WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 29: Expedition Preparation
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I got three spells from my very first magic experiment.
I really was a genius.
Still, nothing in this world came for free. I had made a huge gain, but I had paid an equally huge price.
I had spent every bit of money I had saved.
Fuck, where did all my assets go? Give me my money back.
Other mages would have said I got off cheap for an achievement like this, but I was strapped for cash, so all I could do was sigh.
Magic was an academic field that required a tremendous amount of money.
Reaching higher realms required even more capital and rare materials. Research alone cost this much, so obtaining things like rings that added spell engraving slots or magical artifacts was out of the question.
‘Of course, if I receive support from the Magic Tower, the money problem will be solved.’
‘Anyone with eyes would recognize the value of my research.’
I had deliberately left traces behind to build a connection with the Magic Tower.
It definitely wasn’t because I couldn’t be bothered to clean up.
‘But I need to be careful.’
‘They’re in the Magic Tower.’
Getting too deeply involved with them would interfere with my plans to enter the Labyrinth.
That was why I planned to slowly work my way into their world.
There was another problem. My spell engraving slots were full.
I currently had five spell engraving slots.
[Faint Light]
[Electric Spark]
[Ice Spike]
[Frost Burst]
[Magic Missile]
[Arcane Barrier]
[Lightning Arrow]
[Rising Water Jet]
In other words, I had learned new spells, but if I wanted to use them right away, I had to remove spells I had already been using.
‘My slots will increase when I level up.’
‘I’ll probably level up soon, but...’
Deciding which spells to bring based on each Labyrinth’s environment had been part of the fun of Dungeon of Death. Now that it was real, though, it was a fucking annoying restriction.
“I used to enjoy such an unfriendly, filthy game? I must’ve been insane! Huh?”
As I lamented my past self as a hardcore gamer, the door opened and Elena walked in.
“You came in at dawn, slept your ass off until noon, and now what are you doing?”
Elena wore a black sleeveless top and cloth pants, with a sword at her waist. She was drenched in sweat.
She had said that she was training with Daisy at a swordsmanship hall run by retired Expedition Party members.
Elena looked at me as if I were pathetic, but then her expression brightened.
“Ian, you...”
Heh.
Had she noticed I’d learned new spells?
“Have you finally realized it? That I’ve risen to a higher level?”
“What the hell did you get in your hair? You look like an idiot.”
“Keh.”
Elena had only picked dust and bugs from my hair, like a monkey grooming another monkey.
Damn it.
After washing up at the well, I went down to the first floor of the inn and had a late breakfast, or lunch, with Daisy and Elena.
“Ah, food tastes fucking amazing after a workout.”
“Don’t eat too much. We’ll go broke on food expenses.”
“We can just earn more.”
“You need to get new equipment too.”
“Ugh.”
Daisy seemed down after Dize left.
I also felt something was missing without Dize’s reactions. He used to marvel at or get startled by even the smallest things.
Still, people who left were gone.
We had to adapt.
What we needed to do now was...
‘Get these two equipped, recruit new party members, and prepare to enter the Labyrinth.’
I took a spoonful of soup with potatoes and chunks of meat, then spoke.
“Two people. We’ll recruit two new party members and enter the Labyrinth again.”
We needed to fill Dize’s spot and the remaining empty position.
I would take the role of party leader if possible, but depending on the situation, I was also considering joining another party.
Because this time...
“If things go well, I’m thinking of going to the second floor.”
“The second floor? Is that even possible?”
“The first floor was already so difficult...”
“You’re the one who told us not to get greedy. We don’t even have any information about the second floor.”
“Just hear me out.”
I calmly began explaining things to the excited pair.
“I’m not saying we’ll go in right away. We’ll decide after looking at the level of the members we recruit and our own condition. Besides, I have information about the second floor. I paid for it.”
That last part was a lie.
As a veteran of this shitty game, there was nothing I didn’t know.
“Daisy has Heal, and I learned three new spells. Elena will also gear up with the money we earned, so it’s worth trying.”
Assuming decent party members joined us, we would explore the second floor.
Otherwise, we would only run the first floor.
“If you’re saying it that strongly...”
“Yeah, I trust Ian.”
“Let’s go to the Expedition Party guild and recruit some new members.”
‘I’m a genius mage, Elena is a talented warrior, and Daisy is a rare Priest.’
Unlike last time, when only random losers had come, maybe we could recruit some decent people.
This time, though, I planned to hide a few of the spells I possessed when writing the recruitment notice.
“Because of the Marauders?”
“Yeah.”
They could be more dangerous than monsters.
It was rare to encounter Marauders on your very first trip into the Labyrinth, but there was no harm in preparing for the worst.
‘If that dead mage had known I was a Triple Master, we would’ve been the ones getting screwed!’
“Got it.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s something else you two need to know.”
I told the two nodding people, no, the elf and human, about one of the Labyrinth’s dangers.
One reason people believed the superstition that the Labyrinth was alive was the existence of a cycle called the Contraction Period.
The Labyrinth entrance was always there, but the first floor underwent a Contraction Period every 168 hours, counted from the exact hour on the first day of each month.
After one week, the Labyrinth’s terrain changed.
The Labyrinth recreated the terrain and the monsters killed by Expedition Party members. In the game, it had been called the respawn time.
During this time, the entrance portal also disappeared for a while.
