Ever since the war ended, the Demon race's currency had completely vanished from circulation.
The Demon-race coins kept in most households existed merely as spoils of war.
But there were actually two kinds of Demon-race currency: one was the ordinary metal coin stamped with a serial number, and the other was the Magic Crystal Coin branded solely with the Demon King's portrait!
The value of a Magic Crystal Coin was, of course, far greater than that of an ordinary metal coin.
And the Magic Crystal Coins that had appeared inside this dungeon carried, on top of that, immense historical value.
Sara and Emma had both done some research into such things, so they were extremely interested.
The rest of the little Magic Guide Masters, however, would much rather have found some Magic Tools in the treasure chest.
As most of them put on disappointed expressions, Sara and Emma instead stepped briskly forward, each picking out a Magic Crystal Coin from the chest to examine carefully.
"How about I go and look around—see if there are any other treasure chests?" The little chubby one, Pistan, said, his eyes rolling about.
"Let's go!"
Doron waved his big hand and eagerly led the way.
With those two gone, the atmosphere on this side quieted down considerably.
Diana poked her head this way and that as she burrowed into the chest, reaching out to grab a fistful of Magic Crystal Coins, only to get a light tap from Emma—probably telling her to take it easy.
But Diana paid no mind. She thrust her claws straight into the pile of Magic Crystal Coins, dug deeper, and astonishingly pulled out a horn—an ox horn!
This horn was only about the size of two palms, nothing compared to the horns of the Two-Headed Demon, yet it had a crystalline, jade-like luster—a milky-white, round-tipped thing that was quite endearing to look at. Diana was instantly delighted: "Look what I found!"
She lifted the horn and showed it off to Dark without end.
When Dark saw that horn, the regret he'd felt over the Two-Headed Demon being reduced to ashes finally eased a little.
At least some material had dropped after all—even if it came in the form of a treasure chest.
He said in a low voice, "Could there be something else inside this chest?"
Hearing this, Emma and Sara turned and exchanged a glance, a spark flickering in their eyes, and then reached in at the same time.
In the end Emma came back empty-handed, while Sara wore a smug smile—she had found another item inside the chest: a bracelet strung with six fangs!
"One bull's head, one lion's head—so these should be the lion's fangs, right?"
Saying this, Sara channeled her mana into it, trying to trigger something.
But as expected, the bracelet was simply six fangs strung together, not any sort of Magic Tool.
"In that case." She turned to look at the others. "Six fangs, split into three shares, two to a set—what do you all think?"
The Noble House girl from Doron's group answered, "I don't really mind."
Sara nodded. "As long as you agree. Then the ox horn Diana got goes to Dark's group—they have four people and contributed the most, so that distribution should be fine. As for this chest of Magic Crystal Coins, we'll just split them by head count."
Dark smiled faintly, indicating he had no objections.
Sara's distribution plan happened to match exactly what he'd had in mind.
But there was still one more piece of loot within this hall.
He spoke up directly: "In that case, how about the Two-Headed Demon's weapon goes to me?"
Sara flashed a sweet, honeyed smile: "As it should. I don't think Doron will have any objections either."
Just as she was speaking, cheering suddenly rose again from Doron's direction.
"Don't tell me there's another treasure chest?"
Dark instinctively turned his head and spotted Doron and Pistan in another corner of the hall, working together to haul an old, weathered treasure chest out with all their might.
Then, without even bothering to use their Magic Guide Spirits to help, the two of them gave one forceful yank and tore the rotted clasp right off.
Doron smugly jammed his fingers into the gap of the chest and flung the lid up with a sudden heave.
Never learning their lesson, the two of them got a faceful of dust once again.
But that couldn't dampen their excitement.
For that chest was likewise piled high with Magic Crystal Coins!
Doron, copying what he'd seen, plunged his hand into the Magic Crystal Coins, but after fishing around for ages he only pulled out a stone.
"What is this?"
Staring at the oddly shaped stone in his hand, Doron looked utterly bewildered.
Pistan leaned in and stared at it for a long while, equally baffled.
Clearly, with the depth of knowledge these two possessed, they were completely unable to make sense of this stone's origins.
Pistan suggested, "Let's go ask Sara."
Doron: "Good idea."
So the two of them came scampering eagerly back.
...
"So full of energy," Dark sighed inwardly.
The stone Doron had found had an extremely peculiar shape.
