Chapter 16: Broodmother

“Huh? That Sphere is useless, is not worth a single penny, except you meet a collector of antique.”

“Why is this thing useless? …, I mean this Sphere?” Kim Ji-woo corrected his words.

Ji-woo was surprised to see an object commonly seen in the Magical World. The Sphere was something a Mage used the most.

And the Sphere had many advantages too. Such as being used as material for an item or weapon.

Even the Greatsword of Stormrage used Sphere as one of the components to create it.

Next, mister Lee explained to Ji-woo, “Well, it’s understandable you didn’t know because the Sphere got regarded as a rare thing in the dungeons.

“But it doesn’t have Mana like the Crystal and the Stone. Except for that beautiful color inside the Sphere that blended and moved around it. Where is the value of the Sphere?”

Ji-woo didn’t know whether to be sad or happy because the Sphere was useless for the hunters based on mister Lee Ik-jun’s words.

In truth, Ji-woo knew precisely why the Sphere didn’t feel like it had Mana.

It was because a Sphere was an object that would block Mana from inside. So, it wouldn’t let it leak to the outside. Because of that, they couldn’t feel the Mana. Since the inside already had solid protection.

The Rare Mana from Sphere was different from the Mana blessing that hunters had inside their bodies.

The Mana Blessing was something impartial when it came to the hunters for the first time. It was the same as a white paper that still didn’t have any writing on it.

The hunters must first learn and understand the Mana in their bodies. Only then could they use Mana to perform various kinds of magic spells later.

Meanwhile, the Rare Mana in the Sphere was the same as the paper with writing on it.

The Sphere Mana had its attributes. Mana like that shouldn’t be handled carelessly without knowing its traits.

For example, the one in Ji-woo’s hand had Black and Silver colors on it. It meant the Mana related to something like a Strong Iron Vessel thing.

Then, the Sphere was able to be used with anything associated with those attributes.

After remembering the Sphere, Ji-woo tried looking to his left and right.

But, didn’t find another one.

Later Ji-woo hoped there would be another Sphere along the way.

“Then, mister Lee. I can take this back with me, right?” Since Ji-woo knew how to use Sphere, he didn’t mind taking it.

Mister Lee sighed, “It’s okay, but I don’t know how much the price from a collector will offer for the Sphere and where you can find such a collector for it.” He then shrugged.

Ji-woo put the Sphere to his porter bag and suddenly felt ire thinking back what mister Lee just said to him.

‘Except for the colors, this thing doesn’t have anything worth to be sold. But why can such a thing attract a collector of antique’s interest?’

Ji-woo mumbling. “Perhaps, there is more information that mister Lee didn’t know?”

Ji-woo then shifted his gaze and looked at all of the people inside the cave.

“Don’t tell me, high-ranked hunters know how to use Sphere?” Ji-woo expected the squad at the cave didn’t know anything because they were low-rank hunters.

It was terrible news for Ji-woo. He thought coming to Earth with his soul was a guarantee for his and his family’s safety. But now, the Sphere had appeared.

And the possibility of high-ranked hunters knowing the use of Sphere was high, making Ji-woo anxious.

In the Magical world, an object like a Sphere was one of the several reasons why Ji-woo couldn’t become the most mighty warrior compared to the others.

Of course, the Rare Mana still didn’t affect Ji-woo, but the Spheres made for items and weapons were troublesome for him.

Some inhabitants of the Magical world know how to use the Sphere to deal with Ji-woo’s cursed soul.

‘Damn it! I want my true strength back. And I need those two weapons back to me! Since Sphere exists here, that means I have the chance to revive them.’

Ji-woo had confidence that as long he had them. Even if high-ranked hunters use the Sphere as items or weapons, they couldn’t easily defeat him.

“And I need three more of this Obelisk Sphere.” Ji-woo knew the Sphere name.

“What did you mumble about, Ji-woo~si?” Mister Lee asked Ji-woo since he kept standing there and not moving anywhere else.

“Pardon? Ah, nothing Mister Lee.”

“Then come here. There is another Magic Crystal and Magic stone ahead.”

“Alright, mister.”

Ji-woo then walked forward and collected the Magic Crystal and Magic Stone. He didn’t find another Sphere after looking around at the spot. He then wanted to continue walking but was stopped by mister Lee.

“What happened, mister?”

“Seems like leader Park Jae-jin has some clue about the cave.”

Ji-woo was fascinated after seeing how detailed and careful the low-rank hunters’ squad handled the low-tier Portal Gate.

