We rushed out of the building in a flurry.
“What the hell is going on! No one’s supposed to know about this place!”
“Someone got here before us!”
All the Violets were flabbergasted by the unexpected situation.
No. 7, who had been waiting in the dormitory, buried herself under the blankets, while
No. 8 in the library ran to hide in a bathroom corner.
“This is an emergency…!”
I leaned against the cold wall, trying to untangle my chaotic thoughts.
The attempt failed.
A chorus of panicked inner monologues burst forth from the Violets.
“Who is it? Who took it?”
“Was there someone else who knew about this place? No way!”
Everyone voiced their astonishment one by one, creating a loud commotion.
As the uproar continued, exhaustion began to set in, and one by one, the Violets started to calm down.
No. 2 finally stood up and tried to soothe us.
“…Everyone, calm down. First, let’s check if the inventory we have is the right one.”
I tried to check the bag we brought earlier.
But the bag was nowhere to be found.
“Where did it go?”
“I never dropped it! I was holding it tightly!”
“Let’s go back to the basement and check again!”
At No. 1’s suggestion, everyone silently nodded.
We slowly picked up our weapons and reentered the abandoned building.
Passing the shattered basement door, we reached the spot where we had removed the floor tiles.
In the space beneath the floor we had pried open earlier, the bag was sitting there again.
“It’s back here again.”
“Take it out again.”
No. 6 picked up the bag and ran outside.
Moments later, the bag dropped back into its original place.
“It came back again. How are we supposed to use this thing?”
I examined the status window once more. The name [Multidimensional Storage Bag] appeared.
It looked like an ordinary bag aside from the intricate patterns and magic circles engraved on it.
I opened the bag and put in a few stones, then took them out again.
It was just an ordinary bag; I could clearly see the contents rolling around inside.
It didn’t work like this in the game.
“How do we use it?”
“Maybe we should try channeling ether into it?”
When No. 5 placed her hand on the bag and channeled ether, the magic circle suddenly lit up, and the bag started vibrating on its own.
“Ahhh! What’s happening?”
“Did you mess it up?”
Startled, we backed away from the bag.
The bag trembled, emitting a bright light that filled the basement.
It floated into the air and transformed into a glowing orb before exploding.
Shards of light scattered like snowflakes over our heads.
“It’s gone…”
“No. 5! You idiot! How could you destroy such a rare and powerful item?”
“I didn’t think it would turn out like this!”
As we stared in despair at the space where the bag had disappeared, a translucent status window appeared before us.
Ding!
[* The Multi-Dimensional Storage Bag has been bound to user: Violet Dunhind Rugilinn.]
“See? I told you it’d be fine!”
No. 5 shrugged.
The status window declared that the bag now belonged to us.
“Store this item!”
Picking up a nearby tin can, I commanded it to go in, and it disappeared.
Curious, the Violets began picking up random objects and shouting commands or imagining
putting them inside.
All our hands ended up empty.
The sensation was different from our clone transfer ability.
“It seems like we can freely put things in and take them out of the bag.”
“It doesn’t seem to be bound to just one of us. It recognizes ‘all of us’ as its owners.”
I wanted to check the bag’s contents.
Soon, I was able to perceive an inventory list.
[Stored Items: Chocolate Bar Wrapper x1, Stones x3, Polaris Training Sword (One-Handed) x1,
Brick Fragments x3…]
“Let’s get rid of the trash.”
Trash rained down from the inventory into the air.
“It seems like this is the bag we were looking for.”
“Where’s the other one?”
It was time to find the second bag.
We tapped the surrounding floor with spears and swords until a hollow sound echoed.
Carefully sliding blades and spear tips into the tile gaps, we uncovered another black duffle bag identical to the first one.
“Should we take it?”
One of the clones picked up the bag.
When they attempted to store it in the inventory, the bag blurred and reappeared with a warning message.
[* Warning: You cannot place one Multi-Dimensional Storage Bag inside another.]
When they channeled ether to bind it, another warning appeared.
[* Warning: A storage bag has already been bound, so this one cannot be used.]
We debated what to do with the spare bag.
“If we take it, it’ll just return to its original spot like before. What should we do?”
“Let’s destroy it so no one else can use it!”
We tried slashing it with sword energy and setting it on fire with a lighter.
The bag broke, disappeared, and reappeared again completely intact.
“I think I understand why someone only took one.”
“This is so frustrating. Let’s just bury it again.”
“Cover everything back up!”
We decided to leave the last bag as it was and act as though nothing had happened.
Since we couldn’t destroy or take it, there was no other choice.
After returning the bag to its original spot, we replaced the floor tiles and cleaned up the area.
We covered the tiles with rags and plastic trash we found nearby.
This would make the spot look like just another messy part of the dungeon.
“Isn’t this relying too much on luck?”
“This place is in the farthest corner of the dungeon anyway. No one but us will come here.”
After tidying up, we prepared to leave.
