Chapter 45: 45

Terms used in this chapter:

Gathering dirt to make a big mountain – a proverb/expression which means that even very small things can become huge if they accumulate . An English equivalent would be ‘many a mickle makes a muckle . ’

Eat it raw/eat something raw – an idiom which means to do or have something without making any effort . So if you see the word ‘eat it raw’ later in this chapter, it refers to this idiom and not the literal meaning (Edit: And not the lewd one in English too, hahaha) .

The ancient dwarves were superior in many ways to the current dwarves, and the two had significant differences, especially in terms of physique .

“The ancient dwarves were quite tall . ”

“Rather than being tall, aren’t they just bulky?”

“Well…at any rate, they’re grossly big . ”

If the bulky adults of the current dwarves were about 130 to 140 centimeters tall, the ancient dwarves reached an average height of 170 centimeters .

‘As Cordelia had said, rather than being tall, they are bulky . ’

The body type of the ancient dwarves were the same as the current dwarves .

They have short limbs, broad shoulders, and quite a large head .

Their body type remains the same, but as their height grows, the other parts of their body also grow bigger .

They have big hands, big feet, and a big head .

Incidentally, all these facts were quite useful for Jude and Cordelia at the present moment .

This is because the position of the panel that opens the door to the armory is just at a right height for human use .

“Hmm . ”

“What is it?”

“No, I just thought you’re a little big . ”

“Big? Do you mean my height?”

“Ah, is it because you’re slowly being healed from Gueumjulmaek?

Based on when they awakened their past lives as the starting point, Cordelia’s height was about 165 cm, and Jude’s height was around 166-170 cm .

Therefore, their differences in height was not enough for her to look up to Jude, but now that they’ve stood parallel to each other, Cordelia had to raise her head quite a bit to make eye contact .

“Well…there are some cases where Gueumjulmaek hindered growth . In the first place, the character ‘Jude’ will later grow to almost 180 cm . So I’ll grow up too . ”

“Hmm, 180 . ”

Cordelia took a step back as she evaluated Jude by looking at him up and down .

“Hmm, not bad . ”

“Thank you for your kind consideration, ma’am . ”

“Yes, mom . Anyway, just open the door . ”

“Isn’t ‘dad’ better than ‘mom’ though?”

“You want to be called ‘dad’? Do you want me to call you ‘Papa’ from now on then? Okay, Papa . Your taste is unique . ”

“Just call me Mom . ”

After they’ve exchanged a silly conversation, Jude brushed off the accumulated dust on the panel that was attached to the wall .

It was a panel of numeric keys that was common everywhere, and the door was only opened after entering a nine-digit password .

In the original story, they had to find the notebook of the ‘forgetful manager’ hidden somewhere on the 5th floor to find out the password, but this time, they didn’t have to .

“Open it quickly, quickly . Doo doo doo doo doo . ”

“Wait, let me search my memories . ”

Cordelia pretended to listen as she hummed, while Jude checked his Memory Palace .

A few minutes after, when the password was successfully entered, the seal of the armory’s large steel door was released with a rattling sound .

“My heart is pounding . ”

“Me too . ”

Jude replied to Cordelia, and then pushed the steel door that opened sideways to open the armory .

“It’s the same as the original . ”

Cordelia spoke small as her cheeks reddened and she looked inside the armory while remembering how the armory in the original looked .

It was a square room about 10 meters long on each side, but it was not like a frozen freezer compared to the other rooms in Frost Anvil, perhaps because it was sealed for a long time .

“The real deal is further inside, right?”

“Yes, so let’s take a look here before that . ”

Cordelia quickly nodded as Jude pointed to the shelves on the wall .

“Right, right . I really wanted to take these whenever I played the game . ”

Taking the other items was a pipe dream because they couldn’t be acquired in the game, but now, it was no longer a pipe dream anymore .

“Is this a basic armor set?”

