The Game of the Greatest Black Mage
Chapter 150

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 150

5.

The fifth Labyrinth City.

From the User Management Team's perspective, there was no place quite like it.

With a death rate far higher than any other region, it was the area where most users experienced their first death.

Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong admitted that he had been a little hopeful.

Seonghyun had monstrous stats, talent, and skills, but…

‘If he gets careless, he might die?’

There was a time when he had harbored such dreams and hopes.

“Wow, he's fighting really well.”

“……”

Lee Wonsong honestly almost nodded at the words of Associate Oh Jinhyeok, who was rubbing salt in the wound.

He felt like he was about to burst a blood vessel, but it was true that Seonghyun was fighting exceptionally well.

Look at him now, fighting so skillfully against the Homunculi and Chimeras.

You would think it was CG from a movie.

How could someone fight that well?

It was truly unbelievable.

By now, Lee Wonsong wasn't even curious how Seonghyun had found the place. He had already discovered it, so what was the point of agonizing over such things? It would only make more of his hair fall out.

With that thought, Lee Wonsong examined the details of the Mad Alchemist's Laboratory.

“Mmm.”

There was nothing particularly special. The rewards were also things that would be irrelevant to Seonghyun.

‘How can this be?’

No, he might have missed something.

Knowing better than to be careless when it came to Seonghyun, Lee Wonsong scanned the reward list again.

He spotted something odd.

“Oh? This hidden dungeon has a secret door!?”

“Mm… it does, doesn't it?”

“C'mon, honestly, there's no way he'll find this, right?”

He wanted to agree with Oh Jinhyeok, but for some reason, he couldn't.

Hadn't Seonghyun managed to find hidden dungeons with no clues at all up until now?

What guarantee was there that this time would be any different?

For that reason, he didn't have high hopes for that part.

But despite this, Lee Wonsong smiled.

“Huh? But is that all for the rewards?”

“Yep.”

“Oh? So even if he finds it, it'll be hard for him to profit from it?”

“Hehe, that's right. It is.”

Lee Wonsong was quite pleased.

Associate Oh Jinhyeok also nodded and agreed.

No matter how you looked at the rewards, they were on a completely different track from how Seonghyun had played the game so far.

This time, Seonghyun would surely not be able to profit.

Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong believed this.

The Chimeras might have some use if he raised them as part of the Death Legion, but the other rewards were difficult to utilize.

Why?

“Even if he gets the Homunculus Creation skill, he won't be able to do anything with it. Creation-type skills are mostly tricky.”

“That's true.”

The biggest reward that could be obtained from this hidden dungeon was none other than the Homunculus Creation skill.

It was a Legendary-rank skill, but they didn't think for a second that Seonghyun would use it properly.

Hadn't Seonghyun been the type to neglect even the material items he obtained, let alone do any crafting?

For that reason, the two of them believed this without a doubt.

Then, suddenly.

“Huh? But, sunbae-nim.”

“...What is it?”

At Associate Oh Jinhyeok’s call, Assistant Manager Lee Wonsong felt an inexplicable sense of anxiety.

‘What could it be? What is he going to say now?’

As he waited with a strange tension for Oh Jinhyeok to speak.

“Do Homunculus Creation and Transcendent Death synergize?”

“Huh?”

Transcendent Death was a skill that removed the physical limits of undead under one's control.

But did that skill synergize with a Homunculus?

Strictly speaking, no.

But what if you were to create a Homunculus and then turn that Homunculus into an undead?

That was a different story.

However, Lee Wonsong tried his best to ignore that possibility.

“Uh… it probably doesn't work?”

“Aha! That's a relief then.”

“Well, even if it did work, a Homunculus's intelligence is so low that even if you created a Almighty-rank summon, it would be worse than that. It only has a basic AI. Its combat performance would be low too.”

“Aha, so as long as he doesn't do something like imbue it with a soul, there won't be a problem.”

“Hahaha, right. As if that's even possible.”

Why?

Why was it that even as he was speaking, Lee Wonsong felt his anxiety grow, making him bite his lip?

He checked everything from various angles again, and his words were correct.

You could use Transcendent Death on an undead Homunculus, but there was nothing you could do about its intelligence.

Could even Seonghyun manage that?

In the first place, the difficulty of Homunculus Creation itself was extremely high.

‘Nah, it won't work.’

Thinking this, Lee Wonsong stared at Seonghyun’s monitor while trying to do other work, as if praying that his anxieties would not come true.

6.

He dodged all the attacks from the charging chimeras and weaved his skills in between.

After Seonghyun launched an attack, his familiars would then move in to finish off the chimera he had targeted.

The number of Chimeras, which had been over fifty at once, gradually dwindled.

Soon, he was able to kill every Chimera and Homunculus in the room.

He received a good amount of EXP, though he didn't level up, of course.

In any case, after finishing the hunt, Seonghyun wasn't even breathing heavily.

Even though there had been fifty of them, the difficulty was lower than he expected. For Seonghyun at this point, it was about the level of a warm-up.

Having properly warmed up, Seonghyun looked around.

‘What a mess.’

The entire laboratory was in disarray. It was difficult to even distinguish what was what.

Judging that there was nothing to be gained here, he moved on to another room.

As Melisia’s laboratory was designed for creating Chimeras and Homunculi, it was a vast facility, on a different scale from those of other alchemists.

Many more Chimeras and Homunculi appeared in the next room, but he dealt with them in an instant.

[You have acquired EXP.]

[Level Up!]

And as he finally gained a level, he shook his head.

Even with the increased EXP gain from the hidden dungeon, he had only just leveled up once.

Leveling up was getting exceptionally difficult.

