'It really was a Hidden Room!'
Finding out that it was an actual Hidden Room wouldn't have happened if he hadn't insisted on it being one, but Damian was still elated that his guess turned out to be true.
If he had to be honest the room in the first Den was more of a makeshift office than anything else. Only something that had a special opening mechanism like this could be called a proper Hidden Room!
Seeing the golden light leaking from behind the sliding door, what he would obtain didn't seem to matter to Damian. He just knew that it would be something worth the trouble that he had to go through.
The golden light quickly subsided once the room was fully open, but that was also within Damian's expectations.
'It's not an actual treasure room after all.'
Although the room's contents were items that would be regarded as treasures by anyone who fell into the Labyrinth, it didn't contain any monetary treasure.
There was no sea of golden coins inside nor was Damian hoping to find one. Instead, the source of the light was a small wooden chest with golden rims.
'Here we go!'
There was plenty of space inside the room, but the wooden chest was all there was inside, and that was all that Damian needed.
[ Save Point has been created. Main Save Point has been replaced. ]
After renewing his Save Point just in case, Damian immediately went ahead and opened the chest, bathing the room in golden light once more.
'Here comes the treasure box gacha!'
Unlike the bodies of monsters which Damian liked to refer to as loot boxes, treasure boxes were always guaranteed to have something inside them, it was also something valuable most of the time.
'Please let it be something useful!'
It was just that one couldn't guarantee getting something that he needed. After all, what dictated an item's value was its usefulness.
If he ended up getting the world's strongest poison or the most delicious meat in the world, Damian's situation wouldn't improve one bit.
Nevertheless, Damian couldn't do much aside from praying and waiting for the second wave of light to subside, only then could he find out what he got.
'...'
Once the item was revealed, Damian's only reaction was to grab it and measure it against his body. It was only after he estimated it would be a good fit that he let a big smile fill up his face.
'Thank God!'
He didn't end up getting a suitable and tough weapon that could increase his safety in battle, but he obtained something far more fundamental!
[ Strong Leather Armor: Light armor that was created using a Minotaur's skin. Old but sturdy. ]
For a moment, Damian was over the moon. He could finally replace the armor that Iris had on from the very start. Not only was it painful to wear, but it was also extremely unreliable.
He had only kept this burden on for so long because he didn't have anything better to use.
'No need to wait any further.'
Having already made the choice, Damian started a chain reaction of destruction through the cracked suit of armor. The whole process didn't take much time or effort, he just had to target the fragile points that he had been avoiding this far.
In the end, aside from the thin clothes that were under the armor, all that Damian had left on was the shin guard and the armguard. They were the only parts that remained fully intact.
'That's just right.'
The leather armor itself didn't completely cover the full body. Its upper part was like a half-sleeve shirt while the lower one was similar to a pair of short pants.
'This is what a full upgrade should be like.'
It didn't take that much time to put on everything either. Taking out the shortsword and raising it forward, Damian finally felt like a game character who had completely upgraded its gear after its level had increased.
"What do you think? Looks good right?"
Even though he knew that Iris saw something different than his, Damian couldn't help sharing his excitement. Compared to how he had to stumble at the beginning, everything was starting to take shape.
{It does.}
In fact, Iris' opinion wasn't any different.
'I had to miss the Golden Goblin for this, but… Wait.'
Damian had no regrets, but a funny idea just popped up in his mind.
'Does this actually count as a Golden Goblin's prize?'
He didn't get its bag, nor did he follow it to its lair. Nonetheless, he couldn't have found this Hidden Room without the last golden shimmer, which reminded Damian of another element of the game.
While hidden elements had to be properly discovered in Fate's Guide, there were a few times when the container or the door that held that element had golden sparkles hovering over it for a few seconds.
If this wasn't just a coincidence, then the Golden Goblin might be something much more complicated than a simple monster. At this point, it was close to a conceptual being.
'Well, it doesn't really matter.'
Damian's final thoughts were things that he only touched in very few levels of Fate's Guide. In the reality patch level where things were very basic, even reaching the absolute peak wasn't enough to make a rough comparison.
"Yawwwwwwn."
While being lost in thought, Damian had no control over his mouth as he suddenly let out a very long yawn. Now that the adrenaline and excitement were starting to dwindle, he remembered how tired he had been.
"It's time to get some proper sleep."
The short nap had allowed him to get this far, but Damian wanted the deep recovery effect that long sleep granted him. Thankfully, the Hidden Room was big enough for him to lie down.
When Damian opened his eyes once again, he went out to resume his Goblin hunting routine. However, it wasn't long before he was met by a very new type of obstacle…
'Looks like farming is still impossible.'