My mind became completely clear at the unexpected reward message.

In the game, I didn"t make it this far. I was. .h.i.t by the Red Scorpion"s poison stinger and died early on. That was the reason I never expected the approximately level 70 Cave Troll to appear.

That was why I was thinking it was going to be a s.h.i.tty day as soon as I saw the Cave Troll.

But for the reward to be a Chaos Jewel.

"Such a jackpot!"

Now that I think about it, it was the same way in the Monster"s Mine. The boss monster was a Bone Dragon that was over level 500.

You don"t know how much I cursed at the developers as I died, and died again.

But once I finally managed to defeat the Bone Dragon, the rewards were huge. It was almost to the point that I almost felt sorry for cursing the developers.

I was as happy as I was back then.

The Chaos Jewel is the most precious of the Five-colored jewels. The Jewel of Luck is precious as well, but compared to the Chaos Jewel, it is considered to be common.

In addition, because of its special ability, there is even a law that prevents a normal person from using it. The only ones who are allowed to use the Chaos Jewels are the Emperor and the Royal family.

Of course banning it through the law is not as effective as using divine power to ban it.

Although there are only a handful, you can still trade it for a hefty sum in the black market.

I"ve never mined one on my own, but I have purchased one from the black market and used it before. It is that precious.

For something like a Cave Troll to spit one out for me.

Plus the color is pretty intense. There are a lot of different colors wrapping around each other, but it was very clear.

I have a good feeling.

"Verify jewel information."

[Chaos Jewel: Search Index 67]

"Wow, 67!"

Just like the Jewels of Luck, the Chaos Jewels do not have much of the fairy"s power. It is usually an average of 20?

If you find one even at 30, you hear that it is a jackpot.

But for it to be 67, whether I search a person or a thing, the accuracy will be very high.

While I was being surprised by the Chaos Jewel, Akto finally revealed himself.

Sssssssssst-

I felt his presence and lifted my head.

I could see Akto. Although he was trapped by the demonic influence, he still looked like a dwarf. In his hand was the weapon, a crystal sword, that he used while he was still alive.

"How is this possible……?"

A devastated expression. Even after seeing it with his two eyes, he couldn"t believe it.

If you think about it realistically, it was impossible. I was barely level 9 when I entered, but within a day, I was able to improve and hunt a level 70 Cave Troll.

Along with a ton of level 50+ Red Scorpions.

It was from the benefit of having a crowd.

If there were no other monsters and just the Cave Troll, how would it have ended up? It didn"t even need to be the Cave Troll. Even the level 50 Red Scorpion would have been enough.

I wouldn"t have been able to hunt a single one.

Forget hunting, I wouldn"t even have been able to cause a single damage. The Red Scorpion"s sh.e.l.l is extremely high in defense, and it even has a property that bounces off any weak attacks as well.

If I tried to attack it without a high combo, forget critical hit, I would have only gotten "miss."

But the story changes when I use the weaker monsters as stepping stones. The first level of combo does only 50 damage, but at level 50, combo does over 20,000 damage.

Which means, the surrounding monsters actually ended up being on my side.

Although Akto knows nothing about that.

"For there to be someone like you among the humans. Just what are you? How much abilities are you hiding?"

After putting the Chaos Jewel in my bag, I just looked at Akto with disinterest.

I was so tired. It was annoying to talk and I had nothing to say anyways. Since the test was over, now all I had left was to get the reward.

"Now it is your turn. Keep your promise."

Akto must have admitted complete defeat as he let out a moan like sigh.

"Groan. What is the skill you want?"

How long had I been waiting for this moment?

There has only been one skill I wanted from the moment I entered here until now.

"Jewel Alchemy!"

Akto"s shoulders flinched back as he had a shocked expression.

"Wha, what? Jewel Alchemy? That is not a skill you should be greedy about. You can only use Jewel Alchemy if your dexterity is at the advanced level."

"I will take care of that. All you need to do is give it to me."

Akto"s eyes became even bigger.

"Then perhaps your dexterity……!"

