How a D-Class Alchemist Avoids Death

Even if small, a Magic Stone is a Magic Stone.

The cheapest Magic Stone I’d ever seen in the item shop was 2 million won.

But as cheap as it was, its size was about that of a grain of sand.

Since this one is larger, it should easily be worth at least 4 million won.

“Money just rolls into this place.”

With the mindset of women picking up grains from a harvested field, I began to pick up Magic Stones one by one.

“Money, it’s money.”

I didn’t know why Magic Stones were appearing in the event dungeon, but since they appeared, they were all mine. All mine.

“Should I sell these and buy some armor?”

I had purchased many items with the money from selling Seo Go-woon’s luxury goods, but armor was too expensive for me to buy.

‘I was thinking about buying armor with the income from the hair regrowth potion.’

It was when I was pouring the Magic Stones, that I’d picked up by the handful with a chuckling smile, into my infinity pouch.

“Ppi! Ppi-ppi. Ppi-ppi.”

Salt began to flounder again, wanting to eat the Magic Stones.

“No. You can’t eat that.”

“Ppi.”

“I’ll give you magic when we get home.”

“Ppi. Ppi. Ppi.”

“Yeah, I know you want a special treat, but you can’t have that.”

As I was picking up the remaining Magic Stones and letting Salt’s complaints go in one ear and out the other, I felt a cold moisture from the hand that was holding Salt.

“Salt? Why are you crying?!”

Tears were dropping from his bean-like eyes. Why is he suddenly crying? Did I hold him too hard?

“Are you hurt? Did you get sick from eating the Magic Stones?”

“Ppi-ppi.”

“Hah! You really…”

“Ppi-ppi.”

I glared at Salt.

Isn’t he just a person that’s been reincarnated as a bird? How can he throw out the same lines as those drunkards who used to come crying to the police station when I was a cop?

“Ppi-ppi. Ppi-ppi.”

“Sigh.”

“Ppi-ppi. Ppi-ppi~~”

I can envision Salt continuing to weep and lament until I let him eat.

“Fine, you can eat just three.”

“Ppi!”

I’m generously giving you three, but ten, absolutely not.

“Five. Absolutely no more than that.”

With teary eyes, Salt looked at me.

It seems he thinks his tear strategy worked, nonsense.

“Not even five–”

“Ppi!”

Not content with just answering, Salt nodded his head, so I let him go. Salt, who landed on the floor as if he were a prisoner, swiftly turned his head.

‘Look at him comparing the sizes of the Magic Stones.’

I smirked and handed him the Magic Stones. As promised, after Salt ate all five, he flew up and sat on my head.

‘Did he get a bit heavier?’

Because he was so light, the only way to tell if he was sitting or not was whether my hair was being pulled or not, but now I can feel something on my head.

‘It can’t be because he pecked a few bean-sized Magic Stones… Ah, it wasn’t just a few.’

The number of Magic Stones he picked up from the ashes exceeded ten. It made sense that he felt heavier.

“Let’s go now.”

“Ppi-ppi ppi!”

Responding to Salt’s animated tweeting, I continued on our initial path.

I maintained a steady grip on my flamethrower, ready for an ambush by the roaches at any moment. The fire blazing from it eliminated the challenge of seeing where we were headed.

“Observe and adapt.”

I speculated whether we had already faced the bulk of the monsters in the dungeon as there hadn’t been any other instance of them attacking in such large groups again.

Roaches sporadically making their appearances were swiftly incinerated while Salt collected magic stones from the residual ashes. Together, we progressed through the dungeon.

“Is this where the boss is?”

Perhaps it was a characteristic of the event dungeon, the place where the boss was had always been a collapsing ruin.

“Salt.”

“Ppi.”

“If you ever feel it’s dangerous, just fly up to the sky. Got it?”

“Ppi?”

Could Salt really be of any help? To any monster, Salt, being a sparrow, would be seen as a mere morsel.

I tapped Salt, perched on my head, and proceeded to open the door to the ruins.

Creeeak-

Dust billowed out as the door of the ruin creaked open.

The inside seemed considerably spacious, perhaps an illusion created by the darkness.

I brandished my flamethrower ahead.

“Ugh.”

As soon as the dark space was illuminated, countless legs and a long body formed from multiple sections were revealed.

And around it were swarms of bugs, seemingly offspring, about the size of my own body.

‘…Wow, shit. Bugs again? In a city, not even a countryside…’

All the monsters that had appeared so far were beetles, so naturally, I thought a giant beetle or something similar would appear, but a giant centipede? How am I supposed to kill that?

‘First off, this is a strategic retreat for the sake of progress.’

I cautiously backed out of the ruin.

“Hoo.”

Given the centipedes’ aversion to light and the presence of my flamethrower, they probably wouldn’t charge, but they were monsters, so there was a slight tension.

“How am I supposed to catch that?”

No matter how big the roaches were, they were smaller than the flame from the flamethrower, so it was easy to kill them, but the size of the centipede was just too large.

‘Just by the size of its legs, it was larger than the spider I saw in the Crystal Dungeon.’

“Ppi?”

“I think it’s a little hard to catch it alone.”

“Ppi Ppi Ppi?”

“No. I’m not running away.”

As a detective, you need to do something when you draw your gun in order to write a report. My pride wouldn’t allow me to go to the entrance gate as it was.

‘Besides, I have a feeling that one has a larger magic stone.’

The centipede is thousands of times larger than the roach, so if it does have a magic stone, it should be a better one than what I got from the A-rank mushroom.

“I can’t be an idiot who leaves a gold bar in front of me.”

If I don’t kill the boss and leave, the national hunters will come to conquer the activated dungeon. Then, my magic stone will be snatched up by the nation.

