Chapter 59.1: Another method to gain coins.
[Ace POV],
It quite surprised me when I saw the silver and bronze coins on the ground.
I picked up the two silver coins and the 75 bronze coins while stooping, then I took in their appearance.
Aside from having the appearance of a normal silver and bronze coin and an exquisite 'P' embedded on both sides of the coin, I noticed the coins emitted some form of radiation.
I realized it was mana after carefully sensing it.
Because it was required to have good mana control to use the pill-forming technique effectively, I could at least sense mana better now that I had some experience with it.
I checked the information on the coins in my hand with the primordial chronicle.
......
[Silver Coin],
A silver coin looted from a dungeon monster.
Can be used to purchase items at the store.
.......
[Bronze Coin],
A bronze coin looted from a dungeon monster.
Can be used to purchase items at the store.
........
'Loot?'
It appears that in addition to selling monster corpses and items, I can gain coins by killing monsters in dungeons.
It is also more profitable.
A level 17 monster corpse is usually only worth one silver coin and twenty bronze coins, but a goblin killed in a dungeon gave me two silver coins and some bronze coins.
What I'm wondering about is how I can use the coins in my hand now in the store.
When I thought of this, the coins in my hand vanished.
I was perplexed by the sudden disappearance, so I called out my status and went to the store to see if there were any changes, as coins can only be used in the store.
And my assumption was correct, as I did notice a change in the store section.
[Total Coins: 51 Silver Coins; 62 Bronze Coins],
My previous total of coins was only 48 silver coins and 87 bronze coins, so when I noticed that more coins had been added, I knew it was because the coins I previously held had vanished.
Thinking about this, I decided to conduct a small experiment.
When I thought of using the silver and bronze coins in the store, they vanished.
It appears that the coins will be added to my total amount of coins in the primordial chronicle in accordance with my will.
So I'm wondering if I can get these coins out.
As I was thinking about this, I had an image of three silver coins in my head, and as soon as I thought about bringing the coins out, I felt a cold touch on my hand.
I looked at the hand that felt like it was holding something, and there were three silver coins there.
With this, I knew I could bring the coins I had outside of the primordial chronicle.
Taking the silver coins in my hand back to the primordial chronicle, I made my way to the remaining coins on the ground where the goblin corpses had previously been.
[Total Coins: 57 Silver Coins; 12 Bronze Coins],
After that, I returned to the others, who were already finished with theirs.
Chris had already killed the two level 16 monsters and was holding two silver coins and some bronze coins in his hands, puzzledly looking at them.
Hmmm.
It seems that the coin pattern increase of the monsters in the dungeon differs from that of the monsters outside.
According to what I gained from exchanging monster corpses in the store's exchange sub-option, the coin pattern of level 1 monsters to level 10 is 5 bronze coins.
That is, a level 1 monster is generally worth 5 bronze coins, a level 2 is worth 10 bronze coins, a level 3 is worth 15 bronze coins, and so on, with the coin pattern increasing by 10 bronze coins starting at level 11.
That is if a level 10 monster is worth 50 bronze coins, a level 11 monster is worth 60 bronze coins. However, based on the number of coins I obtained and Chris obtained, I suspect that the coin pattern increase of monsters in the dungeon begins at 25 bronze coins.
That could imply that the coin pattern of level 1 to level 10 monsters in a dungeon is 10 bronze coins.
In a dungeon, a level 1 monster is generally worth 10 bronze coins, a level 2 is worth 20 bronze coins, a level 3 is worth 30 bronze coins, and so on, with the coin pattern increasing by 25 bronze coins starting at level 11.
I believe that the coin pattern of the ten bronze coins is correct.
So far, all I've done is make assumptions, and nothing has been confirmed.
When I got close to Chris, he noticed me and looked down at his hands, which were holding the coins, and slightly stretched them towards me before speaking.
"Brother Ace, do you know what I can do with this?" he inquired.
When I heard that, I asked him a question of my own.
"How many coins did you get?" I inquired.
"2 silver coins and 50 bronze coins," he replied.
Hearing this, I nodded and told him to tighten his grip on the coins as if he were going to buy something from the store.
Hearing this, he fell silent for a moment before the coins in his hand vanished, just like mine.
I told him to count the total number of coins he had in the store and left him as I made my way to the girls, with what I assumed was a stunned expression on his face.
When I arrived, the girls had finished their battle and were holding coins in their hands.
