The turtle, now comforted in the bartender's arms, spoke more seriously than ever.
"This is no time for idleness. We need to rescue the box. Imagine if your Ego Sword was trembling alone in the dungeon. Doesn't that thought break your heart?"
"If our Riceball got trapped alone in a dungeon, it wouldn't quietly wait for rescue. It'd bravely peck away at any distorted beings."
Peep!
Riceball, having soaked its feathers, chirped cheerfully in agreement. Yoon Seo extended his hand, and Riceball, shaking off its round little body, trotted over. Yoon Seo wiped it dry with his sleeve.
"What do you think, hyung? Should we steal the skill?"
"Let's leave it for now. If we take the skill, the box will be trapped alone in the dungeon."
The turtle trembled and burrowed deeper into the bartender's embrace.
The group continued their conversation.
The dungeon where the box had entered was a B-rank yellow dungeon.
If it were a tutorial planet, Yoon Seo could easily clear it alone as if taking a stroll, but this planet had passed the test long ago and was currently at level 10. A level 10 B-rank yellow dungeon, where distorted beings appeared, was on a different level from a tutorial's B-rank yellow dungeon.
"We were just about to form a rescue party, and now Gaia and Watcher skill users have shown up. The whole universe must be on our side. I don't know what abilities your humanoid has, though."
"I'm a pretty capable humanoid too, myam."
Myam said without offense, wringing the remaining oil from its hose.
"How many people have gathered so far?"
"Me and the bartender. Plus the two inside the dungeon. The bartender and I are S-rank, and the other two are A-rank."
"Surely, this isn't a plot to lure us into the dungeon, right?"
"How could you think that? The person who wants to rescue that box the most is me. Unlike your blue bird, our box is quite cowardly. I can't even eat thinking about how scared it must be right now."
Skill
Confirming the sincerity of his words, Yoon Seo nodded at Kwon Jihan, who immediately made a decision.
"With us three, that makes five S-ranks. That should be enough. Let's go."
"It's nighttime now, so let's wait until sunrise."
Yoon Seo didn't think much of a one-night delay, but Kwon Jihan, looking out the pub's window, said.
"By this planet's rotation cycle, it'll be almost a week in Earth time before the sun rises. Hyung, can you wait that long?"
Yoon Seo was dumbfounded.
"We can't wait a week. We also need to factor in the time to return to Earth. We'll be late for the ceremony at this rate."
"Exactly. The dungeon operates on a different timeline anyway. Day or night doesn't matter. Let's go right now."
Kwon Jihan sprang to his feet. Yoon Seo also stood up, holding Riceball, and Myam rose as well, gripping its hose.
"This is so reckless!"
The bartender and the turtle had no choice but to stand as well. After all, they couldn't let S-rank awakeners equipped with both Gaia skills, Watcher skills, and an Ego Sword slip away.
***
"Helfelia ice cream for sale!"
"Specialty grilled squid from Yegin, only 5,000 fish!"
"Last repair shop before entering the portal zone! We handle armor, shields, and weapons!"
The turtle led the group to the northern wastelands. Despite the late hour, the wastelands were bustling like a marketplace. It was packed with street vendors, who seemed to be locals, and tourists who were clearly awakeners.
"That yellow portal is where we're going."
Yoon Seo saw dozens of other portals open behind the yellow one the turtle pointed to. They varied in color and rank, from green to blue, but all were B-rank yellow or lower.
Awakeners of various races stood in front of each portal, vigilant for the chance that a monster or distorted being might emerge at any moment.
One group of awakeners, chewing on grilled squid, stopped in front of a green portal.
"C-rank Green. What do you think? Should we go in?"
"There are D-rank and E-rank ones right next to it, so the competition shouldn't be too tough. Hey, how many people have gone in?"
When the leader of the group asked, the person guarding the portal responded.
"One party of four has entered."
Satisfied, the awakening party decided to proceed.
"The fee is 400,000 fish."
"Can't you cut us a little slack? You've already got people ahead of us."
"We're under fixed pricing regulations, so no."
"That's stingy."
Grumbling, the awakener transferred the payment from their inventory and entered the portal.
Like this party, various groups of awakeners were picking and choosing their portals, much like people browsing for RVs, holding grilled squid and beer in hand.
"What is this scene? We might be new to interplanetary travel, but I've never seen anything like this."
