Surviving the Game as a Barbarian

Garpas's Necklace.

A Numbered Item I'd obtained at my first noble banquet, along with the nickname "Knight Crusher."

But it was an item I hadn't dared to use until now, years after obtaining it.

It required a solid financial foundation.

'But with the amount of magic stones we're earning these days...'

I felt like I could reach my target within a month or two.

And besides, there wasn't a better way to upgrade my specs in the first basement floor.

It would be a more drastic improvement than any essence.

'So magic stones are the key for now...'

But it would be too dangerous, wouldn't it?

'Wait a minute.'

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

"Wyte Hex, come here."

"...Did you call for me?"

"It's nothing much. I just have a few questions. You said you arrived on the giant island during the rainy season, right?"

"Yes, on the first day."

"I remember. Anyway, you said the island was swarming with monsters?"

"...Yes, but...?"

Wyte looked at me, puzzled by my questions, but he described the scene he had witnessed.

Monsters fighting each other, blood and flesh splattering everywhere.

I listened carefully and then said,

"Isn't that strange?"

"...Huh?"

"If there were that many monsters fighting, the island should have been covered in magic stones."

When we arrived on the giant island, there were only corpses, no magic stones.

Wyte seemed to realize it too.

"Now that you mention it... that's true. I didn't think about it at the time, but... there should have been magic stones, just like on the human island."

"When did you leave the cave after entering it?"

"About ten days after the rainy season ended. We didn't know when it would end, so we had to wait."

"I see."

The mystery deepened.

Where had all the magic stones gone?

And if that was the case, the sea should also be filled with magic stones.

Crack-!

Even now, monsters were falling into the sea and disintegrating.

Over time, the magic stones should have accumulated, forming underwater mountains.

But...

'There wasn't anything down there...'

Should I dive and check?

I considered it, but I decided to ask the mages first.

"That's... a good question. I've been wondering about that too."

"Let's dive and check!"

"But the sea is filled with monsters..."

"Does that matter? We might discover a hidden law of this world!"

"Wait! There's a way to check without diving!"

"...Huh?"

The mages, who had been about to jump into the sea, stopped at Bersil's words.

"Let's use our magic stones."

Bersil took out a magic stone, tied it to a string, and lowered it into the sea. She then cast various spells, observing the magic stone's changes.

And we learned something new.

Or rather, something we should have known already.

"...It disappeared."

"It's dissolving."

Magic stones dissolved in the silver sea.

_____________________

After the experiment, various theories and questions were raised.

"Is the sea silver because of the absorbed magic stones?"

"I don't think we have enough evidence to conclude that."

"Yes. If it's absorbing magic stones, the seawater should have some mana density, but it doesn't."

"Hmm... But if magic stones only dissolve in seawater, what about the ones on land?"

I used to enjoy these kinds of intellectual discussions.

But had my barbarian instincts taken over?

"Um... Baron, what do you think?"

"Ugh... My head..."

I felt a headache coming on, so I excused myself and left.

The mages would figure it out.

I spent the rest of the time chatting with my teammates.

And after a while...

Crack-!

On Day 7 of the rainy season, the number of falling monsters decreased significantly.

And...

[23:59]

After 11:50 PM, they stopped appearing altogether.

'Hmm... Is there a 10-minute discrepancy in the clock?'

I wondered, but we decided to deactivate the barrier as planned.

We couldn't risk a monster landing on the deck and damaging the ship.

It's always better to be safe than sorry.

Tick, tock.

I stared at the clock, focusing on the ticking seconds.

And as I did, I noticed that the surroundings had become quiet.

I looked around, and everyone was checking their clocks.

Like waiting for the new year.

Tick, tock.

And then the moment arrived.

[00:00]

The end of the rainy season.

"It's midnight!"

"So it's really over?"

The explorers gathered on the deck started murmuring, and I gave the order.

"Deactivate the barrier!"

As the barrier disappeared, a sense of openness washed over me.

The deck had been covered in blood and gore from the monsters that had crashed into it.

"Ah, Mister!"

I was about to go to the bow and enjoy the fresh air when Erwen called out to me.

"Look! Over there!"

What?

I looked up at the crow's nest, and Erwen was pointing at something.

I turned my head...

And froze.

Everyone on the deck froze.

"...A rainbow?"

A rainbow had appeared in the distance.

As if celebrating the end of the rainy season.

_____________________

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

A beautiful spectrum of colors.

It looked even more vibrant against the blood-stained deck.

But we couldn't just stand there and admire it.

We were explorers.

Whether it was a rainbow or a hellish landscape, we had to investigate.

