“Did you notice any differences between the wraiths on the 7th floor and 8th floor?”

I thought for a bit, “Mmm…the 8th floor wraiths were a bit stronger. Their defense seemed to be higher.”

Unlike the wraiths on the 7th floor, the wraiths from the 8th floor didn’t die in one hit. But the shop noona, Loretta, didn’t seem satisfied with my answer.

“You didn’t feel anything else?”

“Anything else? Uh…oh, yeah.”

I recalled that there seemed to be ones that spit out something from their mouths. They were almost like goblins with their poisonous darts. Because I became temporarily paralyzed when they hit me, they were quite annoying to deal with. Without them, I could have finished the 8th floor several hours earlier.

“Do you think the 9th floor won’t have wraiths like those?”

“What are you trying to say?”

Even though I asked, I knew what she meant. Just as I had expected, the shop noona shoved a strange object in front of my face and shouted enthusiastically.

“Here! This is a Spiritual Shield, something that can block the wraiths’ ectoplasm arrows 100 times! It’s only 5,000 gold! If you buy this, you might be able to break through the 9th floor in under 9 hours!”

“…Did you give me a quest just to sell me things?”

Noona turned her head away from me. Then…

“But customer, you never come to the shop…”

“T-That’s…”

“For over three years, no less! Not once! Do you know how much my performance has fallen during that time?”

“P-Performance…”

“Why don’t we help each other, customer? You make so much. It wouldn’t hurt to spend some at the shop, would it?”

I protested weakly, “But 5,000 gold is too much.”

Since the exchange rate was 1 gold to 2,100 won, that would mean 10.5 million won. In fact, after doing the conversion in my mind, I really didn’t want to buy it. I couldn’t buy such a high price item on a whim…

“Without this, it probably will be impossible to break through the 9th floor in 9 hours. Ah, it’s 8 hours, 57 minutes, and 58 seconds now.”

I whined, “You’re being such a stickler with the time!”

In the end, I reluctantly bought the Spiritual Shield. The actual item was a sticker, and when I put it on the back of my hand, I felt an instant zap. The sticker then disappeared and the sticker mark seemed to be tattooed onto my hand.

I instantly regretted my decision as it resembled a Pokemon sticker.

“Damn it, I have to quickly use these up…!” I groused unhappily.

If either my mother or my father saw me with a Pokemon tattoo on my hand, they would no doubt give me a strange look. I quickly rushed up to the 9th floor with the cheers of the shop noona behind me.

She shouted gleefully, “The next time you buy it, I’ll give you a ten percent discount!”

“As if I will!”

I ran. Although my mana had risen to over 1,000 after hitting level 9, I did not pay any attention to it. I only had 8 hours 55 minutes and 34 seconds left!

“Commence Exploration!” I shouted with a ringing voice.

Wraiths surged out from all directions. The shop noona was right; there were more wraiths that shot out ectoplasm arrows. Although I still wasn’t sure whether I needed to spend 10.5 million won to block them, I managed to stop that line of thinking and chose to believe that the quest reward would be worth it.

[Quest Success]

[Seeing you break through the 9th floor in 24 hours, the shop owner regrets making a bet. But a promise is a promise, she will give you a worthy reward.]

[You have received a system reward. You have obtained 1 skill point. You can raise the level of a skill by 1.]

“You really succeeded.”

“Yes.”

“You really… succeeded…”

“Noona, your face.”

Her depressed expression made me feel a bit sheepish, so I turned away. I was more intrigued by the skill point I had earned. Wasn’t raising a skill level an amazing reward? It seemed better to save it than to use it now.

Loretta seemed to have regained her usual calmness as she grabbed my hand and handed me a translucent circular object.

“Agh, a promise is a promise. Here is your reward.”

[You received Soul Bomb x2.]

“What’s this?”

“They’re Soul Bombs, customer.”

Although I was thankful she had talked to me nicely, her eyes still looked dead inside. I thought about pointing this out, but I decided against it and went to check the description of the Soul Bombs.

[Soul Bomb (Rare)

A magical tool created by a great sage who wields soul magic and Kaloha race’s blacksmith, ‘Hand of Creation’. When this magical tool is thrown and shock is applied, the ‘Spiritual Burst’ skill will be used, dealing fatal damage to all existences in soul form. It deals 500 ~ 5,000 damage to all souls in a 20 meter radius.]

I cried out, “These are consumables!”

“That’s why I gave you two!” She retorted.

“So I can only use it twice!”

“Well, customer, would you like to make another bet?”

“It’s breaking through the 10th floor, right? I don’t even need to be told!”

To think she’d make use of her reward to lure me into another bet! What a vicious woman!

“But there won’t be a time limit this time.”

“Oh?”

“You can complete it whenever you want.”

“…Let’s hear it.”

“Hee hee, I’ve got him.”

“Your inner thoughts are coming out, noona.”

“The bet is simple. You have to defeat the 10th Floor Master, the Wraith Queen, by yourself!”

[A quest appeared!]

“Race Queen[1]?”

I hoped she didn’t ask why I said that out loud. Thinking about a racing girl in a miniskirt upon hearing ‘wraith queen’ only proved that I was a man.

“Will you accept the challenge?” Loretta looked at me provokingly. 

I smirked and answered, “I will. Something like that will be no challenge for me.”