‘He seems to always send a scout first before moving. No wonder we have not encountered anything so far.’

Mister Lee then said with a solemn tone. “Those who have Mana blessings are lucky.”

“Eh?” Ji-woo was confused about why mister Lee said something like that.

“The mana blessing will make you live longer than the average person. Because Mana is like a second vein that flows through your body and maintains its vitality status.”

Mister Lee Smiled.

“That’s why when hunters exhaust their Mana pool to the point of emptiness. They’re tired and weak.”

Ji-woo showed a profound expression that looked like he was thinking about what mister Lee had just said.

But, truthfully. Ji-woo was cursing his soul. ‘You f**k*ng soul b*st*rd. You know I’m longing to have the Mana flow inside me. But instead, you chose to live with me. Make me be able to feel the Mana but can’t have it!’

Ji-woo’s feeling was the same as a kid that had money to buy candy, but the kid couldn’t eat it.

Know how tormented that feeling was?

“That’s why I envy the hunters, Ji-woo~si.”

Ji-woo stopped his thought. “Yeah, me to sir.”

After the situation was quiet for a few minutes, Park Jae-jin took the command and told them about the plan.

“Okay, fours of you guard the porters.”

“Yes, Hyung~nim!”

“And the rest will follow me deeper. This time our prey is Spiderlings, be careful with their webs.”

“Yes.”

After dividing their duties, Ji-woo thought back to his first time in the dungeon. Squad 7 should be able to handle the Black Wolf problem with ease. However, due to the panic caused by the poison and the sudden attack from the wolves, they find it difficult to regroup.

Ji-woo then shook his head. He didn’t want to dwell on the past.

—- —-

The rest of the Ji-woo groups sat on the ground to rest a little bit when the porters had already separated from Park Jae-jin groups.

Their group didn’t dare to use the fire to light up the area, only used small light from an Artifact item.

The artifacts were about the size of a golf ball. Mister Lee gives it to each of them, the porters. They could warm their hands and could light up their surroundings a little.

It had been 10 hours since they were inside the dungeons. And these tier-2 Portal Gate dungeons were the same as the tier-1 Portal Gate.

Ji-woo felt the dungeon was not the real thing based on the Mana he felt in all parts. But he couldn’t tell why he had an assumption like that.

Ji-woo threw away such thoughts.

“Mister Lee, how can we go out from these dungeons?” Ji-woo asked.

“It’s called the owner of the dungeon. After being killed, the last person to cause harm or rather, the person who killed it has the authority over the dungeon.”

Ji-woo’s face got puzzled.

Mister Lee immediately cleared Ji-woo’s confusion.

“Simply, the Portal Gate’s will become the room door that can get opened with your thoughts.”

‘Ah, is that why the last time we went out so suddenly because I didn’t specify it in my mind? I was just in a hurry to go back at that time.’

Ji-woo shook his head, then asked another question to mister Lee.

“What if the person in authority doesn’t want to come out? Or maybe they died together with the dungeon owner at the same time?”

“Then find the small bead that always drops after the dungeon owner is dead. It is the size of a chicken egg. When you crush the bead, everything that came through the Portal Gate will be back from the Portal Gate.”

“Ah, a bead…” Ji-woo spoke like he just got enlightenment.

Hehehe–

Mister Lee laughed lightly looked Ji-woo’s complexion.

“You seem interested concerning the Portal Gate. Want to be a hunter in the future? Well, you can ask me. I know a lot about this. I worked as a porter in the Ganjang guild for three years.

“But, only if you get the Mana blessings later.”

Ji-woo could only smile awkwardly and recognized, asking too much about the Portal Gate.

Ji-woo wanted to ask about how to determine the owner of the dungeon. Yet, he decided not to ask it.

“If the Spiderlings is the current opponent for the leader Park group, then the owner must be the Broodmother.”

“Hmm? Mister Lee, how do you know about that?”

Ji-woo was shocked hearing mister Lee, who seemed to know more about the Cave dungeon.

Hehehe–

“There is a Portal Gate NeverPage on the internet. Tsk! Even though I’m old, I still know how to surf in the digital world. Still, my experience is better than that internet thing too.”

Mister Lee teased Ji-woo as a young man who was familiar with the technology. But, he didn’t even know there was little information about Portal Gates on the internet.

That information got shared by hunters who managed to clear the dungeons in the country of South Korea.

Many creatures and all kinds of dungeon information got shared through this site. The hope was to make it easier to close the Portal Gates in their own countries.

Of course, in the world, there were similar websites too. That got held more info regarding the lower tier Portal Gates.