The Dorido Mine (2)

5.

‘It was deposited.’

Hyunwoo Jung’s eyes became so wide when he checked the amount of money that was deposited into his account.

‘It was really deposited!’

He still had some doubts left.

The Rising Star Channel might break the contract and they might make weird excuses to not give him money.

That kind of thing commonly occurred in this field.

No one believed anyone until they actually saw the real bank statement.

The amount of money in front of him washed away those doubts.

‘By the way…….’

However, Hyunwoo’s face was still unpleasant even though he checked the amount.

[ We will sincerely reply to you soon. ]

The phrasing in the email from the Rising Star Channel was the reason.

He didn’t think much about it since it was in plain language.

‘Are they saying it couldn’t live up to their expectations?’

However, Hyunwoo wasn’t a newbie who didn’t know anything.

He was a player who played the game long enough even though he was at the bottom.

He already knew that the phrase wasn’t a normal cliche.

‘The Rising Star Channel isn’t welcoming me with open arms for sure.’

Everywhere was like that.

People don’t bet on uncertain things.

Baseball was the same.

When baseball teams tried to scout a high school pitcher who could throw a 150 km/h ball, none of them tried to negotiate terms.

Instead, they caused trouble by making empty promises because they were afraid that he would go to another team.

This time wasn’t different.

If the Rising Star Channel thought that BJ Archmage was a sure bet, they wouldn’t ever use that vague expression.

‘Indeed, there was nothing special.’

Also, Hyunwoo knew better than anyone that he lacked a specialty.

Of course, he didn’t think about giving up here.

‘I must properly showcase myself one more time at the Dorido Mine. I’ll show them what I can do and beyond that.’

Even if he falls, he was going to make a frantic last-ditch effort.

“Hyunwoo! It’s ready!”

Hyukjoo Lee notified Hyunwoo Jung that it was time to get desperate.

6.

The Dorido Mine.

The mine was located in the far South of Wiga city. The scale was different since its size was twice of Yeouido. (TL: Yeouido is a large island in Seoul in South Korea.)

Moreover, the hunting method was a little bit different from the earlier hunts so far.

“It’s not hard. When you walk around the mine, you’ll see a dungeon. Just go inside.”

Holes appeared often at the mine and players went inside the dungeons to conquer them.

In other words, it was an instant dungeon.

“We don’t have to compete for monsters in this field.”

“Monsters that appear in this dungeon are kobold miners, kobold warriors, and a rare monster, dog mole rats. They weren’t that hard to hunt compared to orcs. They were more like an upgraded version of goblins.”

The difficulty of hunting wasn’t hard.

That was why players skipped the Cursed Forest after leveling up in the Stinky Forest and then went to the Dorido Mine right away.

At least for players who equipped average items, nothing serious happened when they went into the dungeon with a required party.

“Of course, the story is going to change if you try seriously to level up here.”

The problem was when there were too many players.

As inferred, all the dungeons in the Dorido Mine limited the number of players that could go in.

What if a party of 6 finds a 5 person dungeon?

Will they try to find another dungeon that allows 6 people, or exclude one player who’s not that talented?

What if the dungeon is meant for 3?

Players who dreamed big in God Wars started to distinguish other potential party members as worth their weight in gold or not.

‘In the end, I wasn’t worth gold.’

Midas did the same.

When he was raising his character before, he played with very talented players before he came to the Dorido Mine.

Even though he felt a gap in ability between the players and himself, he worked with them.

However, he was excluded at the Dorido Mine in the end.

He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t outstanding. Besides, he didn’t have good items to makeup for his ability and he wasn’t lucky enough to be an Archmage.

Those factors eventually made the gap bigger.

Talented people achieved synergy and developed faster. On the contrary, the untalented people seized each other’s ankles and sank deeper.

‘Well, the situation has changed since then.’

Of course, it was different.

Midas solo played even in the Cursed Forest.

His power would be enough at any dungeons in the Dorido Mine.

Besides, his power was stronger than ever.

‘Also, I got the new item.’

Sahalin’s Wand!

Midas had already checked its damage and didn’t feel any problems while hunting at the mine.

‘The problem is finding Juga……’

His worry was about continuing the quest.

The difficulty of the quest wasn’t low at all.

This quest might take more time than the other quests he had before.

The Dorido Mine was two times the size of Yeouido. The number of dungeons that appeared was uncountable.

He was supposed to find an NPC named Juga while searching the dungeons one by one in there?

It was similar to finding a ruby on a sandy beach.

It was almost impossible.

If other people received the quest, they would have visited the head office of Alpha company first, not the Dorido Mine for sure.

‘Oh.’

Of course, it didn’t apply to Midas.

“Lucky, It’s right there.”

Woof!

Midas had eyes that could see what the others couldn’t.

7.

There were several advantages to the instant dungeons at the Dorido Mine.

First, the difficulty of a dungeon was predictable through the required number of players to enter.

Second, intervention from outside was unlikely.

Third, players could hunt easily if they knew how to handle the mine.

The problem here was obviously the third one.

If a player didn’t know how to fight in a cave type dungeon like a mine, it was unexpectedly troublesome.

“Hey! hunt quickly!”

“Wait!”