When I saw the coins disappear from the girl's hand, I didn't have to tell them what to do, unlike Chris.
I could hear them murmuring as I got closer.
Something I recognized in the murmurs was how they didn't expect to gain so many coins.
Perhaps they are also aware of the exchange sub-option function.
Emma noticed me as I approached and came to my side, speaking before I could;
"Let's keep grinding!" She said excitedly, to which I simply nodded before looking at Adara and Elsie seeing that nothing was wrong, I and the girls grouped back with Chris at the front and made our way deep into the cave.
After passing a short distance away from the goblins I killed, we came across a staircase.
"Stairs?" I murmured when I saw this.
..............
Chapter 59.2: Hidden Dungeon?
When the team first saw the stairs, they were perplexed and intrigued.
Not sure when it started, but as soon as Emma saw the stairs, she began talking about floors, monster floors, advancing floors, and so on.
What she said was undoubtedly about video game terms.
When Ace, Adara, and Elsie were about to ignore her, Chris spoke up and stood by her.
Finally, due to Emma's influence, the rest of the team believes that the stairs should resemble the layout of dungeons in video games.
The team finally went up the stairs after some hesitation, and when they reached the top, they saw the entrance to a cave, which was very strange because seeing a cave in a cave is strange in and of itself.
When they went deeper into the cave, they found more monsters, just as Emma predicted.
This time there were ten monsters, all of which were green-skinned goblins.
There are six level 16 goblins and four level 17 goblins.
Seeing this, Ace and the team made sure to minimize their presence.
After some deliberation, they divided the monsters among themselves once more, just as they had done before.
The girls were in charge of the level 16 goblins, while Ace and Chris were in charge of the four level 17 goblins.
Ace took three and Chris took one.
After a brief battle, the team dispatched the monsters, and after collecting their coins, they proceeded deeper into the cave and discovered another set of stairs, which, as Emma predicted, led them to another 'floor' filled with monsters.
Seeing this, another round of battle began.
........
[Ace POV],
After the battle with the first wave of goblins we encountered in the dungeon and the battle with the ones we later encountered on the second and third floors, I finally understood why the dungeon's difficulty was labeled 'Hard.'
Though the first, second, and third floors were a little difficult for us to clear, this was mostly due to the sheer number of goblins we had to face.
Because of their simple attack style, the goblins also reduced the difficulty slightly.
But everything changed when we got to the fourth floor because the difficulty of the dungeon increased for me and the team from there.
Aside from the numbers that outnumbered us, there was also the issue of goblin levels, with the weakest at level 18 and the strongest at level 21, and there were several.
It should also be noted that I was still at level 17 at the time and did not choose to level up despite the number of primordial records I had accumulated.
Something I noticed was that the higher the level of the monster you kill differs from yours, the more primordial records you will receive.
So I didn't level up and instead focused on farming primordial records.
I also understood why the girls referred to themselves as mages.
Elsie can manipulate earth, which is the ground we step on to attack or defend.
Adara can manipulate lightning, and even though she fights with her fists in close combat, she refers to herself as a mage although the range attacks in her arsenal are limited.
Emma can manipulate light.
It's strange, but I think it's interesting every time I see it.
It should be noted that, in my opinion, she is the best at magic of the three.
Her use of light magic piques my interest.
She uses it to attack, defend, manipulate, and bend into spears and shields, among other things.
Only when I couldn't take it any longer did I decide to level up to level 19.
Even then, the number was difficult to handle, but it was more manageable.
The difficulty rose on the fifth floor after we cleared the fourth.
When we reached the seventh floor, the weakest goblin we encountered was level 21, and the strongest was level 24, whose name was Goblin Knight according to the primordial chronicle.
It was quite strong, but it was eventually defeated.
There were some injuries, but they were all healed when we leveled up.
There were no stairs on the seventh floor either.
This must be the dungeon's final floor.
I think it took less than 3 hours to clear all of the floors. I'm not sure if that's fast or slow.
Looking around and seeing Chris and the girls panting, I was about to say something when the primordial chronicle panel appeared in front of me.
[Conditions to open Hidden Dungeon met],
[Hidden Dungeon: Goblin Lord Throne room],
[Floors: One floor],
[Difficulty to participants: Hell],
"Hidden Dungeon?"
"What is this?"
As I considered this, the seventh floor we were on began to shake violently.