It looked like blocks of various sizes fused together—it had a metallic quality, yet it wasn't hard. Instead it had a soft, gelatinous feel to the touch, giving off a distinctive warmth, just like… something alive!
Though Dark had a vague guess, he couldn't be certain, so he too looked toward Sara, who understood such things better.
Sara was probing it with her mana, and after a while she exclaimed in astonishment, "If my judgment isn't mistaken, this should be Living Metal. I never expected such a rare ore could turn up in a treasure chest within this dungeon."
Something stirred in Emma's heart, and she said, "Living Metal… is that biological ore?"
Sara gave her an approving glance and said, "That's one name for it. Living Metal is a quasi-living metal—it lies between living creatures and metal, and it's the primary material for crafting Mystic Puppets."
Doron asked, "What's a Mystic Puppet?"
Sara launched into an eloquent explanation: "A Mystic Puppet can be counted as a kind of Golem. But it's far more refined than an ordinary Golem, and far more humanlike. They have soft skin and smooth joints; through their veins flows expensive potion; they can carry out metabolism just like humans; and they possess intelligence higher than ordinary Golems. Their intelligence level is roughly between 3.0 and 3.5.
They can learn some simple knowledge and express some basic emotions. Unless you observe them deliberately, you can barely tell them apart from humans."
"Such a thing actually exists—why have I never heard of it?" Doron couldn't help marveling.
Sara replied offhandedly, "The Mystic Puppet is an Alchemy Master's introductory work. In other words, only an alchemist of master level has the ability to craft a qualified Mystic Puppet.
And the primary material for crafting Mystic Puppets—Living Metal—is a specialty product of the Demon race. In this present age, the conditions for producing Mystic Puppets no longer exist."
So it's only natural that you've never heard of it.
"An Alchemy Master…"
The little chubby Pistan suddenly smacked his fist into his palm: "Then if we give this piece of Living Metal to Professor Kazel, wouldn't we earn some credits?"
Doron's eyes lit up at once, and he said excitedly, "Pistan, that's a brilliant idea!"
"Brilliant my foot!" Sara said disdainfully. "What could a tiny chunk of Living Metal this size do? Make a three-inch homunculus?"
"A three-inch homunculus…"
But Sara's mockery gave Dark an idea. He pondered inwardly: "If I used this Living Metal to forge armaments… or of course, crafting a Steel-type Magic Guide Spirit would be another approach."
"How about this."
Dark made his decision: "If you give this piece of Living Metal to me, I can pay in credits. A thousand each—how does that sound?"
"A thousand… each??" Pistan's eyes darted about, and he said in shock, "Wouldn't that come to nine thousand credits?"
Doron nudged his arm and laughed, "As if. A hundred credits would be enough… eh, eh, eh, don't glare at me, don't glare at me! I was just joking! There's no way we'd make Dark pay credits—for this BOSS subjugation, we barely contributed anything, so of course we can't take this Living Metal."
Only then did Diana withdraw her gaze, pouting and giving a soft humph.
Sara immediately followed up, "Don't look at me either. The way I see it, I did contribute a bit to this BOSS subjugation, so taking a lion fang isn't excessive. As for the rest, your group can do as you please."
This "group," of course, referred to Dark's group of four.
In truth, in this BOSS subjugation, the only ones who had genuinely contributed were Dark's group, along with Sara and Doron.
Since the two of them had made their stance clear, and Dark wasn't one to be falsely modest, he accepted the piece of Living Metal then and there.
The group made another circuit of the hall, and after confirming there were no more treasure chests, they began to divide the spoils.
The Magic Crystal Coins from the two chests came to exactly one hundred—no more, no less—which, split among ten people, was ten apiece.
As for the lion fangs, it was two per group.
Dark took those two fangs, along with the ox horn and the Living Metal. Afterward, he wrapped a strip of cloth around the haft of that Bloodthirsty Giant Axe and let Meowth carry it himself.
Meowth hoisted the giant axe proudly, looking thoroughly satisfied.
But not long after shouldering it, his eyes couldn't help drifting toward the Magic Crystal Coins in the others' hands, glistening with greed.
Dark, holding the spoils his group had obtained, was just about to say they'd divide them up after returning, when he suddenly noticed Meowth—giant axe on his shoulder—going "meow meow" at Sara's follower, Heidi, whose hair was tied into two thick braids draped over her chest.
