Chapter 12
"Ready, Al?"
Shrrring!
I swiftly forged the aluminum can I'd pulled from my Inventory into the shape of a sword.
Compared to before, when it took me ages just to make a single dagger, I'd clearly grown a lot.
Then, gripping the forged sword in both hands, I charged at the slimes before me, imitating a sword stance I'd seen in an anime.
"Hi-yah!"
And so, I swung my sword at the nearest Black Sludge.
Squelch!
Unlike the cool image I'd expected, the aluminum sword was swallowed by the slime and melted away with a pathetic sound effect.
Gurgle, glorp...
"......"
The Black Sludge looked at me as if to say, 'What the hell is this guy?'
Of course, there was no way that slime monster had eyes, but from where I stood, it somehow felt like it did.
Pweut!
"...Yeah. I knew that wouldn't work."
I made a platform out of an aluminum pillar and quickly put some distance between myself and the slime-spitting one.
Bang─
With the sensation of my body floating, the scenery around me stretched into long streaks.
The distance I'd opened up was about five meters.
That was well beyond the range of my Inventory skill.
But it didn't matter.
My range wasn't limited to a mere 2.5 meters anymore.
"Transmutation."
Boom!
Spikes shot out from an aluminum can that had appeared in midair.
No, rather than sprouting, they were shot out.
Sssshweeek——!!
Metal spikes shot out with enough destructive force to look like they'd been fired from a nail gun.
Normally, my Transmutation skill alone couldn't do anything like this.
But...
[ Vodka (C)'s addiction rate has reached 100%! ]
[ Your addiction rate will no longer increase from consuming this drug. ]
[ Drug Addiction ]
- Rank: EX
- Ability: Consuming drugs increases your stats in proportion to your addiction rate.
- Addiction rate: 420%
"Drug Addiction!! So stroooong~!!"
My addiction rate after consuming Ferum Flower sap and various kinds of alcohol was a whopping 420%.
It consisted of 100% caffeine, 100% alcohol, and 220% from the narcotic flower.
The weak me from yesterday was dead.
The one standing here now wasn't my past self, but the New Neo Deluxe Ultra Alchemist, Geum A-yeon.
Crunch!
A pretty donut-shaped hole appeared in the Black Sludge struck by the flying metal spike.
The Black Sludge, now with a hole in it, couldn't hold its shape and slumped down.
Looks like I'd gotten lucky and hit its core, killing it in one shot.
Sssshweeek— Crunch!!
I fired metal spikes at the rest of them the same way, and they were skewered without putting up any resistance, turning into slushies.
[ Main Quest ]
Defeat the monsters. (3/3)
- Reward: Floor 4 Entry Ticket, Random Skill Box x1, Random Trait Box x1
"What? That was nothing."
Considering there were three mid-bosses from Floor 5, that was pretty underwhelming.
The fight against the Ferum Flower had felt harder.
Of course, it wasn't that the floor had gotten easier. I was just way too strong now.
For some reason, I almost felt sorry for the Black Sludges.
Still, they were mid-bosses that appeared on Floor 5, and they just happened to run into the wrong opponent...
Ding!
[ Main Quest Cleared. ]
[ You have cleared Floor 3 on Lunatic difficulty. ]
[ Clear rewards will now be granted. ]
[ You have obtained a Floor 4 Entry Ticket. ]
[ You have obtained Random Skill Box x1. ]
[ You have obtained Random Trait Box x1. ]
That's when it happened.
Along with a notification chime, a System message appeared before me.
"Ooh. Nice."
With twice the usual clear rewards, I cheered and put the boxes I'd received into my Inventory.
I'll open them when I get home.
This wasn't exactly a good place to roll the gacha.
The stench was about to drive me insane.
"Ugh... I should hurry home."
I opened my status window, quickly took a proof photo to post on the Gallery, and immediately started looking for the portal-like exit.
But unfortunately, what I found before the exit was an elf with pointy ears peeking out from behind a tree in the distance.
Peek, peek.
"......"
Yeah, I was wondering when she'd show up.
An elf who'd gotten a taste of drugs wasn't going to be satisfied with just one taste.
The elf, emerging belatedly from behind the tree, looked at me and muttered:
"...That human from before?"
A familiar face and familiar breasts.
Still wearing that perverted outfit.
And that uniquely rude way of speaking.
It was Iris, the Elf Princess.
She looked at the black slimes sprawled out in front of me and asked in a trembling voice:
"D-did you just... defeat the Black Sludges...?"
"Yeah?"
"But they should've been difficult to even approach because of their contamination...?"
"I've got the kind of constitution that doesn't react much to stuff like that."
Shake, shake.
As I said that, I brushed the Black Sludge's slime off the bit on my sleeve.
Did I get it on me when I was messing around trying out my Swordsmanship skill?
