excel三国杀

Chapter 118: Monologue (1)

Eden (Lv: 101)

Grade: ★5

Race: Magic Beast

Elements: Rock

Bond: 100

Synchronization: 100

Summoning Mana Consumption: 1100

Skill Tree ❰❰Details❱❱

Frost Dragon Hilde (Lv: 183)

Grade: ★8

Race: Magic Beast

Element: Ice

Bond: 65

Synchronization: 5

Summoning Mana Consumption: 26000

Skill Tree ❰❰Details❱❱

[Master, the laws of physics will finally apply in my daily life as well!]

The morning sunlight pierced through the curtains and seeped into the room.

Märchen Academy’s middle-low-ranked dorm, Briggs Hall.

As I changed into my workout clothes, I glanced at the small white dragon rolling around on my desk. The beautiful lady-like voice was much more excited than usual.

Frost Dragon-Hilde Miniature Version. Finally, I could summon her in the form of a baby dragon.

She was a tangible entity rather than a firefly or a small flame with eyes.

It was thanks to the noticeable increase in my strength after defeating the Floating Island.

“I could summon you on a bit of a larger scale, but that would be quite burdensome to me.”

[I am already exceedingly grateful for this much! Hmhm, More importantly… manners like that are possible too now.]

“Ah.”

I quickly understood what she meant. After all, Hilde had been subtly hinting at it repeatedly.

I approached the desk and started stroking her head. With closed eyes and a subtle smile, she enjoyed my touch.

The texture of scales. Undoubtedly a reptile.

However, because it felt like she was the SD version of the Frost Dragon, she boasted an adorable appearance.

[Hihit.]

Grandma was pleased.

Though her voice was quite childish, considering her age, she was indeed a millennium-old grandma.

My familiars, Eden and Hilde, gained a massive amount of EXP for their contribution in defeating the Floating Island.

After continuously leveling up from that point onwards, Eden had now reached Level 101, thus being recognized as a 5-star magic beast.

Due to this, the mana consumption had increased exponentially, but it couldn’t be helped.

The mana consumption for summoning Hilde would increase incomparably to Eden as she leveled up.

However, as always, it was merely the cost of summoning a perfect Frost Dragon.

At my current level, I could summon a Hilde that was the size of my body.

‘It’ll only last a few minutes though.’

Of course, I wasn’t confident in handling the mana consumption for maintaining the summon.

’I should at least maintain Hilde’s summoned state.’

The more I utilized a familiar, the higher [Synchronization] became.

Although [Synchronization] had only increased a hair-width because I couldn’t even summon Hilde as a distinct entity…

Now that she had one, the rate at which [Synchronization] would increase would become a lot faster.

When [Synchronization] reached its MAX, Partial Summoning became possible and I could use Hilde’s power with my own body.

Just like how I created a rock gauntlet by Partial Summoning Eden…

It meant I would be able to harness Hilde’s might more effectively.

Putting that aside though…

‘How cute…’

Isn’t she way too cute?

Seeing Hilde delighted by my touch, I couldn’t help but feel delighted myself.

***

To undergo the Trial of Sandstone, I had to gather four Traces of the Rock Sovereign.

Similarly to the traces of the Ice Sovereign, a light brown mana stone was split into four different pieces.

‘Ugh, this is taking forever.’

Between training and meticulously searching for the traces of the Rock Sovereign, two weeks had passed before I knew it.

The premises of Märchen Academy were exceptionally vast.

This world boasted a map size that was realistic, unlike its game counterpart.

In other words, finding the precise locations of all four Traces of the Rock Sovereign was a challenging task.

Moreover, the Primordial Elemental Kings had hidden their Traces in inconspicuous places, as if they were treasures to search for. Among them, the Traces of the Primordial Rock Sovereign were particularly devious to locate.

‘What in the world is wrong with them? Why hide it in a lake?’

Although he was deceased, I wanted to punch him just once. The Ice Sovereign was practically a saintess compared to him.

