Former Ranker's Newbie Life

Chapter 117

The collapse had already started while Do-Jin was making his way through the hidden passage, forcing him into a mad sprint. By the time he burst out of the dungeon, he was already shouting into the air.

“You son of a bitch!”

At first, it had only been a faint tremor, just enough to make the ground shiver, but Do-Jin wasn’t the type to wait around and see how bad it got. Who in their right mind would trust a shaking underground passage to hold? He ran with all his might until his lungs started to burn. And of course, the vibrations grew stronger, the collapse spreading faster until the entire structure was falling in on itself.

Only a few seconds after he escaped, the passage, along with the ruins above that marked the dungeon’s entrance, sank into the earth with a thunderous roar.

[You have cleared the Hidden Dungeon Secret Base of the Abandoned Land.]

A dungeon clear message appeared in front of his eyes, something he had never once seen in his previous life. Instead of a chest or bonus loot, all he got was a steady flow of experience points. The two extra stalks of Blue Stargrass, the map, and the fragment of an engraving left by Silvermoon had already counted as the true reward.

Either way, it was a bigger haul than he’d expected. He should’ve been happy, but standing there and staring at the ruins crumbling into dust, Do-Jin only felt a bitter sting.

What’s even more annoying is that I can’t give up, even if it feels like I’m just playing right into that bastard’s hands.

Silvermoon was a treasure hunter who had been active more than a century ago. He had gathered anything and everything of value without caring about means or morals. The strangest part about him was that he had this bizarre habit of “returning” what he stole, not to where he had taken it from, but to its rightful owner.

One legend claimed that Silvermoon had once snatched Lady Asephine Leminé, the baron’s daughter who had been bartered into a political marriage over her family’s debts, straight from the altar, only to return her to her former lover’s home.

Of course, the fact that Lady Asephine fell for Silvermoon instead and ended up as a nun is the part everyone really remembers.

In every account, Silvermoon was the embodiment of a man who lived exactly as he pleased, charming and whimsical but never serious. He was a man who only ever did what interested him and nothing else mattered. That was exactly why being forced to play along with his game left such a sour taste in Do-Jin’s mouth. And yet, he couldn’t walk away.

I don’t know why he chose magic as the final thing he wanted to leave behind, but one look at that engraving fragment was enough. It’s worth investing my time in, no matter how much of a pain it is.

Silvermoon was the type to act out of nothing more than curiosity, amusement, or sheer mischief. There probably wasn’t any deeper meaning behind it.

“Alright. First things first, let’s see the map.” Dusting himself off, Do-Jin sat down and unfolded it. “This son of a bitch... he’s screwing with me from the start.”

Immediately, something felt off. The map seemed to be shifting in real time, from the Eastern, Western, and Northern Continents to the sea. Every few seconds, the marked location jumped somewhere else. Beneath it was a message in Silvermoon’s annoyingly smug handwriting.

You won’t find anything there now except ruins, but who knows? Maybe I left a clue behind just for you. Try digging through the rubble if you’re that desperate. Hehehe.

— Silvermoon

So that was the trick. The map wasn’t pointing him toward the next destination, but rather cycling through every single test site Silvermoon had set up, places that had already been designed to collapse once a candidate cleared them. And yet here he was, being ordered to comb through them one by one for scraps of clues.

“I swear to fucking god, I’m gonna kill him,” Do-Jin said, dead serious.

Alright, let’s just calm the fuck down and analyze the situation. No point in reacting how he’d want me to.

He forced himself to cool off with a bit of mental control and studied the map more carefully. That was when he noticed something he had missed at first glance. Beneath the scrawled handwriting, there was something else, something faint hidden under Silvermoon’s nonsense. He had camouflaged it with his stupid jokes, but there were clear traces of etched markings, some pressed in relief, others engraved deeper.

“This kind of trick is definitely magic-related.”

Silvermoon really had gotten obsessed with magic toward the end of his life, leaving these little games all over the place.

“Too bad for him. I’ve got the Grimoire of Truth.”

Do-Jin spread the tome open and focused his will on uncovering the secret hidden in the map, demanding that it unravel what Silvermoon had left there. The Grimoire of Truth stirred immediately, responding as if it had plucked Do-Jin’s will straight out of his mind.

[An encrypted magical code has been discovered.]

[Would you like to begin the collection and interpretation process?]

“Do it.”

[Beginning collection and interpretation of code.]

Golden light spilled from the tome, wrapping around the map like chains of authority. The parchment sparked and twitched as though it meant to resist, but that defiance was laughably futile. This was the same artifact that had already shattered seals left behind by relics. Compared to that, a bit of overcomplicated encryption cobbled together by a treasure hunter who fancied himself clever was nothing more than a child’s scrawl.

No way in hell the self-indulgent crap of an egomaniac is going to stop this book.

[Code collection and interpretation complete.]

As expected, Silvermoon’s magical encryption crumbled like paper in fire when faced with the Grimoire of Truth. The map that had been shifting chaotically suddenly stilled, and a new quest window flared before Do-Jin’s eyes.

[Romantic Treasure Hunt]

Grade: Hidden

Objective: Experience the treasure hunt Silvermoon has prepared

Reward: Silvermoon’s Legacy

You have found the map left behind by Silvermoon. Follow it to the locations it marks.

What’s the point of trying to play tricks? I can just flip the answer sheet wide open. With a smirk, Do-Jin looked down at the map. Well, well. If it isn’t the Imperial capital.

The spot it was pointing to wasn’t some ruin in the middle of nowhere, nor a forgotten cave or a collapsed stronghold. It was in the heart of the Empire itself, right inside Alterus Castle.

