"Extend lifespan by fifty years?"
If Anzen heard that... heâd probably cry.
Rhein walked over, holding the Longevity Blossom. It was a pristine white flower, radiating a faint golden-green glow.
"I found this inside that monster just now."
So it really was.
Kanzaki Rei had studied countless herb compendiums before. Among them, he had paid particular attention to longevity-enhancing materials.
This was indeed a Longevity Blossom.
He had no idea whose relic this originally belonged to.
Something like this shouldâve been one of the final rewards of a relic...
And yet it had just dropped so casually?
...Was the drop rate really this high?
If that was the case...
Then his plan might need to change.
In his previous future simulation, this hadnât been the game he drew.
And he hadnât seen monsters dropping items.
But now...
If even a random kill could yield something this valuable...
Rhein, completely ungreedy, handed the flower directly to Elia.
Elia felt a little embarrassed.
She hadnât even bothered to collect the spoilsâand yet he had found it and handed it over so generously.
"...So, what should we do now?"
"There seems to be a Level 5 dungeon nearby."
Rei spoke.
"...Hmm. I suddenly thought of something that concerns me."
It was also time to find an excuse to separate.
If these monsters could also drop [Ascension Realm] potions, then he should take advantage of this opportunity to farm as many as possible.
From his simulations, he already knew their effect:
They reduced the requirements for the next advancement.
But just a few doses... were far from enough.
They would have to be saved for critical breakthroughs.
But if he could farm hundreds...
Then there would be no need to conserve them at all.
One potion per level...
It wasnât like he had hundreds of levels waiting to advance through.
"...Something that concerns you?" Rhein asked.
"Yeah. Earlier, when the rules were being explained, there was a symbol that caught my attention. I didnât understand it at the time."
"But now that I think about it... it might actually be meaningful."
"I want to go back and try to decipher it."
Rei lowered his tone slightly.
"As for combat... you probably donât need me."
"Iâd just slow you down if you had to protect me."
"Iâll head back first."
Rhein scratched his head.
"...Yeah, that makes sense. Running dungeons would be dangerous for you."
Even though a Level 4 Origin Mage wasnât exactly helpless...
If Rei chose not to fight, it would indeed be risky.
Both Rhein and Elia had already forgotten that Rei possessed the Seer class.
"I donât think scoring methods are limited to just killing monsters," Rei added. "Iâll make sure to stay safe."
Elia nodded.
"...Alright. Be careful."
Not having to carry extra baggage was, admittedly, a relief.
Rei bid them farewell and turned back, stepping once more into the door that had not disappeared.
He returned to the chaotic trial space.
Every door led to chaos.
Every door led to the unknown.
Rei gazed into the futureâ
...and saw nothing but disorder.
Even he couldnât determine where he would end up.
So he cast a divination on himself.
Among the thirty-two doors, he chose one at the twelve oâclock direction.
And stepped through.
Flashâ
The moment he emergedâ
BOOM!
A streak of violet lightning tore across the sky.
Dark clouds gathered as torrential rain poured down.
The ground beneath him... was not soil, but pure white.
The instant he landedâ
Monsters.
Everywhere.
ROAR!
Countless beasts lunged toward him!
"...This is?"
Rei processed the information fed back by his perception talent.
"...A Concentrated Monster Zone?"
The density of monsters here far exceeded normal conditions.
Boom!
Ice pillars erupted from the ground.
In an instantâ
Every monster charging at him was impaled.
"...So the wish has been fulfilled."
His wish to leave the ancient ruin alive had already been completed.
Rei summoned Elvornâs undead.
His detection range expanded to 20,000 kilometers, sweeping across the entire island.
The island... was small.
A radius of roughly 15,000 kilometers.
Destroying it wouldnât even require his direct action.
A few massive trees would suffice.
But its nature...
...was extraordinary.
The density of the monster tide was so intense it was almost tangible.
Even without deliberate effort, it could naturally form a 7th-tier dungeon.
This was:
The Primordial White Continent.
"...So I ended up here."
"These doors really do send you anywhere at random."
"...Still, this place isnât bad."
"No need to keep jumping around."
Too much movement might land him somewhere truly dangerous.
One destination was enough.
Whooshâ
Beside him, the Source of Calamity manifested.
At the same timeâ
A massive black mountain appeared.
[Polluted Ant Mountain]
The entire mountain seemed to ooze black sludgeâ
But it wasnât sludge.
It was ants.
Rei waved his hand.
Fwooshâ
Golden flames swept across the mountain.
The thick layers of "sludge" were instantly stripped awayâ
Revealing countless black ants piled in layers dozens of meters thick.
His soul count surged by another one trillion.
"...Still incredibly efficient."
As the Ant Mountain evolved, its production efficiency had become absurd.
Compared to before, it was on an entirely different scale.
Now a 6th-tier Nation-Destroying monster, it still only produced 2nd and 3rd-tier ants.
But in exchangeâ
Its production rate was monstrous.
Hundreds of billions per day under normal conditions
Trillions per day in dense monster tides
With this...
Rei could now freely unleash trillion-soul detonations daily without restraint.
Above, the Source of Calamity circled, shrieking.
Dungeons began forming all around.
Soonâ
More than a dozen 6th-tier dungeons had formed.
And still...
The monster tide remained abundant.
Even as it was consumed, it continued replenishing itself.
Rei began performing sacrifices using his Death Priest expertise.
If he only cared about quantityâ
There was no need to clear dungeons.
He could farm endlessly.
Firstâ
100,000 souls.
Fwooshâ
The souls poured into the dungeon.
The entrance turned black-red.
Rei stepped inside.
Withinâ
An army.
Thousands of Lord-tier and King-tier 6th-tier monsters surged forward.
Now he understood their classification:
5 Evolutions â Continental-Sinking
4 Evolutions â Nation-Destroying
3 Evolutions â King
2 Evolutions â Lord
1/0 Evolutions â Still Lord-tier
Whooshâ
Behind him, a massive white tree appeared.
[Undead: Pure White Tree]
The moment it manifestedâ
A pale white ripple, tinged faintly with green, spread outward.
Fwooshâ
Everything it touchedâ
Disintegrated instantly.
All monsters collapsed into fragments, becoming nutrients for the tree.
His Level 6 Observer scanned.
Rei raised his hand.
Items flew into his grasp.
"...Another Longevity Blossom?"
"...The drop rate is really this high?"
From roughly 5,000 kills, he obtained:
A Longevity Blossom
A flame seed: Molten Sanctified Flame
"...Molten Sanctified Flame. Ranked 78th among all flames."
For high-tier blacksmithing, ordinary flames were useless.
Rare materials required rare fire.
This was one such flame.
"...So this is one of those âranked flamesâ."
He sighed.
This world loved its rankings.
Though many were unreliable.
Different books often contradicted each other.
"...Still. A very good flame."
The harder the materialâ
The easier this flame could melt it.
Even outside forging, its applications were vast.
Fwoosh!
The flame ignited in his handâ
Forming a dark crimson blaze.
Fire magic could control itâ
But not seamlessly.
And it couldnât be used to cast spells directly.
"...If only I could integrate this into my magic..."
Rei glanced at the results.
"Five thousand monsters... and this much loot."
"...The drop rate really isnât low."
Then he checked the rankings.
In just that brief momentâ
He had jumped from last place (0 points)
To second placeâ
With over 400,000 points.
Based on averages:
50â100 points per kill
~75 expected
But his average exceeded 85.
His luck wasnât low.
He glanced at third place.
Only 4,000 points.
"...So the difficulty isnât just killing monsters."
"...Itâs finding them."