"Auyen! Record the rainbow's location!"

"Yes, sir!"

We started by checking its location.

The timing itself was suspicious.

'A phenomenon that only appears after the rainy season, when you're at sea.'

Was it really just a natural phenomenon?

And the rainbow itself was different.

Normal rainbows were curved...

Swaaaaaaaaaa-!

...but this one was a straight, vertical column of light.

Like an in-game effect that marked a hidden area.

"21 degrees from our current location, 34 degrees from the rocky island! Distance... unknown!"

Auyen reported the rainbow's location, but I only understood one thing.

He had successfully determined its direction.

'But the distance is unknown...'

I was conflicted.

Should we go there now? Or should we stick to our original plan?

As I was thinking, someone shouted,

"It's disappearing!"

The rainbow was fading.

And after about five minutes...

It was gone.

'It only appears for five minutes after the rainy season ends...'

It seemed like we had found something important.

But I still didn't change our course.

"Huh? Bjorn? Aren't we going to the rainbow?"

Ainar looked at me, puzzled, but it was a natural decision for a leader.

We hadn't finished exploring the giant island or the tree island yet.

And we still had to go to the library.

Leveling up was our priority.

We had already marked the rainbow's location, so we could go there anytime.

"Auyen, how long until we reach the giant island?"

"About three hours!"

We maintained our course.

And after about three hours...

We arrived at the giant island.

And the first thing we did was stare in disbelief.

'I knew it...'

"...Magic stones."

The beach was covered in magic stones.

_____________________

The reason we returned to the giant island was simple.

It was the only island where we had found a portal stone.

The giant we had seen before leaving the island was a concern...

But I felt like there were more secrets to be uncovered here.

However...

Thump-!

As soon as I saw the magic stones on the beach, my heart started racing.

It wasn't as dense as on the human island.

But the giant island was much larger.

If we could collect all the magic stones...

"This is insane..."

We might be able to reach our target.

We disembarked and started collecting the magic stones.

It wasn't as easy as it looked.

The island was still swarming with monsters after the rainy season.

'They're all high-level, since they survived the rainy season.'

Most of them were 4th-grade or higher.

And we encountered a few new species with strange essence combinations.

The battles were challenging.

But we were also getting stronger.

Mul Armin, for example.

「Mul Armin has cast [Hypersensitive Skin].」

「Target's damage taken increased by 30%.」

「Mul Armin has cast [Eternal Weakness].」

「Target's Physical stats decreased by 30%, and all curse effects are amplified by 1.5 times.」

He was a Curse Necromancer.

His active skills and summons were all curse-based.

「Mul Armin has cast [Soul Leech].」

A summon that drained MP with each hit.

「Mul Armin has cast [Corrosive Hound].」

A summon that reduced Resistance with each bite.

「Mul Armin has cast [Wraith Bomber].」

A summon that exploded, inflicting curses.

That's why I had given him the Harpy's essence.

Its passive skill, [Mother Bird], was a Necromancer skill.

「All summons within range have been unsummoned.」

「80% of the consumed Soul Power is refunded.」

「The cooldown of the corresponding summon skill is reduced by 80%.」

It was a must-have essence for Necromancer builds.

It made Mul Armin at least five times stronger.

2nd-grade core essences were that powerful.

「Mul Armin has cast [Wraith Bomber].」

「Mul Armin has cast [Wraith Bomber].」

「Mul Armin has cast [Wraith Bomber].」

「Mul Armin has cast [Wraith Bomber]…」

He spammed his summons, using his recovered MP and reduced cooldowns.

Boom-!

The damage itself wasn't that high, but the curses stacked.

'Having a good debuffer makes things so much easier.'

And Mul Armin was perfect for this situation.

He was more effective against strong enemies than weak ones.

"Good work, Mul."

"It was nothing, Baron."

He was still overly polite.

He kept using honorifics.

'Is he trying to distance himself because he received the essence? Is he worried I'll ask him to repay me?'

I was a little offended, but it could be my imagination.

I would observe him for a while longer.

And as time passed...

One day, two days, three days...

We continued collecting magic stones and fighting monsters.

[00:00]

On Day 3 after the rainy season ended...

We received bad news.

"The magic stones... they're disappearing."

The magic stones scattered across the island were disintegrating.

Like food rotting in the ground.

"This is strange... The magic power is definitely dissipating... but I can't find any traces of it..."

It was disappointing, but there was also good news.

"Bersil, how many magic stones have we collected?"

"About 1 billion stones, based on the exchange rate at the checkpoint."

It was enough to start the necklace gacha.