The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-36

Seol woke up the final golem and its eyes started to glow blue.

Glow…

[You have earned the achievement 'Every Golem Counts'.]

[You have earned the title 'Plant Slayer'.]

Griz never left any traces of anyone other than himself in his laboratories.

And right now, that extreme narcissist mentioned someone else for the first time potentially ever.

The viewers were shocked after hearing an unfamiliar name again.

- The answer… was Milan?

- It wasn’t Griz?

- All of the viewers were wrong…

- How did Snowman know?

Even Seol, the person who woke up the golem, was surprised.

‘Milan was that important to Griz?’

In Seol’s eyes, Milan was just his avatar and one of his many pieces.

Seol was a bit surprised that a living, breathing person in Pandea, a world he once thought was a game, hadn’t forgotten about his piece and missed him.

And on the other hand, it also felt strange.

Seol wasn’t sure how to put into words the tingling feeling that he got.

As Seol watched the burning lab with confused eyes, Arta, the laboratory’s director, approached him.

“Guest, we have received so much help from you. Though the research material we’ve worked on for a long time might have been burned down, Griz shouldn’t mind it either as we still have the records for it.”

“Fuu…”

Seol found it hard to forget the image of when the giant flower was right in front of him. It looked like it was straight out of a sci-fi movie.

‘What the hell has Griz been doing?’

Since Griz’s specialty was appearing out of nowhere and going here and there because they were busy, it was unlikely that Seol would meet him early in the Adventure.

Step… Step…

One of the golems carefully brought a small box and handed it to Seol.

“What is this?”

“This is thanks for helping solve the lab’s problem.”

“Ah.”

The additional reward.

Even though Seol was already satisfied with the belt, denying this would make him a good person but not a strong person.

[You have been given an additional reward.]

[You have acquired a ‘Boots of Narrow Escape’.]

“Boots?”

“Yes, Griz was often highly interested in new materials as well. He always gave his best effort in pouring in the essence of Mechanical Engineering into materials other than steel like cloth and leather.”

“And this is one of his inventions?”

“Precisely. Also, the core engine in those boots is also one of Griz's relatively newer models.”

Seol carefully inspected the boots he received as a reward.

[[Boots of Narrow Escape]

Quality: Rare

Recommended Level: N/A

Defense: 25

Durability: 90/90

Weight: 0.1kg

These boots are as light as a feather

However, an explosive power is hidden within them. It is one of the genius Griz’s newest inventions.

Basic Effect: +4 Constitution +3 Dexterity

Bonus Effect: Able to ‘Escape From Danger’. It requires a 24-hour cooldown after it is used.]

“Escape from danger?”

- I died because I tied my shoes.

- I died because my shoes didn’t fit me…

- What are these effects?

When Seol looked at Arta, Arta gave a friendly explanation of the boots.

“These boots give you instantaneous acceleration. When you activate it, it will ignite and give you massive amounts of speed. I am not sure what the exact active duration time is but it is rather short.”

“Are there any side effects?”

“We have solved any problems we have found so far.”

The ‘found so far’ part worried quite a bit but Seol liked the boots even more.

‘Still, this should allow me to dodge those moments when they’ll predictably target the summoner, right?’

Then that meant there was no better item for Seol than this since he still hadn’t been able to take all of the skills he needed yet.

“How do I use it?”

“All you need to do is kick the back of one foot with your other foot.”

“Could I try it here?”

“You are welcome to. However, I suggest you test it out in an open area first until you get used to it.”

“I see. Got it.”

And like that, Seol was able to get a secret weapon.

And as he was checking it, Seol decided to check the title he received as well.

[[Title: Plant Slayer]

Related Achievement: Every Golem Counts (Adventure: The Sleeping Golems of the Forest)

Bonus Effect: All stats increase by 5% when facing a plant-type monster. Talents related to plants are given a bonus in proficiency(Cooking, Gardening, Demonic Beast Summoning, Etc.)]

It was a shame that there weren’t many plant-type monsters on the continent but getting bonus cooking proficiency was amazing.

‘Is this everything?’

Seol looked at the mess of the research complex over his shoulder as he prepared to leave. The fact he was able to achieve this much despite his awful travel luck was good.