Even though this gray cat was shouldering a blood-stained giant axe, no matter how you looked at him, he was adorable.
Heidi couldn't help crouching down and reaching out her hand, and Meowth placed the paw pad of his left hand into her palm.
"Awww—"
Heidi, the hand toying with a Magic Crystal Coin, couldn't help pressing it against her own cheek, letting out an adorable little sound.
"Meow!" Meowth urged.
And so Heidi, perfectly willingly, tucked that Magic Crystal Coin in her hand into Meowth's paw pad!
...
Watching this, Dark's temple twitched. He immediately channeled a wisp of mana into "Meowth's" Magic Guide Card, then shot him a discreet glare.
Meowth instantly stiffened, and reluctantly placed the Magic Crystal Coin in his hand back into Heidi's, then gave a few obedient "meow meow" cries.
Heidi was instantly enchanted, her impression of this Meowth climbing several notches higher.
Little did she know…
In Meowth's heart, she had already lost all value.
...
Next, the three groups—ten people in all—rested on the spot.
For the little Magic Guide Masters, opportunities to interact up close with classmates from different houses were actually quite few.
The ten of them sent out their familiars to patrol, and the atmosphere eased as they began chatting idly.
The members of Sara's group and Doron's group had long been extremely curious about those "two who vanished," and now they couldn't help asking about it.
They wouldn't ask Dark, of course—instead they directed their questions at the rather quiet Emma.
Though Emma was at a loss, she still recounted her group's ordeal.
The more she said, the stranger the expressions of those two groups became.
When she finally got to the part where Virt and Robert were sent out of the dungeon by a single ray from the "Evil Eye," Heidi couldn't hold back any longer and said, "Good heavens! Never more than three times—don't you all know that?"
Emma guiltily averted her gaze, not daring to refute.
Come to think of it, her group's ability to court death three times in a row was a responsibility she couldn't shirk either.
But hadn't Doron's and Sara's groups, who had set out to challenge the Floor BOSS, been acting on the same notion of "experiencing it at the risk of death"?
The pot shouldn't call the kettle black—who among us isn't just a curious cat?
In the end, it all came down to insufficient strength.
Clutching her Magic Crystal Coins, Emma had an idea forming.
...
A little under half an hour later.
The three groups, their rest finished, set out anew.
For all of them, this dungeon adventure ending with "a successful subjugation of the Floor BOSS" could be called a thoroughly perfect outcome.
Next, all they had to do was make their way smoothly back to Professor Nini's side.
The journey back went very smoothly—the monsters of the second floor were no match at all for this band of first-year elites.
By the time they returned to the entrance of the second floor, the sky had not yet darkened.
The students who had stayed at the entrance, under Professor Nini's protection, had each completed the "solo monster hunt" task, and were now gathered around that Toad Fountain enjoying themselves.
Singing, dancing, and coaxing Professor Nini into a good mood!
The students had clearly found a new source of fun, and from time to time they'd even feed her.
After this dungeon adventure, Professor Nini's prestige in the students' eyes might well decline further, but their affection for her would surely rise dramatically.
The return of the three groups—ten people—drew everyone's attention.
Professor Nini happily picked up the registration board and went over to greet them, but halfway there her lips pursed into a frown—she saw that Emma was alone.
"Metis, where are your teammates?" Professor Nini asked in a fluster.
Emma had no choice but to grit her teeth and report the "disappearance" of her two teammates to Professor Nini.
After breathing a slight sigh of relief, Professor Nini's lips pursed even harder.
She was just a little professor still on probation, without the abundant resources other professors had, and besides, the two students' "misadventure" would lower her standing in Professor Silf's eyes, casting a negative shadow over her hopes of passing the probation period and continuing as a professor in the next semester.
Still, fortunately, those two appeared to be unharmed.
...
The disappearance of Virt and Robert, and Meowth shouldering the Bloodthirsty Giant Axe, kept drawing the students' glances their way.
But after the three groups completed their return registration with Professor Nini, they all dispersed with smiles.
Dark called Emma over as well, and only now did he begin dividing up the loot.
"Aside from the materials dropped by the ordinary monsters, everything we obtained is right here."
"The main things to be distributed are one ox horn and two lion fangs. I've already gained more than enough, so I won't take part in the distribution—the three of you can each take one."
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