The people who needed to be most careful were the Expedition Party members inside when the Contraction Period began.
They had to face suddenly changing terrain and newly spawned monsters. Unless they were extremely confident in their abilities, most people escaped the Labyrinth before the Contraction Period began.
“One week?”
“The second floor is two weeks. The third floor is three. It keeps increasing like that.”
From the fourth floor onward, a separate calculation method and measuring tools were required.
“Then we need to carefully calculate the distance to the Escape Portal and the date the Contraction Period begins, right? To reduce the risk.”
“That’s right, Daisy.”
“Hehe.”
Today was October 3rd.
There were four days left before the Contraction Period began on the first floor, so we had plenty of time.
“It’s better to get equipped and recruit new party members. Appearances matter too.”
In the Labyrinth, good gear was part of your strength.
The stronger we looked, the more likely we were to recruit higher-level party members.
After making our plans over the meal, we immediately headed to the blacksmith to get new equipment.
“Not open for business tod-”
“Hello.”
“You rookies have potential. Fine, pick what you want.”
Our good relationship with Arnold brought us back to his forge.
“Keep using your repaired sword, and let’s get a few backup weapons too.”
“Backup weapons... Hmm.”
At my words, Elena tested the balance of several weapons. She seemed to like a throwing axe and quietly reached for it.
“You have tremors.”
“Tch.”
But after I struck a nerve, Elena pouted and picked a dagger, a spare blade, and an axe with a suitable handle.
We had kept the gauntlets, greaves, and oak shield reinforced with iron bands from the Marauder we killed last time instead of selling them, so we decided to repair and use them.
The important part was armor...
Elena chose chainmail, so I offered my opinion.
“Isn’t that too heavy?”
“Still, iron is better than leather. Iron is tougher.”
“Iron is heavier, so you’ll get tired faster. More importantly, iron equipment is difficult to handle on the second floor.”
“Why?”
“Because of the second floor’s terrain. One of its areas is the Salt Cave.”
“The Salt Cave?”
From the monsters to the terrain, it was a completely fucked-up place.
Ugh. Just thinking about it made me want to throw up.
As I dry-heaved, Arnold nodded.
“He’s right. If you’re going as far as the second floor, leather would be better than iron.”
“Tch. I feel like a kid wearing clothes their mom picked out.”
You don’t even have a mom, you orphan elf.
“Hmm? What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Ignoring my timid whisper, Elena bought hardened leather armor treated with oil and boots with iron soles.
Daisy also got equipment similar to Elena’s, along with a broad shield.
And a mace.
“It’s heavy...”
“A club is enough for the first floor, but from the second floor onward, you need at least that much. We’ll protect you as much as possible, but you never know.”
“Okay. I’ll exercise!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
“Hah!”
Daisy swung the mace around wildly.
Arnold freaked out.
“Hey! Hey! You’ll break everything, you brat!”
“S-sorry...”
Both of them spent most of their money repairing and buying equipment.
All that remained was the party fund we had set aside for supplies.
A grappling rope.
Balloon Pig air bladders, perfume.
Burn ointment, antidotes, fever medicine, stimulants, whetstones and oil that we couldn’t afford last time, torches, disposable lanterns, and finally...
‘Even the lowest-grade potions we regretted not having.’
Even a lowest-grade potion cost five silver coins.
With that, we spent all of our separate party funds except for a few copper coins.
After thoroughly preparing for another expedition, our party had blown through its entire fortune.
Was this how small-time investors who put everything into a single domestic stock felt?
‘If we don’t earn money, we’re bankrupt!’
It was enough to make me worry.
Anyway, after finishing our preparations, we went to the Expedition Party guild.
“Ian has been confirmed as an 8th Rank Expedition Party member.”
“I’d like to recruit party members to enter the Labyrinth with.”
It was still too early to form a permanent party, so we intended to see how well we worked together through a one-time expedition.
“How far are you planning to go?”
“Primarily the first floor, but we’re also considering the second floor.”
We had only just explored the first floor, and we were already considering the second?
It was an absurd pace, but as a veteran player, I judged it to be completely possible.
“Ian is an 8th Rank Expedition Party member with four or more spells, so that is fine, but the others...”
The receptionist was about to say it would be difficult, but then checked the note beside Daisy’s name saying she could use Heal.
They also saw that Elena was an elf and inspected our equipment.
And there was more.
[Survived a battle against second-floor-level Marauders]
We had reported the Marauder attack to the guild and turned in their bloodstained adventurer badges.
The guild had verified our report, so that line had been added to the notice I posted.
After carefully reviewing it, the receptionist realized, just as I had expected, that we were capable of exploring the second floor and nodded.
“I will post the recruitment notice. You may wait at a table in the guild, or you may designate a separate meeting location.”
“We’ll wait in the guild.”
“Yes. Please go to table fifteen. The fee is two copper coins.”
I signed the party recruitment request form and sat at a table in the large underground hall that also served as a tavern.
Now, as we waited, applicants would come one by one for interviews.
“Will you leave recruiting the new party members to me?”
“Yeah, of course!”
“You’re better at judging people than we are.”
Step. Step.
A group of Expedition Party members approached us shortly afterward.
Drawing on my experience of getting worked to the bone for years at a crappy small company, I folded my hands and began a high-pressure interview.
“Now then, Evan. Please give us a brief introduction.”
Footnotes:
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