Chapter 39 – Floor 6. If You Buy Now, Only…!

Clink – Clink–

The sound of the armor’s joints colliding, which would normally have been annoying, now sounded like the fierce roar of a savage lion telling others not to block its path.

To think that simply wearing a single piece of armor could make me feel this safe.

Wearing just this, wouldn’t I be practically invincible?

‘But what’s this thing attached to it?’

The “Unappraised” prefix on the Lion Knight Armor is something that appears when an item has unconfirmed magic enchantments or curses on it.

That means it must have some special ability, but without a scroll of appraisal, I couldn’t immediately confirm what it was.

Moreover, since my backpack was already full, it was impossible to carry it around in my backpack until I found an appraisal scroll. And I couldn’t just abandon this excellent item either.

After pondering between these options, my decision was to ‘risk the curse.’

‘If it’s a terrible curse, I’ll just have to rely more on summoning.’

The worst curses that can be placed on armor don’t just counter specific builds, but also slow natural recovery, cause hunger and thirst to deplete faster, and so on.

They have major negative effects on survival aspects that all character builds commonly need to pay attention to.

However, thanks to the canned food I’d brought from reality, I wouldn’t need to worry about hunger and thirst for a while, so even if it was cursed, I could endure until I found the Star Sanctuary or a pointed hammer and anvil.

Wheeee–

Actually, even more annoying than that were the flying insects that attached themselves one by one with each step I took.

Those vicious creatures attacking me, making irritating sounds in my ears while looking for the perfect moment to suck my blood, made my mind hazy.

“Do these crazy bugs not respond to repellent either…”

Hisss—

Even though I sprayed insect repellent all over my body until it was soaking wet, the effect only lasted briefly, and after a short time, another one would appear from somewhere and stick to my cheek with a ‘tock.’

Hisss— Pssst, Pssst–

Each time, I would swing my arms wildly and spray more insect repellent, but it was just a repetition of the same thing.

I threw away the empty can that had been depleted in just two hours.

The aluminum can that left my hand bounced on the ground, rolled around, and finally stopped its march when blocked by the densely grown grass.

‘I should have bought insecticide instead of repellent… though that probably wouldn’t have worked either.’

What could mere insecticide, which can’t even properly kill a single mosquito flying around at home, do against infinitely spawning insects? It would likely show the same result as the repellent I just threw away before becoming empty.

The spirit of protest rising in my heart called for a cocktail.

That cocktail’s name… Molotov cocktail? A name that sounded very sticky and flammable.

Of course, since this wasn’t a cocktail bar, it was just a wishful thought.

I walked through the green prison, waving my hands to chase away the barely visible flying insects that kept hovering in front of my face.

Occasionally, predatory plants appeared to block the way, but if they didn’t swarm by the dozen like with the summon trap, they weren’t a big problem for me with my increased defense.

The only annoyance was that the sticky digestive fluid from the plants kept clinging to my axe, so I had to wipe it off after killing each one.

While heading toward the room where I had used the teleportation scroll, examining the occasional rooms I saw along the way, I was able to obtain several items.

Equipment like thin leather gloves, leather pants, and a scholar’s conical hat—better than nothing, but not particularly useful.

Semi-consumables like unknown pink herbs or unappraised seeds.

Plus, the digestive fluid that could be obtained from killing predatory plants was actually a drinkable beverage. Out of curiosity, I tried it, and it had a slightly sour taste reminiscent of Yakult.

In fact, it felt so similar that conspiracy theories like “Yakult from my childhood was actually these plants’ digestive fluid?!” came to mind. With a bit of added flavor, it would probably taste quite similar.

“Hmm. Putting everything on without thinking has turned my look into a disaster.”

Despite wearing a magnificent plate armor with a carved lion, the rest was all worn-out leather, and the hat was a ridiculous conical hat.

Having never worn a party hat even on my birthday, I felt a great humiliation and took off the conical hat.

“Hmm. But wearing it is probably better?”

In life, sometimes people wear mix-and-match clothes that don’t go well together.

I can’t give up that Defense +1.

This terrible hybrid appearance, like some pseudo-thief-knight-wizard, was the best look I could achieve for navigating through this green hell.

‘By the way, it seems about time for it to be appraised.’

Quite some time had passed since I put on the armor.

The way to identify an unappraised item without using a scroll of appraisal or a scroll of identification is to wear it directly and walk around for a certain number of turns.

