Former Ranker's Newbie Life

Chapter 116

After clearing the spinning blade trap and crawling through a narrow corridor, Do-Jin found himself in the dungeon’s first chamber. The whole place was on fire. Flamethrowers were mounted everywhere, belching jets of flame that stopped and started in rhythm, almost taunting anyone dumb enough to step inside.

He studied the timing, memorized the sequence of safe zones, and meticulously sprinted through. The intervals left just enough space to dash through without getting roasted.

Anyone stupid enough to trust that timing would already be dead...

Do-Jin knew from personal experience that charging in blind would only get him skewered by hidden poison darts. This time he hugged the edges, waiting until the last possible second before slipping through.

At the end, the gaps closed faster. It was a gauntlet meant to force a nonstop sprint. Do-Jin feinted forward, then immediately pulled back as a massive blade cut through the air right at neck height. He cursed under his breath, then bolted for real. At the final exit, he slid low, skimming under an invisible wire strung at chest level. A straight jump would’ve gutted him.

Do-Jin burst out of the furnace of a room and finally let out the breath he’d been holding. The wall beside him split open. Out lunged a spiked steel golem, its entire body bristling with blades like a walking deathtrap. It charged with reckless speed.

“Well, hello again. It’s been a while.”

Do-Jin flicked Psychokinesis. Against an enemy over Level 100, it wasn’t worth shit for damage. But that wasn’t the point. The moment the golem felt the hit, its eyes lit up. A split second later, it was torn apart by an explosion powerful enough to send pressure waves through the air. Every spike embedded in its body was launched like shrapnel from a human-sized frag grenade.

Normally, players would think to duck into the wall cavity it came from, but Do-Jin didn’t bother. He had acquired the spell Phantom Form from his S-rank drop, the Dimensional Veil Cloak. When the spell activated, his body went translucent, giving him exactly one second of invincibility.

A storm of spikes tore through where he stood, slamming harmlessly into the walls behind him. As his body snapped back to being solid, Do-Jin straightened his cloak with a grin.

“Wow, that’s clean.”

The skill was practically a cheat. As long as the enemy’s damage was physical, it made him invincible. Do-Jin had never even touched it in his past life. By the time he could’ve learned something like this, he’d already pigeonholed himself as an all-offense mage. Now he was using it for the first time.

“A fifteen-minute cooldown is a pain, but I’ll take it for an ability like this.”

The cloak had carried him through one of the nastier traps, and although the dungeon traps only became more sinister as he pushed deeper, none of it was enough to stop him. At last he stepped into the final chamber, containing nothing but a lone chest.

Do-Jin let out a breath. “Okay, cleared!”

The strangest thing about this dungeon was that it had no boss. There was no final guardian, or ambush. The sadistic traps that hounded him every step of the way didn’t exist here. For the first time since stepping inside, the room was still and silent. Do-Jin walked up to the chest and flipped it open. Inside was a bundle of blue herbs and a folded note.

May this help your stamina. Though even this blue miracle won’t fix male pattern baldness...

— Silvermoon

Even now, the bastard’s notes still carried the same unhinged humor. Only a lunatic would scatter treasures across the continent just to screw with people. Do-Jin crumpled the note and tossed it to the floor, then picked up the glowing blue plant.

[You have obtained Blue Stargrass.]

This was a herb that only grew where the blue star, Bella, poured down its strongest light. It could even be eaten raw, as it boosted stats thanks to its natural potency. However, Do-Jin had something else in mind for it.

I could also process this into an elixir, but it’s a hell of a lot more efficient to use it as engraving material.

Engraving worked by carving Magic Circles that drew out specific effects. Most people etched them onto gear, accepted the failure chance and time limits, drained their resources, used the items for a while, then threw them away. But if the risks and costs could be managed, there was no reason to stop at equipment. The circles could be carved into something that did not need replacing, like his own body.

With Blue Stargrass cutting down the side effects this much, I should be able to pull off a permanent engraving. A damn good one, too.

He tucked the herb away with a satisfied grin. “All right. I got what I came for. Now all that’s left is to slip out the back—”

Do-Jin froze mid-step. He had started toward the corridor on the far side of the chamber, opposite the way he’d come in, but something felt off. Slowly, he scanned the room.

This room’s supposed to be empty. I know that better than anyone.

In his past life, the absence of a boss here and the lack of a dungeon-clear message had been incredibly suspicious. He’d torn this place apart for an entire day, searching every inch, and found nothing. But for some reason, something seemed wrong this time around.

“What the fuck is this?” he muttered as he turned in place, carefully sweeping the room with his gaze. For a brief second, he caught a faint distortion, like a ripple of refracted light.

This is absolutely not coming from my own imagination. When was the last time I was here? It must’ve been just before I leveled up to 200.

So why was he able to see it now when he couldn’t back then? The only thing that could have changed was his eyes, which now had the power of Silent Night. Do-Jin pushed his Magic Eye to the absolute limit and the world shifted before him.

“What the... hell?”

Lines crisscrossed the chamber in every direction. It looked like something out of a spy movie, like a room packed full of invisible laser tripwires.

***

He had written the place off as nothing more than a dungeon filled with mechanical traps, and because of that, he had never expected something like this to be hidden here.

