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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Cyberpunk and the Mercenary (5)
“I think I’ll start going into dungeons soon.”
While eating the chicken salad that was served for dinner, Amon said to Sonia, who was sitting across from him.
Sonia’s reaction was calm.
She knew that this day would come eventually.
In this world, there were two main ways to get stronger.
One was to undergo enhancement procedures such as magic tattoos, cyberization, or genetic modification.
However, Amon and Sonia had no intention of undergoing any of these.
That was because each enhancement procedure had fatal weaknesses.
Magic tattoos consumed power continuously just by breathing and had very poor energy efficiency, making them inconvenient for daily life.
Cyberization was too vulnerable to hacking and EMPs.
Genetic modification changed the appearance of the user, making them non-human and causing specific allergies.
Each enhancement procedure had its fatal weaknesses.
If Amon and Sonia were ordinary humans, they might have accepted those weaknesses and undergone the procedures, but they were wielders of divine power.
They already had good potential, so there was no reason for them to embrace the disadvantages.
That left one way to get stronger.
Obtaining essences from dungeons.
Of course, unlike enhancement procedures, a stable result wasn’t guaranteed, and the degree of enhancement was much smaller than procedures.
In addition, the death rate was much higher than with enhancement procedures.
Therefore, it was generally standard to undergo enhancement procedures in order to obtain essences.
But Amon was different.
He had already proven his combat ability in the Higzen Group dungeon.
So, it was something she already expected that he would wander into dungeons to acquire essences.
Her reaction was calm because it was a statement that could have been made anytime.
However, there was one thing she wanted to make sure of before he left.
“How long will it take? Are you planning on staying out overnight?”
The dungeons in this world weren’t that deep.
After all, they were research labs or company buildings that had exploded due to failed experiments, so even the deepest ones could be traveled to and back within a day.
However, that was only if they were fairly new.
Depending on the type of boss, most dungeons deepened as time went by.
A boss wouldn’t be an idiot and remain at a depth that could be traveled in a day, would they?
Most bosses gradually expanded their nests like queen ants, making them more complex and deeper.
“I heard that it’s about four days round-trip there?”
Her golden eyes looked at Amon.
Meeting her eyes which were practically dripping with disappointment, Amon chuckled wryly.
“Don’t worry. It’s not that far. I’ll just be doing a quick scout and will come right back from the entrance this time.”
Certainly, Amon wanted to get stronger.
But at the same time, he wanted to live happily for a long, long time.
That was why he had no intention of rushing to the dungeon boss and risking a game over to his life.
There was no need to hurry anyway.
Always safely.
That was his motto.
Only after hearing Amon’s reply that he would be back within a day did Sonia breathe a sigh of relief.
At the orphanage, she had always slept with her older and younger siblings.
Even after graduation, although they didn’t sleep in the same room, she had become accustomed to living under the same roof as Amon.
However, being left home alone… she still wasn’t used to it.
Or maybe she just didn’t like the fact that Amon was staying out overnight.
Either way, she was relieved by Amon’s answer.
“Be careful. Don’t get hurt.”
Amon nodded.
If it were up to the atmosphere, they would kiss each other, but even as lovers, kissing while eating was a bit of a mood killer.
Therefore, they held hands instead.
Sonia’s silver bracelet and Amon’s gold bracelet sparkled on their respective wrists.
Under the soft lighting, the two prayed for each other for a moment.
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The next day.
Amon headed for the dungeon.
Cathy didn’t come along.
Unlike the mercenary requests, Amon didn’t have the time to look after her this time.
They had promised that Amon would adjust to the dungeon first, and she would come later.
For the time being, he was planning to operate alone.
Upon arriving in the street where the dungeon was located, Amon entered a building facing the dungeon.
[Explorers’ Guild]
It was a different place from the mercenary brokerages he always went to.
Mercenary brokerages were a place that connected mercenaries with clients, not a place where mercenaries found party members.
Dungeons were not a place you entered because someone requested it, but a place you entered because you wanted to.
So, if you wanted to find a party, you had to find a separate space for explorers.
Whoosh.
The automatic door opened, and Amon entered.
People’s gazes turned towards him.
Their gazes swept over Amon from head to toe.
Whether they used cybernetic eyes or magic eyes, they all began to assess Amon in their own ways.
Many explorers quickly lost interest in Amon.
‘What is this? Just a rookie who hasn’t had any procedures done.’
What did it matter if his equipment was good?
It didn’t look like the user would be able to use that equipment to its full potential.
They dismissed him as a spoiled young master from a wealthy family and lost interest.
Unlike those people, there were still some who hadn’t lost interest in Amon.
They were focused on Amon’s equipment, not his body.
These were people who thought that equipment was a measure of the user’s skill.
They focused on the sword hanging at Amon’s waist and the clothes he was wearing.
‘Is he a ninja or a bodyguard?’
Top-of-the-line equipment that could be used by combatants from large corporations.
There was no way someone who appeared wearing that wouldn’t be skilled.
And so, Amon’s assessment split into two.
Amidst the starkly different assessments, Amon headed to the reception desk.
