Chapter 21
It had already been a month since we talked about the gold sleeping in Mochi Dungeon.
Steadily continuing to imrove our skills, the two of them had been running the dungeon without complaint since then.
Sometimes, taking breaks to enjoy the city, eating snacks, and shopping with the money we saved, we were somehow enjoying this world.
But on such a day, after countless runs through the dungeon, with cushions that could ruin a person placed in Nel's room besides those for Amina and me, it happened.
"This is the end!!"
"Good job, Nel. Even if the skill effect is marginal, the efficiency has improved a lot."
"With this many defeats, it's bound to happen."
With a final blow from Nel, who completely saw through the opponent's movements, the last Kagami Mochi was defeated, a feat that might have set a new personal best in RTA.
What followed was the routine check of the treasure chest.
"Both of you, look at that!"
Amina, who was no longer surprised by golden treasure chests, called out to us as we were looking away.
"What is that!?"
It had been so long that even I was surprised.
A platinum treasure chest with a rainbow aura.
No mistake.
"A rainbow treasure chest!!"
"Eh, is this it?"
"It's the first time it's appeared."
A treasure chest that appears at an ultra-low probability, offering the highest rate items in this dungeon.
Gathering around the chest that exuded an almost divine atmosphere, our hearts were racing.
Not from running and the increased pulse.
Our brains were in a state of extreme excitement, pulling our hearts along.
Yes, colloquially speaking, it's like the brain juice is going crazy.
"...Is it okay to open this?"
"Yeah."
"Will divine punishment fall?"
"I don't remember it falling."
While I was excited about what item might appear, Nel and Amina were calm.
No, they were too mystified, hesitating whether it was okay to open it.
When it was a golden treasure chest, they played rock-paper-scissors to not let me open it.
Well, it's because my real luck is so bad that they think it's better not to let me open it.
But now, they were urging me with their eyes to open the chest.
"Nel, aren't you going to open it?"
"To, today I feel a bit off, so I'll pass!"
"I, I think I'll pass this time too."
Personally, I wanted Nel, who has the highest real luck among us, to open it, but both were too scared of the mystical item to want to open it.
Forcing them to open it wouldn't do any good.
"Don't complain if it's a dud."
"Got it."
"Yeah, it's fine."
After confirming it was okay even if it was a dud, I gently reached out to the rainbow treasure chest.
Opening the chest under their watchful eyes.
Nostalgic.
During game event periods, I used to search for limited items with my friends like crazy.
The roar when a rainbow appeared, and the sadness when a different item appeared that you couldn't genuinely be happy about.
Wait, I'm starting to not want to open the chest a bit?
I don't think Nel and Amina would say such things, but opening it feels more like bearing the responsibility of opening it rather than the expectation.
"...I'm opening it."
"Okay."
"Go ahead."
Influenced by their atmosphere and recalling a bit of past trauma, I also got nervous.
Imagining the list of items that could come out of the Kagami Mochi's rainbow chest in my head.
"Namu Amida Butsu!"
After taking a deep breath, I opened the unlocked chest.
"So, how is it?"
"Did lightning strike or something?"
"Nothing has changed, but..."
Nothing unusual happened.
No monsters summoned that Nel was worried about.
No traps activated, nothing of that sort.
Nel and Amina, relieved that no divine punishment had fallen, cautiously peered inside.
Having opened it first, I frowned slightly at the contents of the chest.
"The contents are... a key? And it's really shiny. Like it's made of gold."
"...Could it be!?"
Amina, carefree, admired the key I took out from the chest, but Nel, looking back and forth between my face and the key, seemed to realize its true nature.
"That's right. It seems we've hit the jackpot."
It's been a while since I've seen it, but there are only two types of keys that come out of Kagami Mochi's rainbow chest.
One is a regular Mochi key.
Basically, a dud.
But this golden key is unmistakable.
"It's the key to the Golden Mochi Dungeon."
"Wha!?"
The sound of gasping from both sides, but that's not important right now.
What's up with my real luck?
It never works normally, so why now?
Could it be that something bad is going to happen in the future that I need to take advantage of this luck?
Please, no. I just learned from Nel about the dark side of this world's power holders and realized with Jinx-san's confirmation that it's dangerous to stand out before gaining strength.
"What should we do?"
"What do you mean? We have to use it."
Nel's question was natural.
It's what we were originally seeking.
There's no hesitation in using it now.
Selling it is absolutely out of the question.
"Is it okay to use it? It feels a bit wasteful."
"Carrying it around is scarier."
Amina showed reluctance to use such a precious item, but the benefits from using it are immeasurable.
You can gain more experience from defeating monsters in this dungeon than in any other.
Depending on the drop items, you can get even stronger.
"Hey, Liberta."
"What is it?"
The idea of leaving the dungeon doesn't even come up with such an item.
Inside the dungeon, especially the boss room, once the door is closed, there's no worry of interference from the outside.
Right now, this is the safest place.
We're staying here until we decide the key's fate.
A common understanding among the three of us.
"Can't we make it so we can use it forever, like the keys we've been using?"
"Ah."
And then Nel realized.
Because I showed her a way to make dungeon keys permanent.
"To conclude, theoretically, it's possible."
"Theoretically?"
But I also know it's an unrealistic story.
