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「You really liked it that much?! But sure, I’ll teach you everything!」
But there were two different types of cooks. Ones that saw it as a means of getting money, and those who simply pursued the best flavors. Colette belonged to the latter, so having more people experience her recipes brought her enough joy.
Colette taught Mira other recipes with a similar shocking taste as the stew, all of which she wrote down in her notes. Then as thanks she gave Colette an armful of fresh fruit she gathered on the sixth floor.
「Woah, can I really take all of this?! Thank you!」
She happily accepted the fruit, but then quickly caved to the intense stares from her companions and decided to share it in equal parts. Still, she enjoyed sharing tasty food, so even if she kept grumbling she was happy with that result.
(Ah… that fruit…)
Mira watched how Colette fairly divided the fruit and shared it. Most of the fruit she gave had good taste and some special effects, but some had strange quirks as well. There was one extreme case, a round red fruit, with an extreme sweet and intense acidic taste. Mira had taken the fruit out as a large lump, so that one had ended up roped inside. It looked identical to one of the Four Great Fruits, also known as the Queen of Hearts, but its taste was almost inedible.
It had a mana regenerating effect though, so maybe it was good for spellcasters.
Mira was unsure of how to act, but in the end decided to take it back, realizing that thanking someone by giving them that fruit created as a punishment would not be appropriate. So she approached Colette, intending on retrieving the fruit.
But she stopped nearby, noticing how Colette was treating that fruit.
Colette was sharing the fruit in turns, and when she got to the red fruit she stopped for a moment, picking a different one to give to Ettie.
The next one in line was Bardon, who had tried marrying Mira, and Colette gave him the red fruit without hesitation. That went to show why Colette was the cook of the group, she even knew about the red fruit.
Mira decided not to say anything, knowing Bardon would be the one taking the hit.
All of those fruits had been picked from the active facilities on the sixth floor, Mira could sense an annoying future if she shared Martel’s fruits.
After a pleasant good-bye with that group, Mira departed and went inside the large door at the other end of the cathedral, stepping into the corridor inside.
The Ancient Underground City’s seventh floor was clearly a different place.
All the previous floors had been ruined cities, an abandoned city of nobles, a floor full of imposing towers, and a place that closely resembled Kowloon City. They were all large locations that almost did not seem to exist underground, filled with adventurers and fantastical sights.
But the seventh floor was different. Anyone who went there for the first time after passing through all the previous floors would be confused.
(I remember people said this could be an ancient nuclear bunker, or a place for secret research. I think some even thought it was a spaceship in construction.)
The ceiling and walls were bathed in white, while the floor had a golden color. Lights were embedded onto them, lighting up the long corridor. There were a few golden doors on the sides, but they did not have keyholes or knobs, instead opening automatically when the correct key card was held near them. The mechanisms behind those doors were also different to anything in the previous floors, making the distinction even more stark.
Rather than fantasy, the seventh floor seemed to belong in science fiction. It was sterile and cold, but some vestiges of human life could be felt in some places.
Mira looked at her map while thinking how spaceships in movies often looked like that in her previous world.
The seventh floor had many corridors and rooms, but they were all clearly delineated and hard to miss. The issue was the doors, which oftentimes required keycards of different access levels. There were five levels in total, and the keycards had to be obtained in order, which could take many days, but even that was different to the glyphs from previous floors.
The keycards were items, so Mira, who had been there before, still possessed all of them. She could easily go in a beeline straight to the deepest room.
That also applied to her target Soul Howl though. Assuming he took the fastest route, he was likely already at the end.
(But I wonder how he’s handling the Machina Guardian.)
Before one could reach the final room of the seventh floor, where the white chalk orbs were located, one had to deal with a boss known as Machina Guardian. It was considered a raid boss, known as the hardest enemy with Guardian in the name. Dozens of high level players were needed to defeat it, and even a Wiseman fighting it solo would be considered reckless. Only the nine together would have a proper chance at defeating it.
Maybe there was someone fighting alongside Soul Howl. Mira thought that for a second, but none of the eyewitnesses had mentioned that, so the probability was low.
(I really hope he’s not trying to pull that off…)
Sometimes during a fight Machina Guardian would start repairing itself, as it was a mechanical construct. That was not a rare thing, as most raid bosses would take such breaks for around ten minutes. That way the bosses would always be back at full health even if all raid members were wiped out and returned to the arena.
But that created a loophole. It was an extreme measure that anyone could think of.
It was to drag the fight on for a long time. The boss would not initiate repairs as long as an enemy remained alive in the arena. So even if only one person remained alive, they could stall the fight until the rest of the people gathered again.
That was a specific role for some party members back in the game. They would keep the boss awake, not letting it rest, so they were called Alarms. Usually there were two or three of them.
Sometimes people going solo also became Alarms, but they were always from a class with familiars, namely summoners, onmyoji masters, or necromancers.
(I would understand for other raid bosses, but against Machina Guardian…)
In theory that could work flawlessly, chipping the boss away without letting it rest. But it was not easy to pull off at all. If one tried to economize on mana to last for longer, Machina Guardian’s powerful attacks would turn one to mush in an instant, and if someone tried to defend properly they would run out of mana rather quickly, and there was no time to rest and recover it.
To top it all off, Machina Guardian’s biggest feature was its resiliency. It was no exaggeration to say Machina Guardian had the strongest defense of all raid bosses. Even if Isenfald attacked with all his power, an attack would not even take a tenth of Machina Guardian’s HP.
In other words, even if someone had all the tools necessary to do it alone, it would take a long time to defeat the boss, maybe even weeks. No human had the patience and willpower to go through something like that. Any person would eventually lose focus and lower their guard.
(But well, I feel like he’d run straight ahead no matter how foolish it is.)
Common sense dictated that challenging Machina Guardian solo was a foolish and reckless endeavor. But stepping up to such reckless challenges was what defined the Nine Wisemen, Danbulf included.
The biggest priority to defeat a raid boss solo was mental fortitude. Then one also needed enough mana to fulfill the role of Alarm, which could be replenished with potions. If one was careful enough there were windows to rest too.
With enough money for resources, and the necessary mental fortitude, it was technically possible. Even then it sounded like a reckless idea, but maybe the dangers that came with everything being real now would work to one’s advantage. Either way, Mira decided she would only know for sure if she went there to check, so she continued speeding through the seventh floor.
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