The Rice-Eating Hero’s Capitalist Streaming - Chapter 97

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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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The Capitalist Streaming of a Freeloading Hero

Episode 97

Constellation’s Game [Lyka]

Once the identity of the labyrinth was revealed, all the participating parties began busily conversing with each other.

But well, we don’t really have anything to discuss.

“It really is…”

There were only the admiring sighs from my teammates that my prediction had been correct.

“It’s really just like you said, team leader.”

“Amazing, team leader!”

By the way, what’s with Eun-a Go… why has she been so fired up since earlier?

Anyone looking would think she’s a female soldier.

“Since we’ve said everything we need to say, shall we go to the waiting room first?”

“Sounds good!”

To enter this 【Midas’s Garden】 labyrinth, we first need to go into the labyrinth waiting room.

So we entered without hesitation, and the production team waiting inside distributed LP to us.

“Here, this is a total of 1500LP. As you’re aware, 1000LP is the entrance fee, 200LP is the basic provided LP… and with the A-type draft bonus of 300LP added, it comes to a total of 1500.”

The person who received the large sum of 1500LP was naturally me, the team leader.

Since all decision-making inside the labyrinth was supposed to be done by the party leader anyway, it was natural for me to hold all the LP.

While I was thinking about this, caster Kim Sinwoo also entered the waiting room along with the other party members.

And shortly after.

“Now, it’s finally time to enter!”

Caster Kim Sinwoo’s voice echoed through the waiting room, and the 20 team leaders moved toward the labyrinth entrance one by one.

The massive golden arched labyrinth entrance had quite an imposing appearance just from its exterior alone.

When was the last time I came here…?

I think I came here about once or twice during my last 10 rounds…

“Hmm.”

Glancing to both sides, the expressions of the other team leaders were clearly tense.

And this was natural.

After all, from 【Frozen Seoul】 which was the entrance mission to 【Memory of Grenis Gorge】.

All the places we had entered for Heroic School filming so far were dungeons close to simulations…

Even though it wasn’t said to be very dangerous, this place was still a labyrinth.

No matter how much it was variety entertainment, it was a place where unpredictable variables could sufficiently exist.

Perhaps reading the expressions of such team leaders, Kim Sinwoo looked around the audience and added one more thing.

“I’ll give you one last piece of advice!”

His expression was more serious than ever before.

“Team leaders, if you think the situation is dangerous, don’t hesitate to make a [Defeat Declaration]! It’s possible anytime from the system menu.”

He spoke with emphasis while meeting each participant’s eyes one by one.

“Your safety is more important than honor or pride. If you just make a defeat declaration, you’ll be safely transported outside the labyrinth immediately. Understood?”

The participants nodded solemnly.

Of course, I was thinking about something else inside.

‘Defeat declaration? A defeat declaration in Midas Garden is bankruptcy.’

If you make a defeat declaration in Midas Garden, all LP held in your inventory evaporates as the price for survival.

Such a thing… could absolutely never happen in my freeloading life.

Going into a dungeon and coming out not with profit but with a loss?

Just thinking about it was so terrible that I felt my whole body trembling.

“Then, I wish you good luck! Enter!”

While I was briefly thinking about such things…

Whoooong―!

A massive golden whirlpool swallowed us up.

* * *

As soon as my vision brightened, the first thing that caught my eye was a golden garden so dazzling it hurt to look at.

A bizarre yet splendid space where the trees, the paving blocks on the ground, and even the water flowing from the fountains were made of golden liquid.

It was a landscape where you could feel the bad taste of a greedy ancient tycoon directly.

And while briefly admiring the scenery.

Ding-!

Before our eyes, system messages announcing our entrance appeared in succession.

[1,000 LP entrance fee will be deducted.]

[You have entered the labyrinth: ‘Midas’s Garden’.]

[Warning: This labyrinth can only be entered ‘once per month’.]

