Chapter 60: Evan D. Sherden. Going to the Hot Springs (2)
Evan D. Sherden. Going to the Hot Springs (2)
Steama was a very famous hot springs village. It was an area that appeared in the Yo-Ma Great War 1 game. The village was located near the dormant volcano “Mega Note” on the Silk Line. It was not a very large area. It was a local area that consisted of an abundance of hot springs.
Since the first pioneers had built the village, it had long since been a famous spot on the Silk Line. Tourists from home and abroad were attracted here to soak themselves in the hot springs.
“This is my first time in a hot spring, Master.”
“Of course, me too.”
“Is that true?… You have never been to a hot spring in your entire life, Master?”
“At least, not in this life.”
Evan replied, and Dain, who was following them, tilted his head. It seemed to him that Evan was talking about some other life.
Evan noticed this and shrugged carelessly. He went ahead and joined the Marquis, who had been waiting for him.
“Evan, the hot springs are very hot, will you be able to endure them?”
“I heard that the hotter a hot spring is, the better it is for your body, father. I want to go soak myself in the hot springs right now.”
Evan really loved the hot springs in his previous life too. He hadn’t come here for the treasure hunt.
“Oh, I hope you like this hot spring. Come along now guys.. Unlike humans, hot springs don’t care about any of our statuses.”
Everyone appreciated the Marquis’s words. Even after ignoring statuses, only one person could not remain with the party due to gender issues.
That person was Belois.
“Hey, are you jealous Belois? What are you going to do now, haha!”
“… Shine, shut up.”
As the Marquis of Sherden and his knights were visiting, the whole village of Steama was in a state of tension.
Of course, there were a lot of other silk lines and n.o.bles from other countries visiting here too, but still, everyone was paying the Marquis extra attention as he was n.o.ble of the dungeon city of Sherden!
“What, the Marquis of Sherden is here? Oh no, what if an accident happens which may anger him…”
“Shh!”
“Welcome, Marquis of Sherden!”
“I will take you to the best place. Come this way, please!”
There was a slight sense of strangeness in that the NPC uncle, who always met a group of the protagonist during the game with a relaxed smile, was very nervous right now when he met the Marquis. However, Evan forgot all about it when they arrived at the hot spring village.
“Father, you go in first. I want to relax a little in the room for a while and then I’ll enter.”
“Okay, then go ahead and enjoy by yourself while I have dinner. I’ll follow you right after that.”
“Okay.”
After unpacking, Evan decided to take a break. The Marquis and his escort Saga headed to the hot springs first, while Dain went outside to guard the whole party.
Evan waited.
When only Shine and Raihan were left in the room, Evan sat down on a sigh chair. The steam of the hot springs rising from all over the village, seen from the hostel’s window, was impressive.
Evan suddenly addressed Shine, who was blinking and trying to make himself at ease.
“Shine, do you know that there is actually a dungeon around here? It’s not a dungeon that’s huge enough to have a city around it. It just appeared naturally.”
“Uh, did someone ever go in there, Master? Are you planning to?”
As Shine reacted immediately, Evan shook his head with a smile.
“Unlike super-large dungeons, small dungeons that appear elsewhere do not raise our level, whether we are able to pa.s.s a single or multiple floors. It is a dungeon that has nothing to do with Rookies. Moreover, you still don’t have enough strength to enter the dungeon.”
Evan had already finished explaining to Raihan in the carriage about the Rookies, so he listened to him and nodded his head. Shine was overwhelmed with disappointment and pouted his lips.
“Then why did you mention it Master. It is so disappointing.”
“I was just giving you information about some lesser known dungeons. You’ll be able to go inside one someday.”
There were only three places where a dungeon, which was huge enough to form a city around it, was located.
The first was the dungeon city of ‘Sherden’ from the Silk Line. Then there was the dungeon city of ‘Pellati’ from Mana Road. The last was the dungeon city of ‘Madden and Merdin’ from Baypeka, in the Commerce State.
