“(?? ? ??)”

  “It was less than a minute? That’s interesting.”

  Rusty was greeted by Gleam, his partner whom he had not interacted with in quite some time. Once again, she had watched over his body while he checked out the new function that had appeared. The time he spent in the mini summoning chamber amounted to less than a minute in this world, similar to the time he had spent in the mini soul forge.

  What made things even more interesting was that he now had two separate cooldowns. One applied to accessing the smithing portion of the soul forge, while the other applied to the new summoning chamber. This made things easier, since he no longer had to choose between them, but there was still a drawback. The wait before he could return to summoning was much longer, amounting to half a week.

  “( ? -?)?“

  “Ah, sorry. It’s nothing. I was just thinking about a few things that happened. Why don’t we get out of here and stretch a bit? Maybe we could go to the dungeon as well.”

  “(?? ? ??)”

  Gleam seemed genuinely happy at the mention of the dungeon. She had been cooped up in the lair with little to do, which had only added to her boredom. Now that Rusty was back in his regular body, it was time to make further progress. From what he could remember, the section of the dungeon he had previously been unable to access should be opening soon, now that the rare monster that had terrorized the adventurers had been slain.

  “A shame. I wish we could have hunted it instead. I bet it would have had some good materials.”

  Rusty could not help but think about the magical enchantments he could create using new monster parts. With his recent evolution, his crafting skills had grown, and he was now aware of new methods and techniques for producing stronger enchantments.

  “( ?? ? ?? )?”

  “I see you can hardly wait. Oh, and I almost forgot.”

  As he was about to open the door, he stopped himself when he remembered his guides. He had not summoned them since returning from the Soul Forge, and it was always better to have the two of them around. Even though they could be annoying at times, their advice when dealing with humanoids was valuable. There was also another reason for summoning them, as he had a separate project that the two were involved in.

  “Ah, Rusty, when will you learn? You should have saved those precious resources. Why spend them on such a brat who will probably die soon anyway?”

  Aburdon’s light appeared, and the first thing he did was complain about Rusty spending summoner coins on the young wood elf. Alexander, of course, was quick to rebut the claim, and the two began to argue.

  “The child is traumatized. He needs all the help he can get. Rusty did the right thing.”

  “Hah, silly hero and his sense of justice. What did following that code reward you with? That’s right, death was your reward.”

  Aburdon cackled, and Rusty almost laughed along with him. At times, he genuinely enjoyed listening to the two of them bicker. However, at the moment, his attention was focused elsewhere, on the metals he had smelted. One was a dark ingot, aligned with the element of darkness, and the other with the element of light. With these, he could create two frames for his guides, vessels they could potentially inhabit and fight through, similar to his puppet armors. There was, however, a small problem he was facing.

  “I need more materials…”

  He had completed the smelting process for both ingots while he was in the soul forge, which would allow him to create the ingots directly using SP. However, the number of ingots required for a full suit of armor was quite high. Mana stones were needed to create the steel, and those stones also had to be processed by him. The mana within them needed to be skewed toward either light or darkness. This was a process he had to perform manually, as it was impossible to achieve through SP alone. The only exception would be if he managed to find specific creatures that dropped such resources.

  “Well, first I will need to get enough mana crystals, and then I can start working.”

  “( ?? ? ?? )?”

  Gleem cheered Rusty on as he finally decided to head upstairs. There, he found the smithy mostly empty, as always. The prices for his wares were still high, and the quality of his enchantments was not superior to what other merchants offered. However, in his current state, and with new talismans to recreate, he might finally be able to match his competition.

  The kids were all present. The twins were outside, sweeping dirt from the entrance and trying to lure people over, while Rolo stayed inside as the main seller. Natia, on the other hand, was sleeping in the corner, drool dripping from her mouth.

  “Should I just leave it as it is or…”

  Rusty was not quite sure what he wanted to do about this place. He had stolen a large amount of gold from corrupt mercenaries and merchants. By now, he had realized that the group of merchants he had joined was scamming him. They wanted his store to fail so that he would be unable to pay the fees. The reason was not entirely clear to him. Perhaps they simply disliked him, or perhaps they wanted to take over his shop.

  With the extra funds, he could pay them off for a while, but it was not a permanent solution. There was also the risk that his scheme would be noticed.

  Humanoids were not that foolish, and they might start wondering where all the money was coming from when he was not selling any wares. If that happened, guards could be sent to tear his shop apart. While they would not find any gold, since it was hidden within his system storage, he was not sure the shop itself would survive such a search without needing repairs.

  ‘Well, I’m listed as an adventurer, so I can offset things with what I earn.’

  Rusty made a mental note of how he would tackle the problem, and then he looked towards Rolo.

  “Why don’t you close early today and go eat something? I’ll be stepping out for a while.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Ah… are you sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  Rusty said, with the head of Edmund residing behind his helmet. Rolo was certainly happy at the prospect of closing early and eating with the others. Once he decided, Rolo was quick to poke Natia awake.

  “Aahwo?”

  The girl opened one eye, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and then perked to attention.

  “Fwood?”

  Her other eye snapped open as she shot upright.

  “We’re eatin’?”

  She asked with her hands stretched toward the ceiling. Rolo chuckled and ruffled her hair.

  “Yeah. Mr. Edmund says we’re done for today, so go get Ria and Isan.”

  “Yay!”

  That was all it took. Moments later, the shop was locked up, and the twins carefully dragged the large sign they were carrying back into place. The five of them made their way to the current kitchen area, which had been properly remodeled. The house, once quite decrepit, was now something a human could consider a home.

  However, Rusty was not planning on joining them, as it was time for him to head out. With everything he had gained, he wanted to push his progress further.