‘Still, I need to reassess my strategies. There were way too many close calls.’

Like when Jamad got separated to fend off the plants alone.

Since unreasonable circumstances could arise whenever, Seol had to prepare for them.

“Anyway…”

“Ah, would you like to leave your name behind, guest?”

“My name?”

“I need to notify Griz that there was a visitor.”

“...It’s fine.”

“I understand. Thank you for everything.”

And with that final conversation, Seol ended the Adventure.

Gloooow

A beam of light surrounded him before he disappeared.

Swoooosh…

3 hours after that…

Bzzzzz!

As the central control unit was operating smoothly and the researchers were busy cleaning up the trash that came out of the event…

Riiiing…

The central control unit made a dialing sound that sporadically cut off.

Arta then touched the unit.

Hummm…

A glowing pattern showed up on Arta’s body.

“This is Lab 81. The individual you are connected to is Arta-2.”

“...it?”

“The connection is unstable. Could you please say it again?”

The hissing stopped after a while. The person on the other end of the call coughed a couple times before speaking again.

“It’s me. I heard there was an emergency?”

“Yes, the biology research complex’s research materials overgrew for unknown reasons. Currently, the situation has been resolved.”

“Oho? Resolved? How?”

“Well…”

Arta explained everything that had happened so far. Arta explained how the situation came about, what had happened, and how it was helped by someone.

Griz showed interest in one particular aspect of it though.

“A guest? Is that really true?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Hm… an uninvited guest… they must be quite the magnanimous person.”

Arta spilled out even more details once Griz showed interest in it. However, those details only shocked Griz even more.

“He reactivated all of the golems? How is that possible?”

“Everything that I have told you is the truth.”

“There’s no way… Arta, he only had one chance to answer each of the questions. Do you not understand what that means?”

“I wouldn’t dare even attempt to understand something like that.”

“It means that he even answered that question that I mixed in. That guest knew about my relationship with Milan. Oho… This is quite interesting. So, where’s the thief?”

“He left after the situation had ended.”

Griz let out a sigh.

Griz’s interest only lasted a short while.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about that then. It’s not like Milan would return after leaving like that. Ah, I plan to visit Laboratory 81 soon. With an important investor.”

“Understood. I shall get everything ready.”

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

Gloooow…

Seol had arrived somewhere, still engulfed in light.

What was in front of him were the shades of the many trees of the Great Forest.

[You begin your next Adventure.]

[Your 8th Adventure is starting.]

[Adventure 6. Incomplete: Color Study.]

[Adventure 6. ‘Incomplete: Color Study’

In Pandea, The World of Eternity, residents are aware that their world doesn’t exist in simply one form. The typical answer given as an example of another realm is the Spirit Realm.

Spirits are intelligent beings born from the coagulated energy of nature.

They, who use the pure elements as their strength, are powerful magicians and adorable miscreants.

However, issues arise whenever those miscreants use Pandea as a playground and not the Spirit Realm.

There is an increased chance that abnormal natural phenomena like wildfires, hail, droughts, and white nights occur equal to the amount of time they spend here.

And around Nobira, problems like those have been happening for quite a while.

It has already been decades since the barrier stone near the Great Forest that restricts movement between the physical realm and the spirit realm has had problems. These types of disasters are also referred to as a ‘spirit flood’.

The barrier stone was quickly able to be restored thanks to the Aquarius Magic Tower but they still haven’t been able to recover all of the scattered spirits. However, they shouldn’t have been able to scatter far from the barrier stone in the Great Forest due to the broken barrier.

You must capture or kill the spirits remaining in the physical realm before they cause problems. It will help you more the more various types of spirits you are able to aid.

Objective: Capture or kill as many different kinds of spirits as you can.

Zodiac will have a negative perception of you upon failure. You will also be given the ‘a sense of shame’ status upon failure.

Remaining Time [719:59]]

‘A month? I’m given a month to do this?’

Seol became dull for a second like he was hit by a hammer after realizing the amount of time given to him. It was abnormally long compared to his previous Adventures.

‘Giving me this much time should mean that it's annoying to clear…’

Also, the adventure had a unique title.

It was given the title ‘Incomplete’ before ‘Color Study’.