As Evan had just said, there were other dungeons too in the country, excluding these three major cities. In addition to super-sized dungeons, smaller dungeons and medium dungeons also existed quite a bit.
However, among all of them, only in the super-large dungeons located in the cities was mankind able to increase its levels and raise its power by receiving blessings and artifacts.
‘It was recorded in the history of the country that the cities were built around these dungeons and a lord was sent to manage each one of them. Everyone already knew about that… In fact, the three dungeon poems were created as a result of divine revelation on humans.’
The dungeons that G.o.d directly cared about and used his powers on were limited to those three dungeons only. Therefore, only those three dungeons increased the power of humans and the people who entered it.
If you cleared the 18th floor in any of the three dungeons, your level rose to level 18.
Since all the dungeons followed the same pattern, it was a.s.sumed that the three cities were under a common system.
‘Of course, that doesn’t mean that other smaller dungeons are useless.’
There were some other dungeons with important treasures hidden inside them, and the dungeon where the last boss of Yo-Ma Great War 3 was waiting was a small dungeon north of the Silk Line. It would have been appropriate to say that some dungeons’ management systems were different from the others.
In some dungeons, the level system was directly managed by the blessings you received when you cleared them, while other dungeons did not have this quality. However, the one thing they all had in common was that dangerous monsters appeared in every dungeon.
“It’s not such a great dungeon that we living in the dungeon city should covet.”
“Are there greater and lesser dungeons?”
“Of course there are. At the top comes the super-large dungeon whereas, the rest of them are no different from drawing a lottery.”
Even if the dungeons that occurred naturally were cleared, there were many cases where the end reward was not great. There were dungeons that disappeared when you killed the boss, and there were dungeons that didn’t disappear. It was completely random.
“Moreover, the dungeons here in this village are especially famous for their high difficulty. The bottom has not yet been reached, so no one is allowed to enter. It is enough to periodically mobilize knights and adventurers inside them to clean them so that monsters do not start popping out.”
“Ah, is that related to the dungeon backflow?”
“Exactly. There are many cases where the dungeon backflow that occurs in these places is more intense. However, if you manage these dungeons regularly, the backflow does not happen at all.”
More dungeons than expected were only managed enough to prevent a backflow without being cleared. Even if most of them were not super-large dungeons, they often had trouble keeping the dungeons in their estates within control.
The protagonist’s party usually cleared and destroyed the dungeon whenever they visited such a place, and they securely received the quest reward from the lord.
‘It was fun that they updated the dungeons in every new game of the series.’
To be precise, if you cleared up to the 3rd floor in Yo-Ma Great War 1, there were no stairs, so you couldn’t go down further. In Yo-Ma Great War 2, you could go down to the 6th floor from the 4th directly, but in the end, there were no stairs, and you just got frustrated in the end.
On the fan site, there were many people wondering how long the game must be played to be able to clear such a dungeon.
‘At that time, I couldn’t enter because of the game system… Is it different now? No, I’m scared right now, so I won’t be going in anytime soon.’
Yes, Evan wouldn’t go in.
He was on a treasure hunt, which meant he was just trying to dig up the treasure with the knowledge of his previous life.
From the beginning, this had been the main goal.
“Shine, do you know that mana is concentrated around the dungeons?”
“Well, I didn’t know before Master, but after hearing it from you, I think it’s possible. Is that the case?”
“Yes. From the old days, strange things have always happened around the dungeon. Sometimes something strange occurs, or artifacts are created occasionally. Or maybe even part of the dungeon come alive.”
Raihan was listening intently, but Shine, who had been with Evan throughout the treasure hunt, had already picked up what Evan was trying to say at this point.
“So what is it this time, Master? Armor? Shield? Or jewelry trinkets? Will you even try to pick up enough treasures to build a mansion for yourself this time?”
“Oh, I was wondering about that.”
“Really!?”
Evan replied with a smile. Shine was frightened.
“I’ve come all the way here not just to make a mansion for myself Shine. They aren’t even romantic, right? I’m going to acquire the whole s.p.a.ce, Shine. We are going to make a new hot spring in our city. I’m looking forward to going to it at night.”
