spirit we’d normally imagined.
How should I describe it? A small piece of rock, reaching up to about waist height, walking around. It resembled a small stone golem.
A mineral was embedded in the center of the broad rock, and stones formed its torso, arms, and legs.
The peculiar thing was simply that it had no head.
“According to Chun-bae, it’s a low-rank spirit?”
“Since we’re at the entrance, should I give it a try first?”
The uncle stepped forward. The moment the mineral spirit recognized us, it rushed toward us at incredible speed. It was hard to believe such velocity from a body made of rock.
Since it had no mouth, it didn’t shriek, but the sound of the ground trembling was loud—thud, thud—as if the weight was quite substantial.
-Crash!
However, we weren’t average hunters either. A low-rank spirit like this could be dealt with easily.
The uncle brought his hammer down directly.
-Crack!
A fissure ran halfway through the stone, but it didn’t end there. The creature drove its fist into the ground.
Sharp metal suddenly shot up from beneath the uncle’s feet.
“Whoa!”
The uncle flinched and dodged, then brought his hammer down again. Boom! This time it connected properly. The torso split cleanly in half.
Boom. Since the body was made of stone, the sound of it falling was quite loud.
“Ow, my hand hurts.”
The uncle frowned and shook out his hand.
“That’s all it takes?”
“It’s harder than it looks. I suppose that’s because it’s a spirit.”
Lee Shin-hee chanted a healing spell, and I approached the shattered mineral spirit.
After all, wasn’t our objective the Gate metal?
Since the mineral was embedded in the center of the spirit’s torso, extracting it wasn’t particularly difficult.
However, a question remained.
‘So I just need to mine it with a short sword?’
-Affirmative. The mineral spirit dies with its body—the part wrapping the mineral—severed in half. If you carefully touch the remaining portion with a short sword, it should come loose.
Chun-bae, experienced in such matters, explained skillfully. All I had to do was follow along.
I drew the short sword of carnage I’d obtained from the Temple of Slaughter and carefully brought it to the mineral.
-Crack!
The moment I carefully separated the mineral from the remaining portion with the blade’s tip. Flash! Light burst forth.
And the short sword and mineral resonated with each other.
“Huh?”
“Could it be already?”
-When harvesting something, there is a probability that the quality will improve.
It was an ability possessed by the Dagger of the Slaughter Festival. What surprised me considerably was that I hadn’t expected it to activate immediately.
The Guild members looked equally bewildered.
[Luminous Stone (Grade C)]
If it was Grade C despite improved quality, it meant the original Gate metal had been Grade D.
To be honest, it wasn’t a particularly favorable situation.
“Damn, this can’t detonate here.”
It was like in games where you perform a “sacrifice test” before enhancement, only to have the sacrifice material attach far too successfully before the actual enhancement even begins.
Of course, it would be an independent outcome, but if this happened, I’d feel regretful later if it didn’t work.
“Well, it could have failed anyway.”
Lee Shin-hee offered consolation, and she was right. The sacrifice test is superstition too. Since future excavations could also fail, I should think positively.
Grade C Gate metal would be excellent material for Min-jae anyway.
* * *
Mining Gate metal… or rather, clearing the spirits in the abandoned mine wasn’t particularly difficult. Our Guild possessed strength that didn’t match our level.
Since the Gate’s difficulty wasn’t especially high, Mister and I took turns confronting the spirits.
When they rushed in all at once, I’d block them with the Subspace, or Min-jae would cast magic, or Han Chul would step in.
However, unfortunately, not all mineral spirits dropped Gate metal.
“Nothing again. Looks like just gold, silver, iron, that sort of thing.”
“The first one was just lucky.”
They were spirits of minerals, not spirits of Gate metal. Gate metal itself refers to materials imbued with mana or certain properties.
“Let’s go deeper.”
I hadn’t extracted Yong-yong from the Subspace for this Gate. I wasn’t sure if the deeper areas would be wider, but for now, no suitable space had appeared to summon them.
Though we had objectives in sacred relics and metals, this Gate had become somewhat tedious for Mister two expeditions in a row.
I thought it might be better to choose a wider battlefield for the next Gate where Mister could stretch his wings a bit.
Still, it wasn’t as though Mister had nothing to do.
‘It’s fine that he can’t use skills right now.’
He simply couldn’t use skills, but the elixirs and stats he’d accumulated through leveling so far were quite substantial.
He was also diligently training the spear techniques manual I’d extracted from the Subspace for him.
Shin Chang… no, Seo Seung-yeon was planning a ‘spear technique gathering,’ and Mister’s name was on the list. Seo Seung-yeon had subtly asked for my opinion about it.
I’d answered that Mister would participate. He wasn’t the type to decline such gatherings.
“Huff!”