I was currently searching inside the winter lake to find the fourth Trace of the Rock Sovereign. At this rate though, I was going to fucking die.

When I explored the lake in ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, I didn’t think much of it. When I did it myself, however, I felt like shit.

‘Oooh!’

When the sky darkened…

I had summoned Hilde as a small mana entity, using her as a flashlight to inspect the insides of the lake. While I was doing so, I finally saw a mana stone fragment that faintly gleamed with a light brown color.

Finally…!

[Congratulations! You have found [Traces of the Rock Sovereign 4]!]

I grabbed it and immediately surfaced.

“Huah! I finished, you Rock Sovereign motherfucker!”

A lake in the vicinity of Tantak Underground Cave.

As broken ice pieces floated in such a place, my emotions ran rampant as I erupted in laughter.

Both elation and fury were infused in my high-quality curses, echoing throughout the gorge.

I thought I was going to go insane because of how tedious and inconvenient it was…

Subsequently, Hilde, a white mana entity that flickered like flames, and Eden, my small golem familiar, surfaced as well.

Eden swam by attaching thinly spread rocks to both his arms. I roughly designated this appearance of his as the Eden Swimming Form.

“Eden, Hilde! I finished!! I found all of them!!”

[You did it!]

[Kuuuuuuh!!]

When I showed them the Traces of the Rock Sovereign, Hilde shouted happily.

My small golden familiar Eden responded by habitually raising its arms in an effort to express ‘Hurray!’.

[Kuuurrrrrruk…!]

And when he did so, Eden’s body sank back beneath the surface in vain.

I emerged from the lake with Eden in tow and sat on the stone ground. Hilde, after receiving a bit more of my mana, transformed into the form of a small dragon and settled on my shoulder.

As I looked up, I was met with the sight of the evening sky, permeated with navy blue hues.

It felt like I had become quite resilient to the cold thanks to undergoing the Trial of Frost.

Despite spending several hours in the cold lake, my body was completely fine.

It felt as if my cold energy naturally protected me once my body temperature dropped to a certain level.

Of course, it would’ve been much more preferable to be warm, so I decided to light a fire.

‘I also need to dry my clothes.’

I activated a fire elemental magic scroll and ignited the pile of firewood I had prepared beforehand to make a bonfire.

The sound of crackling could be heard. Since I removed my outer clothes, the warmth of the bonfire completely embraced my skin.

“Eden, you worked hard.”

[Kuu!]

Eden raised one of its arms in response.

“You too, Hilde.”

[I just obey whatever Master orders. Well, if you really are grateful, then perhaps it would be nice to stroke my body a bit… Hihit.]

When I gently stroked Hilde’s head, she let out a bright laughter reminiscent of a pure girl.

Was it because she could finally enjoy the touch of her master after a thousand years? It seemed like she would never get tired of it, no matter how much she was stroked.

[Anyway, the Traces of the Rock Sovereign, you say… I do miss him. He was a man of unshakeable belief, just like how a rock was…]

“Yeah, I don’t care.”

[…I was just going to talk about the good old days a bit.]

What’s the point of learning about a person who had already become a corpse a millennium ago?

It seemed like Hilde tried to sulk because of my flat response, but as soon as I stroked her chin gently, she let out a ‘Hihit’ before returning to her original joyful state.

How easy.

As such, while waiting for my pants to dry, I spent my time training my [Elemental Efficiency] by lighting [Frostfire] in one hand.

Eden was playfully rolling around by himself and Hilde was quietly gazing at the bonfire beside me when…

[Master, will you be fine?]

Hilde spoke to me in a tranquil voice.

[You might die. I do not know if I have the right to say this as someone who has given trials in the past… But are you not even the slightest bit afraid?]

“…Of course I’m afraid.”

How could I not be? I was scared to death.

During the Trial of Sandstone, the body would gradually turn into stone.

The higher the [Rock Elemental Resistance], the slower the transformation would be.

However, even if it was delayed, the ceiling itself would slowly descend until the time limit had been reached, and I would inevitably be crushed to death.