"Neither have I, myam. I don't usually come to places where the corrupted live, myam."
As eyes turned toward the bartender, who was holding the turtle, the turtle began to explain.
"When I was creating Black Kalia, I thought we needed to first establish a base. While searching for a planet on the fringes, away from the Cosmos' attention, I discovered this planet, Yegin."
"..."
"Once here, I learned that Yegin was an extremely poor planet. When it reached level 10, both S-rank Red and Black dungeons emerged in quick succession. However, the local Yegin awakeners couldn't clear the dungeons. Most of the planet turned into a wasteland due to the exploding dungeons."
"This wasteland is that very dead land, then."
"Indeed. With such limited habitable space, the population naturally dwindled. Since there were fewer people, there were fewer awakeners. But dungeons don't take a planet's circumstances into account when they appear. The local awakeners had no way to deal with the dungeons, even if they died trying. So, I devised this plan."
Whenever a portal appears, the turtle keeps it open. Alien awakeners flock in to seek the dungeon's spoils, and the Yegin locals profit by doing business with the awakeners.
Thanks to Black Kalia and the alien awakeners, the Yegin people have been able to survive.
"What? You said she was a corrupt one, but she's a good one after all."
"Good? That's an insult! I gave up on justice long ago!"
The turtle frowned.
"Black Kallia makes a huge profit from the stalls of Yegin. Awakeners tend to open their wallets when they see the poor, because of their sympathy for the underprivileged, their sense of superiority, and their heroic mindset. I'm a truly wicked corrupted one, robbing those naive Awakeners and poor people's wallets!"
"But the civilian area is too close to the portal zone. If it floods or explodes, it'll be dangerous."
"That's what worries me. I can't even build a large-scale shelter…"
"See, you're a good one after all."
"How dare you speak such disrespect!"
"Ah, it's Aunt Amaur! Auntie!"
"Auntie!"
"Aunt Amaur!"
Despite the turtle's vicious exclamation, a bunch of young Yegins rushed over.
From the bartender's arms, the turtle flailed its short limbs.
"You kids! I told you not to come into the portal zone because it's dangerous."
"Kalia is protecting us, so we're fine."
"What have you been doing up this late? Hey, hey, you'll fall. Run slowly!"
The young Yegins, who could be described as bipedal lizards with chubby tails, waddled toward them, constantly shifting their weight backward because of their tails.
Despite their clumsy waddle, the children managed not to fall and handed what they were carrying to the bartender.
"This is from our mom. She said you like apricot skewers!"
"This one's peach skewers!"
"And here's some carrot skewers!"
The bartender gave the peach skewers to the turtle and handed the others to Yoon Seo, Kwon Jihan, and Myam.
"Please eat these, so the kids don't get upset. Then we'll head in."
"Alien vegetable skewers? Sounds good to me."
Yoon Seo glanced at the carrot skewer in Kwon Jihan's hand and spoke.
"I'll take the carrot."
"Yeah, okay. So, hyung, you wanted the apricot, huh."
Yoon Seo, knowing Kwon Jihan would've preferred apricot over carrot, switched skewers with him.
Peep.
Riceball showed interest in the carrot skewer. It landed on Yoon Seo's hand and pecked at the well-grilled carrot with its beak. Then, with a disgusted expression, it spat it out.
"Wow! A bird!"
"A blue bird!"
"It's so small and cute!"
The young aliens, having spotted Riceball, started bouncing around in excitement.
Riceball's eyes sparkled. It wasn't the kind of bird to shy away from attention.
Peep!
The tiny bird descended into the hand of one of the children. As the small, round, cute, and lovable bird danced on their scales, the kids erupted into cheers, completely captivated.
One child, so engrossed he lost control of his tail, accidentally slapped Yoon Seo's calf with it.
"Wah!"
Though Yoon Seo was the one hit, the child was more startled. As the scared child looked up at him, Yoon Seo smiled gently.
"It's okay."
"…!"
The child's eyes grew wide, and… leaning its chubby tail against Yoon Seo's leg, it plopped down on his shoe with a thud.
Feeling completely reassured by Yoon Seo's forgiveness.
"My tail is heavy too."
"Mine too."
"My tail's heavy too."
Each child, enviously eyeing the one leaning on Yoon Seo, chimed in with their own remarks. In the end, the adults had to become tail rests for the kids while finishing their skewers.