We climbed back through the alleyways of the gorge where we had entered.
“It’s strange. In the tutorial, we took all three bags…”
“I don’t know. After showing us the event scene in front of the building, we suddenly got the inventory and heard about the bags.”
“Who could have taken it? The male scholars? The female scholars? Another playable character? A possessor?”
Everyone chimed in briefly, but no clear answer emerged.
“Ugh… Let’s discuss who might have taken the bag when we get back tomorrow.”
There were too many unknowns.
The early shutdown of this ridiculous game had left us clueless. It had happened even before individual character stories were updated.
If only Director Yeom had appeased the Communist Party better, maybe I’d have entered this world with more information.
I wanted to debate further, but this was still a dungeon.
We closed our mouths and climbed the steep alleys.
The return trip was grueling.
I hadn’t noticed on the way down, but climbing back up was exhausting.
The endless rows of similarly gray buildings made us circle back to the same spots a few times.
“Gwooork!”
“Skrax! Charge!”
We clashed with Skrax several times on the way up.
These goblin- or ogre-like interdimensional beasts seemed to reproduce asexually, endlessly respawning no matter how many we killed.
In the game, Skrax with palette-swapped designs popped up in nearly every dungeon due to their high environmental adaptability.
But adaptability wasn’t exclusive to them.
“Form a phalanx! Form up!”
After several brutal fights, we became more skilled in combat.
Parrying incoming spearheads with shields, stabbing vital spots with shimmering sword energy—it all became mechanical.
When one of the Skrax tried to grab a shield and pull, we abandoned the shield, counterattacking with a hammer swing.
“Gwooork!”
“Argh!”
For every clone that fell, four or five Skrax ended up dead.
Once their momentum broke, they scattered in panic, and we picked them off one by one.
[Level up!]
[Through prolonged use, the proficiency of your unique ability: Dynamic Consciousness/Identity-Linked Clone Technique has increased. Your unique ability has leveled up!]
“Wow! A level up!”
Every victory came with small rewards.
“Fighting is becoming second nature. Dying doesn’t feel like a big deal anymore.”
“Exactly. Let’s hurry and climb up.”
After each battle, we dragged the Skrax’ corpses into a pile.
Their crude weapons, made from urban debris, were worthless, but their bodies had value.
When we tested storing a corpse in the inventory, it vanished without a trace.
“It worked!”
“If only we could’ve grabbed the ones we killed earlier on the way down.”
“It’s because we took the wrong path. Such a waste.”
After collecting around twenty Skraxs corpses, we continued our climb.
As I walked up the hill toward the building, a truck came into view in the distance.
Around it, about ten hunters were busy doing something.
One was sitting on top of the truck, gesturing instructions to those below, while the others kept a vigilant watch on their surroundings.
Someone was tying up the limbs of a captured Skraxs.
“What’s that?”
“Let’s take a closer look.”
We gathered together and peered through a gap in the wall to see what was happening below.
The hunters finished binding the Skraxs’ limbs and then brought a loudspeaker to its mouth.
They proceeded to stab it repeatedly with daggers, causing it to scream in agony.
“Kuooork! Kuuork!”
The creature’s cries echoed loudly through the loudspeaker, spreading far and wide.
Soon, the sound of stomping feet could be heard approaching from all directions.
“Is this some kind of hunting drive?”
“That seems dangerous…”
No. 3 voiced a concern.
Our worries turned out to be justified when a horde of at least a hundred Skraxs swarmed in from every alley.
The hunters were quickly surrounded.
“That’s a lot… There’s no way we can handle a group of that size yet.”
“Why would they do something so reckless?”
We assumed we were about to witness their grim demise.
With such an overwhelming number of enemies, surely they would be annihilated.
But then, something astonishing happened.
“What the… Are they cheating?”
“This is insane!”
To our amazement, the nine hunters began slaughtering the Skraxs horde with ease!
Wherever their swords and axes, infused with auras, swept through, the Skraxs fell like wheat under a scythe.
It was a one-sided massacre.
In no time, the street was littered with the blood and corpses of the beasts.
“Kuork! Kuoooork!”
The Skraxs tried to fight back.
A steel pipe-like spear flew at one of the hunters, finding an opening in their defense and striking their side.
-Thud!-
A spark flared from the hunter’s side as the spear struck.
The weapon failed to penetrate and bounced off.
“That’s Ether Barrier…”
The hunter flinched slightly from the pain but quickly retaliated, hacking the offending Skraxs to pieces.
It ended up crushed like a squashed tomato.
More counterattacks followed.
Among the horde, Skraxs casters raised their right arms and fired energy blasts.
“There’s no way to dodge that, is there?”
-Boom!-
“No, they blocked it!”
The hunters deflected the incoming blasts with their swords.
As we marveled at their skill, one hunter miscalculated and lost their sword due to the impact, stumbling to the ground.
