Shujinkou Janai! - CH 28

Mimics, while they were transformed into items, weren’t “monsters that had taken the appearance of an item”, but rather “items that transform into monsters”.

When the item is touched or attacked, an event is triggered.

The dummy item disappears and a <Mimic>, a monster in the shape of a treasure chest, is created.

On the other hand, the 10000-token prize slot in the casino is “randomly selected from among the items available in a dungeon with a sale value of zero”.

This means that, on the rare occasion, a Mimic disguised as an item will be given away as a casino prize.

[Of course, you normally can’t put a transformed Mimic into your inventory, but casino prizes are added directly into your inventory, so you can carry them around like this as an exception.]

[Is that how it is? That’s great.]

Saying it in a languid voice, Resilia looked at me with a cold gaze.

At one point, she was out of breath, but she quickly recovered after leaving the <Labyrinth of True Darkness>.

Since then, she has been watching over me as I defeat Mimics, just one step away from the entrance to the dungeon.

[I understand the principle of how the Mimic comes out of your inventory. However……]

Thereupon, Resilia glanced at the pile of equipment in front of me.

[It seems like it was unfortunately a miss this time. Most of the equipment there are sold in stores.]

Resilia said, sounding irritated.

I’m sure she’s trying to hide her embarrassment over her earlier distraught reaction, but it makes me smile.

[……What is it?]

[No.]

As Resilia stared at me, I dismissed her by moving my gaze away, to which she nodded.

[Well, you’re right about them not being great pieces of equipment. Being Mimics in a strong dungeon doesn’t make their drops stronger, nor does it change the item they drop. They’re just Mimics disguised as a <Steel Sword>, so you would get drops befitting such a monster.]

If Steel-type equipment were to be found in a high-level dungeon, it would be immediately obvious that it’s fake, and vice versa.

So, basically, the only thing I can get from defeating these Mimics are “items that are as good as the item the Mimic was disguised as”.

In short, in the case of these Mimics, they would only drop equipment that’s about the same strength as store-bought equipment.

[But that’s fine. I’m not after high-end equipment anyway. What I’m after are “strong equipment” that even beginners can wear.]

The equipment dropped from a dungeon as high-level as <Labyrinth of True Darkness> would require you 500 STR or 600 MGC.

Getting such a thing wouldn’t help Radd and his party, who are nothing more than newbies.

[And while these equipment are the same type as the store-bought equipment, it’s different from the store-bought equipment in one respect. That is the “Enchantment” that would come with the “Black Cat Blessing Coin>.]

[Enchantment huh. I’m not feeling much of an effect from them though……]

However, Resilia’s reaction was rather dull.

I suppose it would be best to let her experience this herself.

[Resilia, can you use Offensive Magic?]

[……That’s out of nowhere.]

When I asked her, Resilia looked reluctant to move, but standing from her place, she briefly chanted, “Wind Cutter”.

A blade of wind surged from her palm brilliantly struck a broadleaf tree about 10 meters away, and shaved a third of its truck before disappearing.

[As you can see, it’s only Low-rank Wind Magic, but I did master it.]

[No, that’s pretty strong from a Low-rank Magic.]

The person herself doesn’t see it as any big deal, but this is to be expected as her basic stats are on a different level.

MGC is supposed to be her lowest ability, but it still flatly exceeds the MGC of a newbie Mage.

[Then, errr…… Here.]

I used <Inspect> on the equipment lying on the ground, selected three appropriate rings, and handed them to Resilia.

Resilia accepted the rings, but looked at it suspiciously for a while.

[……These aren’t cursed or anything, are they?]

[How little do you trust me. They’re actually just the same as store-bought rings, just with Enchantments.]

When I urged her to wear them, she reluctantly slipped the rings through her fingers.

However, the moment the first ring settled on her slender finger, she raised an eyebrow, looking puzzled.

[It feels kind of strange. It’s a little tingly……]

As Resilia tilted her head, I pointed at a tree from a distance.

[Now, try Wind Cutter again.]

[What a slave driver.]

“”

Resilia grumbled, but she still chanted Wind Cutter.

With the palm of her outstretched hand, the magical wind expands……

[……Eh?]

———and the huge blade of wind she produced bisected the trees she was aiming at and reaped several trees in the back before disappearing into the distance.

Seeing this, Resilia froze, not moving a muscle, until the torn trees fell to the ground.

[———–What in the…… world is that……]

When she eventually turned towards me, her face was as pale as when she was exposed to the dungeon’s magic power.

Seeing her reaction that was better than I had expected, I couldn’t help smiling.

[I told you what they were, Enchanted rings.]

[That’s not possible! I mean, I’m a melee fighter! This is almost like I’m a magic user……]

However, there’s no way that “it isn’t possible”.

The theoretical upper limit of Enchantments added to monster drops is directly proportional to “the level of the dungeon in which the monster was generated”, which is usually about “half the level of the dungeon”.

The MAX value for store-bought equipment, such as Steel-type equipment, is usually 10 at the highest, and would usually be in the single digits.

Even if they increase STR or MGC, it would be impossible for the wearer to feel its effect.

However, the equipment dropped by these Mimics are different.

Following the system rules, the generation of the Mimic takes place where its transformation was released, so the Enchantment of its item drops would be based on the <Labyrinth of True Darkness>.

The dungeon level of this stupidly difficult <Labyrinth of True Darkness> is “99”.

Therefore, the items dropped by the Mimics that are generated in this dungeon would approximately have +50 Enchantments.

[The three rings I gave you have Enchantments of “MGC+48”, “MGC+62” and “MGC+71” respectively. That would be a total of “MGC+181” wearing all of them. That is equivalent to the MGC value that a veteran Mage of this world would reach in a lifetime.]

And of course, it easily surpasses Resilia’s highest ability.

Equipping those rings, her stats at the moment aren’t that of a Speed-type melee fighter anymore.

She’s more like a Mage who can also fight melee.

[Nii-san…… Nii-san, are you trying to say that these three little rings outweigh a man’s lifetime of training?]

I smile back at Resilia, who seemed to be struggling to face reality.

[Of course, that’s just the beginning. All people have 9 equipment slots. What do you think will happen if one were to wear Enchanted equipment on all those slots?]

Of course, with the current stats of Resilia and I, we’d crush through everything in our path.

I might have to Class Change to fit the equipment, and I might have to configure all of my fighting styles from scratch.

———–One can be a slave to the equipment, and it would be no fun otherwise.

Adventurers shine when they can handle equipment that just doesn’t wear them.

It’s important for gamers to have the right equipment to match the characters they develop, and to develop their characters to match the equipment they acquire.

[Besides, as I said before, the value of these equipment goes beyond just being “strong”. Its true value lies in its versatility.]

There are plenty of equipment that are weak but can be used by anyone, and equipment that are strong but can only be used by certain people.

However, these Enchanted equipment are different.

[These aren’t something that only the well-trained and the chosen can wear. Anyone who has the ability to dive into beginner dungeons as an Adventurer can wear them.]

[Whoa……]

As she shuddered, seemingly as if the rings she had casually put on had suddenly turned into frightening monsters, I spoke with a smile on my face.

[———–This is the power I was searching for. “The pinnacle of leveling gear”!]