Cordelia ran to the shelf and looked . She then found a set of gloves, shoes, a vest, and a round helmet that could all be equipped as a set .

“Umm, sort of . After all, rather than completely being an armory, this is a storage room for equipment . ”

“Why? Why do you say that?”

“No, that is… . those are work clothes . ”

“Work clothes?”

“Yes, because Frost Anvil was an underground city, and it was a place where mining and expansion were continuously being carried out . So those are a safety helmet, safety shoes, safety gloves…stuff like that?”

But even so, it was the legacy of the ancient dwarves . Moreover, the work clothes were strong and firm in the first place, so it was perfect to use as an armor .

“But it’s too big . ”

It was just an average-sized safety helmet in the ancient dwarves’ standards . Whereas when Cordelia used it, the safety helmet became like a large pot that was flipped over .

Jude tried to hold back his laughter that was about to leak out, and afterwards, he likewise rummaged through the shelves .

“Look carefully . Even if those are work clothes, it’s a safety set, so there should be ones for children too . The gloves and shoes’ size will be adjusted automatically . ”

As Jude had said, there were several safety sets prepared for children in the corner of the shelf .

“Pfft, you look like a chick . ”

“Hey, aren’t you wearing the same clothes as me?”

The safety hat, safety shoes, safety gloves, and vest were all yellow .

As it was work clothes, it was made to stand out .

“Are there any combat uniforms?”

“It wouldn’t fit even if this place have those . ”

Children obviously wouldn’t have combat uniforms .

“Besides…I think this is good enough?”

Like the equipment of ancient dwarves, both the gloves and shoes were enchanted with magic .

“The gloves increase muscle strength…does the shoes increase agility?”

Cordelia said as she jumped in place . She jumped much higher than usual to check if it really worked .

“Good, I like it . This should be enough for a while . ”

After Jude tried his footwork skill, he looked down at his feet with a satisfied look .

Safety shoes weren’t usually sturdy, but with these shoes, the attack power of his kicks would now become much stronger .

“Let’s open the inside quickly . ”

The Power Spear used to defeat the White Snake in the original story was stored behind the second door, which was the true armory .

“Okay, just wait for a second . ”

Jude immediately opened the door by operating the number panel of the second door .

And then, the original story’s event occurred .

[This is Jamu, the person in charge of the armory . Please listen to my story . ]

A translucent ancient dwarf appeared right in front of the door and spoke in a dignified voice .

It was a holographic image, not a ghost, and as Jamu said, he was a kind of artificial intelligence that managed the armory .

“It has no physical body, so let’s just pass through it . Besides, his story is just the armory’s general story . ”

Jude said that and tried to pass through Jamu .

“Wait, wait a second . ”

Cordelia held Jude’s hand and looked at Jamu with a troubled look for a moment . Afterwards, she immediately spoke to Jude again .

“Don’t do that . Let’s listen to his story . ”

“Story?”

“Uh, this was like that in the witch’s forest . You remember how I went through a lot when I just skipped it, right? In addition, there was a cinematic movie at the event when you get the Power Spear . Wouldn’t it be difficult for us if there was something that was not known in the video again?”

Cordelia’s words were quite reasonable .

Therefore, Jude nodded without hesitation .

“It’s possible!”

“Hey, wasn’t that my line?”

“Let’s listen to it then . We have plenty of time anyway . ”

Having made up his mind, Jude took a vest from the shelf, spread it out and made it as a mat .

“Ma’am, please sit down . ”

“Yes, dad . ”

Cordelia squatted next to Jude before looking up at Jamu, while Jude prodded Jamu to begin talking .

“Jamu, tell us your story . ”

[May I talk to you?]

“Yes, we’d like to hear your story . ”

At Jude’s words, Jamu looked to be quite moved .

Although it was an artificial intelligence, it seemed to possess some emotion and ego .

[Ahem, ahem, I understand . You have an excellent eye for showing interest in my story . So this story begins in Frost Anvil 004, when I first opened my eyes in the armory . ]

When Jamu hurriedly began to talk, Cordelia unconsciously turned to Jude, and Jude looked back at Cordelia .

