The Book of Chaos.
A book composed of dozens of [Chaos Scrolls]. It had the effect of increasing both the uncertainty and rewards of a dungeon.
Ownership belonged to the White Magic Club, but they secretly shared it with a few other clubs they frequently interacted with.
Ruby Magic Tower was one of them, which was why Hong Ye-hwa had it.
Normally, borrowing it required being a mber of the affiliated club, but I was an exception.
I had made a deal allowing to use up to two pages in exchange for retrieving the Book of Chaos from the temporary storage.
Since Hong Ye-hwa had been present during that agreent, she wasn’t particularly surprised when I suddenly brought up the book.
Instead, she responded casually as if she had been expecting this mont.
“No reason to say no. It’s not really ours to begin with. But do you rember the condition I set?”
“Yes, I rember.”
– As long as it doesn’t interfere with our raid, you can use it.
– I can work around that.
I had only secured the right to use it. The priority still belonged to the Ruby Magic Tower.
If my plans clashed with their raid schedule, I would have to step aside.
Hong Ye-hwa continued.
“As you know, things have been a bit chaotic with the Dark Oobleck and the Witch of Corruption. But we’re finally getting back on track. We’re using it for Thursday’s raid.”
“That actually works out perfectly. I plan to use it tomorrow.”
Tomorrow was Tuesday.
At most, the dungeon run would take less than a day, aning I could return it with plenty of ti to spare.
Hong Ye-hwa’s eyes glead as if she had realized sothing.
“Oh, right. You’re heading down with Yeon-hwa tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I plan to use it in that dungeon.”
“You sure about this?”
“Yes, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”
I answered confidently, and Hong Ye-hwa silently stared at for a while.
She seed to be considering various possibilities.
Using the Book of Chaos would inevitably create unforeseen variables, and there was a chance her younger sister could end up in danger.
But I had already proven myself capable. Didn’t I handle the Dark Oobleck without much difficulty?
After a brief pause, Hong Ye-hwa reached into her inventory and pulled out the Book of Chaos.
“I’ll trust you with it this ti as well.”
“Thank you.”
“And—”
She started to say sothing else but hesitated and closed her mouth again.
Then she continued with a small smile.
“Never mind. Just take care.”
“Yes, senior.”
I didn’t press her for more and simply bowed my head.
***
There was one more thing I needed to prepare.
At so point, when I crafted an item using [Crow Branch], I would need to prepare sothing as paynt for the Dinsional Crows.
Since they liked shiny things, the first thing that ca to mind was gemstones.
But—
A few wouldn’t be nearly enough.
Considering that they would be dealing with an S-rank material, a significant amount is needed.
Securing that many gemstones was unrealistic, and even if I could, it wouldn’t be efficient.
So the alternative I had in mind was—
Artwork.
Sothing that sparkled and also held artistic value.
If I crafted even just one or two properly, they would be enough to catch the Crow’s attention.
And sitting idly in my inventory was an item that fit both criteria.
Kraketite.
An A-rank rare tal that Lucky Charm had pulled from a random box. It was an absolute jackpot.
Originally, it had been a large ingot, but most of it had been consud when upgrading my weapon into the sapling. What remained was only slightly larger than a fist. Rа𝐍ÖβƐṠ
The president of the blacksmith club had attempted to refine his skills by shaping it into sothing resembling a sculpture, but the result was… unimpressive.
To put it nicely, it was surreal. To be blunt, it looked like sothing a Seo Ye-in cookie.
In other words, it was a disaster.
Bringing it to a Crow as it was wouldn’t earn a good reaction.
So my goal was to turn this Kraketite “sculpture” (or whatever it was) into a true work of art.
It would be a ticulous and ti-consuming task, but I wasn’t particularly worried.
I could just leave it to soone else.
Back at the start of the sester when I had nothing, I had to do things myself. But now I had plenty of cards to play.
And so, I made my way to the sculptor’s club.
In the neighboring district, a legendary sculptor had carved phoenixes, ice dragons, and even moonlight. But unfortunately, in this area, sculpting was considered a niche class.
The club was so small that it took a while to even find their clubroom.
Still, in the end, I managed to spot a sign tucked away in a secluded corner.
I stood at the door and knocked lightly.
Knock, knock, knock.
…But no sound ca from inside.
It felt like soone was there but just wasn’t responding, so I knocked again.
Knock, knock, knock.
This ti, a slightly irritated voice ca from within.
“Co in.”
I slowly opened the door and stepped inside before bowing my head slightly.
“Hello.”
“……”
At the center of the small clubroom, a female student sat with her back turned to .
The faint scraping sounds suggested she was carving sothing. Sohow, she gave off the impression that if I disturbed her any further, she’d get annoyed.
So instead, I glanced around the room.
Sculptures were packed tightly on every side.
Compared to other clubs, the room was already small, but even so, the sheer number of sculptures was overwhelming.
There was barely enough space to step inside.
Among the sculptures were human heads, busts, various monsters, and even legendary items.
The materials used were just as diverse.
Various minerals and tals stood out, along with chunks of ice and flas that had been magically fixed in place.
As I took my ti observing them all, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Could it be that the girl in front of was the one who had created every single one of these sculptures?
At that mont, the scraping sounds stopped, and the girl turned around.
A quick glance at her tie pin told she was a second-year student.
Her eyes shifted to my chest where my own pin was, and after realizing I was a first-year, she imdiately dropped formal speech.
“What do you want?”
“I’d like to see the club president.”
“That’s . If you’ve got sothing to say, say it.”
It seed that the club president was a second-year student.