"Once, an alchemist who reached the pinnacle of the field prepared the best equipment conceivable at the time and attempted to synthesize a hundred of these golden keys."
It's famous in the FBO community.
If using the Mark of the Weak can make certain consumables usable indefinitely, then why not make rare consumables into infinite mechanisms?
A thought everyone had, but no one achieved.
A player with an alchemist build, said to be unmatched at the time, prepared what he considered his masterpiece setup and equipment, along with enhancement items and personnel that anyone would agree were perfect for the challenge.
A challenge prepared with a hundred keys, ready to face failure.
"And the result?"
Nel, intrigued by the legendary tale, urged me to continue.
"Failure. No, a crushing defeat."
Despite all the preparation, all the golden keys shattered, leaving only the weakest item, the Mark of the Weak.
The player who attempted it thought it was strange to fail so badly, questioning if the item was unsynthesizable, and sent the challenge footage to the operators for inquiry.
The answer that came back was.
"The synthesis success rate of the golden key and the Mark of the Weak is... one in a hundred million. And that's with the pinnacle alchemist's perfect preparation."
The operators, considering skill composition, equipment, status, setup, items, personnel, all factors, carefully calculated and returned the answer.
The answer quickly spread among the players, and the path to the perpetual motion machine of the golden key was recognized as not zero, but close to zero.
"Even if there's an alchemist in this town with better skills, it's better to use it than to attempt it."
The NPC alchemists in this town are far below the players.
Even the royal court alchemists can't hold a candle to a serious alchemist build.
"Right, then I think it's better to use it."
Originally intending to use it, after hearing my story, Nel decided it's better to dispose of troublesome items early.
"Is it really okay?"
"Then, is there any other method? If you say throw it away, I'll get angry."
"I won't go that far."
As a merchant and as a result of her efforts, Nel couldn't bear to throw away what she had gained, glaring at Amina who was lamenting the waste.
"Alright, I get it. I'm interested too."
After a few seconds of glaring, Amina raised the white flag.
Amina, who just wanted to keep the rare golden key, seemed to have tipped the scales towards using it.
"Then let's use it right away. Strike while the iron is hot."
"If that's the case, let's use it here."
With Amina's resolve, Nel headed towards the magic circle to go outside but was stopped.
"Eh, we're inside the dungeon, right? Can we use it here?"
"We can. In fact, there's no safer place to use the golden key than here."
Generating a dungeon inside a dungeon.
It might sound strange, but it's perfectly doable.
Once, a foolish player prepared a large number of dungeon keys and created a dungeon chain that took three days to exit.
"Right, the boss room is safe from outside interference. No one can come in."
"Then we can use it without worry."
"Alright, let's use it right away."
That logic should hold.
Cautiously presenting the golden key, the familiar sensation of it fitting, and the sound of it clicking open.
"Whoa!?"
"It's bright!?"
The light from the opened space made us instinctively shield our eyes.
Like the Mochi Dungeon, it's a cave, but the entire space is dyed in golden hues.
"Is this all gold?"
"Yeah, but it's a dungeon, so it's indestructible and can't be taken out."
"Wow, amazing."
As our eyes adjusted, we slowly lowered our hands.
A natural golden cave.
If we could mine all the gold here and take it back, imagine the wealth.
Perhaps thinking that, Nel has been moving her head up, down, left, and right.
"Ah, even the mochi is golden."
Looking into the space from the entrance, Amina spotted moving objects.
"Eh? But there seem to be a lot of them."
"This dungeon is different from the regular Mochi Dungeon; it doesn't respawn. Instead, there are more mochi initially and more rooms."
"Wow."
Golden spheres bouncing around with a soft motion.
Though familiar from games, seeing it after a long time feels oddly strange.
"This should really help level up our skills!!"
"Right, we need to think carefully to distribute the numbers evenly."
But there's no doubt it's a treasure trove in terms of experience and drop items.
Personally, hoping for Nel's real luck, I'm thinking three rounds should be enough, directly challenging the greed sensor.
"Well, let's go in."
There's not much time left today.
If we're to defeat all the golden mochi in the dungeon, we better hurry.
"Yeah! Let's go with full spirit!"
"Let's do our best!"
Each holding our weapons, we entered the first room.
"First, one each!!"
"I'll take the one on the right!"
"Then, I'll take this one."
Even golden, mochi is still mochi.
Non-active monsters, so even when we arrived, they were leisurely bouncing around.
The plaza is a bit wide, blending into the golden space, making it a bit troublesome to find, but since the moving objects are mochi, we each chose our targets.
"On the count of three!"
"Okay!"
"Eh, ah, okay."
Is this some kind of ritual?
Well, there's a desire to defeat the first monster together, I guess.
"One, two, three!"
Following Nel's cue, we thrust our spears into the golden mochi.
The sensation is almost the same as regular mochi.
Not hard like some metal monsters.
So the golden mochi was easily defeated in one hit, just like regular mochi.
"The drop is... nothing."
The golden ground was empty.
Thinking it's a pity, I remind myself that not getting anything is normal.
"I did it!! It dropped!!"
"Nel, you're amazing!!"
Eh, seriously?
But seeing Nel jumping for joy with a golden mochi in hand, my heart aches a little.