***

The capital city, Alterus Castle, was an intimidating place. Even the outer walls loomed high, solid as hell, and flashy enough to leave no doubt about where this was.

As expected from the capital, the line of people waiting to get inside stretched forever. Every single one of them went through a strict inspection, and Do-Jin was no exception. The wait dragged on before he finally made it through the gates, but the checkpoint itself posed no trouble. He was a Rank 7 adventurer with Elthomagia’s insignia, so further identification wasn’t necessary.

It’s been a long damn time since I came to the capital. Shit, I might end up lost in here.

Everything about Alterus Castle was massive and overwhelming. The city sprawled so wide that even locals could lose their way, and Do-Jin rarely had reason to visit. The map Silvermoon had given him only made things worse. Calling it a map was generous, as it looked more like a half-assed sketch, harder to read than a basic street diagram.

With no better option, Do-Jin climbed into a mana-powered carriage and quickly requested, “Take me here, please.”

“The industrial district? Right away,” the driver replied.

When the roads weren’t familiar, paying for a ride was the simplest solution. That was how he arrived at his destination, the Tall Blacksmith. A shabby sign hung above the workshop, and below it, a banner drew his eye.

45 years in the business! Experience the rhythmic hammering of the Tallest Dwarf’s forge. Quality guaranteed!

Do-Jin had been staring at the sign and banner, still unsure what kind of ridiculous place this was, when something suddenly leaped out from inside. Just as the banner promised, it was a dwarf. A dwarven blacksmith wasn’t a shocking sight. In a metropolis of this size, other races were common enough.

“Well now, a fine customer has arrived! Yes, yes, what are you looking for? Weapons, armor, household tools, farming gear, it’s all here. We also take custom orders too, with quality and speed that leave the competition in the dust!”

But a dwarf blacksmith here, of all places? What the hell? Was a dungeon dug under the streets or something? Maybe the area had been redeveloped after all these years.

That thought barely formed before it shattered because the dwarf, who had been hurrying forward while rubbing his hands with a smile full of fake hospitality, suddenly scowled. His eyes turned sharp and hostile.

“You scum! Where the hell did that thing come from?!”

His finger stabbed at the map in Do-Jin’s hand, aimed precisely at the part marked with Silvermoon’s handwritten signature.

“What?”

Do-Jin blinked in confusion, but before another word could form, the dwarf lunged.

What the... what the fuck?!

Do-Jin tried to step back, but the dwarf moved with a speed and desperation that could not be ignored, his rush beyond frantic and utterly relentless. Do-Jin tumbled across the dusty ground, only to feel the dwarf latch onto his pant leg with a grip like iron.

“You bastard! Spit it out! What kind of connection do you have with that son of a bitch?!”

***

Even after Do-Jin had explained the story for the third time, the dwarven blacksmith, Maglo Lloyd, still asked the same question with that stubborn look in his eyes. “So what you’re saying is... you went down into that goddamn pit Silvermoon dug and that’s where you found it?”

The reason for his obsession was simple. Silvermoon had run off without paying the construction fee owed to the Steelpeak Dwarves, Maglo’s own clan.

Can’t believe this was more than 150 years ago... Do-Jin thought.

The more he learned about Silvermoon, the more ridiculous the bastard seemed. He managed to drag out all sorts of tales after getting Maglo drunk.

“That son of a bitch womanizer! I came here just to collect my money, and look at me now! I’ve been stuck running this forge for 148 years without even going back to my homeland!”

“The banner outside said forty-five years in business, though.”

“There were a few times I had to shut down in between... Honestly, I even changed trades a couple of times, so it hasn’t all been blacksmithing.”

Maglo downed his liquor in big gulps. The way he drank made it obvious just how much bitterness he’d been carrying.

“You said he never paid for the work. What kind of construction was it, exactly?”

“The bastard swore it was a secret.”

Do-Jin waved a server over and ordered more snacks and liquor.

“He didn’t pay anyway, right?”

“Well, that’s true. What’s the point of me keeping my word when that bastard didn’t?”

With that, Maglo grabbed a fistful of dried snacks and shoved them into his mouth. The fresh round of hard liquor loosened his tongue even more.

“That unlucky, philandering son of a bitch said he wanted a vault with something solid and absolutely secure. So I introduced him to my clan. At the time, I actually thought of him as a friend. He told us not to worry about money and to just build it however we wanted, and my clan loved the idea.”

It wasn’t hard to picture what came next. He was told to forget the budget, and the dwarves must have gone all out, designing an over-spec monster of a vault and hammering away with reckless enthusiasm.

“I was busy adventuring, so I didn’t take part myself. But I can tell it was a masterpiece. And then the scamming piece of shit just fucked off without paying the rest of the fee. All he left behind was a shitty little note.”

“Did you say a note?”

“Yeah. He said the rest of the payment was inside the vault. But when it was opened, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

Just like that Secret Base of the Abandoned Lands. It wasn’t nothing, but something that had been made to look like nothing, Do-Jin recalled.

Maglo let out a heavy sigh. “Imagine how humiliated I was. I was the one who vouched for him to my clan because I thought he was a genuine friend. So I came back here to the capital, looking for him. I ended up giving up adventuring, figured I’d earn enough to go back home instead... but the business never really took off.”

“Still, you’ve been staying here more than a hundred years like this. That’s way too long.”

“Well... I did try to go back once. But at some point, the road to my homeland got cut off. Have you ever heard of... Tigrek Mountain? There’s a huge cave there. You have to pass through it, but it turned into a monster nest.”

The dwarf looked pitiful, mumbling like a weary migrant worker drowning in his misfortune.

Yeah, the picture’s clear enough.

Do-Jin studied the dejected figure before carefully asking, “Do you want to head there together? To your homeland, I mean.”