I wasn’t sure whether that ant there were so few mbers or if this girl was simply skilled enough to hold the position despite her age.
Probably both.
Either way, since she told to speak, I got straight to the point without hesitation.
“I’d like to commission a sculpture.”
“I don’t take commissions.”
It wasn’t a rejection; she simply didn’t accept commissions in the first place.
But it was still too early to give up.
“If you see what I’ve brought, you might change your mind.”
“Alright, show . What is it?”
As soon as the club president showed a hint of curiosity, I retrieved a piece of Kraketite from my inventory.
The mont she saw it, her eyes briefly glead with interest. But almost imdiately, her expression twisted into a deep scowl.
“Who made this?”
“I had the blacksmiths’ club handle it.”
“This is exactly why you can’t trust those hamr-swinging idiots. They have zero sense of delicacy.”
From a sculptor’s perspective, it must have been infuriating to see such a rare material turned into a complete ss. It was no surprise that her opinion of it wasn’t positive.
Still, I had at least managed to catch her interest. The club president began inspecting the chunk of Kraketite from various angles.
She was already picturing a design in her head.
“This… yeah, this might be worth making. What about the commission fee?”
“Skill experience should be enough, don’t you think?”
I answered casually.
Being given the chance to work with Kraketite was the paynt.
Since it was a high-rank rare tal, it would greatly help with skill and trait rank progression.
That was why I hadn’t paid the blacksmiths’ club president a commission, so there was no reason I couldn’t make the sa demand of the sculptors’ club.
The president frowned again.
“You’re pretty shaless, first-year.”
“It’s a material that justifies being shaless.”
I didn’t look away, and for a mont, we locked eyes in a silent standoff.
“…Tch.”
In the end, it was the sculptors’ club president who surrendered first.
Maybe she wasn’t the type to care too much about commission fees, or perhaps her desire to work with rare materials simply outweighed everything else.
“Fine, I’ll make it. But I need more materials.”
“What should I prepare?”
“Sapphires. Three big ones.”
She was probably planning to process them and add decorative accents to the sculpture.
But from my perspective, it was a rather inconvenient request since I had no real connection to the Sapphire Tower.
Han Gyul-woo, who had accompanied during the infiltration of the temporary storage, seed to have so ties to the Sapphire Tower, but at best, we had only t once.
We weren’t close enough to be exchanging gemstones.
So I asked cautiously.
“Would rubies work instead?”
“No. The colors wouldn’t match.”
The sculptors’ club president shook her head firmly.
I wasn’t sure what she was planning to make, but it seed like she wanted to pair Kraketite’s dark blue color with the deep blue of sapphires.
In that case, rubies would definitely stand out too much.
Looks like I’ll have to find so sapphires.
It would be a bit of a hassle, but if I put my mind to it, getting three shouldn’t be too difficult.
However, perhaps misinterpreting my silence, the sculptors’ club president made an offer.
“I’ll use mine, so bring rubies instead.”
“That would be a huge help. Thank you.”
I imdiately accepted the deal and handed over one ruby first.
It was one I had received from Hong Ye-hwa earlier when I stopped by the Ruby Magic Tower.
“I’ll get the other two as soon as possible.”
“You’d better. By the way, is this urgent? Do you have a deadline?”
“No, take your ti.”
The statue was an offering to be presented to the Dinsional Raven.
Since more materials were needed to craft the item, there was still a long way to go.
Besides, artworks always turned out better the more ti was spent on them.
Rather than rushing, it was best to wait patiently.
The sculptors’ club president seed to agree and nodded her head in response.
“Good. I’ll take my ti starting on it, so drop by now and then to check on the progress. And don’t forget to bring the rubies.”
“Yes, I understand.”
***
Tuesday evening.
As I made my way to the dungeon building, I saw Hong Yeon-hwa waiting for .
She had been staring blankly at the night sky, but when she sensed my presence, she turned to look in my direction.
Then she quickly ran over and greeted .
“Ah, hello.”
I simply waved in response.
Hong Yeon-hwa hesitated for a mont before speaking.
“I heard… you stopped by our club yesterday.”
“Yeah, I had sothing to ask the president.”
“You an… Unnie?”
“Yeah, I’ll explain the details later.”
Since the Book of Chaos was strictly a prohibited item, I needed to be careful about ntioning it.
Of course, once we entered the dungeon, she would naturally find out, so I had no problem telling her then.
However, it seed her real concern wasn’t my request; it was sothing else entirely.
She glanced around as if she was lost in thought before cautiously asking,
“Umm… did unnie… ask you anything?”
“Nothing in particular. Why?”
“Huh? Oh! N-No reason! Never mind!”
Hong Yeon-hwa hastily mumbled sothing and averted her gaze.
Hong Ye-hwa also seed about to say sothing earlier but stopped. Did sothing happen between the sisters again?
Just as that thought crossed my mind—
“Oh my, you’re here, custor-nims!”
Shin Byeong-cheol approached us while making a fuss.
I simply waved lightly in response.
“You look absolutely radiant these days. Your face is glowing!”
“This is my golden age, my golden age.”
With the trap duel battle, trap strategy battle, and even the trap final exam, it was indeed a golden age for him.
Shin Byeong-cheol glanced between the two of us, but he didn’t seem to pick up on the strange atmosphere that had lingered just monts ago.
Then he turned around and took the lead without hesitation.
“Let’s head down right away.”
“Let’s do that.”
I decided to set my curiosity aside for now.
There would be plenty of ti to talk once we entered the dungeon, and if there was sothing to say, it would co up eventually.
We followed Shin Byeong-cheol’s lead and stepped into the underground floor.
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