"The power of the wind... it's making me stronger..."
Maris stared at her hands, totally blown away.
This was her first time feeling real magic coursing through her veins.
"You... did you do this?" she asked, looking at the kid in front of her like he was a ghost.
Noah just nodded. "Can you feel it? That's the power of a Buff Crystal. You crush it, and you get a temporary boost in combat strength. Sure, it's a one-time use item, but you know what having an extra trump card like that means down in the Dungeon, right?"
'A Buff Crystal... Insane.'
She had never even heard of something like that. To think a cheap little rock could let a nobody rookie like her use real magic!
To most regular adventurers, magic was a pipe dream.
It was stuff you read about in fairy tales, not something you could buy over the counter.
"Something this precious... and you're selling it for thirty thousand?"
According to basic adventurer common sense, a custom weapon's price tag went right over their heads.
But even rookies knew the value of a Magic Sword.
Those things cost millions!
And since Magic Swords were also consumables that let non-mages cast spells, a Buff Crystal should be worth almost the exact same.
Seeing her shock, Noah gave her a small smile. "Relax, it's not a scam. Give me a hundred and thirty thousand Valis, and both the sword and the crystal are yours. Think of it as a grand opening promotion. You just got lucky."
'I got lucky?' Maris held the glowing crystal, her face lighting up with excitement.
Noah leaned over the counter. "Don't even think about reselling it. If you get cornered down in the dark and you don't have that crystal, all the money in the world won't buy your life back."
Maris went stiff.
He read her mind!
For a second, she really did think about flipping the crystal for a quick couple of hundred grand.
That was half a year of risking her life in the labyrinth!
She could buy better gear, eat real meat, maybe even hire a supporter to carry her bags.
But hearing his warning, she swallowed hard and dropped the idea completely.
...
After she left, Noah sat back and thought it over.
Giving that first batch of crystals to the Loki Familia wasn't enough to get the word out.
If he wanted these crystals to become a staple in Orario, he had to target the bottom rung of adventurers.
He didn't plan to charge an arm and a leg for them. The raw magic crystal ore cost less than a thousand Valis to buy.
He wanted normal, broke adventurers to afford them.
He'd flood the lower-tier market and push out those overpriced, garbage Magic Swords.
But selling crystals was just a side hustle to make some pocket change.
He couldn't spend all day mass-producing them. Leveling up his forging skills and pushing his own stats was the real goal.
...
For the next two weeks, Noah's life was peaceful.
Aside from fixing busted armor at the shop, he just hung out at home.
He had about fifteen days left before Hephaestus got back from her business trip.
He lived like a regular working guy, clocking in at dawn, heading home at dusk, and enjoying a quiet life with Haruhime.
His only real headache was his magic.
Yog-Sothoth still wouldn't work right!
At night, he'd sit alone and summon his Intrinsic Device, just staring at the heavy gun in the dark.
If he didn't hold it, he worried he might forget everything and think his trip to the other world was just a dream.
He really did cross dimensions. He really did fight otherworld monsters.
'What the hell am I missing?' he wondered.
...
Thud!
An Orc's head hit the floor and turned to dust and a large magic stone dropped out.
Maris grinned while panting hard.
Before she could grab the loot, she noticed her teammate backing away as two Orcs had him pinned against a rock wall.
Things felt weird today.
Maris noticed it a few floors back. For some reason, her iron sword was cutting through these Orcs like hot butter.
Every time she swung, the monsters flinched, leaving huge openings.
Meanwhile, her teammate swinging a massive battle-axe was barely making a dent.
'Is this cheap-looking sword actually a masterpiece?'
"I got your back!" Maris yelled, charging back into the fight.
With her jumping in, the dwarven warrior went from dodging for his life to fighting a simple one-on-one.
He got the upper hand in seconds.
The dwarf let out a battle cry and brought his heavy axe crashing down, splitting the Orc's skull wide open.
Counting Maris, this five-man rookie party was exploring the 12th Floor for the very first time.
"Haha! The 12th Floor is a joke! We handled that no sweat!"
"Yeah, and that was a pack of seven Orcs!"
"I'm totally bragging about this at the tavern tonight..."
While the group leaned down to scoop up their magic stones, a massive, suffocating shadow fell over the dwarf who just called the floor a joke.
He looked up.
The thing standing over him was so huge, his brain couldn't process what he was looking at.
'A wall? Was there a gray wall here a second ago?'
Maris felt the air pressure drop and snapped her head around.
One look almost stopped her heart.
The massive wall moved!
Giant, scaly forelimbs lifted off the ground as a mountain of muscle and rage reared up on its hind legs.
"An Infant Dragon!"
"Oh god, it's an Infant Dragon!"
"Monka, move! What are you doing?!" Maris screamed.
It was too late.
The dwarven warrior just stared up at the roaring monster, his boots glued to the stone.
Pure terror locked his muscles tight.
BOOM!
The Infant Dragon stomped down.
The heavy tremor shook the entire cavern, echoing down the tunnels and waking up every monster in the area.
Maris stood frozen, watching her teammate get crushed to paste under a foot the size of a wagon.
Blood squeezed out from under the scaly claws, running down the cracks in the stone floor.
Her eyes went wide, shrinking down to pinpricks.
"Monka..."
"Dammit, this is bad! The noise is drawing more monsters!"
"They're coming from the back tunnel!"
"Why is a spawn happening right now?! Hey, Maris, snap out of it! Run—"
Before the guy could finish his sentence, a heavy rock flew out of the dark and slammed into the side of his head.
Blood and brains sprayed across the cavern wall.