“Why are you saying wait! Hunt it quickly! Blocking it is too hard!”

“You are blocking the way!”

“What? Hey! I’m blocking because I’m a tanker! Are you going to block it?”

Players who weren’t used to hitting a monster over a tanker couldn’t do it easily.

However, experienced tankers used their ability to make space and experienced range fighters aimed through the little space to attack.

Of course, Midas was different.

Woof!

Lucky aggroed better than any tankers and his small body made for a good stage for his owner.

“Lightning Bolt!”

And Midas used the chance perfectly.

Zap!

He hit the golden targets on the monsters with his spell quickly and perfectly.

[ You have hunted a kobold miner. ]

Midas and Lucky’s speed was unspeakably fast while hunting.

“It’s not about producing good results. It’s about getting results with strong items.”

It wasn’t about a player’s ability.

Woof!

“Good, very good.”

Midas felt pleased.

Wasn’t it an ideal picture that Midas had dreamed about since a long time ago?

‘Who would care about my ability? It’s better to aggro them.’

Midas looted items and stared deep inside the mine.

‘Let’s meet Juga first.’

Midas and Lucky moved again.

8.

Midas met the NPC, Juga, 20 minutes after he came inside the dungeon.

“Oh my, I didn’t expect a person deep inside here.”

A dwarf with a pickaxe happily greeted Midas.

“Are you perhaps here to visit me?”

“Miss. Sahalin told me to find you. She needs your help to make a compass with the cursed stone.”

Midas kindly explained his purpose in coming without dragging on.

“I understand why you are here.”

Juga postured to boast when he understood why Midas was here.

“You’ve been through such a hard time with the mean gnome magician, Sahalin.”

Midas shook his head.

“No, sir.”

He denied it, but his mouth was twitching.

‘I feel like I can get along with this NPC.’

Midas was starting to get satisfied with Juga.

“No, I can see that she gave you ridiculous tasks by the looks of her mean personality. She must have told you to find something that you could never get unless you’re lucky. Also, she must have told you to hunt 1,000 monsters to test you and give you unnecessary tasks to waste your time for sure.”

“She should have reasons.”

Midas shook his hands to deny, but his mouth already had a deep smile that anyone could see.

“Well, I won’t waste your time gossiping since you look busy.”

He handled the job swiftly.

Juga removed a necklace he was wearing on his neck and threw it to Midas.

Midas caught it.

Hiss!

At that moment, a pendant hanging on the necklace moved towards Juga like a live snake.

“The necklace is made of a rare ore, soul metal, that is found at the Dorido Mine. As you can see, it reacts towards an owner of the magic power if it’s processed with special care.”

Midas could guess what the new quest would be about.

“Then, do I mine to find the soul metal and come back?”

This quest would be about collecting an ingredient again.

‘It’s labor again.’

Midas frowned at the situation.

“You don’t have to. I can mine.”

However, Midas rejoiced at Juga’s words.

“Really?”

“You can’t mine a soul metal anyway.”

Then Midas smiled.

“You are right. I’m not skillful with my hands.”

Midas was certain that this main scenario quest would be solved easily.

‘Juga, I like him!’

Midas was about to like Juga, but now, Juga became his favorite. Midas’s smile grew bigger.

“Then what should I do for you?”

“While I’m mining, why don’t you clean up the mine? Just clean about 111 dungeons.”

“Oh yes, of cours….”

Midas realized at that time that Juga was also no different from Sahalin.

“I’m sorry, how many?”

“111. This is a very rare ore. If you do that many, then I can fill up the amount for one necklace.”

“Why? Can’t you do that?”

“……Yes, I can.”

9.

“Once you clean up all 111 dungeons, find me. It’s simple. The necklace I give you will tell you where I am.”

Midas came outside after the last conversation and let out a deep sigh.

‘111.’

Conquer 111 dungeons.

‘Conquering one normally takes about 20 to 30 minutes, so three dungeons for an hour. Then…… at least 37 hours for all of them?’

“No way.”

Midas ended up speaking aloud his disappointment about the mission that would take a long time without considering the difficulty.

“I didn’t like his name when I heard it the first time. Fuck Juga. Also, he could’ve made it simple like 100. What’s 111? Did he have to add another 11 like this? Huh?”

Midas complained for a moment and then shook his head.

“Ha.”

‘I don’t have a choice.’

Even if he complained, 111 wouldn’t change into 100.

Besides, he couldn’t give up on the quest.

He couldn’t help but to conquer 111 dungeons no matter how.

“Yea, it’s a good chance. Let’s call it project 111 and show him how I conquer the dungeons overwhelmly.”

If it was already happening, it’ll be nice to make it better.

“Solo playing 111 dungeons! The way to conquer dungeons in the mine super easily with strong items! Conquering dungeons was the easiest! How to conquer the dungeon? Cast a magic spell. Easy, right?”

Midas tried to make this chance into a course to appease himself.

“Lucky, how’s it? This concept isn’t bad, right?”

Woof!

“Huh? What did you say?”

When Midas turned his head towards Lucky, he could see a question mark above Lucky’s head.

“……..Oh, are you saying that you’ll carry me so shut up and follow you?”

Woof!

It was time for Lucky to evolve again a second time.