A middle-aged man in his fifties calls out to the young girl, "Hey lad, wake up." The girl opened her eyes, stretched, and let out a yawn. When he noticed that the young lady had a good night's sleep while she was at level tenth of Malaska Dungeon, the elderly guy grinned.
He offered the young girl the ration food, and she took it and started to eat. The middle-aged man noticed that the color of her left eye was a little off, and the old man became worried. "Hey, what happened to your left eye? It seems you slept adequately; have your breakfast now, and we will travel to the eleventh level in an hour."
She questioned, "My eye? What happened to my eye?", "Yeah, why did it turn purple?" The man asked with concern.
Mirrors are only used by nobles, which is why she couldn't confirm if her eyes really turned purple. But originally, she knew that the color of her eyes was pitch black, and she guessed that it only started to change after she went inside the book.
She simply waved her hand and responded to the question by saying that there was no need to worry.
After an hour, someone shouted that the door for the next floor was open again, and adventurers and couriers are now allowed to enter. A guild instructor gave them the instruction that they're only allowed for an hour and a half because within two hours the stage boss will revive once again, and before that, they must proceed to the next floor with haste.
All the couriers prepared themselves and held their pickaxes that the guild provided, while the little girl prepared her cart to slide down the slope to enter the next room. "Little girl, just slide carefully; you don't need to worry about your wagon; we'll catch it at the end room."
Lucky for her, she belongs to a group of good people, which will help to lessen her burden a little. The porter group prepared themselves, and one by one they slipped down to enter the next room. The little girl safely slid down with her cart, and the other man at the end safely caught her and her cart. "Now boys, let's get to work!" screamed one of the couriers, and all of them exclaimed with excitement.
The interior of the boss room was embedded with lush blue crystals; these crystals were called pseudo-mana catalysts. The use of these crystals was to absorb mana and use it as one of the circuits for magic weapons.
Having a pseudo-mana catalyst was great luck for any country because it meant money. This money was needed for all kinds of things, but mainly it was needed for war, so there was very little resistance from people trying to use this mana crystal.
The little girl started to knock some of the crystals out using her pickaxe, and she stored them inside her cart. She was precise in her work, and without a single drop of sweat, she collected more crystals than the other couriers or adventurers that got hired.
After an hour and a half, the leader of the group signaled everyone to gather; they needed to move out now because within thirty minutes, the boss's room would revive. They all walked outside the room and entered the next stage of the dungeon.
The little girl was amazed when she saw there were a lot of pseudo-mana crystals on the ceiling. These crystals became the light source for the entire floor.
"Welcome to the eleventh floor," a man greeted them. "All couriers from the guild follow me; we need to segregate the items first." All the couriers followed the man, and they went inside one of the temporary huts that they erected.
All of them poured what they had acquired on their designated mantel inside the tent; afterwards, a member of guild staff issued them another tent to stay in, saying, "Please wait here for a moment and one of our staffs will assist you."
The ten porters waited inside the tent. "Hey, who agreed that this is easy money? "One of the courier asked. All of them look at him and say, "This is not an easy job; this is only the beginning".
The little girl said, "It seems like an easy job because we're still on a lower floor, but once we go higher, there will be a casualty." The old man agreed, "That's true; there's no easy job in this world."
After a few minutes, a staff member from the adventurers guild opened the tent and entered. "Hello couriers, my name is Jane, and I'll be the one who will handle you from now on when you're inside this floor."
She's a woman in her twenties with golden hair and lush eyebrows; paired with a hair bun, she is a beauty to behold. "If you have a question, ask it now; it will be hard to answer later on."
"Based on our contract, we're allowed to quit now, right?" A man wearing a turban asked first. "Yes, the contract says your job is until we reach the eleventh floor," she answered. "Are we going to sign another contract again?", "Yes, if you want to, we can discuss the contract later at a later date; right now, we from the adventurer's guild need to stabilize this floor first."
"How can we get our reward? I heard that the adventurers won't accompany us outside."
