Debuff Master

[Sample Collection: Green Otherworldly Essence]

[Collect 1,000 samples and deliver them to the Head Blacksmith of the Bavarian Workshop, Quandt.]

[Progress: 0.3% (3/1,000)]

[Reward: A new item crafted with the Otherworldly Essence]

[Note: The drop rate of the Green Otherworldly Essence is very low, so patience is required to complete this quest.]

[Warning: This quest might be given by the other workshops so you must clear this quest as fast as possible.]

“Is this what you want to research?” Siegfried asked.

Quandt nodded and replied, “Yes, we blacksmiths can’t contain our excitement whenever a new material is discovered. A new material might mean an opportunity to craft an artifact nobody else has ever crafted in the history of the continent.”

“Oh!”

“That’s why I personally came here to collect samples.”

“I see.”

“But who would’ve known I’d run into you here? If something good comes out of it, then I’ll prioritize making you a new artifact!”

“Sure,” Siegfried smirked and accepted the proposal.

[Alert: You have accepted the Quest – Sample Collection: Green Otherworldly Essence]

The quest acceptance message popped up in front of his eyes.

“But why do you need a thousand of them?”

“That’s because I can’t properly study it with one or two samples. A few dozen is still nowhere enough to do anything with new materials, you know? One thousand is the bare minimum when it comes to studying potential materials!”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Anyway, I’ll entrust it to you then. I heard it’s quite difficult to find that material, but I’m sure you can do it.”

“Yes, don’t worry about it.”

“Ah, also...” Quandt muttered. Then, he looked around before whispering, “Please hurry up. I’m scared the other workshops would catch a whiff of things.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m hoping our workshop could be the first to research it and patent this new material.”

“Patent?!”

“Yes, we’re allowed to patent a new material as long as we’re the first to discover and reveal its properties. If we can do that, then our workshop will be the only one allowed to craft artifacts from this new material.”

“Ah, so you want to monopolize this, is that what you mean? That’s why you’re rushing to get it done before the other workshops?”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about! Hoho! I’m sure you know how good monopolizing something can be for a businessman, right?”

Quandt did not forget to explain the reason why there was a warning on the quest.

There was a chance the Mercedes Workshop and Autonika Workshop would issue the same quest to others. In other words, this quest was a competition between workshops to see who could file the patent for the Green Otherworldly Essence first.

The workshops could buy the new material from the Adventurers to speed things up, but that was not going to help much due to the fact that the drop rate of these new materials was extremely low.

It was evident just how low the drop rate was judging from how Siegfried obtained only three Green Otherworldly Essences despite killing so many Mutated Great Jungle Fire Ants.

Thus, the best bet of the workshops was to give out quests and hope that whoever they hired could collect the amount they needed.

“So I hope you can hurry and gather the amount I require.”

“I will do my best.”

It was at that moment Siegfried accepted the quest that...

Creak...! Creak...!

A white vehicle that looked like a horse carriage quickly approached the dungeon entrance.

“Ack! It’s those Autonika bastards!” Quandt cried out.

However, that wasn't the end of it.

Vroom!

An airship appeared in the sky and landed at a clearing in front of the dungeon entrance; it was the Mercedes Workshop’s mobile aerial smithy.

“Damn it! Even those Mercedes bastards are here! They’ve already caught a scent of what’s going on!” Quandt raged. He could feel his blood pressure shoot up when his two main competitors appeared.

‘I have a feeling it’s going to be messy in a few seconds,’ Siegfried watched the Mercedes Workshop and Autonika Workshop appear in front of the dungeon entrance and thought that things were probably going to turn into a slugfest very soon.

And he was absolutely right...

“Listen up boys!” Quandt exclaimed.

“Yes, sir!”

“Pick up your tools and get ready to rumble!”

Quandt told his blacksmiths to pick up their hideous-looking tools and get ready to rumble. The blacksmiths lined up with their tools on their shoulders as if they were about to rush into battle.

