Hell Mode: Volume 9, page 6
The path behind the room was by far the longest and most confusing. One had to make a choice every few hundred meters, and the lengthy road made it a perfect spot for numerous Rank C monsters to lie in wait for an ambush. Even if one made the correct choice every time and did not get lost, it would take over ten hours to clear that path.
Much like during the second task, there were monsters disguised as chests; in fact, the number of such monsters had increased. Allen had Spirit A check each chest, but almost all of them were monsters. He made sure to jot that down in his grimoire, noting that it was better to farm items in other dungeons. Class promotions were not good for that.
Allen read over the notes he had taken as the party had cleared the three tasks of the class promotion dungeon. This dungeon can definitely be cleared by Talentless people. The second task required a bit of luck, as those who got unlucky would be forced to fight against a horde of monsters. The third task would also be tricky for a party of Talentless people, especially if they chose the route to the right or left. They could easily be wiped out.
If a party of Talentless people with no Talented guards challenged this dungeon, the probability of clearing all three tasks was quite low—at best, their chances would be below twenty percent. Allen decided to come up with a few ideas of his own and share his findings with the Adventurer’s Guild, which had just opened the dungeon to the public.
Having someone who was Talentless max out their level without any help would be a tall task, as they would need to gather two and a half million XP. There were many people born without Talents hoping to use this dungeon to finally receive one. Allen wanted to make sure that every challenger fully understood the risks of the class promotion dungeon before attempting to enter it. He wrote down all his thoughts as he approached the cube.
“Congratulations on completing the third task, No-life Gamers. You have cleared this dungeon. You will be transported to a room for class promotion.”
Vwoom. The party was once again teleported to another room with a floating cube.
“Will you allow us a class promotion?” Allen asked.
“Correct. Greetings, No-life Gamers. I am Class Promotion System T0235. The only one in this party eligible for a class promotion is Miss Meruru. Do you wish to receive a class promotion?”
Allen, Cecil, and Sophie were excluded—only those with Talents below four-star were qualified, and a class promotion could only be done once.
“Yep, I do!” Meruru shouted eagerly.
“You currently have the Talent of Talos General. You will receive a class promotion to Talos King. Please note that once you receive a class promotion, you will carry over half of the power you gained from overcoming a Trial of the Gods. You will then start over and have to face the Trial of the Gods once more. Do you still wish to receive a class promotion?”
“Got it!” Meruru replied. “I’m still on board!”
Speaking of which, when the Hero Analyzed my Status, he didn’t touch on my levels. It seemed Helmios had the power to Analyze another’s Status, but perhaps he had been unable to see Allen’s level. Another possibility was that those who reincarnated into this world had the same numbers as those who were of this world, but some numbers and stats had been replaced with illegible symbols. Maybe Helmios had seen those symbols and understood the implication.
The levels that were displayed in Allen’s grimoire meant that he had overcome a Trial of the Gods. This turn of phrase had been popularized by the Church of Elmea, hinting that one’s faith was closely related to leveling up.
“Miss Meruru, you will receive a class promotion.”
“Ooh! You became a Talos King, Meruru! Congrats!” Allen said.
“R-Really?!” Meruru asked hopefully. She had felt something change within her, but she was dying to figure out more concrete details about that change. The entire party peered into Allen’s grimoire.
* * *
Status after Meruru’s Class Promotion
Name: Meruru
Age: 15
Class: Talos King
Level: 1
HP: 839
MP: 1,210
Attack: 391
Endurance: 659
Agility: 391
Intelligence: 1,210
Luck: 752
Skills: Talos King {1}, Flying Arm {1}, Spear Mastery {3}, Shield Mastery {3}
Extra Skill: Union (Right Arm)
Skills Levels
Talos King: 1
Flying Arm: 1
Skill Experience
Flying Arm: 0/10
* * *
“Can I summon a hihiirokane golem now?” Meruru wondered.
“We’ve got plenty of room. Why don’t you try it out?” Allen suggested.
“Right!”
She took out her magic disc and removed the mithril slate, replacing it with a hihiirokane one.
“Tam-Tam, come forth!” she yelled.
A massive, vermilion golem made of hihiirokane towered over the Gamers. It boasted a height of a hundred meters.
“Okay, this is pretty epic!” Allen shouted excitedly.
* * *
Status of Hihiirokane Grade Tam-Tam
Name: Tam-Tam
Pilot: Meruru
Rank: Hihiirokane Grade
HP: 25,000 + 15,000
MP: 25,000
Attack: 25,000 + 10,000
Endurance: 25,000 + 15,000
Agility: 25,000 + 10,000
Intelligence: 25,000
Luck: 25,000
* * *
“I feel omnipotent!” Meruru cried. “Mwa ha ha ha! I-I’m overflowing with raw power!”
She spoke like a boss from a video game as she had Tam-Tam strike one of her cool poses.
Its stats went way up. The buffs she got when she reached skill levels 3 and 6 are here too. Wait, isn’t she stronger than a Demonic Deity? A Hihiirokane Grade golem would gain 5,000 stat points per slate. As a reward for being the first of her kind to clear a Rank S dungeon, she had increased the number of slots in her magic disc, making it able to house twenty slates.
