’So the people I receive emotional value from are all real people?’
’But... how!?’
’Where are they if they’re not illusions!?’
’How did the illusion monster replace them and make them something inhumane without me realising?’
’How are they a part of the same dungeon instance as me when it is a strict rule that dungeon instances can’t be interfered with by different people other than the groups that entered together?!?’
’And most importantly... why can’t any of them damage the dungeon core instead of me and free everyone from this hell? Why do they need to depend upon me to complete the task of destroying the dungeon core!?’
Lucifer said nothing, he didn’t show any expression on his face and continued to observe the situation calmly while farming more and more Emotional Value.
He was currently sitting at seven hundred and nine having earned only thirty points from the latest round and only eight points before that since most people had begun leaving already.
Slowly everyone left the grounds except Jack, Annabeth, Enrique and of course, Lucifer.
With everyone gone, Enrique looked at Jack trying to pass the third round with his diminished senses and spoke up, "Alright... Jack... let’s stop here for today."
Jack glared at Enrique before snarling, "Mind your own damn business."
Sigh...
With a resigned sigh, Enrique left the grounds along with Annabeth, leaving Lucifer alone with Jack.
Jack glanced at Lucifer sharply, but went back to mastering the skills required to take down the dummy without being hit by it in return.
Seeing everyone gone, Lucifer did the next best thing he’d planned to already do.
He went to the cavern where he’d dropped his half broken scimitar.
"There you are..." Lucifer said, picking up the scimitar and staring at the dungeon core in front of him.
’The dungeon core’s illusion is steady, but that was probably only because it is a static image that’s not moving around or has any complicated mechanisms... only a floating glowing crystal... that’s all.’
Lucifer was tempted to snipe the dungeon core from where he was standing by throwing his half broken scimitar at it, but thought better of it in the end and kept it in his hands.
’I need to make a move quickly... otherwise I’ll die very quickly without food and water...’
’Although I’m not feeling thirsty or hungry yet... I’m sure my body is begging for it and its lack is only an illusion in some way created by the illusion demon.’
Standing in the cavern Lucifer thought of something.
’I wonder if the item that improves my focus will slow down the world for me by speeding up my neurological processes...’
’I really don’t want to buy the item with my lifespan though...’
Lucifer opened his system interface and went to the store tab where he located the item that was listed for sale.
’It costs zero point three percent of my current lifespan...’
’Why’s it not a fixed price so that I could simply exchange emotional value points to extend my lifespan and then buy it directly?’
’Wouldn’t that be cheaper?’
’Now if I expand my lifespan before buying the item, I’ll pay a heavier price when I purchase it.’
’Should I buy it now then?’
’Or wait until a few more days pass and then test my hypothesis?’
’No... I’ll only grow weaker even if I don’t die directly without food or water...’
’And having a lifespan of thirty three days doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to live those thirty three days entirely, it’s also possible that once I begin starving and drying of thirst, the lifespan decreases in response.’
’Unless... I eat the burger and juice from the system and it replenishes me... but that’ll still reduce my lifespan anyway because I have to buy them with my lifespan...’
Lucifer looked at the Lifespan tab.
’Thirty two days and ten hours remaining.’
With the decision made, Lucifer decisively purchased the focus boosting burger.
Almost instantly Lucifer obtained a system notification.
[Purchased Concentration Burger, item placed in system inventory.]
Lucifer didn’t look at the system inventory first, instead he opened his lifespan tab and looked at it.
’Thirty two days and seven hours remaining, sounds about right...’
Lucifer looked at the system inventory after that and there it was, a perfect burger sitting there inside it.
Lucifer willed it to appear in his hand right in front of the illusion monster since there truly was no safe space from it inside this dungeon.
The perfect burger appeared in Lucifer’s hands as he picked it up to examine it.
It had some lettuce, patties and tomatoes, pressed in between buns.
’Do I just eat this or something?’
’Does the effect apply only when I’ve eaten it entirely or partially so that I can save it and use it slowly?’
So Lucifer brought the burger closer to his mouth, smelling the enticing fragrance from it and chomped on it and gave it a good bite.
As soon as the food touched his tongue, the entire bite dissolved into particles and merged with his body as if he’d just absorbed mana.
However, that wasn’t what Lucifer was focused on the most.
Instead his eyes widened slightly as he looked all around himself.
In his sight was a flickering image.
First Lucifer saw the dungeon core vanish for a moment and he only managed to catch a rough brown substance.
Then the dungeon core reappeared.
Next the dungeon core vanished for a moment and Lucifer recognised what appeared to be a thick trunk.
Then it flickered again.
Next Lucifer saw what he thought was a branch.
’What’s going on!!???’ Lucifer screamed as he felt a massive headache split his head because of the rapidly flickering images.
’Where’s the epilepsy warning!?’
Lucifer tried relaxing his gaze and not focusing on anything too much at once and before long he could see everything as it was!
One moment it was the dungeon core, and the next it was a grand willow tree that had a hollow spot in the center of the thick trunk where the dungeon core was floating within it!
The images flickered rapidly giving Lucifer the sustained headache, but he held on and counted the number of flickering’s each second.
’About twenty four frames per second... the bare minimum to fool the human eye of a smooth motion video from still images.’
But then Lucifer raised his eyes up as if he were studying the cavern and spotted something that shocked him to his core!
Instead of leaves, the willow tree had rows upon rows of glowing orbs attached to the tips of its branches that drooped low.
Lucifer immediately counted them all and froze on the spot.
’A hundred and thirty six...’
’Are those souls!?’