I Will Carry as an Academy Veteran

29

Attribute day dungeon.

This dungeon appears literally once a week, on a special ‘day’ each time.

It shows up completely randomly in the field, and you can roughly infer what concept it is based on the generated location.

For example, if this week’s day dungeon appears in the ‘Eternal Snowfield’ in the north field, you’ll see ice elemental monsters and related rewards.

If it’s in the western forest, it’s wind; if it’s in the sea or lake, it’s water, and so on.

Reyna, who has her own informant at the academy and occasionally gives out sub-quests if the affinity is above a certain level, I didn’t expect her to be used in this way.

Well, now that the game has become reality, how are day dungeons actually implemented?

In Salenium Saga, the ‘dungeons’ are said to be formed by the accumulation of natural magic, the worship of past dignitaries, or as a sanctuary.

Disappearing and reappearing is natural, so perhaps day dungeons are formed in a similar manner.

So, the direction we headed was below the southern gate of Salenium, which means it was the ‘Blazing Desert’ in the southern exploration field.

Just like all exploration fields, at the very entrance of the Blazing Desert, you’d find desert foxes, wild camels, and such roaming around.

As you go further in.

“…Moving cacti? Hm? The terrain has changed too?”

Instead of a flat desert, slowly eroded and chiseled rocks start to appear, and quite threatening monsters emerge.

Exploration in the Salenium Saga.

It’s an artificially created environment, but it’s no different from the real thing.

Naturally, monsters appear too.

“Hm, an Ultra Cactus. Be careful, it shoots thorns and throws fruits. The fruits are bombs.”

Ultra Cactus.

A cactus stuck in the ground with eyes, swaying and moving.

When you enter its range, it annoyingly scatters thorns in all directions from its body.

Sometimes a cactus with fruits will detach and throw them; getting hit by those bombs is fatal.

Of course, there are strategies to deal with such monsters.

“Kalen, stand by.”

I cautiously drew a branch from the spirit tree just outside the cactus’s detection range.

“【Low-Level Wind Elemental Magic: Wind Blade】.”

Whoosh!

In the fierce wind that was blowing, not only the hem of his robe and mine were stripped off, even the hood I was wearing got blown away.

─Swish swish swish!

The blade of the flying wind cut through the body of the cactus.

The strategy is simple.

If facing a tough opponent within range, just crush them from a distance.

Of course, the cactus’s thorny defense can’t be stopped by just a dagger, but there’s no need to exert extra effort here.

Whooosh.

Under the blowing sandstorm, our hair fluttered side by side.

The wind is strong.

The terrain has completely changed.

This means…

“Now we’re entering the mid-level.”

“From here on, it’s the mid-level.”

Beyond the Ultra Cactus, various monsters like the Venomous Scorpion or Sand Beetle start appearing.

Without delaying her guard, Kalen kept walking with her hand on the hilt of her sword, and I followed behind.

Kalen climbed up the sandy hill where our feet sank deeply and suddenly stopped.

“Adrian, look over there. Something’s visible. But… it’s a bit strange.”

“What’s strange about it?”

“Isn’t it odd to have something like that in the middle of the desert?”

At Kalen’s words, I looked to where she pointed and smiled.

“Found it.”

“What? You found it?”

“Oh, Adrian! It’s dangerous!”

As I walked forward without hesitation, Kalen shouted about the danger, but still followed me nervously.

And so it went.

How long did we walk?

“…An oasis, here?”

“Yes, it’s an oasis.”

An oasis that looked oddly out of place in the middle of the desert full of sandy hills.

With its blue emerald water and a single palm tree.

“Are we taking a break here?”

“No, this is our destination for today.”

“…What?”

Before Kalen could even react, I leaped into the water of the oasis, and as my feet touched the water, the scenery distorted.

The desert disappeared, and a dimly lit cave came into view.

[You have arrived at the Elemental Day Dungeon, ‘Underground Flawed Golem Warehouse.’]

[This dungeon is a collection of flawed golems made by the ancients to resist the demons in the distant mythological era. Although they are all perfectly disposed of golems, there are cases where ‘earth magic’ seeps in and causes malfunctions.]

[The elemental attribute of this dungeon is ‘earth.’]

…They arrived.

The dungeon exclusive to the Earth attribute, the underground Faulty Golem Warehouse.

Looking around, one could see golems missing heads, arms detached, or appearing relatively intact yet with their ‘cores’ dug out from their chests, leaning against the walls or sprawled on the ground.

Here, one could obtain the magical book to acquire the Ground Rock, a lower-level Earth elemental spell.

If luck was on their side, they might even find equipment imbued with Earth element. Like a shield.

There was a reason I brought Kalen here.

“Huah!”

“You’re not late.”

“Adrian, please do not rush out without consultation. It’s dangerous.”

The puffed-up cheeked guy shot me a look.

“Focus on your safety. I’m fine.”

“I thought you’d say that… So, do we proceed from here? Is this, um, the dungeon we came for?”

Thanks to the dim torches on the walls, it wasn’t too dark.

After scanning the area, the guy, upon seeing a golem missing an arm, drew his sword in surprise.

“Adrian, stand behind me!”

“Watch closely, Kalen.”

