I looked down at the corpse. The green blood had stopped pumping, and in its place, a strange phenomenon occurred. Ethereal green energy leaked from the goblin's chest, condensing into a jagged, glowing pebble. A Dungeon Mana Stone.
Unlike other fantasy stories or novels on earth, the monsters from Normal dungeons do not give anything valuable like monster byproducts, body parts like fangs, hides, meat or other spoils. The only thing of materialistic value they leave behind for us is that stone.
While dungeon mana stones are not vey expensive or profitable, their price is Still higher than Mana Ores and about the same or lower than Normal Mana Stone.
When Iron mines are mined, what we get is not Iron itself, but rather Iron Ores like Hematite or Magnetite. Only after refining them can we get Iron.
Mana Ore is the same for Mana Stones. it's the Raw form of mana stone, commonly found in mines. Only after a grueling refinement process does that ore gives us the Mana Stones that are used in almost every Mana technology field.
Vivi took the stone and stored it in her space. We're gonna sell this thing later to the guild. It's not gonna make me a lot of money. But hey, Small or big, Money is money.
Also while we're on this topic, Monster corpses do not disappear into thin air immediately, they disappear only after one or two hours. There is no specific time. Their corpses can't even be brought out of the dungeon.
But why bother letting it stay a few hours and not make it disappear immediately when they are gonna go 'Poof!' anyways ? I don't know. Dungeon Mechanics. Why would a gamer question a developer's plan when It's not even causing any problem. If anything, this feature actually useful to players who use characters with certain attributes.
As a gamer, I could think of it as a way to give A necromancers a chance to shine or for the player to come up with creative strategies. Thoughtfulness from Developer's side.
But now that this is my reality ? No idea.
We continued marching deeper into the cave. Individual goblins came one after another and I dealt with all of them by myself.
"Hey, Boran" I called out to him while marching through the dim lit Cave tunnels.
"Hmm ?" He turned his attention to me. his senses still likely mapped out a hundred meters in every direction.
"In terms of strength rank, how strong are these goblins ?"
"Hmm... The goblins huh.. I'd put them at D-Rank I guess," Boran grunted. "They're too weak to bother measuring, honestly."
Of course they are! Are you comparing them with yourself! You SSS-rank Monster!
But, D rank huh... That's low but not very low. Actually, it's expected of a C-rank dungeon.
According to that, the boss monster should be at most A very strong C rank monster.
But there is a twist in this strength ranking system... A twist that should never be ignored. Especially by Beginners. If they do and charge straight on towards a monster of the same rank as themselves. It would be no different than suicide.
"Did you mean Beast rank or Human rank ?" I asked, my voice taking on a sharper edge.
Boran stopped and looked back at me, a wolfish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "What kind of stupid question is that, kid? Of course, it's Monster Rank."
The twist is that A C-rank monster is above a C- rank human, in terms of Raw power. And that goes for all ranks. Monsters are inherently more stronger and more dangerous than People.
Killing a C- rank monster would require Several of the same rank humans.
"Then how strong am I in terms human rank ? where do I stand?" I asked, Trying not to let my excitement leak out through my voice.
"Hmm... I'd place you right around C-Rank," Boran answered matter-of-factly.
Although i expected that, hearing it Directly still surprises me. Not because it's disappointing but because it's awesome. C-rank at the age of eight. I always knew I was awesome but hearing How awesome I am from the mouth of an SSS-rank sure does inflate my Ego.
I am getting afraid of how terrifying i am myself. Scary...
(P.S: Boran never even uttered the word 'Awesome'. This is his Inflated Ego speaking and getting ahead of himself)
"Hmm... Wouldn't that mean, I will become an A -rank, by the time our training ends in two years ?" I mumbled, doing some mental math
"Haha! You sure dream big, kid!" The SSS rank Warrior's laugh boomed, echoing off the damp cave walls. "By the time we're done, you'll be lucky to hit B-Rank."
"How? If I have already reached C -rank now, reaching A rank should not be a problem" I asked questioning his reasoning, As if My Ego had just taken a hit. Which was true.
"Oh, but there is a problem," his expression turning serious "The reason that you've been able to reach this much is because of our training methods where we focus on the basics more, your talent in both magic and sword and your mana cultivation speed. But everything has a limit. You must've felt the problem yourself."
That is true. There is indeed a problem that I've been facing for the past two months...
"My mana cultivation speed... It has decreased." I admitted.
"Told ya, kid. There's only so much refined mana a child's body can contain. To hold more water, the bucket needs to be bigger. Right now, your 'bucket' is the size of a teacup. You can't force the mana to stay if there's no room for it to go"
"So, my age is my actual restriction?" I asked
"Yes and even hunting in a dungeon cannot make your body accept more refined mana than it is capable of. Your body needs time to mature, to harden. Every age and every body has a limit. And don't even try to force it by thinking some egoistic stupid shit like 'I have no limits!' or you'll literally explode from the inside out, Got that ?"
"I see... Understood, Sir" I nodded, the gravity of the warning sinking in.
"And there's also the fact you've been training with just us. To refine your techniques and battle senses, you have to meet with more people and experience more combat. And then, there's also the Wall."
I see. there are a lot of obstacles, More than I thought, in fact. Well, all those things can be corrected once I become an adventurer.
"A wall... Huh.." I know about that.
"Normally people are supposed go through wall three times. And some genius people don't face it at all. The first is at C rank, second at S rank and third at SSS rank."
"Have you hit your SSS rank wall ?" I asked him genuinely curious.