[You accepted the quest.]

“Oh, how bold for someone who stayed on the 5th floor for three and a half years.”

“I ended up defeating the Orc Lord alone, so…”

“…huh?”

“…You didn’t know?”

As soon as I said that, Loretta’s face lost its color and her expression froze. Then, she suddenly grabbed onto my arm. She looked like she was about to cry.

“Let…let me take that back.”

“The die is cast.”

“T-Then let me add a time limit.”

“A girl’s words carry the weight of a thousand gold.”

“There’s no such saying!”

“Visiting the doctor after death.”

“Agh, you evil customer! At least buy more Spiritual Shields!”

“The one I’ve got still has 72 uses left, so I’m good.”

“Ah, really! You’re evil!”

Just like that, I accepted my second quest. Mm, it seemed like I was forgetting something…it must have been just my imagination. Yep, just my imagination.

The 10th Floor Master was called the Wraith Queen. It was accompanied by 50 wraiths, and used fear magic, confusion magic, and ectoplasm arrows to torment dungeon explorers facing it. However, it had a clear weakness: its HP was much lower compared to the Orc Lord.

Loretta was also selling items that blocked fear and confusion magic. These items only blocked the Wraith Queen’s magic for 5 minutes and they cost 5,000 gold a piece. According to Ellos, dungeon explorers who challenged the Wraith Queen suffered under her insatiable desire to devour money.

“I still won’t buy them.”

“Why!? Without them, it’s impossible to beat it alone!”

“I’m not trying to beat it alone for now.”

“Gah…”

Priest-type explorers knew spells that could cleanse the fear or confused status effect. Rather than challenging it alone from the beginning, I decided to enter a party and experience a boss raid.

My world was currently in a chaotic state with mutant creatures appearing everywhere. Everything pertaining to ‘normal’ life had stopped, so if I was unable to enter the dungeon for a week, it would feel like time had stopped flowing. Hunting the monsters wasn't a great option. Not only would my level not rise, but I would also risk exposing myself as an ability user. As such, the only place I could train was in the dungeon.

I had no desire of ever being kicked out of the dungeon again.

“Take good care of me. I’m Kang Shin from Earth.” I introduced myself to my new party members.

“Earth? Are you…that Kang Shin?”

“Yep, I’m that Kang Shin.”

“No way, the Crown Prince has advanced to the 10th floor!”

“What? It’s really the Crown Prince?”

“Whoa, the Crown Prince is in our party!”

Amazing. I had just entered a random party, but it looked like everyone knew who I was. I wonder how the rumor had spread.

“This is my first time fighting the Wraith Queen. I might get in your way.”

“You’ll be more than enough help just by clearing all the wraiths. The priestesses can take care of the rest.”

“Leave it to us!”

There were three priestesses in this party. Oddly enough, there were no priests. Although the priestesses were beautiful, they were ugly compared to my beautiful Yua. Just as the uncharitable thought popped into my mind, one of them talked to me.

“Crown Prince-nim, do you perhaps know Her Highness?”

“…Who?”

I was about to say, ‘Crown Prince is my nickname. By Her Highness, do you mean Yua?’, but the serious look in her eyes stopped me.

“I mean Ehuir Empire’s crown princess, her highness Palludia Gren Ehuir! I heard you partied with her previously!”

“Eh, Palludia? Yeah, I know her, but…crown princess?”

When I told the priestess that this was the first time I had heard of it, she was bewildered.

“You mean you couldn’t tell from her graceful and beautiful appearance?”

“Graceful? She was just a noisy brat…”

“What!?”

Ah, whoops… With that one slip of the tongue, I was punished by being forced to hear about Palludia’s beauty for the next 5 minutes. Why do I have to go through this? Just exactly what part of that flat-chested pig-tailed brat is considered so beautiful? Of course, I didn’t say any of these uncharitable thoughts out loud.

“Do you understand how beautiful and splendid Palludia-nim is now? She is the rising morning star of our continent, the ever-burning flame of hope, a flower that must not fight against the demon kind!”

“Alright, alright, I understand, so let’s just go hunt the Wraith Queen.”

“By your half-hearted response, it looks like you still have no clue! I’ll tell you one more time, so wipe your ears clean and listen!”

My ears are very clean, thank you very much. In fact, hearing more about Palludia would only make my ear go…wait. Palludia? Come to think of it, yesterday…

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

“Kyaa! You surprised me!”

When I screamed, the shocked priestess fell on the ground. However, I wasn’t in a position to pay attention to her.

Oh no, I ignored Palludia’s messages.

That noisy girl wasn’t the type to stay silent after having her messages ignored. Sweat began to pour down my body as fear settled in. Now that things have come to this, should I keep ignoring her? No, I can’t avoid her forever. Eventually, I will have to meet her again in the dungeon. Plus, ignoring her would be too rude. Although she’s not likable, she’s not detestable either…

I came to a decision after agonizing over my choices. Alright, I’ll contact her as soon as the Wraith Queen raid ends. After making that vow, I addressed the party members.

“Let’s hurry and do this!”

“CROWN PRINCEEEE!”

…Although I had made an enemy in an unexpected way, I chose to ignore it.

I deliberately ignored the burning look behind me and instead opened the door to what was a haunted house.