Chapter 163. Melting Gold
79th day in the labyrinth.
I briefly stopped by a desert village.
The purpose of my visit was to express my gratitude to Solorb.
According to the Hedgehog Summoner God, Solorb appeared and helped when I was on the verge of death against SS-rank undead spirits in the Abyss.
For reference, I’d already given plenty of thanks and lavish praise to Melody and Bastet, who had come to help earlier.
“Solorb, I heard you descended into the Abyss and subdued the SS-ranks?”
[…I suppose the Hedgehog told you. I had specifically told him not to mention it.]
“Doch always tells me every little thing he sees and hears.”
【Mysticism】—That’s right! 😠
【Mysticism】—Doch has a loose tongue! He runs straight to Geon and tells him all the things we said in secret! 😡
【Yumi】—Still, they say Doch doesn’t reveal secrets to anyone other than Geon.
【Pururu】—Yep, no secrets with Geon.
【Hwang Mir】—Who knows?
I politely expressed my thanks to Solorb.
“Anyway, thanks for the help. I came here just to say that.”
[No need to thank me. I was just out for a stroll.]
As always, he was as shy as ever.
[By the way, Gauntlet.]
“Yes?”
[Have you been receiving any kind of treatment lately?]
“Treatment? I haven’t received any, why?”
[Hmm…]
I felt an intense gaze.
More precisely, the sun’s sharp rays were intensely focused on my face.
It seemed Solorb was studying my face closely.
I could understand.
Thanks to the beauty voucher I had used recently, my charm had slightly increased.
He was probably intrigued by the slight change in my appearance.
Still…
Being stared at so openly made me uncomfortable.
“Aren’t you observing my face a bit too openly? I feel like my face might burn.”
[…I have never seen your face. You’re severely mistaken.]
The heat on my face faded.
It seemed he hurriedly looked away after hearing my words.
【Pururu】—Looks like Solorb’s slowly falling for Geon.
【Yumi】—Seems that way. His voice has softened a lot compared to before.
【Luna-chan】—He’s about to fully open up his heart soon!
【Mysticism】—🤭
【Bubble Bubble】—Solorb isn’t female, is he?
【Rizenova】—According to Lord Hedgehog, Solorb’s form in the Abyss was that of a cat.
【Hwang Mir】—He said he could manifest in any form he wanted, so he could appear in forms other than a cat.
【Bubble Bubble】—I’d rather he stick to the cat form.
After a brief conversation with Solorb, I returned to the hideout.
***
[Beep, beep.]
“It’s alright. There’s no need to heal me.”
[Beep?]
“If I remove my mechanical arm, my combat power will decrease. These mechanical pieces attached to my face also help in battle, so it would be a waste to remove them.”
While Medical Angel and Azeras were talking.
I called over the Black Magma Slime.
I handed it a small gold bar and asked it to melt it down.
【Bubble Bubble】—Where did you get that gold?
【Hwang Mir】—I provided it. He requested one, so I sent it to him.
[Hiss.]
The gold bar melted down.
Then, Jaapan eagerly consumed the melted gold.
“Jaapaaaan!”
【Pururu】—Eating it up with relish.
【Luna-chan】—Didn’t Jaapan-chan also have magma powers? You could’ve just asked Jaapan-chan to melt it.
【Bubble Bubble】—Jaapan doesn’t control magma very well.
【Yumi】—True. Unlike Black Magma Slime, he can’t control it precisely. It could end up harming allies.
【Mysticism】—But why are you feeding him gold all of a sudden? 🤔
“Why else? For this.”
I tapped lightly on Jaapan’s side.
Jaapan flailed his arms and,
“Bweeeeek!”
thick, golden liquid poured out of his intake valve.
It was, of course, the same substance as the gold he had just eaten.
Even though it wasn’t a complete liquid,
as long as the material was in a somewhat liquid form, Jaapan could perfectly replicate anything he had eaten—endlessly, at that.
Not only magma,
but molten metals were no exception.
【Pururu】—Looking at it like this again, it really is a broken ability.
【Hwang Mir】—Infinite gold production. ㄷㄷ
【Mysticism】—😱
The golden liquid flowing from the intake valve was gathered into a square container woven from Kinogine Arachne’s threads by Azeras.
And then.
I used the Reverse Support Ticket to send it to Hwang Mir, my assistant on Earth.
“Mir, did you receive the reverse support?”
【Hwang Mir】—Roger! Got it!
“Then please check it out.”
【Hwang Mir】—Got it!