Did he finally figure it out? I a.s.sumed he would expect it after seeing me land a 70+ combo.

As I lightly laughed, Akto"s shoulders fell as if he gave up on everything.

"I guess you wouldn"t be able to land combos like that with low dexterity. As promised, I will hand over the Jewel Alchemy skill. But in order to use that skill properly, you will need a lot of training."

I will take care of that. I"m someone who at one point raised Jewel Alchemy to Advanced level 1.

Akto moved his hand toward me.

At the same time, a satisfying message popped up in my head.

Your knowledge has increased by 30.
You have newly acquired the Jewel Alchemy skill.>

The Chaos Jewel was also a large reward, but it could not compare to the Jewel Alchemy skill. If the Chaos Jewel was a 500 won coin, Jewel Alchemy was a 50,000 won bill.

There are no other variables. Just a question of time.

One day, I will definitely arrive at the realm of One with the Sword

"But there is no new record message."

I should be the first ever human to learn Jewel Alchemy. That was why I was kind of expecting it.

I guess in the end it is just one of the many blacksmith occupation skills. It is a common skill for the Peria tribe as well.

I opened my skill window to confirm.

[Skill]
Dig: Intermediate Level 9, 1%
Rock Breaking: Intermediate Level 7, 56%
Mineral Selection: Intermediate Level 6, 16%
Tunnel Construction: Intermediate Level 4, 88%
Focus: Intermediate Level 2, 16%

Continuous Slash: Intermediate Level 8, 11%
Combo (Under 40%): Intermediate Level 7, 19%
Smelting: Beginner 0%
Drake TBSA: Intermediate Level 4, 36%
Jewel Alchemy: Beginner 0%

I had all sorts of skills.

I even had the focus skill. Since I got a lot of benefit from it in the real world, I tried making it here as well.

But there wasn"t much effect. In Royal Roader, even without the focus skill, you can focus on anything you do.

I tried making a couple other skills, but they were kind of useless and just made my skill window dirty. I"ll watch it a little longer and if they really are completely useless, I will create a trash category and hide them there so I can"t see it.

Combo and Drake TBSA increased quite a bit. I used high level combos a lot in this Demon"s Cave test. Especially against the Cave Troll.

But I wasn"t that interested in those skills either.

Right now, my focus was only on one thing.

"I finally earned it! Jewel Alchemy!"

Just looking at it made my lips dance up and down.

"If you are done with everything, you can go now."

The weak voice of the defeated.

But I didn"t feel bad at all. Our Jonnan has suffered so much because of his curse.

Although that was the reason I made it this far.

But to leave.

That is not the proper order. I am not done with you just yet.

Akto moved his hand as if he was going to send me out. I quickly shouted.

"Wait. I still haven"t received the reward for pa.s.sing the second test."

Akto thankfully stopped his hand.

"You already have the smelting skill as well as the Jewel Alchemy skill. What else do you want? I can"t give you another skill."

Look at him. He knew but he was just going to bypa.s.s it. Isn"t he taking me too lightly?

"Who asked for a skill? I will make a different request instead."

"I will listen to it first and decide whether I will do it."

"Increase the intuition of my party member."

"I will not give a reward to someone who is not here."

"I am not asking you to give my party member a separate reward. I am yielding my reward to them. Is there a problem? If so, then just raise my intuition more. I actually prefer that."

Akto looked like he was debating hard.

Even if he debates all he wants, there is no other method. Since he promised, he does need to give a reward, but to give another reward, there really wasn"t much else.

On top of that, it wasn"t like he was going to raise my intuition further when it is already at 89.

In the end, Akto nodded his head.

"Fine. I will raise the party member"s intuition."

Akto moved his hand into the air.

Is it done?

I thought about if there were any other rewards to receive, but I couldn"t think of anything.

I can leave satisfied now.

But why is there no change? He needs to let me out of the Demon"s Cave so that I can leave the mine or whatever.

I can only leave if Akto lets me.

"Then let me out now."

But Akto did not let me out. Instead, he looked at me with a deep gaze and started to say something weird.