Somehow, the two had an ominous feeling in the beginning, as if they had heard of this somewhere .

And five hours later, their prediction became a reality .

***

“It looks like my ears are bleeding…”

Cordelia said with a dying face after hearing all of Jamu’s stories for five hours .

If they dozed off in the middle, Jamu repeated the story again from that point, so they were forced to concentrate .

Looking back at Cordelia leaning her head with a tearful face, Jude spoke in surprise .

“Hey! Your ears are really bleeding!”

“Re-really?”

“Is it just me?”

As Jude clicked his tongue, Cordelia regained her energy and began hitting Jude’s back .

“It hurts! It hurts!”

“I told you before, right? It hurts when I hit you, right? I’m going to hit and hit you again, okay?”

In any case, the two began stretching before they stood up from their seats .

“In the end, it was just some meaningless chat . ”

“No, well…it wasn’t really that unhelpful . ”

They heard a summary on how to use the weapons stored in the armory .

“Furthermore…Jamu seems to be satisfied too . ”

“You’re right . ”

As Jude had said, Jamu had a refreshing expression while he stood with his eyes closed, as if he had solved a thousand-year-old problem .

If it was not an artificial intelligence but a ghost, it would’ve already ascended immediately .

“Now then, let’s go quickly . I’m feeling sleepy . ”

“Yes, let’s just grab the weapons and take a rest for today . ”

The two entered the true armory while yawning, but it was only for a short time .

“Uwaah…there are five Power Spears . ”

“Wouldn’t these be useful for us too?”

While Cordelia admired the Power Spears that she saw lined up on the wall, Jude spoke as he looked at the daggers .

“Look at this, there’s knuckles too . Try it on to see if it fits your hand . ”

“Rather than knuckles…it’s more like a Power Fist?”

Jude put on the gauntlet that covered the back of his arm, and then clenched and opened his fist several times .

There weren’t any decorations as the ancient dwarves had a plain taste . And at the moment Jude wore the gauntlet, it reminded him of the first time he had lifted a gun, which had the distinctive heavy feel of a lethal weapon .

“What do you think? Do you think you can use it?”

“Yes, it’s good . Does it have a left arm too?”

“Here . ”

Cordelia ran like a squirrel grabbing acorns, and then she brought a Power Fist from the other side of the room .

“Hmm, good . This will make it easier to use the Power Spear . ”

“Is that right? How much do you think your attack power has increased? Is it about 1 . 2 times of your muscle strength? What about the options?”

“How should I say this…you’re really a rotten water . ”

“Tsk, on that subject, I’ve become ‘oil . ’”

T/N: Just like how ‘rotten water’ is higher leveled than ‘stagnant water,’ there are also other Korean terms to signify how long a person plays and masters a game . Other terms include ‘skeleton water,’ ‘fossils,’ ‘oil,’ ‘asphalt,’ etc . So Cordelia is pretty much saying that she’s already reached the ‘oil’ level and no longer just ‘rotten water . ’

Cordelia grumbled, but she soon smiled brightly and looked inside the armory again .

Because the ancient dwarves were mostly warriors, there wasn’t much useful stuff for Cordelia who was a wizard, but she looked happy in just finding equipment for Jude to use .

‘Is it the feeling of changing the items of a fellow character in RPGs?’

Jude giggled and then looked at the Power Spears again, which were the reason why the armory existed .

The spear’s outer appearance had a simple design in which a huge spear blade was attached at the end of the long spear, but its internal structure was quite complex .

‘It emits the charged psionic energy through the spear’s blade . ’

The output was also freely adjustable, and when fired at maximum power, it was more like a beam gun rather than a spear .

‘In fact, it can only be used once per spear, but there are five spears here . ’

Jude nodded with a cheerful face as he took the Power Spears, while Cordelia groaned as she brought stuff like a hammer, mace, and a great sword . They didn’t have anyone that could use those stuff right away, but she thought that it was such a waste to leave those behind .