He looked around the next room as well, but…

‘Nothing to salvage here either.’

Although the monster drop rate had increased, all that came out were material items.

If players with crafting classes had seen them, their eyes would have flipped, but for Seonghyun, who had no interest in that area, they weren't particularly good rewards.

No, to be precise, there was something more important than this right now, and he was getting a little anxious because it hadn't appeared.

It was certainly disappointing.

‘What if I can't get the reward I was thinking of?’

‘Maybe it will be different after I clear it?’

‘Let's just clear it first.’

With that thought, Seonghyun began to hunt even faster, clearing out the laboratory at a rapid pace.

Even defeating the final boss, a Chimera, didn't take very long.

He was fighting alongside three familiars, after all.

Even without any of them going all out, they were able to defeat it quickly.

As Melisia had thought, these creatures were not properly made in the first place.

‘She called them all failures.’

She had said they were unsuitable for combat.

That was why she had wanted to use the Fragment of the Demonic Dragon's Heart to create the ultimate Homunculus, but she had been killed by Lint.

‘Enough with the stray thoughts.’

After taking down the final Chimera with his familiars, Seonghyun raised all the corpses into his Death Legion and sent them to the Netherworld.

If there was one strange thing, it was this.

‘These things didn't have souls to begin with, huh?’

No wonder their combat intelligence was so low.

Although he had stored a good number of Chimeras and Homunculi, it seemed he would have to use them for Corpse Explosion, or perhaps put suitable souls into them and create a separate unit.

In any case, after Seonghyun went through all the rooms and defeated the boss, a "clear" message appeared.

[You have cleared the Labyrinth-type Hidden Dungeon, 『The Mad Alchemist's Laboratory』!]

[You acquire EXP!]

[Level Up!]

[Dungeon rewards will be enhanced!]

[Rewards will now be given.]

[You acquire achievement rewards.]

[As a reward, you acquire the Unique-rank material item, 『Blood of Purity』.]

[As a reward, you acquire the Unique-rank material item, 『Pure Body』.]

[As a reward, you acquire the Legendary-rank material item, 『Noble Heart』.]

[As an additional reward, you acquire the Legendary-rank item, 『High Alchemist's Cauldron』.]

“…Huh?”

He had leveled up again, for a total of two levels, and received several material items along with an item called the High Alchemist's Cauldron.

High-rank material items.

However.

“It's… not here?”

The item Seonghyun truly wanted had not appeared.

The material items from the reward?

He knew they were all good items, but they were completely meaningless on their own.

‘What should I do?’

Just as he was wondering if he would have to spend money to buy it somewhere.

[The effect of the title, 『Treasure Explorer』, is activated.]

[You have discovered a hidden door!]

“Hm?”

As Seonghyun looked at the message with a puzzled expression, a section of the wall where he had fought the final boss began to glow white, in the shape of a door.

Seeing the light shining as if to announce the secret door, Seonghyun recalled the last part of the laboratory.

‘Come to think of it, I haven't seen Melisia's private room...’

So that's where it was.

Could it be in there?

With a sense of anticipation, Seonghyun headed toward the hidden door.

Perhaps because the title's effect had already opened it, the door opened immediately as he stood before it.

Ruuuumble.

With the sound of a heavy stone door opening, the secret room was revealed.

-Oho? It's a private room.

-I-It is.

“Hmm, it seems the chimeras couldn't get in here.”

Unlike the other labs, this place was decorated like a private room, remarkably clean and tidy.

As Seonghyun and his familiars stepped inside, another message window appeared.

[You have entered the hidden room in the Labyrinth-type Hidden Dungeon, 『The Mad Alchemist's Laboratory』: the 『Mad Alchemist's Private Room』.]

[No monsters exist in this place.]

[As a reward, you acquire 『The Mad Alchemist's Research Journal』.]

[You can acquire only one item from this room.]

‘This is it!’

Seeing the message, Seonghyun searched his memory of Melisia and then rummaged through the bookshelf.

It was hard to see, so he fumbled around for a bit, but he soon found it.

A single, thick book.

As he gripped the object, which had the familiar form of a skill book he had seen so many times, a message appeared.

[As a reward, would you like to acquire the Legendary-rank skill book, 『Skill Book - Melisia's Homunculus Alchemy』?]

Melisia's Homunculus Alchemy.

It was a skill of a completely different category from those Seonghyun had acquired so far, but this was exactly what he had wanted.

‘I found it!’

One might think, ‘Isn't this skill largely meaningless for Seonghyun?’

But that was completely wrong.

From fighting them himself, Seonghyun knew that Melisia’s Homunculi were very weak. To be precise, their bodies and physical performance were excellent, even incredible, but their combat sense and intelligence were abysmally stupid.

Melisia herself had tried various things to overcome this, but she had mostly failed. That was why she had said they were unsuitable for combat.

But what if Seonghyun had this skill?

‘I can create vessels for the souls I've gathered so far!’

He could even craft a Homunculus body, turn it into an undead, and then enhance it with Transcendent Death.

Considering that, it was sure to create an incredible synergy for him now.

But could he, who had never done it before, create a Homunculus?

What nonsense.

Didn't Seonghyun possess all of Melisia's memories?

He had already mastered how to use it.

Therefore.

‘First, I should probably make one for the elf swordsman, Silvanor, right?’

As Seonghyun thought this, something suddenly tapped his cheek.

Or rather, he felt the sensation of being tapped.

Puzzled, Seonghyun turned his head.

-I think it's my turn before that elf, don't you?

A red-haired girl spoke with a captivating smile.

“Helena?”

Helena was sitting on Seonghyun’s shoulder, smiling.

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]