There was only one thing I wanted to test.
I wanted to see if the gold Jaapan created could be used to charge coins.
Honestly, I didn’t think it would work.
Still, I had to try since there was a chance, however small.
I wasn’t short on Reverse Support Tickets, and I still had a bit of leeway.
【Hwang Mir】—Ah.
【Hwang Mir】—No luck…
【Hwang Mir】—Looks like this can’t be used to charge coins.
“Really? So it doesn’t work.”
【Pururu】—Haha, as if it would.
【Yumi】—Seems you can’t charge coins with gold made by Jaapan.
【Hwang Mir】—Too bad. 😢
I wasn’t particularly disappointed.
It was somewhat expected.
As I had suspected,
even if gold held value in other worlds, it seemed that without any desire attached, it couldn’t be used to charge coins.
For value to be recognized,
it had to be circulated in the world,
touched by creatures’ hands,
and infused with emotions like vile desires or earnest wishes.
Especially,
Hwang Mir, who currently owned that gold, had no desire.
To be precise, he had no attachment to the gold in his hand.
In short, that gold was pure material, devoid of any desires.
So, it made sense that the Ancient Labyrinth, which thrived on desires, would not accept that gold.
After explaining this, Hwang Mir’s chat message popped up again.
【Hwang Mir】—Hmm. If we show off this gold to people, wouldn’t it eventually pick up desires?
“That’s possible. If you have the time, give it a try.”
【Hwang Mir】—Understood!
“And even if the desires do attach and make it possible to charge coins, if the value seems lower than expected, just sell it to people. It would be more profitable to charge coins with the money earned from selling it.”
【Hwang Mir】—Roger!
【Mysticism】—🧐 Is it really okay to sell gold made by Jaapan?
【Bubble Bubble】—There’s no problem. It’s identical to real gold.
By the way,
I have no intention of using this method to earn coins.
The Reverse Support Ticket supply is limited.
This experiment was simply to prepare for the future,
when there might be so many Reverse Support Tickets that managing them becomes overwhelming, and finding a vending machine becomes incredibly easy.
At that time, I would be able to secure coins through this method.
And, I’d finally be able to provide some material rewards to the assistants who’ve sincerely helped me until now.
Perhaps even making them the wealthiest individuals in the world wouldn’t be an entirely impossible task.
Of course,
I have no intention of mass-producing and distributing infinite gold.
Such materials must maintain rarity,
or else their value will drop.
The key was to manage the amount I sent via reverse support carefully.
【Hwang Mir】─Speaking of which, didn’t you say you’d send us items made with Omega’s technology via reverse support?
【Hwang Mir】─When can we expect to receive them?
“Ah. I think that plan needs to be postponed for now.”
All the items we were developing for sale on Earth have been scrapped.
I didn’t discard them; Omega scrapped them itself.
Omega deemed that the level of technology in development was excessively high.
It was concerned about the sudden influx of advanced technology into an undeveloped world or the abnormal progression of certain fields.
In such cases,
Omega thought the world in question could spiral into ruin.
Omega particularly stressed the need for caution in worlds it could not directly and continuously monitor.
There was also a concern about technology leaks.
Even if the technology was unique to Omega’s abilities and couldn’t be replicated, it considered even the remotest possibility.
Therefore,
Omega declared it would develop new items with technology that wouldn’t cause chaos.
Items with perfect security, making technology leaks impossible.
Items that matched the technological level of the world in question.
For reference, according to Omega’s standards, Earth, Elemencia, and every world I knew of were regarded as undeveloped.
After sharing this with Hwang Mir, I immediately added another comment.
“Omega has begun developing new products, but since it’s busy with other projects like the construction in the underwater village, it’s likely that the items for sale will be sent much later than initially planned. And even if they’re ready sooner, Earth will only become more chaotic, so let’s sell the products on Elemencia when people migrate there, not Earth. Of course, Mir, I’ll still give you the rights to sell them.”
【Hwang Mir】─Got it!
【Bubble Bubble】─Then, Hwang Mir could set up a trading company in Elemencia.
【Pururu】─Seems I should get a job there, too.
【Mysticism】─Me too! 😃
【Yumi】─Count me in…
【Luna-chan】─Everyone must get titles, too.
Additionally, as mentioned before,
we won’t be reverse supporting overly lethal weapons.
If misused, they could lead to massive casualties.
So, we’d primarily send defensive items via reverse support.
【Bubble Bubble】─By the way, Gauntlet.
