The next item that came to mind was the metallic shield covering Machina Guardian’s engine, Aegis Plate. It carried quite a lot of power, but was mainly known for its nearly unrivaled defensive properties. A shield manufactured out of that was the ultimate equipment for a paladin. Sadly Solomon had given up his life with a shield, and he had never been able to obtain such a mouth watering item.
Next Mira excavated what the Aegis Plate was protecting, the Antimaterial Crystal Reactor. It looked like a small black box, which could not be opened, so it was commonly treated like a crystal of ancient technology. No one knew how to make it function, so players instead paired it with an explosive device to use it as a bomb, with so much power that it neared the combined strength of the Nine Wisemen. It was a rather popular weapon.
Mira continued searching for more good loot. She moved on to Machina Guardian’s head, looking through its insides.
「Ohh, I didn’t expect to find all of these in here!」
As Mira dissected the head, she exclaimed happily having found a number of spherical gems.
Those were Neuron Crystals. Their main use was in producing magic wares, but also had a strong affinity for spellcaster equipment, and they were an important material in the items Creos needed to help bring summoners back into the limelight.
Whenever Machina Guardian was defeated it would drop one of them, but Mira had found five of them.
「I didn’t expect to find five, but that’s a miscalculation I’m willing to make!」
She happily stashed the five Neuron Crystals, then continued digging into the head, reaching the area with Machina Guardian’s eyes.
They were large panes of glass, which somehow were still intact after the violent fight. They were fifty centimeters in diameter, and one centimeter thick. Their actual name was Clearmaterite Alloy Panes, which categorized them as metals.
「These are quite odd…」
She tried tapping on the panes, and there was a metallic sound. The existence of transparent metals once again proved that she was living in a fantasy world. She obtained two panes, one from each eye, and stored them in her Item Box.
Next she went further into the eyes, taking out their main component, a pair of convex lenses. They were the size of a hand’s palm, and could collect large amounts of light, but that served next to no purpose in the game. The material they were made of, Aethermite, was an excellent material for equipment and magic wares though.
Mira managed to obtain two of those lenses.
「Mheheh… Back then and now these are worth a billion at least. I’ve truly stumbled upon a mountain of gold!」
There were only four remaining items that Machina Guardian usually dropped. Wanting to find all of them, Mira continued searching through the remains.
Next she found the conductive wire that joined the head with the torso, Neulink Magic Core, the material at the bottom of the torso, Carbon Materite Armor Plate, then the source of the explosions when it jumped while berserk, the High Frequency Ignition Crystal, and the Reflector Prism, which served as the barrel for the rapid firing laser.
That completed the ten different items Machina Guardian would drop.
「This is almost funny…I just got all the possible drops from a raid boss after defeating it once.」
Mira grinned widely as she went over the list of possible drops once again. Raid bosses usually dropped rare and valuable materials sought after by players of the highest levels. Due to their rarity, they were also rarely sold or traded. Not to mention that back in the day the drops were determined by chance, so it was never a guarantee that someone would obtain the item they wanted.
Now those drops were all guaranteed, and multiple of them in some cases. That could not be done in the game, and players did not even dream of such a day coming. The only issue was that now people had to actually risk their lives in exchange.1
Elated by that reward, having overcome the hardships, Mira looked over the remains again, just in case she forgot something. Her avarice would always win in such situations.
「Now the only issue is actually using them.」
All the items she obtained were rare and valuable. That meant that only someone very skilled at their craft would be able to properly make something out of them. Mira felt unsure if the crafters in Arkite would be able to work with them, and in the case they could, if they would really be able to bring out all the power of those materials.
Some materials also needed to be worked on by crafters with different specialties before they could truly shine. So Mira would need to find many masters of their own craft before she could get anything out of her treasure.
(That sounds like it’ll take a while…)
She had a long road ahead of her, but once it was all done, the reward would be more than worth the effort. Mira grinned as she imagined that day, but then she noticed something she missed during her first search.
「Hm..?」
She narrowed her eyes, noticing something with a slightly different color amongst the remains. Wondering what it was, Mira ran up to it and cleared the rubble on top of it before picking it up.
「A book..? No, is it a diary?」
It was a small book, more like a notepad. Or rather, it was a notepad. Other than the front cover, it somewhat still held its shape, though it was still oddly deteriorated, with some parts burned and turned to ash, which turned to dust the moment she picked it up. In the end, all she could salvage was a small portion that was not burnt.
(Why was this thing hidden inside of Machina Guardian..? Or rather, who’s the owner of this thing?)
Wondering if that really was one of Machina Guardian’s drops, she analyzed the portion she salvaged. Soon she realized only the first page was somewhat preserved.
The paper had degraded over the years, and seemed like it would fall apart just by touching it, with many parts already missing. There were still some words that could be made out of it though.
『Eart… settlement, Japanese branch… Written the… month…year…062.
As expected, the sea coordinates…beginning…of administrative facility…located underneath…location…of the planet. Scheduled completion at… Earth time, in…weeks.
However, the surface…under surveillance of… Appropriate changes to…will likely take a considerable time.
Once the facility is complete…will begin… If it goes well…then… and I sincerely hope… Preparations for second…will start in hopes changes are…
At hour…will likely…too. We have to act simultaneously…hurry to…and check…
Settl… expected to use…just like the other location. The…specimens and…mples collected from…will be… They will inhabit…make sure to monitor their…』
Those were all the letters Mira could make out of the burnt paper.
Having read all of it, Mira just stood there in a daze.
(I feel like I just found something incredible… But what is it? A developer’s diary? If that’s actually it, it could be really valuable information…though there’s a lot missing.)
It clearly mentioned Japan, so it had to come from the modern world, and there had to be some meaning to it existing in this world. After thinking about it for a while, she decided to ask Martel and the Spirit King in case they knew something.
『That is truly an intriguing piece of paper. Sadly I wouldn’t know what it means either. This place has existed since long before I was born in this world. I have no idea what kind of place this once was, and why it was built. It actually fills me with joy though.』
The Spirit King had a wealth of knowledge about the world, but even he was unaware of the Ancient Underground City’s purpose. The piece of paper only added to the mystery. But experiencing mystery and trying to figure things out was rather enjoyable for him.
『I’m really sorry, but this just looks like a bunch of gibberish to me. If I had to guess, it’s related to whatever happened before we were born.』
Martel also did not know anything. The Ancient Underground City had existed since before either of them was born, and the mystery of its existence only deepened.
「Hmm, I see… I’ll hold onto it then. Maybe it’ll help me figure out a way back… Oh wait, maybe he…」
Soul Howl had traveled all over the continent in search of the Brilliant Chalice, maybe he had learned something too.
Thinking that, Mira realized that Soul Howl was taking a long time to return.
「I’m pretty sure he only wanted to get a fragment of the chalk orbs in there. Hmm…maybe it’s taking so long because he has to do it in a specific way?」
Making the Brilliant Chalice of Divine Decree required a fragment of the chalk orbs. Those existed in a room further ahead, called the White Room, which housed the chalk orbs that served as the Ancient Underground City’s power source. Soul Howl only required one shard, but now that Mira thought about it, she did not know how such a shard was obtained.
Mira was done looting the remains of Machina Guardian, so she went into the White Room.