Siegfried shook his head and quickly excused himself before things descended to madness.

***

Siegfried’s gut feeling was right on the spot.

“Oh! Look at those opportunistic bastards!”

“Die! Dieeee!”

“Catch that bastard! Don’t let him get away!”

A brawl ensued between the Bavarian, Autonika, and Mercedes blacksmiths just after Siegfried left the scene. The huge brawl in front of the dungeon entrance lasted for five whole minutes, and it was pure chaos.

“Don’t they ever get tired?” Siegfried grumbled while looking at the blacksmiths as if they were pathetic.

They were pathetic indeed. This pathetic sight was something like a tradition that existed for centuries between the three workshops, and this tradition was proof that none of the workshops were able to get a clear edge over the others.

Well, that did not excuse their behavior, as they still looked pathetic right now.

“The artifacts you have requested for repairs are complete.”

The Bavarian Blacksmiths, who did not participate in the brawl, approached Siegfried’s party and handed over their newly repaired defensive gear.

“Let’s go,” Siegfried said as soon as he received his defensive gear.

Why?

Because he had to stay ahead of the other Adventurers who would most likely receive the same quest very soon...

***

The hunt started once again.

Siegfried’s party came into contact with a large group of Mutated Great Jungle Fire Ants as soon as they entered the Great Jungle.

[Alert: You have obtained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have obtained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have obtained Experience Points!]

They gained a ton of Experience Points, but they faced the same problem once again.

Siegfried used Shadow Swamp and Blaze Field to debuff the fire ants while Gosran used her freezing magic to keep them back. The combination proved to be extremely effective, and they managed to kill the fire ants with ease.

However, just because they could kill them with ease didn't mean that they had resolved the most problematic issue about these fire ants.

Boom! Boom!

The Mutated Great Jungle Fire Ants would explode upon death and scatter their corrosive blood at Siegfried’s party. The durability of their defensive gear plummeted every time it came into contact with the blood.

“Aaah! This is driving me crazy! Just splash it on my face! At least I can heal it with a potion!” Siegfried screamed after seeing a hole in his Quad-Turbo Mail.

Everyone agreed with his frustration. They would rather the corrosive blood reduce their HP rather than reduce the durability of their gear, as they could easily patch themselves up with healing skills or potions.

Unfortunately, the Mutated Great Jungle Fire Ants went for their defensive gear, which was not something they could patch up with potions. The only way they could fix their damaged gear was if they had a blacksmith in their party capable of fixing them, but unfortunately, they did not have one with them.

The corrosive blood of the fire ants was quite annoying, but what annoyed Siegfried even more was the drop rate of the Green Otherworldly Essence.

“What the hell? I didn’t get a single one this time?” Siegfried was shocked at the drop rate.

They killed hundreds of Mutated Great Jungle Fire Ants this time, but not a single Green Otherworldly Essence had dropped.

Gosran walked up to him and said, “I heard the drop rate is really low. I think it’s rare for someone to get one a day.”

“Really?”

“That’s the reason the workshops can’t buy it even if they wanted to. The Mercedes Workshop spent a fortune, but they could only buy seven of those.”

“I guess the drop rate is really shitty...” Siegfried grumbled while shaking his head.

“Maybe it’s because we’re still at the early parts of the dungeon?”

“Early parts?”

“I mean, we’re barely inside the Great Jungle, and I doubt anyone else dared to venture deeper.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, this dungeon is so difficult that nobody has dared to venture deep into it yet. There were a few who tried, but they ended up getting wiped out.”

“Oh?”

“I think the drop rate should increase the deeper we are in this dungeon. I mean, that’s how it’s always been in games, right?”

Gosran made perfect sense.

It was common sense for the drop rate of an item to increase the deeper they were in the dungeon. However, they were barely five kilometers away from the entrance. To put it simply, the problem was not that the drop rate was very low, but rather, they were up against low-rank monsters, so the drop rate was bound to be low.

