“Not exactly…”
Heiter had never originally possessed much interest in setting out to defeat the Demon King.
He hadn’t been the type to proactively help other people either.
Perhaps spending so much time around Himmel had gradually changed him.
“Then let’s keep going!”
Himmel easily moved past the matter.
Once he’d shifted everyone’s attention, nobody felt like continuing to dwell on it.
[Eriri: What the heck is with this guy? He’s basically a classic heroic protagonist born straight out of an old-school story! You can still find protagonists this pure nowadays?!]
[Yakumo: That’s exactly why he can lead everyone to defeat the Demon King.]
[Yakumo: Speaking of which, how does our group not have a Group Shop? Tons of novels with chat groups have one.]
[Furina: It actually does. It just hasn’t fully unlocked yet, and there aren’t many products available.]
Furina frequently examined the chat group’s functions.
She had explored almost everything she could.
In truth, Furina was an extremely attentive person.
Otherwise, she could never have remained in the role of Hydro Archon for so many years without anyone noticing something was wrong.
[Furina: But I haven’t seen anything related to world travel among the products yet. Can this group actually let people cross worlds?]
[Yakumo: I don’t think the shop is necessarily the key. I have a few ideas, but I don’t have anyone suitable to experiment with right now.]
[Yakumo: Also, maybe the shop allows us to upload products ourselves?]
[Yakumo: Something to encourage trading between members, for example. And there’s also the group check-in. That function just unlocked, so don’t forget to check in.]
[Shu: I think our current arrangement is already quite good. Once everything begins revolving around transactions, the nature of the group may change. It reminds me somewhat of one of my younger brothers.]
[Yakumo: Your brother? Which one?]
[Shu: Seventh Brother, Ji. He is a tailor, yet recently he has become rather enthusiastic about traveling around to conduct business.]
[Shu: Sigh. Sometimes I do not understand what he is thinking. He was such an adorable child when he was young.]
[Yakumo: Oh, the Family Man…]
[Shu: Family… what?]
[Yakumo: Nothing. Never mind. Let’s leave the shop alone for now. It might become useful later.]
[Yakumo: If something like a world-travel talisman ever gets added, everyone can keep an eye out.]
Yakumo suspected that the shop might eventually have more uses than that.
Perhaps items allowing someone to invite additional members into the group would appear too.
A group chat became livelier with more people.
And now that daily check-ins existed, there was no harm in accumulating points ahead of time.
“This path seems to continue toward the lower levels.”
Eisen pointed in the direction the giant stone sphere had rolled.
“Good.”
“Then let’s return the way we came and explore the other branch first.”
Himmel made the decision almost immediately.
“It would be a shame if there were treasure along the other route and we missed it.”
“Rather than treasure, I’d like to see whether there are any useful medicinal herbs.”
It was another Life Skill that had unlocked later.
According to the recipes currently available, he could make Red, Orange, and White Potions.
Blue Potions and Vitality Potions were also possible.
Yakumo had no idea how effective those potions would be on people in this world.
His ultimate goal was still producing Power Elixirs.
There were also potions he’d never seen before.
Some belonged to the Silent Crusade series.
Others came from Alchemy-related systems.
Many had extremely powerful recovery effects.
Unfortunately, Yakumo didn’t currently possess their recipes.
Considering the setting of this world, he suspected he’d need to search treasure chests to find them.
Just like the Monster Crystals earlier, perhaps his system had altered some things to fit this world.
Which meant Yakumo now had another reason to become obsessed with opening treasure chests.
“Still, Himmel, I suggest we continue downward first.”
“We can check the unexplored branch on the way back.”
“I’ve already marked it.”
“We won’t miss it.”
His system map contained something extremely common in MOBA and RTS games.
Fog of War.
Perhaps because they were exploring a dungeon, only areas they’d actually visited became visible.
The unexplored branch from earlier was still covered in black mist on the map.
There was absolutely no chance Yakumo would accidentally forget it.
“Reliable as always, Yakumo.”
Himmel immediately praised him.
“Then we’ll do as Yakumo suggests and head downward first.”
“Eisen, please watch our rear.”
As the party leader, Himmel walked at the front.
Heiter remained in the middle.
As a priest, he was relatively fragile.
Frieren walked between Heiter and Eisen, allowing her to support either side.
Yakumo’s position was more flexible.
With Teleport, he could quickly support any location.
Before setting out, Yakumo had also applied every buff he possessed to the party.
Bless.
Meditation.
Anything that could be applied, he applied.
The buff durations were completely different from the original game too.
They lasted several hours.
The system had definitely modified them.
Along the way, they encountered countless traps.
Spikes shooting from the floor. Find the original chapter at g.com.
Hidden mechanisms.
Flame jets.
And more.
The most dangerous incident occurred when the ceiling itself began descending.
It happened inside an extremely long corridor.
The moment everyone entered, a massive stone wall dropped behind them.
Then the ceiling overhead began slowly lowering.
Yakumo had no idea how such a mechanism functioned.
All he could say was that magic was incredible.
Fortunately, his Soaring ability consumed no MP.
With help from Frieren’s levitation magic, Yakumo combined flight and Teleport.
Somehow, they crossed the trap extremely quickly.
It was actually easier than escaping the giant stone sphere.
“I never imagined a trap like that could be escaped so easily…”
Heiter still looked shaken.
When the ceiling started descending, he’d nearly been scared out of his mind.
“As expected.”
“Inviting both of you to travel with us really was the right choice.”
Himmel sat down on the floor and laughed.
“I have to admit, my instincts are pretty good.”
“This is not the time to compliment yourself.”
Heiter dryly stabbed at him.
“Come look.”
“There’s a treasure chest here.”
Among everyone present, the two with the most stable emotions were probably Eisen and Frieren.
Frieren had already started searching the surrounding area.
“Let me check…”
“Hm.”
“Doesn’t seem to be a Mimic.”
Yakumo cast Magic Claw as before.
“Ah.”
“A grimoire.”
Before Yakumo even finished testing it, Frieren had already opened the chest.
Fortunately, it really wasn’t a Mimic.
Otherwise, Frieren would inevitably have been swallowed again.
“Should I be grateful there weren’t any tentacles in there…?”
Yakumo thought somewhat wickedly.
There really wasn’t much point in testing the chests anymore.
Whether they were Mimics or not, Frieren was clearly going to open them anyway.