  The summoning chamber upgrade was useful, but he had to do much more now. With access twice a week, a new problem had presented itself to him: a lack of levels. Usually, he arrived at the summoning chamber with his level maxed out, but now things had changed. This meant that between each summon, he would need to strengthen himself as much as possible. The challenges ahead would likely be greater, and to have the best chance of earning more summoner coins, he needed to become stronger.

  “Let’s go then, Gleam. We’ll go through the gate this time and show them that we are actually working!”

  “(? ????)”

  Gleam knew that Rusty sometimes used the secret tunnel to avoid being detected by the guards. It was mostly to hide how much time he spent in the dungeon, as well as how much he was truly earning. Soon, the two made their way through the city. The day was well into the afternoon, and many people were bustling about.

  ‘This is kind of refreshing.’

  He thought to himself as they headed toward the dungeon. He had been forced to remain around his summoner for a while, and this was the first time in a long while that he could stretch his metallic legs. Having a master he was stuck to was not that great, but here he was the true master and could do as he pleased.

  “( ? -?)?”

  “That’s a good question, Gleam. We’ll check out that third path with the crystals around it. Perhaps we can even find mana crystals that I can infuse.”

  “( ?? ? ?? )?”

  As they passed through the gate, Rusty focused on his next adventure. The point of interest was the strange, shimmering tunnel leading into a dungeon area he had not yet explored. The place was called the Crystalline Cavern, and as the name implied, shiny crystals were scattered everywhere, along with supposedly sparkling monsters. For someone who used materials to craft bodies for his two guides, this was the best place to visit, and his guides agreed.

  “Walk faster, Rusty. We need those mana crystals!”

  Aburdon urged them onward. Rusty still was not sure which guide he should focus on first, but Alexander seemed the safer choice. At an increased pace, he managed to reach the Crystalline Cavern rather quickly, with only a few monsters getting in his way. It appeared he was not the only one heading there, as several adventurer groups were already on the same path.

  “It’s not being blocked by anyone this time around.”

  “(?? ? ??)”

  Rusty stepped past the threshold, and the world changed. The Crystalline Cavern swallowed sound first. The usual echoes of steel against flesh and distant monster cries were muted, as though the cavern absorbed noise itself. Light came next, or rather, the unusual source of it. Instead of torches or glowing moss, the tunnels were illuminated by crystal veins running through the walls.

  It reminded him of the Chaos Gate he had tackled with Gwen and the other summoners, and he moved closer to examine it. The other adventurers did not seem to care, but he wondered whether these crystals could be used for something. He took out a dagger and struck the wall, chipping away a fragment. To his surprise, the glow faded instantly as the mineral came loose.

  “Oh?”

  He picked up the jagged shard and noticed that all the mana had vanished from it. It had become nothing more than an ordinary rock, one that crumbled in his hands almost instantly.

  “I don’t think we can use any of these, Rusty. Otherwise, other adventurers would already be mining them.”

  Alexander commented as Rusty reached for one of the large crystals jutting out of the wall. It came off rather easily with a single yank, but as he held the formation in his hands, it quickly lost its luster. Within a few seconds, it crumbled, turning into nothing more than dust.

  “Is this just for show?”

  He felt a hint of disappointment at the revelation, though it did make sense. The crystals were everywhere, yet no one bothered to approach or collect them. However, according to the information he had seen at the guild, some of these crystals could be mined. Certain pockets had to be buried deep within the labyrinthine tunnels, and he knew he would likely need to spend some time searching for them.

  “Let’s go then, Gleam. If you see something interesting, let me know.”

  “( ?? ? ?? )?”

  Gleam, his white ant companion, was a good tracker and highly sensitive to magic. With her help, he hoped to discover hidden veins, just as he had with the mana-infused iron ore in other sections of the dungeon. Soon, the two departed to start their search, but instead of minerals, they encountered a different scene.

  The main tunnel opened into a vast hollow chamber, far larger than the passages that led to it. The ceiling arched high above, lost in shadow, while clusters of crystals poked out like ice blocks. Some grew in jagged spirals, others in smooth hexagonal columns, all of them faintly glowing with soft hues of blue, violet, and pale green. The light refracted endlessly, bending around corners and casting distorted reflections that made the cavern feel alive.

  From this chamber branched dozens of tunnels. Some were narrow and winding, barely wide enough for a single adventurer. Others sloped downward into darkness, their walls pulsing with crystalline veins that flickered at a strange tempo. Rusty could feel it. The mana density here was far higher than in the outer layers of the dungeon. It pressed against his senses, heavy and rich, as if the cavern itself were alive.

  “(?? ? ??)”

  “Yeah… I see it too. This place is probably a maze. It’s going to take a while to explore all those side tunnels.”

  The floor was littered with old scorch marks and, more importantly, blood. There were clear signs of recent battles and injured adventurers. One of the tunnels showed fresh footprints, while the others were untouched.

  “The sound is muffled, but someone is fighting in that direction.”

  Rusty placed his metal arm against one of the walls and felt the vibrations traveling through it. Though the sound was muted, the stone quivered beneath his touch. For a moment, he wondered if he should investigate and see what he was dealing with, rather than risk encountering a monster on his own.

  “Let’s go, Gleam.”

  “( ?? ? ?? )?”

  The two moved toward the source of the vibrations, but before they could continue, Rusty stopped.

  “I almost forgot!”

  Before heading in, he opened the system window and selected all of his experience talismans, activating them at once. The experience bar began to fill, and soon he was rewarded with a level up.

  “Only one? Well, it’s more than last time.”

  He felt a flicker of disappointment, but it quickly faded. With the summoning chamber now a repeatable resource, there was no reason to worry. Soon, the armor and the ant delved deeper into the unexplored dungeon, searching for greater power and hidden treasure.