"You don't need to worry about that; there was a natural teleportation circle, and it will take you outside safely."
"I never heard of that." Others couldn't believe what they heard either; they never heard of a teleportation circle in the first place. "This is our first time, too, but we can assure you that it's safe to use."
The little girl raised her hand and said, "I'm not sure about that. Why did you people allow us to use it when this is your first time seeing that kind of magic?" She continued, "I believe you from the guild and also the other academy members would hold and investigate that kind of magic, right?"
"Unless you want us to be your guinea pigs," others saw that she got a point, and they looked at the guild staff; they wanted to know the real reason. "You don't need to worry because it's already been investigated and tried numerous times." "And it was also tried and verified by the kingdom heroes."
The couriers breathed with relief when they heard the heroes from the other world verify it: "If it's the heroes, then it's totally safe."
"Heroes, huh?" She whispered. 'But that's weird if they already arrived at this place first; why do we need to settle and wait for more than three days on the tenth floor?' She asked herself. She couldn't tell the guild staff directly because she felt something amiss.
"If there are no more questions, let's go now; your guide is waiting outside." All of them got to their feet and followed the guild staff outside the tent. There they saw another guild staff member waiting for them; she would act as their guide toward the teleportation circle.
They walked for a while before reaching their destination, and they saw three magicians from the academy, two knights, and a few adventurers guarding the circle. "Are they the next batch that needs to be sent outside?" Asked one of the magicians. "Yes."
"All of you go inside the circle," ordered one of the knights. All of them followed the instruction and entered the circle: "You'll feel a little discomfort because it will be your first time, but rest assured you'll be safe through your journey to the outside."
Three magicians poured their mana, and the circle glows before flashing a light that blinds everyone. After a second, they saw that they were already outside, with a lot of soldiers looking at them. The knights guide them back to Malaska City, and when they arrive, they enter the guild building to complete the mission.
Each of them received one gold coin for completing the mission, but the little girl received one gold coin, fifty silver coins, and fifty copper coins because she collected more materials of good quality. Receiving her first pay makes her excited; this is the first time she has held that much money for her entire life.
She then rashes out outside the guild and treats herself to a good meal for the first time. She hurriedly went to the food stalls nearby and bought as much as she could.
After treating herself, she went to the weapon shop and bought a new knife. If she can have a stable income, she'll go to the blacksmith instead to commission her own weapon. While browsing the merchandise, she saw a man selling his rusty-colored knife to the merchant. "Fifty copper, that's all I can give," the owner said. "Leave it or take it?"
The seller couldn't do anything, so he agreed to sell the rusty-colored knife. This is when the little girl walks in front of the owner and asks if she can see what the man sells.
The owner agreed and let her check his item. The knife was six inches long; it can fold and has a lock mechanism. Its grip was designed with unknown leather, and it has a safety guard for the user. It also has a stealth ring that can be hung on the belt and a unique design at the edge. Small, short, and slender, with a raised helical thread running around it and a slotted head.
She felt that she had already seen this kind of knife before, but she couldn't remember when, who, or where she saw it. She works for many kinds of adventurers, and a lot of them have knife skills.
Nevertheless, she asked the shopkeeper how much the knife was worth: "Well, it's new and looks easy to break; I can sell it to you for sixty copper coins." She hurriedly opened her bag and paid sixty copper coins to the owner. After receiving the knife, she went to a leather and dress shop to buy a new leather bag and new clothes.
When night fell and her shopping spree was finished, she bought some food from the restaurant for dinner. She walks back to the inn where she stayed before and asks for a room, but this time it's not a stable room. The receptionist was happy to give her the key, and she went upstairs to find her room and went inside.
She took her dinner first before taking out the cursed book, and when she opened it, a miasma that looked like a blade sprang out and aimed at her right eye. She bled out, but she endured it; she could feel the blade transforming into something, and like last time, the blade transformed like a drill, and the thing hooked her eyes out.
A hand opens its palm and forces the little girl to enter the cursed book afterwards.