At that moment, the person who had been watching from atop the truck pulled out a crossbow as large as a rifle.
The bolt fired from the crossbow pierced the forehead of a charging Skraxs.
A second after the bolt hit its target, it emitted a flash and exploded.
“Did you see that? It blew up! Boom!”
“That’s incredible…”
Another series of bolts struck the Skraxs casters preparing their next attacks, shattering their heads.
Headless bodies toppled to the ground.
With their leaders gone, the remaining Skraxs scattered in a panic, fleeing to corners where the hunters’ weapons couldn’t reach.
Only a handful of them survived.
Once the slaughter was over, the hunters sheathed their swords and began loading the Skraxs corpses onto the truck.
The person who had fired the crossbow descended from the truck, shouting loudly.
“What are they saying?”
“Let’s listen in!”
It turned out to be nothing more than a superior scolding subordinates.
“…Why are you all so slow? It’s just a pack of low-tier beasts, and you’re taking this long?”
“We’ll improve, sir!”
“And who was the one who stumbled earlier? Yeah, you! You couldn’t even block a measly energy blast, so I had to step in myself despite being B-grade!”
“I’m sorry!”
“This is why C-grades are hopeless… Hey! What are you doing, slacking off? Hurry up and load everything! We need to meet the quota!”
We were stunned after overhearing their conversation.
“Wait, just ten people wiped out more than ten times their number of Skraxs like that, and they’re only C-grade?”
“If the lowest-ranking hunters are this strong… what does that make us?”
“Probably D-grade at best.”
D-grade was the rank for rookie hunters who had just started.
It was equivalent to a trainee in the military.
I felt a wave of gloom as reality sank in.
It seemed we still had a long way to go.
“We need to train even harder from now on.”
“Let’s aim for quality, not just numbers!”
With that resolve, we stood up and began walking back toward the dungeon exit.
By the time we exited the Novastia Mine, the sun had already set.
Even in the evening, the area around the dungeon entrance was crowded with people.
Bright lights illuminated the surroundings.
“I thought we’d be stuck here for at least two days, but it went quicker than expected.”
“Let’s leave two behind and reverse-generate the rest. After selling the beast corpses, No. 10 heads to the Brotherhood, and No. 11 to the motel below the dungeon!”
“Got it!”
Twelve Violets vanished, leaving only two behind.
They dumped the Skraxs corpses in a relatively secluded area before heading to a clan-operated purchase center.
“Students? What brings you here?”
“I heard we could sell beast corpses here!”
“Understood. Let’s take a look.”
I had been worried we might be dismissed because of our age, but the staff treated us courteously.
We followed them to the pile of corpses.
Their expressions turned awkward.
“Wait… How did students bring this many beasts here on their own? And why bring them all the way here?”
“Hehe…”
Apparently, there was a designated area near the dungeon entrance to store captured beasts before selling them.
After listening to their explanation, I scratched my head in embarrassment.
One of the staff counted the corpses and planted a flag with a number on the pile.
After taking a phone call, they returned to the sales counter, saying they’d calculate the value.
A while later, workers arrived and began loading the corpses onto sleds.
From where we stood, we could see a cylindrical machine rotating like a concrete mixer in the direction the workers were heading.
The Skraxs and other beasts’ bodies were loaded onto a conveyor belt that led into the machine.
The grinder clattered loudly as it turned.
On the other side of the machine, the shredded remains of the beasts emerged on another conveyor belt.
The air was filled with a sickening stench.
“Ugh…”
I barely held back my nausea.
The shredded remains were transported into a complex, large machine with numerous attached pipes.
Steam rose from its top.
After a short while, a truck arrived and parked at the machine’s output side.
The machine opened, and processed black, round masses poured into the truck.
“So that’s how etherium is made.”
I got to witness the early stages of how beast corpses were turned into valuable resources.
These masses would now be sent to factories or processing plants to be refined further.
In this world, monsters didn’t drop magical gemstones or treasures when their bellies were cut open, like in a fantasy novel.
The ether that powered beasts permeated every organ and drop of blood in their bodies.
Modern engineering was essential to harness this power.
Beasts with rare or unique materials were processed individually, but low-tier beasts with little value were ground up entirely and refined through various steps.
This process produced etherium, a versatile resource that retained some of ether’s mysterious properties.
The staff returned after completing their calculations, and I immediately checked my account to confirm the payment.
“Total of 350,000 credits. That’s about 17,000 credits per beast, huh?”
“A cup of instant noodles costs around 300 credits, so… was this worth it?”
“Feels like a lot of work for not much pay.”
How much was 1 credit in won?
Officially, the Deep Crimson Academia set 1 credit to equal 1 yen.
Funny how it used yen despite being a Chinese game.
“Anyway, let’s keep hunting like today and save up steadily.”
With the transaction complete, our business here was done.
We passed through the dungeon checkpoint and headed southwest.
-Classes start again tomorrow.-
Monday was approaching.