Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 619

A synthetic monster created by inserting magic stones into the device.

And a customized essence that can be obtained by defeating that synthetic monster.

There’s one characteristic of this essence that we’ve figured out.

The magic stone put into device A determines the stat portion of the customized essence.

For device B, it’s the passive skill.

Device C is in charge of the active skill.

Ah, for reference, this information was gathered after we fed the essences directly to exploration team members who had leveled up at least once after reaching the first basement level…

Unlike the fixed base stats or passives, it wasn’t certain which active skill would be selected.

Perhaps that’s why the color of the essence was also determined by the active skill.

“So… this has the goblin’s stats, the troll’s materialized ability, and since it’s blue, it must have the Steel Hill Chaser’s [Terrain Eruption] skill.”

Raven, who had been watching and recording each summoning, gives a detailed briefing as soon as the essence drops.

And without even asking, he puts the essence in a test tube and labels it.

Well, the research value of the essence is one thing.

There wasn’t anyone in our exploration team who would want to consume this.

In the first place, not many people have awakened their abilities yet, and even those who have are using up their essence slots for experiments.

They’ll probably have to go out and erase their essences first.

“Alright, let’s resume the search!”

We did summon monsters from time to time for research, but that’s over now.

We focused on finding our colleagues who were trapped somewhere in the rail maze.

Customized essence.

It was an attractive prospect that would make any explorer’s eyes light up, but finding our colleagues was the priority to properly farm this customized essence.

There were several reasons besides being worried about them.

‘First of all, it’s difficult with the current members.’

The hunting difficulty of these synthetic monsters is very high.

That’s because they didn’t have the same stats as the essence you could get by hunting them.

Their base stats seem to be the sum of all three monsters’ stats.

The passives of all three monsters. All the active skills of the three monsters…

A synthetic monster made by combining three 9th-grade monsters was naturally much stronger than a normal 9th-grade monster.

There might be some variation depending on each synergy combination.

‘Generally, it’s +2 grades from the average grade.’

Depending on the synergy, it could be +3. No, it could even be +4.

Well, since it’s a combination that creates synergy, the essence you can get in those cases would be much more valuable.

‘……This is such a shame.’

I was briefly blinded by the unbelievable discovery of customized essence and even stopped searching to focus on research, but these setbacks helped me calm down a bit.

It’s a jackpot, but not to the point where it’ll let me coast through the rest of my life?

‘Even three 1st-grade monsters with the specs to open the Abyss Gate would have a hard time.’

In my opinion, even if the entire exploration team gathered, it would be difficult to catch even a 2nd-grade synthetic.

The 3rd-grade one seems doable, though…

‘There will be some damage.’

In the end, to get this customized essence, you need to have stats much higher than the grade of the essence.

Therefore…

‘It’s a core essence, but you can upgrade lower-grade essences or combine them to save essence slots.’

To summarize, this is the real purpose of this device.

Well, you could also use high-grade essences by mixing them appropriately with lower-grade monsters.

‘The problem is the synthetic monsters…’

Most of the monsters in the factory are low-grade.

This itself isn’t a big problem.

This factory is a place where you can do disassembly, combination, and decomposition.

If we put the magic stones we have into the device, a monster is created on the rail, so it’s possible to check who the magic stone belongs to through that.

Also, the monster created in that way never leaves the rail unless it attacks first, so if you wait, it will go around and reach the device that turns it back into a magic stone.

‘But if we let the rail keep going, it’ll be hard to search.’

Either way, waking up our colleagues is the priority…

One day, two days, three days, four days…

Time passed quickly, and finally, the news we had been waiting for arrived.

“We, we found it!”

They found a hidden room.

***

The waiting room that could only be seen through the control room’s CCTV.

After searching everywhere by going against the rail, we finally found the place where our colleagues were trapped.

“Uh… where is this…?”

“I, I’m alive…!!”

One by one, they woke up using the Circlet of Anguish, and the room became busy.

“What is this head ornament? It seems like something I’ve never seen before…”

“…It’s a magic tool that Yandel had. I don’t know the details either. Ask him yourself.”

Sometimes, the mages would ask about the circlet, but I just brushed it off.

Thanks to the fact that no one was around when I got this circlet, I could use it like this without raising suspicion.

If I say I already had it, what are they going to do?

“Mister…”

“Bjorn!”

Anyway, by finding the room like this, we were finally able to reunite with our separated colleagues.

“How’s your body? Are you okay? Is there anything hurting or strange?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Don’t worry. How about you, Mister?”

They had been unconscious for a long time, but thankfully, none of the Clan Anabada members had any problems with their bodies.

But not everyone was like that.

“…One of my essences is not working.”

“Huh? Me too! Me too!”

Some of the exploration team members complained of strange symptoms, and they all had one thing in common.

They were the ones who had been dragged to the factory earlier, turned into magic stones, and then returned.

However, even here, there was something strange…

“I, I’m fine, though.”

There were those who had turned into magic stones but showed no abnormalities.

So, the mages gathered and examined their bodies…

“The grade of their soul has dropped by one level. That’s why the most recently acquired essence is not working.”

“What about the others?”

“We’re guessing that their contribution points were reduced. Those whose grades dropped have the commonality of having been promoted recently.”

In fact, those who did not receive the level down penalty were those who had leveled up a long time ago.

‘An experience point reduction penalty…’

After a detailed investigation of the cause and effect, the reduced amount was estimated to be about 1,000 EXP.

“Wait a minute, what’s going to happen to me in the future? I’ve already collected most of the contribution points from monsters below 3rd grade…”

“Then you’ll have to aim for monsters of 3rd grade or higher from now on.”

“What! With one essence gone!”