I tried to dodge, but I must've gotten a little on me.
'What a waste...'
This was the last of my clothes that was still in good shape.
I guess I'd have to buy some new clothes soon.
Meanwhile, Iris looked at me like I was a monster.
"Since you were covered in Ppeukkumi's sap last time, I suppose that wasn't a lie..."
"Told you."
"...You really don't seem human, Human."
I breezily continued talking to Iris, who sounded exasperated.
"What's with 'Human'? Just call me by my name."
"But you haven't told me your name..."
"A-yeon. Geum A-yeon."
"A-yeon? That's your given name, right?"
"Yeah."
"Putting the family name first... Humans have such unusual naming conventions."
Actually, that wasn't because I was human, but simply because I was from an Asian country.
I couldn't be bothered to explain in detail, so I let it pass without comment.
Iris continued:
"Anyway... thank you for taking care of the Black Sludges. They were a nuisance to the forest..."
Unlike the Ferum Flower last time, those unlucky squishies apparently weren't welcome among the elves either.
I tilted my head and asked her about the Black Sludge.
"Are they bad guys?"
"Yes. They're monsters born from a mixture of human refuse and magical waste."
"I see."
"More than anything, Black Sludge is the main culprit behind the contamination of the World Tree's roots. The elves can't help but hate them."
Contamination of the World Tree, huh.
That's a famous elf berserk button.
It felt like something really important to the Main Quest, somehow...
But as someone who skips every bit of story in the games I play, I wasn't particularly interested in learning more.
Without wasting time, I took a sap candy I'd made earlier out of my Inventory and held it out in front of Iris.
"Th-that is...!"
The moment Iris saw the candy, her eyes changed, and she started drooling like Pavlov's dog.
She had heart-shaped eyes, like something you'd see on an illegal manga-sharing site.
Then, seeing Iris lose her self-control and reach for the candy without thinking, I quickly hid it in my hand and started scolding her.
"Tsk, no. Wait."
"W-what are you doing all of a sudden...! Stop teasing me and hurry up and give me that candy—"
But perhaps I hadn't trained her enough yet. Unable to wait even that little while, the elf tried to snatch the candy from me.
So much for 'there are no bad dogs in the world.' Guess that was all a lie.
I mean, this elf was worse than a dog... Anyway.
I pushed Iris away with one hand as she desperately tried to steal the candy, then tilted my head with the most obnoxious expression I could manage.
"For free?"
As if I was going to let her mooch this precious candy.
I'd even given up on increasing my addiction rate to make it.
"If you want something, you have to give something in return, right?"
"......"
The basics of a deal.
The law of equivalent exchange.
...It sounded more like the basics of alchemy than a deal, though.
"I-I came out in a hurry, so... I don't have anything on me right now..."
"Then no candy for you."
"No!! P-please wait!!"
Perhaps she'd gotten anxious after hearing me, because Iris hurriedly searched through her clothes for something she could trade for the candy.
But had she really brought nothing with her?
In the end, unable to find anything, Iris made a sad face and carefully pulled one of the leaves decorating her hair ornament.
"Ugh... I didn't want to use this..."
She seemed to hesitate for quite a while, holding the leaf as if it were very precious.
Of course, it must've been less important than the candy, because in the end she held it out to me.
"...Here."
"Okay. Thanks."
And thus, the deal was successfully concluded.
I immediately started examining the leaf I'd received from Iris.
Flap!
It was shaped roughly like a maple leaf.
But it was pointier, with seven lobes.
Its edges were jagged like a saw.
'...Huh? Wait.'
The shape of this...
It looked so familiar...
—Smoke weed everyday~
For some reason, a line from some foreign hip-hop song suddenly started playing in my head.
I narrowed my eyes and gave Iris a suspicious look.
"...I'll tell you in advance, it's not what you think."
"It wasn't weed?"
"Of course not! It's not some cheap weed that humans smoke!"
Was her pride hurt by my calling it weed?
I tilted my head at Iris, who was yelling in outrage, and asked:
"Then what is it?"
"A leaf of the World Tree."
"...What?"
Flash—!
[ World Tree Leaf ]
- Rank: S
The moment she said it was a leaf of the World Tree, a status window appeared in front of me before I could even process it.
It was S-rank, no less.
The highest rank of any item I'd seen so far.
But the item description that followed made dozens of question marks appear over my head.
- Details: A leaf of the World Tree, the elves' sacred tree. Its powerful sedative effect induces a state of mental half-consciousness. Long-term consumption carries a high risk of extreme dependence.
'...What?'
A powerful sedative?
Induces a state of mental half-consciousness?
Carries a risk of dependence with long-term consumption?
Don't tell me...
The World Tree the elves worship...
'Was a drug...?'
The moment the truth behind the elves' cult-like faith was revealed.