It should be automatically appraised after about 300 turns, so I was just thinking it should happen soon when:

[This item is cursed!]

[You felt a terrible sensation enveloping your entire body.]

Ah, fuck.

***

The Lion Knight Armor was a cursed item.

I was prepared for the possibility that it might be cursed, but actually experiencing it was inevitably quite depressing.

If there was something fortunate about it, it was that the “Cumbersome” prefix indicated it wasn’t a very strong curse.

It just made more noise when walking and decreased the chance to dodge attacks and avoid traps when in narrow passages.

A curse that wouldn’t be a big problem if you gave up on evasion and focused on strength and constitution.

Though it was a bit annoying that enemies would more easily swarm you.

‘But fuck. I put 15 points into Dexterity.’

The dodge chance provided by 1 point of Dexterity is 2%.

Thief’s Luck enhances the dodge chance given by Dexterity, resulting in a 45% dodge rate at 15 Dexterity, but the Cumbersome curse halves the final dodge rate.

‘And if you wear heavy armor, it reduces even more… dodge rate below 20%. It’s lower than initial Dexterity.’

No wonder my body felt somewhat slower than usual.

Despite finding it difficult to dodge flailing vines, I could at least avoid them with big movements if I concentrated, but after wearing the armor, I got hit countless times trying to do so.

Still, with the increased defense, it wasn’t a major problem…

But with my low Constitution and therefore low health, if I continued wearing this armor, it would become problematic from Floor 7, where attack power starts to increase.

“I wondered how dodge rate is applied, so that’s how it works.”

With a high dodge rate, your movements become quicker and your reflexes improve. Conversely, when it decreases, you become dull and your reactions slow down.

It felt like the abstract stat of dodge rate had been applied to reality as an intuitive ability.

“Tsk. It would have been better if I had raised Constitution to 15 first. Should I put this on the Wanderer?”

Of course, it was a meaningless complaint, as from experience, I knew that if I had raised Constitution, a curse that lowered health would have surely appeared instead.

‘That’s just how it goes. If no curse-removing object appears on this floor, I’ll have to give it to the Wanderer.’

The Wanderer, a juggernaut-type warrior specialized in Strength and Constitution, could probably use this Lion Knight Armor with almost no penalty.

The downside was that I would become a paper-bodied weakling again, but isn’t that always the case for a summoner?

After two full days of exploration, drinking the slightly sour digestive fluid of predatory plants like Yakult as a beverage, and getting used to the occasional protein impurities mixed in, I saw a familiar silhouette of pale light in the distance.

The Sad Ghost, Maria. The auxiliary merchant I would rely on frequently from Floor 6 onward.

“Finally, we meet again. I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

“Yeah, same here.”

I approached Maria, waving my hand as she showed signs of welcome. Despite being a ghost, her beautiful appearance remained, though her legs seemed slightly more faded than when I saw her in the tomb.

Noticing my gaze, Maria added an explanation.

“Spirit forms are not inherently very free, so extending one’s range of movement requires a significant amount of spiritual power.”

That meant she had used that spiritual power to follow me, which was why her legs had faded.

This explained why the Sad Ghost’s sprite existed in each region, noticeably more numerous than other NPCs or enemies.

‘The Suspicious Merchant has a reason to receive GOLD, but I wondered why we had to pay GOLD to the Sad Ghost too. It was for maintenance costs.’

There were occasionally posts from users questioning the Sad Ghost who charged GOLD despite selling items at cheap prices and claiming to help the journey, but I never expected to find out like this.

Well, who would think of going into the dungeon directly to ask?

“I’ve brought some items that, though limited, might be useful for you, Hero.”

“Hmm…”

Ten types of items spread out on the ground, from wherever they came from.

The Sad Ghost is an auxiliary merchant. She sells items at a much cheaper price than the Suspicious Merchant, but she still couldn’t escape the label of being just an “auxiliary” merchant.

The reason was her significantly fewer items compared to the Suspicious Merchant.

Moreover, those items remained fixed until defeating the boss and moving to the next area.

The Suspicious Merchant, who could be encountered every three floors, changed their merchandise with each encounter, making them far more likely to bring key items that were needed.

‘Still, it’s a shame not to have her.’

Having felt the importance of consumables in D.D. more keenly than ever, I could only see Maria, who brought ten items at reasonable prices, as beautiful.