With his strong physique, there was no major problem swinging the hammer. The harvest wasn’t bad.
We’d obtained Gate metal: 2 Grade C, 3 Grade D, and 2 Grade E pieces.
“Still no Grade B or A?”
“We’ve only been here a short while.”
It was then that we were progressing forward.
“Wait a moment.”
Something unusual registered in my spatial awareness.
“What?”
Instead of answering, I conjured flames. There was a small hole in the lower wall of the abandoned mine.
“Why is this here? What’s inside?”
“Yes. Inside, following the path, there are these small stones, I suppose? They’re scattered about.”
Chun-bae answered in my stead.
-Mineral spirit spawn, it seems.
‘Spawn?’
-You could call them baby spirits, in a manner of speaking. They’re in the stage just before a spirit is born—essentially eggs, if you will.
I felt a twinge of disappointment, having assumed they were something like a Hidden dungeon.
‘We should capture them, then?’
They were enemies we needed to defeat, but the thought of hunting spawn still in their eggs nagged at me.
-Affirmative. Of course. Baby spirits appearing in spaces where spirits dwell tend to be imbued with rarer metals.
Wait, scratch that. I felt no hesitation whatsoever. This wasn’t just any dungeon—it was a Hidden one.
Rarer metals, no less. Perhaps it was like a parent’s wish: ‘I want my child to have something better…’
In any case, once I relayed Chun-bae’s words, Min-jae the mage rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.
“Shall I dig them up right now? I can handle it.”
“Hold on. What’s a mage doing getting involved? I’ve been resting—I’ll dig.”
Mister let out a hollow laugh, blocking Min-jae. He retrieved a shovel from the Subspace but didn’t hand it over to Mister.
“Since I understand spatial awareness, it would be better if I dug.”
“Sure, that works for me.”
He began digging immediately. The mineral spirit eggs weren’t buried very deep—roughly three meters at a diagonal angle.
With a forceful thrust, the spirit egg soon revealed itself.
“Wow, this looks like a different kind of spirit. Should I call it a water spirit?”
“It’s all squishy and gelatinous?”
Since it was still an egg, it didn’t move, but a transparent gel-like substance enveloped the mineral.
I drew the Dagger of Slaughter and carefully peeled away the gel. Unfortunately, it didn’t emit light. But…
[Lapis Lazuli (Grade B)]
A Grade B Gate metal appeared.
“Oh!”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
The guild members burst into laughter at obtaining a Grade B Gate metal so easily, far simpler than actual combat.
“This is easy. Too easy.”
After acquiring the Gate metal so effortlessly, we pressed onward for a moment…
Having ventured deeper into the abandoned mine, another baby spirit registered on my spatial awareness.
“This one’s Grade C.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Still, if you have spatial awareness, couldn’t we find everything hidden in this mine?”
We’d only been in the abandoned mine for less than three hours.
If we committed to exploring the entire mine, we might obtain not just Grade B Gate metals but Grade A ones as well.
“Let’s keep going!”
Through this process, we transformed it into an unexpected game. It was Min-jae’s suggestion initially.
“Brother. When you detect the exact location, what if you didn’t tell us and let us search for it instead?”
“Search for it?”
“If it’s around here, we’ll find it. Like a treasure hunt.”
“Oh? That sounds fun.”
Even Han Chul, who was usually reserved, approved, so I started right away. It was a bet on meal expenses after clearing the Gate—excluding me.
Unfortunately, the winner was Lee Shin-hee, who had been sitting quietly.
Lee Shin-hee found three, Han Chul found one. Min-jae and Mister didn’t find any.
“Wow, you’re really good at finding things, Lee Shin-hee.”
“I have a good eye for detail.”
That way, we additionally acquired two B-rank Gate metals and two C-rank Gate metals.
And when we found an egg one more time…
[Cave Tear (A-rank)]
We were even able to discover an A-rank Gate metal.
“We got one!”
“Heh. Only once, but I still found the real deal, didn’t I?”
It was the moment Min-jae, who had succeeded for the first time in this treasure hunt, spoke proudly while looking at Chul-gi.
[You have harmed too many baby spirits. The supreme-ranked spirit of the ore sleeping deep within the abandoned mine grows angry.]
A message appeared before my eyes. And at the same time, the ground beneath us rumbled with a deep boom.
Since we were inside an abandoned mine, dust rose from all directions.
“Uh, uh…”
“This seems bad.”
It was the moment the Guild members were scratching their heads. Chun-bae opened his mouth.
-No. If it’s a supreme-ranked spirit, there’s a high probability that an S-rank metal will drop.
‘S-rank Gate metal?’
Hmm. Let me correct myself.
‘Isn’t this actually good?’
This wasn’t a disaster—it was a great opportunity that had arrived.

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