“We must leave this place immediately! While I hold them off, the exit is…”

“Calm down and watch.”

After reassuring him, I moved forward and swiftly struck the head of the golem with a branch from a spirit tree.

With a clunk, the golem’s head rolled on the ground.

“It’s not… moving?”

“Most of them are already immobilized. Let’s proceed.”

“I’ll go first as I’ve said multiple times. In a dungeon, I should lead the way.”

Kalen dashed forward then resumed walking in front of me.

Even in the game, the concept of a ‘dungeon’ existed.

After all, didn’t I mention we were going to a dungeon from the start?

“I’ve only read about it in books; this dungeon experience is completely new to me…”

Initially a bit flustered, the guy quickly calmed down and began to advance.

“Only golems appear in this place.”

“…How do you know that?”

“There’s nothing Repelheight doesn’t know.”

I interjected.

“This place is a warehouse where the flawed golems, created by ancient humans to resist the demons, are stored. Since they are all flawed, your Elemental Sword should be sufficient to defeat them.”

Well, that’s the setting.

The properly crafted authentic Earth Golems are all hidden in the ‘Scorching Desert’ fields scattered with ruins or buried deep in the field sands.

The ones emerging from this dungeon are all the faulty golems that the ancient people made and then buried underground for disposal.

It’s like a complete ancient garbage dump.

And the dungeon’s name is ‘Underground Faulty Golem Warehouse,’ so there you have it.

At that moment.

Thud! Thud!

With a sound that shook the ground, a large chunk of a creature walked towards us from the other side of the pupil.

Its movements were unnatural, with light shining only on one side of its crumpled helmet.

“This is… a real golem.”

Calen manifested her attribute sword in place and gripped it with both hands.

The elemental system, the basic base of Salement Saga, requires interactions with other elements during combat.

If you brought a lightning element specialized wizard here, they would have had a hard time against these golems, same with fire.

Water element, which has the advantage in affinity, usually focuses on supporting, so dealing might have been lacking.

However, ice element has no particular interaction with these guys, so it’s safe.

“Haah!”

Literally, since entering the dungeon, Calen had been mowing down lesser golems.

Her white longsword in hand emitted light, followed by smooth multiple tracks twisting.

Distinct lines were left on the golems’ arms and legs, soon followed by them being split and crumbling.

I, too, was not just standing still.

Slowly but surely, I dealt with the lesser golems using the branch of a spirit tree.

The branch of a spirit tree is equipment that can be used for both magical and physical weapons.

It was a strategy where I would use magic or strike their heads to stun them while Calen would cut off their arms and legs to restrict movement, and I would handle the magic.

“Perhaps due to being defective, their movements seem slightly distorted. We should be able to proceed while conserving energy.”

“Conserve more; the boss still remains.”

The difficulty level of the attribute day dungeon… is not that challenging.

If you’ve pushed the story to the middle of Act 2, you should be able to clear it easily.

I judged that even after allocating 7 points to health and 8 to mana, I could solo it.

Even if I clear this place, all that comes out are lower-rank magic acquisition scrolls and minimum D-grade equipment, making it a growth dungeon completely for novice players who wouldn’t even consider it after about Act 4.

And I reiterate, I came here because I need Ground Rock, one of the lower-rank magics.

Another reason is for Calen.

But the boss is a bit different.

The boss is something I need to ‘pay attention to’ a bit.

Of course, not at the level of Lycanslope, we should be able to finish it within 15 minutes together.

“By the way, Calen.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t the Knight students usually wear their uniforms well?”

“That’s right.”

As she answered, Calen lightly turned a medium golem, destroying it. The clothes she was wearing now were blue gym clothes with the Knight student emblem on the chest.

“It’s awkward to move around in a uniform. By the way… I was quite surprised that Adrian called me.”

“Why?”

At my words, Calen scratched her cheek awkwardly and said, “Well… I haven’t done anything significant. In the previous battle, Lumen, my senior, Ebnees Sophujak, Ernan, and Wolfgang Yungae from the School of Magic all played a part, but since I didn’t do much…”

“So, you thought you wouldn’t be called?”

“Yes, in a way… yes.”

Was that what she thought?

“There’s no need for that.”

“What?”

“Calen, you know my status in this academy, don’t you?”

“…Yes.”

“Yet, despite knowing about my banishment from the family, and now being just an ordinary commoner, you didn’t treat me differently, even from our first meeting.”

Calen probably knows better than anyone that this is the kind of character I am.

“I won’t forget, Calen Snowhite. Even if you were to abandon me, I wouldn’t abandon you.”

Upon my words, Calen stopped in his tracks, then bowed his head.

“Always like that…”

What’s that? It’s hard to hear.

“Now, ahead of us is the owner of this dungeon. Lift your head.”

“Ah, here…”

“Are you tired? If so, let’s conquer this quickly and return.”

“No, I’m not tired at all. I was just thinking it would be nice if time passed a bit slower.”

Saying that, Calen looked in my direction, smiled slyly, and walked ahead a bit faster.

Is that so?

If you say so.

“Oh, there’s a door here!”

“Well, let’s go in.”

Oh well.

I didn’t expect you to be this excited; I should have taken you to a better place.