‘Now that I’m about to experience it in person, it really is brutal…’

Despite having narrowly escaped death several times, facing such a crisis was still terrifying.

If it wasn’t for the effect of [Frozen Soul] that allowed me to be level-headed when my emotions severely wavered, my mentality would have collapsed several times over already.

However…

“I still need to try.”

Gormos’ Greatsword would greatly enhance my overall strength.

Just like how I received additional ice mana when bringing out Frostscythe…

Gormos’ Greatsword would also share its accumulated rock mana with me. Moreover, it would significantly boost the power of my rock magic.

How could I not try to obtain it considering how my overall strength would literally double?

It was worth it to risk my life for it, just like when I obtained Frostscythe.

“Let’s go back.”

My pants had finished drying. It was time to return.

***

Bright daylight. In the small mountain range rising within the grounds of Märchen Academy, I reached the peak of the ‘Falk’ mountain.

After using elemental magic to carefully descend beneath the leaning pine tree towards the cliff, there was a space somewhere that one could use to enter it.

While creating a rock staircase alongside the perilous cliff, I carefully descended. What a thrill.

‘It should roughly be around here… Found it!’

At a certain point on the cliff, I found a passage narrow enough for only one adult.

When I squeezed in, I saw stairs leading downwards.

It was dark with no end in sight.

Since these stairs pierced through Falk Mountain, they were extremely long. It was reminiscent of the unsettling feeling that I had when playing ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

Moreover, since this world became much bigger in reality than the map in the game…

‘Yep, it’s going to be fucking terrifying.’

However, a mere fear of the dark wouldn’t stop me.

“Hilde, Eden. Come out.”

Extending my left arm, I activated the summoning circle for Hilde and simultaneously called Eden as well.

The small white dragon, Hilde, emerged from the summoning circle engraved on my wrist.

And after light brown mana gathered in the air, it formed the small golem Eden.

[Did you call?]

[Kuooong!]

I was glad to hear their voice resonate in the narrow passage.

[Master, where are we?]

“Falk Mountain. We’re going to go all the way down from here. Hilde, take the lead and Eden, accompany me.”

The Frost Dragon said, [I shall], and Eden raised one arm to respond [Got it!].

This is what familiars are for~.

Hilde descended first, letting out ice mana to brighten the surroundings with a faint light.

I followed Hilde down the stairs with Eden to dispel my loneliness.

[Kuoong, Kuooo!]

“Alright, Eden. Let’s hold hands.”

[Kuooo?]

As I joyfully descended the stairs for about 20 minutes, we suddenly reached a dead-end rock wall. It was not a frightening journey at all.

[Master, the path is blocked?]

“We’ve arrived.”

It was here.

I kneeled down on one leg and carefully took out the light brown mana stone from the magic pocket. Then, I carefully placed the 4 pieces of the Traces of the Rock Sovereign onto the ground.

When I did so, a magic circle was engraved on the ground, as a faint golden light began to flow.

[Kuooo?!]

[Master, how did you find something like this? Even I could not feel anything!]

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

The information about the magic circle for the Trial of Sandstone could be obtained by playing ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ until its later stages.

[…Well, you are the reincarnation of the Ice Sovereign. I guess it was obvious that you would know something like this.]

“…”

Welp, she’s acting braindead for stupid reasons again.

[Then, Master, make sure to survive.]

[Kuooo…]

Deep concern filled the voices of Hilde and Eden.

How thoughtful of them.

I lightly smiled, as I patted the heads of my familiars before I unsummoned them.

Now, it was time to stake my life once again to level up.

“Hooo.”

I’m soooo fucking nervous…

I took a deep breath to calm my motions and placed my hand on the magic circle that was engraved on the ground.

I recited the predetermined chant, just as I did during the Trial of Frost.

“I shall face the Trial of Sandstone.”

Whoooooosh───.

As I uttered those words, the magic circle began to emit a brilliant light.

My vision was tinted with golden hues and I simultaneously felt a sense of weightlessness.

Closing both my eyes, I surrendered myself to that sensation.

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