[Current interest rate: 10% per stage (compound)]

[Interest will be paid for each stage cleared, limited to LP earned within the labyrinth.]

[※Warning: In ‘Midas’s Garden’, when the party is in a ‘deficit’ state, the stage difficulty increase is amplified by 2x.]

[※Deficit: Refers to a state where LP consumed within the labyrinth is greater than LP earned.]

‘Once per month entrance restriction.’

The first thing that caught my eye was the entrance restriction.

The entrance restriction, usually divided into daily, weekly, and monthly, was also applied to this ‘Midas’s Garden’.

And usually dungeons with such restrictions have exceptional rewards.

Why?

Because such restrictions are usually put in place when unlimited entry could cause balance problems due to large rewards.

So I couldn’t understand this dungeon at first either.

A dungeon with not daily or weekly but monthly restrictions… has a structure where you lose money the more you run it?

Because I couldn’t understand that, I once exclusively farmed this labyrinth for a while.

The reason I was able to find the hidden clear route was… also because of that.

└ Huh? There’s a hidden route in Midas’s Garden?

└ Yeah there is. Though no hidden clear has appeared on Earth server yet.

Hmm.

Seeing that even the Constellations know this information, it seems it wasn’t such high-level information after all.

“…”

In that sense, the most important part was the two lines of messages specified in the next order.

The content that LP earned within the labyrinth gets compound interest according to stage progression.

The magic of compound interest, humanity’s greatest invention, could be said to be the core keyword of conquering this labyrinth.

‘It’s not a structure where you can see the hidden ending just by killing monsters well.’

How quickly you multiply your ‘seed money’ and roll this compound interest snowball.

That was precisely the most important point needed to dominate this Midas’s Garden.

While I was briefly thinking about such things, Jin-seong Yu who had approached my side quietly asked.

“How much… are you planning to spend at the 1st stage pawnshop?”

And once again I was quite surprised.

This was a considerably sharp question.

It was the kind of question that could never come up without a high level of understanding about this 【Midas’s Garden】.

‘Has this person entered here before Heroic School?’

But since that wasn’t what was important right now, I decided to answer the question first.

“We currently have 200LP as our base, plus the bonus LP we received, totaling 500LP, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I think we should spend exactly all of this.”

“We won’t need to spend additional personal funds?”

“There’s no need for that. There won’t be anything to buy beyond 500LP anyway.”

If you misread the system message at first glance, it might seem like you shouldn’t spend money at the first shop.

It was written as if the more LP you hold, the more compound interest you get…

And it even said that if you become in a ‘deficit’ state by consuming LP before earning, the stage difficulty would rise sharply.

So…

“The early stages should be easy, so why would you use LP without even seeing any interest? Why go so far as to put us in the red?”

What Kangmin-woo was saying could certainly be considered within the realm of understanding.

But this was a trap.

If you read between the lines of the System Message carefully, it says that interest only applies to ‘LP earned within the labyrinth.’

“The LP we brought in from outside doesn’t accrue interest anyway. Everyone, please read the message carefully once more.”

“Hmm…?”

Moreover…

“To see interest quickly, it’s also important to raise the stage difficulty a bit from the beginning.”

The higher the difficulty of the monsters that appear in the stages, the more expensive consumables they drop…

We need to gather as much as possible before the next shop opens to secure a lot of LP, so we can quickly roll the compound interest snowball from early on.

That’s why I could sense considerable understanding of the labyrinth from the first question Jin-seong Yu asked me as soon as we entered.

Moreover, Jin-seong Yu was even somewhat anticipating my plan.

“Then, team leader… you’re thinking of buying all the buffs first, right?”

This guy is smart, isn’t he?

Step- Step-

Anyway, after quickly convincing the team members, I immediately walked toward the center of the labyrinth.

In the labyrinth room we had entered, there was only one building sitting alone…

That was the special shop that existed only in this Midas Garden.