【Bubble Bubble】─Isn’t Elemencia’s level of science and technology quite low?
【Luna-chan】─Compared to Earth, it’s extremely low. >.<
【Bubble Bubble】─If we adjust the tech level to match Elemencia, the items may not be that groundbreaking.
【Luna-chan】─Maybe they’ll base it on Earth standards? Humans from Earth will be migrating to Elemencia soon.
【Rizenova】─Now that you mention it, I’m curious about which world’s tech level they’ll use as a standard.
“I was curious about that too, so I explained to Omega the civilization levels of both Earth and Elemencia, and asked where they’d set the focus. Omega said it’d be set a little higher than Earth’s technology. But it wouldn’t matter, since both worlds are more or less at the same level, and even if they raised it a bit above Earth’s, they’re still considered undeveloped.”
【Bubble Bubble】─??
【Luna-chan】─Huh? The tech difference is huge.
【Yumi】─According to Omega, I guess they’re about the same.
【Pururu】─Lol, what level would we need to reach to not be undeveloped?
【Hwang Mir】─Omega’s standards must be incredibly high.
【Rizenova】─True, from Omega’s perspective, any world would look like a primitive civilization.
【Mysticism】─Omega’s technology is the best across dimensions! 😃
Once all the gold had been placed in the silk box,
“Doodumba! I’ve finished preparing myself!”
The Hedgehog Summoner God approached, shaking its hips.
It seemed it had finally completed its mental preparations.
【Pururu】─What mental preparations?
“I’m sending Hedgehog on a dispatch mission to another world today with a General Dispatch Ticket.”
【Pururu】─Oh, the second General Dispatch!
【Hwang Mir】─Oh, an interdimensional exploration!
【Yumi】─Come to think of it, there were still two Dimensional Altar Installation Tickets left, right?
【Rizenova】─So you’re sending him to set up an altar?
【Bubble Bubble】─We’ll need to dispatch regularly for altar installations. Worlds suitable for installation aren’t that common.
【Hwang Mir】─Hope it’s a stable world!
【Mysticism】─😮 You’re dispatching Doch?
【Mysticism】─I’m worried about our Doch. 😟
“Why worry about Doch, of all people? Doch’s SSS-rank now.”
【Mysticism】─Oh, right! Doch isn’t what he used to be! 😃
【Pururu】─An F-rank worrying about an SSS-rank. Lol.
【Mysticism】─😠
The Hedgehog Summoner God was perfectly suited for General Dispatch missions.
He could summon countless spirits.
He’s among the riskiest, so I can feel reassured.
Since his physical body is weak, he wouldn’t cause much damage in another world.
Of course,
like with Melody Fox, his body could grow larger when exposed to the outside world…
This dispatch was also to verify that.
Using the General Dispatch Ticket to check this in advance was ideal.
It’d be a waste of a Designated Dispatch Ticket to send him to Lumina Planet or Kendra Planet just to confirm his actual size.
Designated Dispatch Tickets must be used sparingly.
If the dispatched world was inhabited by numerous living beings, had established civilizations, and was densely populated, it wouldn’t be a problem even if he manifested in a gigantic form.
As long as he stayed still without moving for 24 hours, that was all.
I instructed him not to counterattack if intelligent beings perceived him as a threat and attacked.
Naturally, he didn’t need to dodge by dancing the Doodumba.
Hedgehog was wearing the robe made by the Abyss Lord.
I instructed him to counterattack only if an entity capable of piercing that robe attacked.
The chances of encountering such an entity were slim.
Among my monsters,
Azeras is the only one who could pierce that robe.
Even Azeras would have to use dark matter to barely scratch it.
So there was no need to worry much about Hedgehog’s safety.
“Is it a dispatch? I want to go too!”
“Merino, you can’t.”
“Baa? Why not?”
“Well… because you’re not one of my tamed monsters.”
“Then tame me!”
“Be reasonable.”
Even if Merino were a tamed monster, I’d never send an F-rank like her.
She’d likely die with a high probability.
In any case,
since Hedgehog said he was ready, I decided to use the General Dispatch Ticket without delay.
“Doch, I’ll be using the Dispatch Ticket soon.”
“Doodumba! I’m excited!”
“Airis, you come here, too. You need to go with him.”
[Confirmed.]
[Confirmed.]
[Confirmed.]
[Confirmed.]
“Just one of you come…”
[Confirmed.]
SSS-rank, Hedgehog Summoner God.
S-rank, Iris.
I used the General Dispatch Ticket on these two.