Chapter 21 Hound Step and Summoning Hook Finger Medicine!

Gong Qiying sat on the immaculately cleaned altar, staring blankly at the ceiling.

A new day, the Crystal Ball was broadcasting the adventurers' new stunts, but he found himself disinterested.

Because he suddenly realized something—was his life too monotonous?

All he did each day was to check and repair the Dungeon; while it was indeed interesting, surely one couldn't just do one thing for their entire life? He didn't want to become a Dungeon Immortal.

But if he wanted to do something else, he couldn't leave the Dungeon, and could only eavesdrop on the adventurers' conversations, imagining what the outside world was like through their words.

That sounds rather sad...

People say life is about building connections with different individuals, and he had been in this world for quite some time without making a single friend.

"Feeling a bit lonely..."

With boredom written all over his face, Gong Qiying continued to watch the Crystal Ball and indeed saw many familiar faces.

Wild came again, apparently treating his encounters with Sakaki (Gong Qiying) as a serendipitous adventure, believing he could gain benefits from the knowledgeable-looking Sakaki, and thus decided to brave the Dungeon alone.

The result was a random death in some corner, but he probably wouldn't give up just like that.

An adventurer with giant clan blood was there as well, diligently challenging the Dungeon every day like clocking in at work, but sadly he hadn't even met the Stone Statue Ghost.

This guy always sought the thrill of battle, fully knowing that the Curse Frog's spray could kill in an instant yet still gathering them together to fight, seriously...

Respect, blessings, incomprehension.

Gong Qiying wasn't sure if it was just his impression, but he felt that the guy's time to curse death seemed to have gotten longer—could it be that dying often really does build up immunity?

Steeran was there too, this time without her companions, planning to meet the Monsters alone, and with her determined manner, she seemed ready to die just to map out the Dungeon clearly.

With a resolved mindset to die, her exploration turned calmer, and the deceitful traps no longer posed threats to her.

To summarize, the traps in Sain Dungeon had several common characteristics: high density, low damage, significant hindrance, stealthy placement, and required cooperation with Monsters to kill.

Steeran summarized a pattern herself: wherever there were many Monsters, there must be traps, but traps might exist without Monsters.

Her actual exploration matched her summarized rules quite closely.

"This person has some Talent,"

Gong Qiying appreciated her; this Elf was the most improved among all adventurers so far. Maybe she didn't start off well, but she managed to learn and apply.

Look, Steeran encountered a corner in the narrow path; what would she do?

The moment Steeran saw the corner, she stopped in her tracks and picked up a stone from the ground, tossing it as a test.

"Plip plop," the stone hit the water surface, making ripples of sound, and nothing else happened—did that mean there were no Monsters ambushing around the corner?

Absolutely not!

The best way to deal with Cunning Monster was—

She took out a Bomb and threw it decisively!

"Boom—"

"Yah!"

The explosion and Monsters' screams erupted together, and the scent of charred flesh wafted over, Steeran taking a deep, indulgent breath.

"Hah, satisfied,"

"That's the way!" Gong Qiying snapped his fingers; he was very pleased to see the adventurers' progression!

"Time for a little reward, let me see..."

Soon after, Steeran saw a strange Animated Corpse wobbling towards her in an inviting manner, completely defenseless, as if deliberately luring her to kill it.

In reality, this was cannon fodder sent by Gong Qiying as a reward.

However...

Steeran furrowed her brows, swiftly sidestepped to one side, and watched with her eyes wide open as the Animated Corpse walked past her. She didn't attack—why!?

"There's something fishy here; wouldn't the Monster just explode if I hit it," Steeran muttered to herself: "Or maybe it transforms into some other powerful Monster when it dies?"

The Sain Dungeon had molded her into a highly suspicious character.

"..."

Gong Qiying fell silent for a moment, thinking, what's with all the overthinking, just hurry up and hit it!

He maneuvered the Animated Corpse to approach Steeran again, standing motionless as it stared at her as if offering an embrace with its arms spread.

Steeran looked on with an expression of distaste, crouched down and slipped by the Animated Corpse, quickly walking away.

"Hey, you can actually tolerate that?"

Having no other choice, Gong Qiying commanded the Animated Corpse to attack Steeran.

"There we go, it showed its true colors!"

With a single kick, Steeran sent the Animated Corpse's head flying. She then instantly leaped backward, her eyes filled with caution, as she watched the corpse of the Animated Corpse, fearing that something unexpected might happen.

There would be no unexpected events; upon death, the Animated Corpse turned into ashes which then vanished, leaving behind two light points.

Huh? There wasn't any trickery?

Steeran was briefly stunned and even felt slightly unaccustomed but still went forward to pick up the light points.

A weapon and a piece of equipment; the weapon appeared to be a pair of Hook Fingers, a type of weapon she certainly did not know how to use.

"Maybe I should sell it for money," she thought.

As she did, knowledge of a Combat Skill called Hound Step, intrinsic to the Hook Fingers, surfaced in her mind.

Once she grasped the purpose behind the Hound Step, a joyous smile crossed her face once again.

"It seems like a strong Combat Skill, hey wait, why did the weapon grant me knowledge of a Combat Skill?"

She tried taking off the Hook Fingers and, as a result, her mind erased the knowledge of Hound Step, as though it had never existed.

"How magical..."

Steeran was in awe, feeling an urge to send the Hook Fingers to the Elf Clan to have craftsmen study it.

Too bad it was too far and would take too much time.

Aside from the treasure of the Hook Fingers, the other item puzzled her a bit.

It was an old-looking small box, gleaming with gold inside, completely unidentifiable.

As if it sensed her confusion, a stream of information flowed directly into her mind.

[Summoning Hook Finger Medicine x5]

[After use, allows you to see Summoning Symbols drawn by Assistants or fighters on the same floor of the Dungeon, summoning Assistants to help conquer the Dungeon until defeating the area boss; summoning fighters will initiate combat with you.]

"What is this magical thing now?"

For the first time, Steeran learned that there existed an item capable of summoning others across regions!

"Can it truly summon someone, and will the person summoned be alive or something else, do they also possess this kind of item?"

Numerous questions popped up in her mind. She hesitated as she looked at the Summoning Hook Finger Medicine; it seemed to be a consumable, but since there were five in total, maybe it wouldn't hurt to try using one?

With that thought, she couldn't wait to raise the Summoning Hook Finger Medicine and sprinkled its contents into the sky.

"What kind of change will happen, what does a Summoning Symbol look like, I'm so excited!"

Amid her eager gaze, not far away, a golden Summoning Symbol slowly emerged.