He approached a receptionist who had a gentle and kind impression, like a comforting older sister.
“Hello, explorer. Do you need any help?”
He had hit the jackpot.
It was a rare kind of kindness in cyberpunk.
“I need a party.”
“What’s your main position?”
Her gaze went to Amon’s waist.
A sword and a shotgun.
It was obvious that he was a vanguard, but she asked just in case.
“Vanguard, swordsman.”
She nodded and entered Amon’s details.
It didn’t take long for a match to be found.
“There are two parties looking for a vanguard attacker. One is planning on only going to the entrance of the dungeon, and the other is planning on going as far as they can. Which one would you like to join?”
“I’d like to join the entrance party.”
“That’ll be table 21. Have a safe exploration.”
Amon thanked the receptionist for her kindness and headed to table 21.
When he arrived at the table, he was greeted by some men with slightly menacing faces.
Most of them had more than 30% of their upper bodies covered in cybernetics.
“Hello, I’m Amon.”
“…”
The party members looked Amon up and down.
They exchanged glances and then nodded.
“Welcome, I’m Paul. I’m the leader of this party. Nice to meet you, vanguard.”
His voice was normal considering that his neck was also covered in cybernetics.
Paul immediately introduced his party members.
Evan. A man with messy yellow hair. He was a rear guard and a rifleman.
Hale. A burly man with a blue buzzcut. He was the firepower and used a machine gun.
Tori. A vanguard with long black hair. Amon had thought they were a man, but they were a transgender woman and Paul’s lover. She was initially the only vanguard in this party.
“Lastly, I’m a mage. Even though I look like this, I went to university.”
“Nice to meet you all.”
Amon bowed his head.
There was no healer in the party.
Those with divine power that could heal were only found in upper-level parties.
There was no way that the party who were planning on returning at the entrance would have one.
There was also no hacker.
The dungeon they were headed to was a place that had been created due to a failed magic engineering experiment.
A hacker was useless there.
With Amon joining, the complete party headed to the dungeon.
The area in front of the dungeon was packed with people.
“Whew~ There are more explorers than monsters, huh?”
Evan with his messy yellow hair spoke, tapping his rifle.
Hale, the blue-haired buzzcut, moved his bulky body and denied that statement.
“Do you even know how many monsters there are in this dungeon? This place is more than 20 years old, and the dungeon boss was a lich. On the surface, it looks like just a building, but if you include the sub-spaces underneath, it’s about the size of a city.”
“Yeah, yeah. Take a joke as a joke.”
“Sorry. My humor circuits are turned off because they interfere with calculating ballistics.”
“Who asked?”
“I’m sorry about that too-”
The two bickered.
Yet, they looked quite close, as they were smiling.
Meanwhile, Paul was cozying up to his lover.
Watching a frail mage and a muscular transgender woman cozying up, Amon felt as though he was truly in cyberpunk.
Amon momentarily turned his gaze away from his party members and looked at the endless line of people.
At the end of the line was the entrance of a company that was once the world leader in magic engineering technology.
To stay at the forefront, it was not enough to just follow others.
They always had to pioneer the way.
Even though they knew that they could become a dungeon if things went wrong.
The [Howling Darkness] dungeon was such a place.
When they had failed, none of the citizens had felt pity, and the government had not attempted any rescue.
Just like any other time, with news of a new dungeon, mercenaries flocked to it and an explorers’ guild was established centered around the dungeon.
And they just managed the entrance to the dungeon and collected tolls.
A place that was once someone’s tomb was now just another workplace in this world.
Amon said a silent prayer for the victims.
Paul, the party leader, noticed Amon praying and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Hey. You’re a devout guy.”
He said, pointing to the cross hanging around Amon’s neck.
Amon smiled to affirm his words.
“Don’t worry. I won’t force my faith on anyone.”
“Haha. Still, if there’s a time to find a god in a dungeon, I’ll rely on you.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Next!”
As they were talking, their turn came quickly.
The party entered the dungeon.
The area near the entrance was so crowded with people that it was like they were on a cave tour.
However, as they went deeper inside the building, which didn’t seem like a building at all, a fork in the road appeared.
“Did this lich make this too?”
“Yeah. Probably to distribute the explorers as much as possible.”
Should they go up, go down, or take the elevator?
Unlike fantasy dungeons that had a single path, it was confusing.
The boss had probably aimed for this as well.
But Amon and the party’s goal was clear.
“We’re going underground. Let’s try to find a magic recipe there.”
Even though it had been walked through by countless people, it was still a large company, no matter how ruined it was.
They could expect a decent haul even at the entrance.
There was no need to worry about people having already taken everything.
That was because recipes kept being discovered somehow, whether they were killing monsters or exploring.
There were various theories as to why that was, but the most popular one was that the lich had created it that way on purpose to delay the dungeon’s exploration.
This didn’t matter anyway, and what Paul’s party wanted were magic recipes.
“We’re going to speed through to the last point.”
““Ooh!!””
With a loud shout, the party headed towards their goal.
“..Oh.”
Amon’s quiet shout, not matching their energy, was an extra.
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