“I can’t see that happening.”

“Ppi? Ppi.”

“Just a moment.”

As I stroked the hurrying Salt, I glared at the ruin. Since the roaches I’ve encountered so far were weak, the A+ rating I measured when I first entered must refer to the centipede’s rank.

‘No matter if I fly or crawl, it’s impossible for me to take on that thing.’

Even if I somehow manage to confront the giant centipede, if the smaller ones rush at me, I’m done for. Especially since centipedes have poison. Given that it’s a monster, the poison will be deadly. If I happen to even brush against the poison, I’m sure I’d be as good as dead.

So it has to be a one-shot.

“One shot, just one. Damn it. Should I just burn the whole place down?”

As I raked my hair roughly, I paused. “That’s it? Then I just need to burn it all down.”

This place isn’t reality after all, and what crime is there in burning down one ruin in a dungeon?

Besides, this is a dungeon. Even if I burn it all, it will regenerate.

“Yes, let’s burn it all.”

I pulled an oil drum out of the infinite pouch.

—Flashback—

“You’re nuts! Why the hell would you put an oil drum into my Infinite Pouch?”

“Heh. It’s all useful, that’s why I put it in.”

“Useful my ass! Hey! Take it out!”

“Think about how grateful you’ll be to me later, in tears.”

I’m genuinely grateful for Taeju’s words right now. If not for this, I wouldn’t have thought about burning everything down.

“Fire play, fire tricks, all are not allowed. Dial 119 for fire emergencies. Be vigilant with extinguished fires too.”

Not long after I was assigned to the police, I started humming the campaign song, thoroughly dousing the abandoned house with oil.

“Ppi?”

“We’re gonna play with fire.”

“Ppi?”

“It’s usually not allowed, but we have to do it now,” I chuckled and opened the door to the abandoned house, throwing the half-empty oil drum.

“Dissamble.”

The flamethrower was dismantled back into iron and magic stones, and a lighter. I stowed the recycled iron and magic stones back into the infinite bag, and lit the oil with the lighter.

The fire quickly spread along the trail of oil I had sprayed.

“Let’s bounce.”

As the abandoned house blazed brightly, I quickly retreated and hid behind a pile of concrete.

“Ppi?”

“Shh.”

The wooden sign of the abandoned house burned down in an instant, and the iron door melted too.

Now would be the time for a reaction.

Boom!

“It’s started.”

The fire spread inside, and the oil drum I’d left exploded. The house collapsed with a rumble, revealing squirming cockroaches and a giant wasp. Both the cockroaches and the wasp were already ablaze.

“Ppi!”

Salt, my robotic companion, gasped in a small voice.

Yes, I too was surprised by my idea, and why wouldn’t you be?

A pungent smell was mixed with the black smoke rising up.

“It’s burning really well.”

+

[You’ve gained experience.]

[You’ve gained experience.]

[You’ve gained experience.]

+

With the experience gain messages, the cockroaches turned to ash and disappeared, leaving only the wasp. But the writhing wasp also fell with a thud after not long.

“Ppi? Ppi Ppi.”

“Not yet. It’s not dead.”

As long as the wasp has poison, I had to stay hidden until the experience message appeared.

And not much time passed.

+

[You’ve gained experience.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Lv 28  Lv 29]

+

“Yes!”

I clenched my fist. My level, which hadn’t increased even when partying with the others, finally went up. It made me even happier, meaning my visit to the event dungeon was not in vain.

“Let’s just get the magic stone from the wasp and go.”

“Ppi.”

I approached the wasp which was still ablaze.

‘Wow, it’s huge. It’s like a skyscraper.’

I wouldn’t have been able to kill it if I hadn’t set it on fire. It’s not A+ for no reason.

“Which part is the head?”

“Ppi.”

“Ah, it’s all burned.”

Looking at the ash-filled head part, it seemed that the head was directly hit by the oil drum I’d thrown, given the mixture of the pungent smell and the smell of oil.

“So where’s my magic stone?”

While humming a tune, I followed along the body of the wasp and found a fist-sized stone emitting a mysterious light from the half-burnt inside of the wasp.

“It’s smaller than I thought.”

I thought the magic stone would be big because the wasp is big. Is the size of the monster and item unrelated?

+

[Passive ‘Truth’ is activated.]

+

[100-year-old Karma’s Magic Stone]

Description: A magic stone made by stealing Karma’s energy and human magic. It is highly condensed with powerful magic.

※ There is additional information you can confirm through your skills.

+

“What? Energy and human magic? Why is the description so wordy?”

I scratched my head and used my appraisal skill.

+

※ The magic is filled with strong poison due to Karma’s energy.

※ You can spread the poison to monsters when using magic.

※ Karma’s Poison: Immediate poisoning upon contact, destroying cells. Immunity to poison does not work due to latent poison.

+

“Crazy.”

The magic is filled with poison, and I can spread the poison when I use the magic?

“Crazy. I hit the jackpot.”

“Ppi?”

“I hit the jackpot!”

Adrenaline was pumping so much that I felt like I could roll around on the ground and jump around. I was brimming with energy.

“It seems my luck has turned since I possessed this body!”

Finding an item in an event dungeon known for not dropping items was already surprising, but a magic stone filled with poison?

Except for golems and zombies, most monsters are biological creatures that are vulnerable to poison. And it says immunity to poison doesn’t work.

“This is the perfect magic stone for my gun,” I said, before bursting into ridiculous laughter.

Salt chirped weirdly at my laughter, but I held the magic stone in my hand with a smile. Its hefty weight felt as if it symbolized the concentrated magic, and my mood was also cheerful.

“Let’s go now.”

“Ppi!”