Seol, after confirming that, had a strange feeling.

‘I didn’t tell anyone about the Multiple Spirit Container though?’

As Seol thought to himself, he turned around and saw a group of three people whispering to each other.

“Huh? It’s a person?”

“Don’t worry about him. He’s competition anyway.”

“Yeah, but…”

They were right.

Transferees didn’t always have an ideal relationship where they helped each other. They also competed and envied one another.

Seol looked away from the group and looked at the reception desk that caught his eye.

There was a hooded man with dull eyes and a young woman in pigtails next to him wearing reading glasses. She then sat down on the chair in front of the desk and looked at Seol.

The way they looked so out of life reminded him of graduate students.

“You must be an Adventurer from Nobira who’s here to help.”

“Yes, I am.”

“As you know, we at the Aquarius Magic Tower are very busy people. First…”

“...You’re busy right now?”

“Then do we look like we’re resting right now? We have been ceaselessly thinking about a solution for this problem at a macroscopic level.”

“It’s true. We’re not like you simpletons who have to use your bodies to achieve any– argh, it’s fine. Anyway, present your identification card.”

Seol thought that the people from the Magic Tower were quite cold.

Well, it was definitely expected.

This theme was already well established in the game as well. They were the classic example of people who were ‘tsuntsuntsuntsun’ and not ‘tsundere’.

They were a haughty group of people who made you want to go see them with a hammer in your hand just by reading the dialogue script.

The magicians in this world often wanted to use their intellectual superiority to gain as much power as they could. Even in the smallest of relations.

These two might be better than the mages that appear later but still…

Seol was annoyed, but didn’t want to waste his strength on a couple of people who he’d only be meeting for a short while. He put forth his identification card.

“Where are you… Ah, so it comes up as him registering in Kongory. Hm… Snowman? I feel like I heard that name before…”

“What’s wrong? Is it a counterfeit?”

“N-No. It’s not that…”

The man forcibly put strength in his eyes and then looked back and forth between Seol and his identification card.

“Uhh… So… Snowman?”

“Yes.”

“Huh? Isn’t Snowman that Adventurer?”

“Quiet! Ah, I apologize for yelling. Are you perhaps the person who made the biggest contribution in the recent takedown of the Rock Molar Tribe in the Pointy Mountains?”

“I don’t know that much but I did face off against the Rock Molar Tribe.”

“Oh my goodness..”

“Is he him? Is he him?”

Fame worked in situations like this in Pandea.

It brought out goodwill in unexpected individuals and sometimes gave you an advantage when it came to negotiations.

It was also another reason for why you had to go through tough Adventures.

‘It really is better the more fame you have.’

Fame wasn’t as meaningful at first but if you steadily built it up, it allowed you to choose Adventures with incredible rewards.

Creak…

“Ah! Look at me losing track. Here, it’s a spirit container for capture!”

The man didn’t hand over the big box next to him but the smaller box that was near his feet.

“This is…”

“It’s an improved model that we don’t have that many supplies of, so… our master told us to only give it to someone we could trust!”

“And you’re giving that to me?”

“Yes!”

The group of people who were transported earlier must’ve heard because they started whispering to each other again.

“We get these big, heavy ones and that person gets the improved model? Isn’t this way too unfair?”

“What did he do? Did something happen? Should I ask him when he’s done talking to them?”

“It’s fine. He looks like he has a temper.”

The word ‘unfair’ was tossed around a lot in Pandea. However, even if it was unfair, they didn’t have the strength to correct it.

And that option wasn’t available to Seol either.

“I appreciate it but I’ll have to decline.”

“H-Huh? Why…?”

“It’s because I already have a spirit container.”

“Ah, I see! Then we would require you to register it. Keeping track is the priority after all. There could be problems later when we give out the rewards if we don’t.”

Seol then handed over the incomplete multiple spirit container that he had.

Click.

“Woah… what an interesting design… Did you make this yourself?”

The man checked each individual spirit container attached to the belt.

“I got it from an acquaintance.”

“Hm? Uh… Wait a second, this is… Fryn, look at this.”

Seol saw a new message on his interface.

[The main contents of ‘Incomplete: Color Study’ have changed.]