The dungeon has been parasitized

Chapter 101 Rewards

This earthquake was different from what Klein remembered. There was no rapid change in intensity in a short period of time, no big tremors followed by small tremors. It just continued gently and did not even cause any damage.

Unlike earthquakes that come and go quickly, like a tornado, this earthquake lasted for a long time before stopping.

"Ah, it's stopped, the ground isn't moving anymore."

Yanami emerged from under the bronze dragon's body and then stretched lazily.

"It wasn't that dangerous. Klein is making a big fuss over nothing."

"Just in case, earthquakes can be very dangerous."

Although Klein stopped dealing with the earthquake early on and resumed his work on the Pteranodon, he still kept Yanami in a safe area until the shaking subsided before she could come out.

After all, no one knows when a major earthquake might strike and collapse the entire cave.

"Phew... So ground shaking is an earthquake. This is the first time something like this has happened."

Is this your first time?

To be honest, she was completely bewildered when the earthquake started, and even thought that "the earthquake is coming" meant that monsters were coming.

Klein initially thought it was just a difference in terminology, but now it seems she truly has no concept of earthquakes.

"You don't know what an earthquake is... then do you know that the ground shakes?"

"I don't know, this is the first time, and it's not mentioned in the book."

Yanami honestly shook her head, further confirming Klein's conjecture.

Klein felt something was off...

The underground is full of caves, some as large as a city, and from an ecological perspective, these caves have existed for a very long time.

If an earthquake were to occur, would it be possible for so many caves to exist? Obviously not.

Moreover, the people in this world don't even know the concept of the ground. They can clearly dig upwards to reach the ground, but no one has ever tried... or is it because they can't get up there?

What's even stranger is that the task in the jumbled mess of code in my system changed, and then an earthquake occurred, and it was an unusual earthquake at that.

It's hard not to connect these two things, and what exactly does "sky" mean in the mission?

A world without earthquakes, filled with caves, where the surface is nowhere to be found... Countless caves, it's like a pre-designed underground landscape tank.

Just like a rainforest terrarium, because it knows that rainforests need water, it will frequently spray water to keep them moist, and because it knows that rainforest plants will die if it gets too cold, it will keep the heater on.

The caves in this world seem to know they need sunlight, so they have luminous crystals that simulate the day and night cycle on the earth's surface; they also seem to know that earthquakes would cause the caves to collapse, so there have never been any earthquakes.

Just like being afraid that the animals in the rainforest terrarium will escape... that's why this world can't go to the surface.

Everything seemed to have been pre-planned, which gave Klein a chill, because perhaps he himself was part of the whole design.

But why do this?

And why choose yourself?

These questions troubled Klein greatly, leaving him completely clueless. He needed more information to understand everything, but the most important thing Klein was doing right now was to leave the plantation and go to the lake in the swamp...

To understand the truth, we must go further.

"Klein, is this snake meat edible?!"

Yanami's voice interrupted Klein's thoughts. She was currently watching the fishmen working on the pterosaur carcasses, looking excitedly at the piles of pterosaur meat.

This guy can still eat after seeing all this? He's really carefree.

Klein sighed, looking at Yanami's innocent appearance, as if nothing else mattered.

The road is long, so let's take it slow.

"I don't know, let me identify it for you."

Speaking of which, it seems that the identification and investigation have been upgraded, but we haven't had time to confirm it yet.

It must have been the successful exploration of the powerful bronze dragon that upgraded the [Exploration] skill. The [Appraisal] skill was almost upgraded, and this was just the final push.

[Detection LV3: Detects three characteristics and two weaknesses of the target.]

[Identification LV3: Select a specific direction for identification.]

These skills have finally been upgraded... Since they are all support skills, Klein hadn't deliberately upgraded them, but the effects after the upgrades are still great.

The exploration effect has simply become stronger, but the improvement in identification is quite noteworthy. What does identification in a specific direction mean?

Let's just give it a try...

Activate skill: Appraisal

Success rate: 100%

He initiated an appraisal of a piece of pterosaur meat, then selected the area he wanted to appraise: "edibility".

The identification was successful.

Pteranodon meat: The quadriceps muscle from the pteranodon's thigh, possessing immense strength.

[Edibility: Edible; the quadriceps are well-developed, the meat is somewhat tough, and it has a slightly fishy or pungent taste, but it is highly nutritious.]

Oh, so that's what it refers to... That's really useful; I might be able to learn a lot from this identification.

For example, if you don't know how to operate a magical tool, you might be able to easily understand it through this appraisal without having to try and fail.

"You can eat it, but it might not taste very good; it will be quite fishy and smelly."

"Hmm...we have spices, maybe we can use them to treat it?"

"I don't know, but you can give it a try."

"Okay~"

Yanami looked very excited; she really is a glutton.

But let her be. After all, she's done so much for me, she deserves a reward...

Ah, there's something wonderful that could be her reward.

"Wait a minute, Yanami."

Klein had a good idea, so he called out to Yanami, who was planning to take a piece of meat to cook.

"What's wrong?"

"We have even better meat for you to try, would you like to?"

"think!"

"You didn't even ask what it is..."

"I believe in Klein!"

Klein brought Yanami to the lakeside once again, because this lake was not a simple stagnant lake; there were drainage channels at the bottom and waterfalls above to replenish the water.

So the lake water, which was originally stained red with blood, was completely replaced with fresh water during the day, and the bodies in it were retrieved by Klein.

The lake water is now very clear, and you can vaguely see the bronze dragon Mariens, with its red flesh and blood protruding from the bottom of the lake.

Are there any fish in here?

Yanami looked at the lake curiously and blinked.

"It's not a fish, it's this."

As Klein spoke, the bronze dragon Mariens from the bottom of the lake slowly rose to the surface. Although it was still naked without any scales, it was much better than when it had first parasitized the lake.

Dragons have truly remarkable regenerative abilities.

Yanami stared wide-eyed at the dragon floating on the lake.

"Ah, so that means..."

"That's right, if you'd like, you can try the taste of dragon meat."