“…Because there’s no other way.”

Those who had become trash characters in my eyes, aiming for the max level, expressed their frustration as if they were in the dark.

And while I shouldn’t be thinking this while looking at them.

‘That’s a relief.’

I felt a deep sense of relief.

That’s because Amelia was among those who were dragged away.

If she hadn’t woken up in the middle and escaped on her own, there would have been a big setback in my future plans.

Our goal wasn’t to settle down on the 7th or 8th floor and make money.

“Vice Commander, you take the remaining people and move to the basement below. Raven will tell you everything you need to do.”

After the confusion had subsided to some extent, I immediately gave orders.

“Emily, you go to the control room, turn the tracks back on, and come back here.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Investigation Leader, you stay here and lead the investigation team with the search team and investigate every corner of this room. If my gut feeling is right, there’s something hidden here too.”

“…I understand.”

Okay, that’s all the instructions I need to give for now.

“Sven Parav.”

I stopped the guy who was trying to go down to the basement with the main force.

“Yes?”

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes… I don’t have any problems.”

“That’s a relief then. Would you follow me for a moment? There’s something I want to talk about with just the two of us.”

It wasn’t a conversation to have where others were, so I took him aside to a place where no one was around.

And…

“This is something that only a few people know, so you need to be especially careful. Understand?”

I gave him a lot of warnings before starting the conversation, but it had the opposite effect, and he made a troubled expression.

“Uh… then maybe it’s better if I don’t listen…”

He was trying to slip away from the start.

Whatever it was, avoiding it first was this guy’s bad habit.

“This is something I need to hear your opinion on, so just listen. This is an order.”

“…Yes. I will listen carefully.”

It was only after activating Barbarian Commander mode that he changed his expression and prepared to talk.

I looked around and lowered my voice to tell him about the ‘Director’ I met in the control room.

Of course, there was no need to explain about Hamsik or all the conversations we had at that time.

To get to the point, this is all it was.

“You’re saying he warned that if we don’t leave this place within half a year, we’ll be in big trouble…”

“Yes. He said something would appear when that time comes. He said it would be difficult for even five of us to survive.”

“I, I see…”

Anyway, it seems like the situation explanation is over, so it’s time to get to the main point.

“So, how is it?”

“Yes?”

“How do you feel after hearing all of this?”

At my repeated question, he was momentarily stunned, then opened his mouth slightly as if he had realized something.

“Ah… is that why you called me…”

He seemed to have finally realized why I had called him.

Well, this situation has already been repeated several times.

“Tell me. What do you think… no, how do you feel? Do you think we should get out of here within that time, like he said?”

He closed his eyes for a moment as if concentrating, then answered in an apologetic voice.

“…It’s such a distant future, so I don’t feel anything yet.”

“During the Ice Rock expedition, you said you didn’t want to go in from the city, right?”

“Yes… that’s true, but…”

He trailed off at my question and gave an additional explanation about his intuition.

Generally, that ability is activated at the final turning point?

It seems that his intuition is activated at the moment when he can make a choice.

“Then let’s just do what we have to do and wait.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to be sorry. Anyway, if you feel anything strange later, drop everything and come find me. Understand?”

“Yes, I will definitely tell you.”

And so, time passed quickly again.

***

After the conversation with the goblin, I set a guideline.

[If you can’t leave this place within half a year, you’ll be in big trouble.]

Even if the director’s words were true, let’s just do it my way for now.

That’s because the director also said it, didn’t he?

[That’s not a wrong guess. If someone appears who proves their qualifications, it’s my duty to grant them those qualifications.]

If I can get the qualifications on my own before that, the problem disappears even if the director’s words are true.

There’s no reason to make a deal that’s just unsettling.

Therefore, what I did after that was simple.

“Commander! I found this in the room where we were kidnapped!”

I continued to investigate this research institute, of course.

I moved to a new space through the clues I got in the hidden room, and after searching there, I found something else.

In the process, I also raided the mechanical wolf that I found when I first entered the research institute, and when the clues ran out and progress was blocked, I even went outside the facility to conduct an external search and gradually obtained information about Rainbow Island.

Also, at the same time.

“Hey! You just made a mistake. The monster that was just converted into a magic stone. It’s not a normal drake, it’s a red drake.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yes. You need to label the magic stones properly so that problems don’t occur later, so please concentrate. If you’re even a little confused, ask me right away.”

While the exploration team was exploring, I also deployed a significant number of people to the underground factory.

It was a kind of insurance.

It’s good to focus on one thing, but sometimes you can avoid ruin by having a Plan B.

Even if that guy the director warned about really appears and we have to run away from this place, if we have the necessary essences before that, we can minimize the damage.

‘It doesn’t take that much manpower either.’

Right now, they’re just turning the rails and labeling the magic stones, and the plan was to hunt all the members at once when the time comes…

One day, two days, three days.

The days I spent busily without rest added up to one month, two months, three months.

‘…The exploration is properly blocked, so shall we start?’

I stopped exploring Rainbow Island and returned to the research institute.

And after gathering all the members in the underground factory, I put the magic stones into the device.

Clatter.

In the first device, I put in the magic stone of Arbet, a 3rd-grade monster with terrible skills but amazing base stats, to set the base.

Clatter.

In the second device, I seasoned it with the magic stone of Uumdal, a 4th-grade monster with a good passive but terrible everything else, which I couldn’t put in the shield barbarian build.

And…

Clatter.

In the third device, which corresponds to the active skill, I put in the magic stone of an Orc Hero with [Giantification] to finish it off neatly.

“Yandel, as I said before, this combination is possible a total of twenty-one times.”

“I know.”

Please come out.