Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 510

It doesn’t make logical sense.

That information about a name given less than a day ago is contained within this book.

‘…How can that be? We just got here.’

‘The written content is accurate too. Yandel, do you perhaps know something about this?’

‘Well…’

However, even while speaking vaguely, I was inwardly accepting it.

I felt it subtly.

I can’t explain it well, but should I say I intuitively recognized what this phenomenon was related to?

‘The Record Stone…’

That thing where the history of the beginning and the end is all written.

This phenomenon is clearly related to it in some way.

Even as seen in the book, the name of this floor is also ‘Record Storage’.

‘The more I explore, the more complicated my head gets…’

I was briefly spaced out, but I quickly came to my senses.

It’s not too late to think about this problem later.

‘This must be one of the mysteries of the labyrinth. Everyone, stop worrying about this. Let’s continue with what we have to do.’

‘Right! Isn’t researching and investigating something that mages do! We just need to explore!’

Ainar is making sense for the first time in a while.

I chuckled and carefully read the part I had skimmed over earlier.

The origin of the name was somewhat shocking, but the book itself was very helpful to me.

Unlike the city, this book had precise numerical values.

[Agility +8, Lightning Resistance +15, Jumping Power +30, Spirit Power +20]

Basic stats written in numbers, not as high, medium, or low.

Also, I learned the colors and effects of each essence, which I was secretly curious about.

The green essence is [Ironclad Feather].

The yellow essence is [Thunder Thorn].

The blue essence is [Bubble].

Actually, with this much information, isn’t there no need for the Magic Tower to research it? But they’re just wasting money to write papers and raise their names anyway.

Even if this is known, it will surely be sold at a high price.

‘Alright! Then let’s quickly try again!’

After figuring out everything, I used the book to summon monsters.

[You have defeated a Nightfly.]

[You have defeated a Macguri.]

The battle ended in an instant, without taking much time.

As before, the stone door closed, and a staircase to the third level of the bookshelf appeared.

So, I pulled out the books from the bookshelf again, checked their contents, and if a summoning book was found, I threw it to the 1st floor battle standby team to quickly take care of it, proceeding quickly.

[You have defeated a Frost Wolf.]

[You have defeated an Ice Golem.]

[You have defeated a Death Knight.]

[You have defeated a Baikundus.]

[You have defeated a Minotaur….]

[…….]

As expected, the higher up the bookshelf, the more the number and rank of the monsters written in the books increased, and the difficulty gradually rose.

In fact, this level is not bad as a general hunting ground.

‘No new types of monsters are appearing…’

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a book with a new type of monster that I was greatly anticipating.

‘…Do they only appear after being caught at least once?’

That’s a possibility, but there aren’t enough samples to confirm it yet. There are still many more floors to go up.

One day, two days, three days….

Time passed quickly as we repeated the simple labor.

We only hunted, except for sleeping and eating, so we were able to raise the number of floors in a short period, and a sufficient number of samples were accumulated in proportion.

And to summarize what we learned through that statistics:

1. New types of monsters do not appear in the books.

It’s unknown whether there are no more new types of monsters, or whether only the ‘discovered’ individuals appear in the books.

It’s a problem that needs to be figured out by exploring other places.

2. This library is not a good hunting ground.

It’s a very, very, very good hunting ground.

If the goal is magic stones and essences, it’s more efficient than any other field.

The monsters always come out through the stone door.

It’s easy to form a formation and engage in team battles.

It’s possible to prepare before summoning.

You can cast spells and skills in advance.

From the mid-section onwards, there were more than 100 monsters in one book.

There’s no need to explain this separately.

It’s already a field specialized for mass hunting, and there’s no need to wait for it to respawn after one hunt.

Once the hunt is over, you can just summon again.

In fact, in three days, we earned almost ten million stones just from magic stones, and seven essences were dropped.

Well, six were below 6th grade, so I just threw them away, and only put one 5th grade one in a test tube.

‘It’s definitely not bad if you’re just hunting…’

Nevertheless, all of us, including me, were not satisfied with the hunting.

Because our goal isn’t hunting.

This is the first area where human feet have stepped, after all.