A building so lavishly decorated it was overwhelming, gilded entirely in gold from roof to pillars.

[Golden Pawnshop]

Creak-

As we opened the heavy golden door and entered, cool yet heavy air greeted us.

The interior was reminiscent of a museum.

In display cases floating in mid-air, all kinds of potions, scrolls, and artifacts were emitting brilliant light, and gold dust was spread like mist on the floor.

And in the back, behind a tall counter, someone was sitting.

A man with a small stature like a goblin discovered us and slowly opened his mouth.

“Welcome, lost pilgrims.”

He was like a golden statue in human form.

A mysterious proprietor wearing a smooth metallic mask.

Where eyes, nose, and mouth should have been, only two red gems were embedded, emitting an eerie glow.

Even the tailcoat he wore seemed to be woven with gold thread, glittering brilliantly.

“This is a place where desire proves value. A place that sells despair to the poor and blessings to the wealthy.”

A voice that sounded like scraping metal yet was strangely melodious.

While listening to that ceremonial greeting, I quickly scanned the display cases.

Since what we were going to buy was already decided, there was no need to waste time.

On the display cases, various consumables from potions to traps and magically enchanted scrolls were exhibited…

Among them, five particularly sparkling golden cards caught my eye.

‘As expected, they’re here.’

I immediately picked them up and spoke to the proprietor.

“Here, I need the [Golden Blessing] cards.”

This was… a buff card, just as Jin-seong Yu had expected.

[Golden Blessing]

Effect: Increases all party members’ attack power/defense by 10%.

Price: 100LP.

“Oh ho. How many do you need?”

100LP per card.

So buying all of them would be 500LP.

It was exactly the amount of our current team assets.

“I need all five cards.”

Ding-!

[500LP has been consumed.]

[‘Golden Blessing’ buff will be applied 5 times.]

[All party members’ attack power and defense will increase by 50% while inside ‘Midas’s Garden.’]

Although they had heard beforehand that I would spend 500LP.

Perhaps because my actions showed no hesitation, I could feel the other party members except Jin-seong Yu being startled.

“Shouldn’t… shouldn’t we have bought at least one mana potion?”

Park Jinwoo asked cautiously, but I shook my head.

“There’s no need for that. With this amount of buffs added to our current strength, we’ll have no problems for a while.”

[You have entered ‘deficit’ status by consuming 500LP.]

[※Warning! From now on, when progressing through stages, the difficulty increase rate will be set to 2x.]

Even though a warning message appeared, the party members didn’t raise any more objections.

Park Jinwoo seemed to be taking a wait-and-see approach, and Eun-a Go was… well, she seemed to have no thoughts at all?

Kangmin-woo also seemed somewhat dissatisfied, but he didn’t argue with my decision any further.

Probably because of his experience in <Frozen Seoul>.

He seemed to think that following my words would help his own ranking.

“Now… is there anything else you need to see?”

I nodded at the Golden Overseer’s question, and the proprietor slowly opened his mouth again toward me.

“Then you may proceed to the next room. If you use one of the blue portals, you’ll be able to move to the next room.”

In every room of the ‘Midas’s Garden’ labyrinth, there exists one portal used for entry and three portals that can be used to move to the next room, located on each of the four sides.

The portal used for entry turns red and becomes unusable, so the choice is ultimately one of three.

Step-

Coming out of the pawnshop, I carefully examined the three portals.

Anyway, the first three portals to choose from would all be portals leading to ‘normal monster elimination’ stages.

But if you carefully checked the patterns rippling inside the portals, you could almost predict what kind of monsters you’d encounter.

‘Well, at this point it wouldn’t make much difference what we choose…’

At this stage, difficulty doesn’t matter, and we need to choose the stage with the biggest rewards possible.

In that sense…

‘The first option looks good. Coin Scarab, huh.’

The portal I chose was… the right portal with a small beetle pattern carved on it.

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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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