Even if she used a basic slate, a Gigantify slate, and a Supergigantify slate, she would still have ten slots to spare. If she fitted them all with stat-boosting slates, she would have overwhelming power like never before. Realistically, she would need to use special forms like Eagle Mode, which took five slots, and her long-distance attacks took another slot, so she could not use all the empty space to boost its stats.
“If you become stronger, you can fight Goldino again,” Allen said.
The class promotion had allowed the dwarf to keep half of her prior stats, so she was plenty strong already, but she no longer had access to all her previous skills.
“Then we’ll be holing ourselves up in that dungeon again,” Cecil said with a thousand-yard stare. She feared that the days of beating a hundred iron golems per day were back.
“Yeah. We’d probably do that until we get the gear that we want,” Allen replied.
Currently, they did not have many hihiirokane slates, but he wanted special and Large Multibarrel Cannon ones for Tam-Tam. While the iron golems of the Rank S dungeon were perfect training monsters for the Allen Army, they were not the final boss. The No-life Gamers were too strong for them and knew that the items they dropped were not great. If Meruru worked hard to strengthen her golem, she might be able to farm the final floor boss of the Rank S dungeon.
Allen gazed up at Meruru, who was having Tam-Tam cycle through her cool poses, with even greater heights already on his mind.
Chapter 3: Moving Residents to Hardcore User Island
A few days had passed since Meruru’s class promotion, and it was now May. The dwarf had diligently farmed the Rank S dungeon and maxed out her level as a Talos King. Shia, who had yet to receive her class promotion, was already at max level, so she was working hard to raise her skill level in dungeons near the Rank S one. Other beastkin who were aiming to receive a class promotion were doing the same alongside her. Allen had dispatched his Summons and offered his full cooperation to help them clear the dungeons.
Unlike the other beastkin, Shia had barely cleared a dungeon at all. She had had to work her way up from the bottom, but due to her high level, she had blown through them, having already cleared every Rank C dungeon and two Rank B dungeons.
Luke, the prince of the dark elves, was raising his level and skill levels in dungeons near the Rank S one as well. The boy had not raised either until now, and when he had finally rendezvoused with the Allen Army, he was Lvl. 30. Luke had no experience clearing dungeons, and he had started with Rank C ones, working his way up. He had received help from seasoned beastkin as well as Allen’s Summons. He had also brought a private tutor of sorts from his village and was studying in tandem with his dungeon clearing.
The dark elves had a bit of an issue entering the Empire of Baukis, which was home to the Rank S dungeon. The empire worshipped money, shamelessly prioritizing profits above all else, and did not hide it. Those allowed entry first were merchants who had trading permits, followed by adventurers who had received a Rank S dungeon invitation card. Everyone else was delayed. Many people would wait for what seemed like an eternity unless they managed to bribe someone in charge.
Naturally, the dark elves, who were cooped up in the desert of the Galiatan Continent and refused to mingle with other species, were nothing but troublesome to the Baukis officials. There was no incentive for them to allow the dark elves to enter the empire. However, Luke was a proud member of the Allen Army, and this army was extremely beneficial to Baukis. Specifically, the iron golems that Allen and his party farmed were an excellent source of slates for mithril and hihiirokane golems.
In a war against the Demon Lord Army, Baukis’s national defense relied heavily on golem users, a line of classes only dwarves could have. Slates were required to buff the massive living weapons golem users piloted, and among them, mithril and hihiirokane slates were so rare and highly valued that everyone was desperate to get their hands on them. Currently, the only party capable of providing a steady supply of those slates was the No-life Gamers. When Allen had hinted at this fact, anyone related to the Allen Army had practically received a free pass to enter the empire.
Members of the Allen Army were all registered adventurers with issued adventurer cards, a process that was handled entirely by the Adventurer’s Guild in Elmahl. Since Allen wielded quite a bit of power as a Rank S adventurer, he had used it to prioritize his army being issued adventurer cards. And so, elves leveled up in dungeons within the Academy while beastkin and dark elves trained at the Rank S dungeon.
Two-thirds of each race from the Allen Army were challenging dungeons, and the rest were hard at work developing Hardcore User Island. Today, five thousand immigrants had arrived from Elmahl to live on the island. They would call Élan Town their home. The name of the town was derived from “Elmahl,” as many people had lost their homes due to their religion. Allen had named this town himself in the hope that immigrants would one day find pride in their roots.
“I-Is this our new home?”
“No one else seems to be here.”
“I-Is that mountain where Fire Goddess Freyja resides?”
The residents were taken to a clearing in the middle of the town, where their faces filled with hope and anxiety as they curiously glanced around. Hardcore User Island was an elliptical plot of land ten kilometers long and eight kilometers wide. It quite literally looked like a giant boulder floating in the air, and since some ten thousand people would be living alongside the Allen Army, the small plot of land had to be used to maximum efficiency.
The town’s residential spaces had three-story buildings with multiple options for living quarters. There were rooms that could fit families of ten, five, three, or one depending on their needs. Buildings along the main street and in the center of the town had the first floor reserved for commercial facilities.