Just discovering the unknown can yield more gains than hunting.

‘But the problem is… it’s impossible for us to clear this to the end with our level.’

Looking at the progress of the strategy, we’ve definitely passed the mid-point and can be seen as at the beginning of the late-stage.

But it was realistically impossible to clear the final stage.

‘If 3rd grade monsters are appearing here, it means there will be 1st grade monsters above.’

No matter how you look at it, it seems like it would be good to wrap up the library strategy around this point….

That’s when the thought reached that point.

‘Bjooooooorn!!’

Ainar, who was up on a distant bookshelf, called out to me in a booming voice.

‘I found a book with a new monster written in it!!’

Oh, really?

***

At the same time as Ainar’s shout, all the members who were scattered collecting books gathered in one place.

Since the target was Ainar, everyone had a look of half doubt and half expectation, but Ainar showed the book to everyone with a triumphant attitude.

A whole body covered in tentacle-like vines.

It walks on all fours, and has something like bone wings on its back.

‘How is it? Have you guys ever seen a monster like this?’

‘Certainly… I’ve never seen it before.’

‘Yandel, what about you?’

‘Me neither.’

It seems like it’s definitely a new type of monster.

But why at this time?

‘Hurry up and read it! What grade is it! It looks really strong!’

Feeling a strange sense of bewilderment, I read the ancient language in front of everyone.

‘Its name is Tentaculan. Its habitat is the Sea of Records.’

‘If it’s the Sea of Records, isn’t that the sea where Macguri comes from?’

‘That’s right, but don’t interrupt me.’

‘Ah! Sorry.’

‘It’s a 4th grade monster, and its classification is a beast type.’

‘Oh! 4th grade! What about its abilities? What are its abilities?’

No, I told you not to interrupt me….

Sigh… Is it not someone I can talk to?

‘Its materialized ability is the same as the 4th grade monster, Seamerchant’s [Pacifist], its ability is the Gargoyle’s [Evil Sound], Medusa’s [Stone Curse], and the Liu Moby Dick’s [Underwater Roar].’

‘…So there really are more monsters with mixed abilities. On this floor.’

Yes, at this point, it should be considered a given.

New types of monsters with new essence combinations appear here.

And….

‘It seems that the monsters that appear in the library have to be discovered at least once.’

This was the newly added information.

‘Huh? Isn’t it that we discovered it for the first time?’

I nodded and read the origin of the name as it was written.

‘········The explorer Madderkin Lilgriams first discovered it while exploring the 1st underground floor, the Record Storage, and named it.’

‘Madderkin Lilgriams… isn’t that the leader of the Silver Lion Clan who came in here with us…?’

‘They said they would die without us, but it seems they are exploring well on their own.’

Amelia, who said that, looked somewhat uncomfortable.

It seems she thinks our share was taken away.

It’s not like they give money for having your name written here.

Ah, is she just upset that her name hasn’t been written yet, but the name of a free rider has been written?

‘…I should let her name a new monster when we discover one later.’

That’s enough information about the monster, so let’s all go down and summon it.

[Grrrrrrrrr….]

It’s much bigger than it looked in the picture.

But there’s one question.

Except for the tentacles, it looks like a wolf, so why does it live in the sea?

[You have defeated a Tentaculan.]

I don’t know, but the hunt itself ended smoothly.

Since it was the first time hunting this individual, we fought slowly in a textbook manner rather than overwhelming it with damage, but even so, it couldn’t escape the limits of the 4th grade.

‘It’s easier than I thought…’

Come to think of it, Misha has also become very strong….

Seeing her say that after slicing a 4th grade monster in one blow.

‘Okay, then everyone gather around for a moment.’

After the hunt, I summoned all the members and held a vote.

The only agenda for the vote was.

‘Let’s each give your opinion on whether to stay here or explore other areas.’

However, the team members’ reactions were not good.

‘…Is there any point? You’re going to decide on the side you voted for anyway.’

‘That’s right.’

Sigh… Did I reveal my secret move too early?

I should have used the multiple voting technique for something more important later.

‘Don’t worry. I’m going to abstain from this vote.’