“So what you mean is... We have to venture deeper and hunt stronger monsters to have a better chance of getting more of these, right?”

“I think that’s how it works judging by how game mechanics usually are?”

“I see... Then that means we have to quickly find a strategy that will allow us to proceed further...” Siegfried muttered.

This was the burden every pioneering party had to face. Those who entered a high-difficulty dungeon first usually ended up as guinea pigs, as they had to stake their lives on the line trying to find a strategy that would work against the dungeon.

Then, their strategy would get leaked by the time they found one that finally worked, and those who'd come in after them would have an easier time than them.

The Southern Great Jungle was basically a new dungeon at this point, so nobody possessed the knowledge on how to tackle the various challenges in this dungeon.

Thus, Siegfried had to come up with a strategy on how to clear this dungeon.

“I have a feeling this is going to take a long time,” Gosran said.

“I agree,” Siegfried replied.

“Then what should we do?”

“What else? We have to return for now. We can’t proceed any further with the state of our defensive gear.”

In the end, Siegfried’s party was forced to retreat for the second time.

***

The cycle continued even into the next day. Siegfried’s party was forced to retreat for the ninth time after their defensive gear suffered.

“Fuck! I’m not doing this! Forget about it!” Siegfried raged.

They challenged the dungeon nine times yet failed all nine times. The corrosive liquid innately possessed by the monsters in the Southern Great Jungle was simply too potent for the defensive gear to handle.

But it was not only their defensive gear that suffered...

Siegfried and his +13 Horse Fly managed to emerge unscathed thanks to it possessing infinite durability, but that was not the case for the others, as their weapons had been melted by the corrosive liquid.

This was not a problem only Siegfried’s party faced, and all other parties that attempted to challenge the dungeon were unable to progress further than five kilometers into the dungeon due to the exact same problem.

Of course, this meant that a wrench was thrown at the hopes of the three workshops to study the Green Otherworldly Essence. They tried to entice the Adventurers to sell the new material to them in exchange for gold, but none of the Adventurers wanted to sell simply due to the absurd drop rate of the item.

Ironically, the entrance to the Great Jungle was still bustling with high-level Adventurers.

Why?

Because the monsters here gave a ton of Experience Points...

The Southern Great Jungle was like rain after a long period of drought.

An Adventurer’s growth would start to plateau the higher their levels were, so they would go anywhere if it meant that they could earn decent experience points to level up. Yes, the monsters in the Great Jungle were extremely tedious to deal with, but the sheer amount of Experience Points they gave made the trouble worthwhile.

The fact that this was a new dungeon also gave the Adventurers some sort of expectation that they would stumble upon undiscovered treasures.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” Siegfried raged.

“S-Siegfried-nim? Are you alright?” Gosran asked carefully.

“No, I’m not. I’m about to go crazy!”

“Let’s take it slowly and find a solution, okay?”

Siegfried shook his head and said, “No, there’s no point in doing the same thing. We’re just going to reach the same conclusion.”

“I guess you’re right?”

“We’re just going to fail again and again if we don’t change anything. We have to think of a solution before continuing...”

“Hmm...”

“We will never progress into this dungeon unless we find a solution—”

It was then.

“Excuse me...?”

The Ex-Convict Just Released From Prison Turning Into A New Leaf—no, the rough-looking yet kind man, Monterey, approached Siegfried.

“I have something to tell you, Your Majesty.”

“Huh? I thought you already left for the Proatine Kingdom?”

“I wanted to sell everything first before going, so I stayed for a bit longer.”

“Oh? But what is it you want to tell me? Is there some sort of problem?”

“No, there is no problem just that...”

“Then what?”

“I noticed Your Majesty seemed to be suffering from the durability of your defensive gear and...” Monterey mentioned carefully. It seemed the ex-convict had some sort of solution to Siegfried's problem.