"If it is you, it might be possible."

What is he planning?

I was so tired my eyes were about to close, but I paid close attention. If I make the wrong decision in a situation like this, things might become complicated.

"What are you talking about?"

"You should know enough about how I ended up like this."

I remember seeing it on the Royal Roader homepage. I don"t know all the details, but Akto was aiming for a higher level Jewel Alchemy and ended up under the demon influence and his soul was sealed.

What about it?

"Can you save me? All you have to do is destroy the Stone Wall of Grief that my soul is sealed in."

My eyes suddenly opened wide. I have a good feeling!

"Continuation quest!"

In most situations, the continuation quests get harder the further you go. Of course the rewards get that much better as well.

Akto"s Test was one where I received an enormous reward called Jewel Alchemy. If it is a continuation quest related to that,

"The rewards for that quest is certain to be huge!"

But the difficulty will be above my expectations as well. I can"t let my greed step forward and carelessly make a decision.

I need to figure out everything I can before I decide whether or not I will accept the quest.

"Where is the Stone Wall of Grief?"

Southern district Monster"s Mine."

The Monster"s Mine!

It is a place I know about. It is in a land ruled by the demonic influence. Because of that, it is a mine where the level restriction forcefield using divine power was created.

After entering the Monster"s Mine, I was able to challenge Akto"s Test once more, and after dying to the Bone Dragon and challenging it over and over, I finally managed to complete all of the tests.

That was when I gained the Jewel Alchemy skill in the game.

I have a good feeling about this!

But first, I need to talk negatively about it first. I am the one holding the sword and Akto is the one asking for help.

"The Southern District is a place that we cannot enter. Forget the Stone Wall of Grief, I probably won"t even be able to find the Monster"s Mine. You need to at least give me a hint for me to find it."

I pretty much know how to get to the Monster"s Mine. Well not me, but my slave Chief.

But Chief"s memory wasn"t perfect either. I needed to look for a long time before I finally managed to find it.

Can Akto help reduce some of that work?

Of course even without Akto"s help, I will be able to figure everything out soon. As long as things go the way I planned.

But since everything has a "maybe" to it, I need to take every opportunity to gather more information.

"Do not look to the sky but down to the earth. While I am restrained by the demonic influence, that is the only hint I can give you right now."

Do not look to the sky but down to the ground? It"s like a riddle.

"It is difficult."

"I"m sure it is. But it is not impossible. In return, if you succeed, you will receive a reasonable reward."

I wonder what the reward is. I"m looking forward to it.

But it is not the time to ask that right now. I am still lacking too much information.

"How can I break the Stone Wall of Grief? I presume you can"t break it with just any weapon."

"If it is my friend Chubach"s sword, it will be able to break the Stone Wall of Grief. Once I feel Chubach"s power, I will use my power from inside as well."

The story is getting more entertaining.

"Chubach"s Sword" is a quest I need to get from the Dwarf chief. It feels like the quests are overlapping.

Which means, I should be able to see the results in two of them for taking care of one.

Then what other information do I need?

I don"t think there is anything else. I also don"t have much time left. Akto"s body was starting to turn transparent.

Was that why? Akto"s voice started to become urgent.

"I am asking you. If you can save my soul, I will tell you the secret about Jewel Alchemy as a reward."

The secret about Jewel Alchemy?

I had learned Jewel Alchemy in the game. I even got it to Advanced level 1.

But there was no "special secret" to get there.

Does that mean it is related to a level of Jewel Alchemy I haven"t experienced?

"How far did you get in Jewel Alchemy?"

"I failed at the cusp of the Master level."

That means he pa.s.sed Advanced level 9. He was at a different dimension compared to me.

Then does that mean the special secret he is talking about ……

"Is it perhaps the key to get to the master level for Jewel Alchemy?"

Sponsor chapters are now open for Royal Roader! If you would like to support my translation and want more chapters released quickly, please help out! Thank you all in advance

Translator : Miraclerifle
Proofreader : Miraclerifle