As soon as I said that, the team members, who had been looking at the word vote with distrust, nodded.

‘Hmm, in that case.’

‘It might be worth a try.’

Only then did the vote start normally, and surprisingly, the opinions were unanimous.

To end the library exploration and explore other areas.

Actually, I had expected this result.

The atmosphere was already dissatisfied with the simple grind-style hunting, and this Tentaculan incident poured oil on the fire.

‘This place isn’t bad, but considering that there are competitors, it’s too much of a waste of time.’

‘Even at this moment, they must be finding new monsters and naming them.’

‘If essences come out, they’ll sell them to the Magic Tower at a high price.’

Yes, that’s what explorers should be like.

However, even though the voting results were out, I decided to stay here for another day or two.

‘…You’re not leaving right away?’

‘Why? It’s not like you to waste time for no reason.’

The team members looked at me as if I was trying to be a dictator again.

I feel somewhat sad.

I’m just acting efficiently as a leader.

‘Isn’t it the case that 3rd grade monsters are now appearing in the books? If possible, we should catch everything we can before leaving.’

Even if 2nd grade is a bit too much, we can hunt 3rd grade monsters stably enough with our power.

‘Besides, Emily, you still have quite a few 3rd grade monsters that you haven’t defeated, right?’

‘That’s… true.’

‘Ainar, you haven’t gotten that essence I told you about before either.’

‘……Ugh!’

It’s not just Ainar.

Erwen and Misha also have essences among the 3rd grade essences that they need to get.

Even I need to get the ‘Bellarios’ essence.

‘Does everyone agree then?’

‘…….’

Silence is synonymous with tacit consent.

Now that the future plan has been decided, we focused on hunting even more diligently than before.

[You have defeated a Mechanical Giant +EXP 7]

[You have defeated a Phoenix +EXP 7]

[You have defeated an Earth Bin +EXP 6]

[You have defeated a Garsian +EXP 7]

[You have defeated an Abyss Skeleton….]

[…….]

The battle difficulty has increased several times compared to the mid-section, but the fruit was sweet.

Because the 7th floor Dark Continent is in a state of war, we caught almost more than half of the 4th and 3rd grade monsters that we hadn’t caught yet.

However, the only disappointing thing is that the ‘Beginner’s Luck’ was only activated once.

[No.9999 Beginner’s Luck has been activated.]

Still, what I got was the essence of the Abyss Skeleton.

It’s treated as a 잡몹 [jabmob – weak mob], but it’s the one that appears on the 10th floor.

None of our members can use it, but the 10th floor essence is still valuable, so it was a good harvest.

‘By the way, it seems like the monsters that are hard to see even in the labyrinth don’t appear much in the books either.’

Bellarios is a prime example.

I wish it would come out.

Why doesn’t it come out until the end?

‘Stop.’

It’s a shame, but I decided to end the 3rd grade hunting around this point.

That’s because the difficulty has increased, and now two 3rd grade monsters are appearing at once.

Some combinations were okay to hunt even if two came out, but the battle fatigue was high, so the rest time was longer, and the efficiency was not good.

Therefore….

‘Everyone, pack up the books. We’re leaving now.’

I started preparing to descend.

‘Pack up the books?’

‘Other guys might come here. If we take only the books from the top bookshelf, it will be impossible for them to go higher than where we explored. No matter how much they summon with the summoning books below, the stairs won’t appear.’

‘With the volume and weight of these books, we might not have enough space in our subspace during the exploration?’

‘If we run out of space, we can just throw them into the sea then.’

‘What? Yandel, you’re really…’

‘Really?’

‘You’re smart. Especially in a place like this.’

Amelia and everyone else listened to my order and welcomed it as a good idea.

Not a single person said it was a cowardly act.

Because everyone here was an explorer.

‘Yeah, this is a fair competition in this industry.’

In that way, after making the field itself impossible to explore in one fell swoop, we went back the way we came.

Thump- Thump-

Unlike me, who easily climbed up one step at a time, my companions followed behind, jumping.

That’s when I stepped on the last step.

‘…Hey, Baron Yandel?’

For some reason, explorers were gathered at the entrance.

In a battle formation with their weapons drawn.