“You’re like a real squirrel . ”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes, you’re like a hamster . ”

She stuffed her mouth with food that she would eat later .

T/N: Hoarding is a typical hamster behavior in which a hamster will stuff as much food as it can in its cheek pouches and run off to store the food in a hiding place where it would eat the food later . So Cordelia hoarding the items made Jude compare her to a hamster .

“I don’t think that’s a compliment, so let me hit you once first . ”

“Hey, you can’t do that . For now, let’s take a break here today, eat breakfast tomorrow morning, and go straight to the power room where the Sunflower will bloom . ”

“There was also a secret passage there, right?”

“There was . ”

The flow from the original story was as follows .

On the 7th floor, the main character and their party encountered the White Snake and accidentally discovered a secret passage during their fierce battle .

Once the party entered the secret passage to avoid the White Snake, they obtained clues about the armory from the dead bodies of the ancient dwarves, and then used the secret passage to enter the armory and secure a Power Spear that could defeat the White Snake .

“So if we use the secret passage, we can go straight to the power room where the White Snake and Sunflower is . ”

“But we won’t be using the secret passage now, as we’ll be going up and down the 3rd floor to conduct a straightforward attack first, right?”

“Of course . ”

If they defeated the White Snake now, their levels would rise a few times, but the experience points efficiency of the miscellaneous monster mobs between the 3rd and 6th floors would only get worse .

The experience points system of Legend of Heroes was somewhat mixed with absolute and relative values/points .

The system calculates the basic absolute points granted based on the level differences of the player and the enemy . So if the player’s level is low and the monster’s level is high, the player can get more experience points depending on how far the difference in levels between the two have .

“We have to think about gathering dirt to make a big mountain . ”

“That’s right, that’s right . ”

The thoughts of the two were in perfect harmony with each other .

“Because it’s not that urgent . Even if we sweep the monsters from the third floor down, the White Snake will still be in hibernation . ”

As its name suggests, the White Snake is a white snake .

To be exact, it was the demonic monster of Leviathan, the ancient great monarch who drove Frost Anvil into ruins, but in any case, the fact that it was a snake did not change .

‘And the snake is a cold-blooded animal that is sensitive to cold temperatures . ’

The White Snake was the true reason on why Frost Anvil became a freezer in the first place .

‘The temperature was extremely lowered in order to confine the White Snake in Frost Anvil . ’

They couldn’t let the demonic monster out of this place .

So they decided to confine the monster here .

It was a heroic decision made by an unknown ancient dwarf .

Even if it was in a weakened state due to not getting proper nutrition for a thousand years, the White Snake was a demonic monster that possessed an extremely powerful strength . So when it invaded Frost Anvil during its prime, the powerful and imposing White Snake was said to be truly terrifying .

“The White Snake that was normally asleep would wake up for a while to consume the enormous amount of Yang energy that is generated when the Sunflower blooms – isn’t that the setting?”

“Yes, so it would be asleep for now . ”

In the game, they reached the 7th floor a day after the Sunflower had bloomed, but in their current situation, they could arrive there a few days ahead .

“So let’s thrust and bang the Power Spear into the head of the hibernating bastard!”

Even if its body was several tens of meters long, the monster wouldn’t be able to do anything if it was in hibernation .

“Wow, we’ll really ‘eat it raw . ’”

“So you don’t like it?”

“No, I love it . ‘Eating it raw’ is the best . I want to ‘eat it raw’ every day . Please let me ‘eat it raw . ’”

“Me too . ”

Jude and Cordelia looked at each other and broadly smiled, as the two hummed and exited the armory .

In the morning three days later, the two reached the 7th floor after wiping out all the monsters that existed between the 3rd and 6th floors…and the giant White Snake that had terrified the entire Frost Anvil for a long time suddenly met a mysterious death .