Chapter 21: Map to Hell
Five hours of hunting pocketed them some change. For Diana and the uncles, their earnings were half of Nuri’s because of the Star Rating differential, and while he gained some XP, the other three gained nothing.
However, the haul wasn’t as empty as Nuri had thought. They were able to collect a bunch of materials for crafting Labyrinth gear and items, some Labyrinth equipment, and one Blue Spider Essence, which Diana had collected with her Essence Vial.
Per the contract, Nuri didn’t get any of it unless he was willing to go into debt for another 45K LCs — a discounted price for a 1-Star gear, by the way.
"I have an estimate!" Diana cheered, a sign of good fortune. "In five hours of hunting, we collected more than 400K LCs!"
’What!?’
Nuri was stunned. A remarkable result, no doubt. Even though he wouldn’t receive any of the earnings, he felt proud of the contribution he had made. He wasn’t deadweight. In every round, he managed to kill at least one mob — sometimes even carrying them to victory!
’They let me, but who cares.’
It was largely thanks to these folks, too. Without them pointing out each mob’s weaknesses and how to deal with them quickly, he would have struggled tremendously as his stamina depleted.
"Don’t get too excited." Murray’s stern expression cut in. "We were fairly lucky. Three pieces of equipment and one Essence in a day? Now that’s luck if I ever saw one."
Hugo clicked his tongue.
"You’re souring the mood, brother. 400K is 400K! What’s there not to be excited about?"
"Just sayin’. We might not even make 100K tomorrow. Nuri’s gotta know the ups and downs of hunting and earning."
Ups and downs? With Nuri here, there were no downs — only ups. Money was something he never lacked, and it never dropped without him knowing it would soar a minute later.
He crossed his arms while wearing a defiant smug.
"Ay, Uncle Murray. We all know I’m the lucky charm of this family. Tell me, have you gotten this much money in five hours?"
Diana stared at him, looking defeated.
"You owe us 50K, thoug—"
"Aside from that!" Nuri quickly cut in. "That was because of my recklessness, which I have worked hard to compensate with this 400K, or am I wrong?"
Murray smirked and let out his signature laugh.
"You contributed 50K, at best. Let’s not get too cocky now."
"Which is half of a supposed veteran’s output. Pretty good for a rookie, I’d say."
Nuri instinctively looked to Hugo for explicit approval, and Hugo immediately understood his job, winking at him.
"The kid’s right. Shouldn’t that earn him a piece of equipment, at the very least?"
Diana chuckled from afar. She was already starting to make dinner for the family.
"Goodness, can we stop talking about the Labyrinth for a while? Why don’t you boys come over here and help me prepare dinner?"
Dinner was nothing extravagant, just beef stew with rice. It tasted divine, though. When Nuri asked, Diana said she had brought the ingredients, along with spices and seasonings, into the Labyrinth. A hearty meal helped restore stamina and clear mental fog more than most people realized.
It felt even more like a blessing to share it with the people Nuri had grown fond of. He knew trusting strangers in the Labyrinth was taboo, but he also wanted to live by his philosophy: just live a little. That feeling was even stronger after dying once. He had died once, so what was wrong with dying twice?
As long as he could enjoy the moment, they could cut his head off right now for all he cared.
Of course, Nuri didn’t want to die, but that mindset gave him a wider range of options than most people would dare to consider. It was one advantage of being a reincarnator.
Diana ladled a second helping into his bowl before he could ask.
"Eat up. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day."
He nodded and gave himself a spoonful.
After dinner, the party settled in for the night, with someone taking watch every two hours. Nuri went first, which was the easiest shift.
The second day came in an instant.
There was no morning light to greet them, nor any chirping birds. The cave’s damp air and the occasional sound of droplets striking stone were their morning calls.
When Nuri opened his eyes, Murray and Diana were already awake, packing their things. Hugo... was Hugo, snoring louder than all the monsters’ noises combined.
His snores were why they put him on the second watch, so Nuri could sleep peacefully. He thanked them from the bottom of his heart.
He rose and approached the couple, wondering what they would do for the next few days.
"Ah, Nuri, good morning."
"Good morning!"
The couple greeted him first.
"Morning."
Murray crouched beside the firepit and pulled a map from his inventory. The folded parchment materialized in his hand with a soft flash of light. He set it down between them and unfolded it.
Inside, the sketch showed a network of cave passages Nuri didn’t recognize.
"Sit down, Nuri. There’s something we want to talk to you about before we move."
The shift in Murray’s voice indicated something serious. It didn’t alarm Nuri, per se, but it definitely unsettled him.
’Whatever this is, they definitely hid it from me until now.’
Nuri glanced at Diana, now standing beside Murray with an unreadable expression, but she gave him a small nod.
’Damn, what the hell are they about to tell me?’
He lowered himself slowly to the ground, just a slight distance from the map.
"What is it?" he asked, then looked down at the map in front of him. "Does it have something to do with this map?"
Murray tapped a finger on the map.
"Do you know anything about Ancient Rifts?"
The moment he spelled out those two words, Nuri knew.
’Ah, so this is a map to an Ancient Rift.’
"Of course. But... isn’t it dangerous? It’s not your usual Rifts."
Ancient Rifts differed from normal Rifts. Rifts were like instant dungeons in gaming terms, where a party would challenge them for guaranteed rewards. They appeared in random places each day and closed the instant the quota was filled. Most of them were easy and matched the difficulty of the Floor they were on.
However, an Ancient Rift was a completely different beast. Its difficulty matched the average Star Rating and could even exceed it. It was unpredictable.
Unlike regular Rifts, though, it could be found using maps dropped by monsters, like this one right here. These maps appeared once per cycle on each floor, and opening the Ancient Rift required a specific Essence sacrifice.
Murray crossed his arms.
"That’s why we wanted to talk to you first. Since we got the Essence we need sooner than expected, we’re challenging it today."
Diana nodded.
"Ancient Rifts are dangerous, regardless of the Floor they’re summoned. We’ve cleared one in our years of exploring, so we got experience."
She paused, looking at him steadily.
"You, on the other hand... Murray and I talked it over, and we do want to bring you in. But this isn’t yesterday’s bus, Nuri. If something goes wrong in there, we might not be able to pull you out. Are you sure you want to risk it?"