‘Make a hot spring? Construct a mansion for himself in the city?’ Sweat dripped from Shine’s head.
Raihan, who was just getting to know Evan, said, “As I expected! Master Evan can do such a thing!” He was a man who could see the blossoming of a great person in Evan.
Ten minutes later Shine, who was trembling, revealed to the world a well-trained body for his young age.
There was a hot spring with strange smelling steam rising from it in front of Shine’s eyes. The people in the hot spring looked like they were boiling in a large cauldron in h.e.l.l.
“I think I’ll die if I go in! Will I really die if I go in, Master?”
“What? You’re acting like a coward.”
Meanwhile, Evan who was standing next to him while exposing his well-trained body just like Shine, exhaled a deep sigh.
Apart from being scared of ghosts, Shine was also scared of hot springs.
Shine was so scared that Evan doubted whether he would really become a Silent Night Shine in the future.
“You’re not going to die, you idiot! Then what about the people who are already in the hot spring? There is also my father there.”
“But am I not a Rookie, Master? Obviously, my resistance is weak and I could die.”
“Yeah, if you’re going to die here then so be it!”
Evan hoped this would become a trauma of a lifetime for Shine.
Evan was unable to endure Shine’s arguments any longer and pushed him in the hot spring.
“Oh, ah! Aaaah!”
Shine was splashing around in hot water, but the even the Knight’s Commander had no authority to beat Evan, who possessed enough power, so Shine was totally immersed in the hot spring experience. He was screaming for a while, but soon his expression changed.
“Oh, this… Is very soothing, Master!”
“Aren’t you happy now, Shine?”
Evan smiled and dived in next to him. Soon, the same hot water sensation Shine had felt came over Evan. Evan was enjoying the hot spring the same as he had done in his past life. This feeling of nostalgia alone made happy enough.
Soon, a more fundamental sense of healing, different from the one before, came over him. Like a drug, a feeling of happiness, as if supporting his soul and transforming his tired and injured body into a new one…!
Evan had never felt as such in his previous life. He was experiencing it for the first time.
Evan’s worries soon melted away.
“Oooh! Aaah.”
“Evan, you certainly know how to enjoy hot springs.”
The Marquis, who nearby, laughed as he watched him make such impressions of comfort. Evan responded with a faint smile.
“The wounds on my body are healing, father.”
When you entered the steamer’s hot spring, most of the abnormalities were cleared, and the physical strength and magical powers were quickly restored. It wasn’t like a healing spell or a potion, but still, it really had an enormous therapeutic effect on the body!
“Uh, are you really healing, Master? The muscle pain that I kept feeling from training yesterday is also getting better!”
“The effect is far better than just healing magic. Healing magic only cures muscle pain. But the hot springs here also heal wounds and make the muscles stronger. It doesn’t just end with healing and even strengthens your body. So since ancient times, physically strained knights have been enjoying this place.”
“You know a lot, Evan. That’s right. Until the Church healing spells came out, the knights stayed here for a long time after training for hours.”
The Marquis had just affirmed Evan’s explanation, but Shine studied Evan.
Evan had gotten it right again. This was related to the skill proficiency of the cla.s.ses Evan usually talked about!
At the same time, Shine remembered when he had experienced a similar feeling, and that was when he was given a permanent buff from a ghost at a cafe on the royal road!
“If you enter this hot spring after training your skills, will the effect of the training increase, Master…?”
Shine looked at Evan with questioning eyes.
Only
Evan nodded.
“Yes. Steama’s hot springs has the effect of amplifying the proficiency of the skills you trained, before entering the hot spring, along with the ability to recover your physical strength, stamina, and abnormal conditions!”
“So how about it, Shine?”
Evan said, frowning.
“Do you want a hot spring now?”
“Yes, Master… I definitely want to have one.”
Shine immediately agreed.
In his mind, Shine was reminded of the words that Evan had already said about building the hot springs.