“I’ll be giving a rundown of the island at 3 p.m. I ask that the Élan Town’s mayor, deputy mayor, and everyone else gather at the mayor’s residence then,” Allen said. “Until then, please follow the numbers that were given to you and begin moving in to the town.”
“O-Of course. I understand,” the mayor said with a nod.
The man had been selected for the role by Allen solely because he had looked perfect for it. There were five thousand people in total with a thousand homes, and they needed to be efficiently organized. Before they had all arrived on the island, they had held a lottery to determine the building and room everyone would be staying in. The residents took their lottery numbers in their hands and checked the dozens of boards that had been put up to tell them where to go. Each one received a map as they exited the clearing and headed to their designated buildings in twos and threes.
Members of the Allen Army who had helped develop the land used their high stats to assist people with moving their belongings and settling in. As the clock struck noon, food was brought into the town square and a bell was rung to signal everyone to gather. A massive clock tower—a magic tool—also stood above the square, but the bell was especially useful in helping the residents keep track of time.
Fearing that Freyja might find the bell too noisy, Allen asked for her permission first, and she happily gave her blessing. “This is what humans do,” she had said. She was in high spirits, delighted to learn that the humans had first gone to her for permission.
Once lunch was cleared away, the residents went back to moving in to their new homes. Two and a half hours later, people who had finished moving gathered at the mayor’s manor. The mayor and deputy mayor were already there, as was Habarak, who had been diligently smithing away. Other smiths had also dropped in, and since Allen planned on reporting today’s discussion back to the army, he had generals and captains in attendance as well. While everyone was settling into their seats, a young man glanced around awkwardly as he and three adventurers approached Allen.
“Are you sure I can sit here?” Pelomas the merchant asked.
“You’re in the middle, so you can just listen from there,” Allen replied.
“All right.”
“Huh? And what about us?” Raven inquired.
“Since you’re the captains of the mercenaries, you guys can sit next to Pelomas,” Allen answered.
Pelomas had gotten acquainted with Allen during their Academy days, and the merchant, the proud owner of the Pelomas Whaling Company, sat down next to Allen, who was at the center of the table that stood at the head of the crowd. Raven, Rita, and Milci, the captains of the Pelomas Whaling Company Mercenaries, sat beside the merchant. Allen had introduced the three mercenaries to Pelomas’s company, figuring that the young merchant would require help when starting out, and the Pelomas Whaling Company had blossomed into an organization with around two hundred employees.
The rest of the No-life Gamers took their seats opposite Allen and Pelomas. Those in the dungeons had been allowed to skip this meeting, but the Summoner had specifically requested that Shia and Luke return. Once everyone had gathered, Allen spoke.
“I ask that the governor of the island say a few words first,” Allen said.
“Th-That’s me, right? Hi, everyone. Nice to meet you. I’m Pelomas, owner of the Pelomas Whaling Company, which is headquartered in the Kingdom of Ratash. Hardcore User Island is planned to have four towns, and I’ll be overseeing them all as this island’s governor. I would greatly appreciate your support.”
Pelomas spoke politely and bowed to the people, with Raven and the other mercenaries following suit. The mayor and deputy mayor still looked confused, but hastily bowed in response. The residents began chattering to one another.
“A merchant? He looks pretty young.”
“The Pelomas Whaling Company? Isn’t that company getting rich through trading these days?”
“What even is a governor?”
Oh? Is that person a merchant too? They sound like they recognize Pelomas’s company. The organization is ranked eighty-seventh in the world, so I’m not surprised that it’s famous.
“Ahem,” Allen cleared his throat. “Now that Governor Pelomas has finished his greeting, I’d like to first explain how this island will be run. Please take a look at the documents in front of you.”
He gestured to the documents that he and the elves on the development team had created. Each resident had their own copy, and they all glanced down to see a map of the vertically elliptical island. At its center was a mountain with a shrine housing an altar dedicated to Goddess Freyja. Residents were requested not to climb the mountain. Only Dogora, the official disciple of the goddess, was allowed a degree of freedom to act without fear of the deity. Anyone else would incur the Fire Goddess’s wrath.
“W-We won’t approach the mountain. You have my word,” the mayor stammered.
“There’s also a white dragon in the center of the mountain,” Allen added. “Please be careful of it too.”
He was referring to Haku, the white dragon hatchling that called the White Dragon Mountains its home. Haku was growing up under the close watch of a Dragon A and Dragon B that had been Summoned by Allen. By bringing the hatchling here, Allen figured that he would no longer need to keep his two dragons Summoned.
“A white dragon?! Is such a beast really in the mountains?!” the mayor gasped.
“It’s just a hatchling, so it’s still growing,” Allen replied. “Perhaps because it’s so young, it has a tendency to approach humans when it spots one. If you ever run into the dragon, please don’t turn your back to it. Keep your eyes on it while slowly backing away.”
If Haku ever decided to climb down the mountain, the mayor was to notify a stationed Spirit A, which would take care of the matter. Thanks to the two Summons diligently raising the hatchling, Haku was yet to attack a person. Rather, it was a friendly beast that would run toward humans like a young puppy wanting to play, causing the ground to quake.