The beams themselves aren’t magic. They’re just light outside the visible spectrum. That’s why I couldn’t see them before.

However, the way they were arranged told another story.

This looks like a Magic Circle...

Do-Jin stepped up to the wall, where beams of light were cutting across from seemingly empty space. He raised his hand, blocking one of them, and immediately the line vanished. The mess of crisscrossing lights simplified ever so slightly.

But it’s not like I can stand here holding it forever.

As soon as he moved his hand, the beam would come right back, so Do-Jin tried driving his fist into the wall instead. It caused the beam to disappear entirely.

“Oh.”

A grin tugged at his mouth as he narrowed his eyes, pushing his Magic Eye harder to pick out the next one. Pain throbbed behind his eyes from overuse, but there was no stopping now.

I suppose this line’s a core piece. I need to cut it. He struck again, severing the connection. Shit. I cut the wrong one. I need to put it back.

Another punch, and the light flared back to life. Piece by piece, he broke down the wrong beams, restored the right ones, and forced the circle into its proper form.

“Finally!”

The Magic Circle gleamed complete before him at last.

Alright, then. What now? Let’s see what the hell was worth hiding behind all of this.

Do-Jin tensed, ready to bolt the moment anything went wrong. Curiosity had pushed him into it, but he wasn’t about to throw away his life for it. Nothing leaped out to kill him. Instead, a voice echoed through the chamber, full of smug amusement.

“Well, well. I didn’t expect the candidate to come from this side.”

Do-Jin focused on it, his whole body tense.

“Telling you not to worry would be pointless, right? I know you’d stay on edge anyway. So just come in tense. Now then, introductions. Nice to meet you, junior. My name’s Silvermoon, the so-called romantic fool.”

Feeling like he was being mocked, Do-Jin frowned. “You’re Silvermoon?”

“Yes, I am Silvermoon, but not exactly. Think of me as a construct, a bundle of information the real one left behind so I could talk with promising juniors such as yourself.”

“For what reason? Maybe you built this dungeon for some sick hobby, but why the hell leave behind a construct like this at the very end?”

“To congratulate you. You’ve just earned the right to take part in my real treasure hunt. The other test sites I scattered across the continent collapse once a candidate shows up. Which makes this place the only one left.”

“This whole thing... is a treasure hunt?”

“Exactly. But don’t get the wrong idea. It’s nothing flashy. None of it is the art, treasure, stolen knowledge, or records I collected. Most of that, I gave back anyway. What’s here is something I made myself. So you could say this is my true legacy.”

The room warped, and a transparent coffin took shape where the chest had once been. Inside lay two stalks of Blue Stargrass, a map, and a booklet. Do-Jin’s eyes widened at the sight.

Seeing his reaction, Silvermoon’s voice came again, sounding mildly amused. “You seem very interested in it. Too bad that coffin only opens with biometric access, and only dragon tissue will work. Now then, you’ve got thirty seconds. If you fail to open it in time, the Blue Stargrass, the map, everything in front of you will go up in flames!”

He sounded almost gleeful, like he lived to piss people off.

What? Dragon tissue? Who the fuck walks around carrying something like that?

Do-Jin was about to pick a fight with Silvermoon, but then he froze. He actually did have something. From the fight with Haberkan, he had gotten the Chimera’s Poison Gland, which had later upgraded into the Poison-Infused Dragon Heart. Silently, he pulled it out and pressed it against the coffin.

“Hahaha, relax, I was just kidding. All you have to do is touch it and it will... wait, what?” Silvermoon had clearly been waiting to watch him panic, but now the voice stuttered in shock. “W-what the hell? Why are you carrying something like that around?!”

Silvermoon had probably meant it as a joke, a half-hearted attempt at humor, but Do-Jin didn’t bother responding. He ignored the voice and looted the coffin. The Blue Stargrass went straight into his inventory. The map looked like it marked his next destination, and the booklet appeared to be a fragment of an engraving.

Though it wasn’t enough to show the full design, the sheer complexity told him this engraving was anything but ordinary. The treasure hunt Silvermoon spoke of was most likely a quest to assemble this engraving.

Out of all things, a thief’s legacy turns out to be this...

He tucked the half-finished blueprint away and looked up. “You were a mage, weren’t you?”

Silvermoon, still sulking that his prank had flopped, went quiet. After a pause, the voice returned. “Haha. Just think of me as a man of many talents. I gave up the path of a mage to chase after romance, but if what I leave behind proves anything, then yes... I suppose some of that blood still ran through me.”

So, in the end, he managed to whip up one decent engraving before he croaked. Good for him.

Do-Jin felt he’d squeezed all the useful information out of this conversation. The rest was just a waste of breath. Dealing with a lunatic like this was exhausting.

He brushed the dust from his robe and straightened. “You’ve got nothing else to say, right? Then I’m going to head out. Oh... one more thing. You should stick to being a thief. It’s fucking embarrassing to call you a fellow mage.”

“Hah! What a delightful junior. You remind me of myself back when I still chased romance. Very intriguing. Well then, I’ll be counting on you, junior.”

As Silvermoon’s farewell echoed behind him, Do-Jin walked away. With his every step, the Secret Base of the Abandoned Land began to collapse piece by piece.