Chapter 98

【Wasteland: The Remains of the World Once Inhabited by Elves】

What is this?

Even after a detailed appraisal, no further information comes up.

"Wow, it's beautiful."

"It's not Earth, is it? The continents are completely different."

"Is it an ornament from another world?"

Milk and the others, who couldn't understand the appraisal results, looked at the glass container innocently, and Milk even reached out to touch it.

"Milk, don't touch it!"

"Huh? Is it not okay to touch?"

"Well, I don't know, but it's dangerous. Is this an item...?"

I looked at the wasteland.

It was an item of such beauty that it was hard to believe it came from a destroyed world.

"The residue of a destroyed world... a fragment of it. After the world's destruction and the collapse, it flowed into the dungeon along with the surge of power and ended up inside the D-can."

"Destroyed... why?"

Dampun considers the dungeon a place for resource production.

Dampul considers the dungeon a place for battle.

That's why Dampul is dangerous, and Dampun has been preventing it.

I understand that much.

The survival of the world didn't matter. At most, monsters would overflow onto the surface and destroy human civilization—though for us, that would be the same as destruction—but I hadn't heard that the world would end up in a state like a snow globe. And why would something like this come out of a D-can?

"Is it Dampul's fault?"

The princess asked.

"It's not Dampul's doing. Of course, it's not my fault either... I can't say more than that. But the flora and fauna of this world, including 9 million elves, were destroyed and ended up in this form."

So this is the wasteland.

The idea that destroying a dungeon could bring out a destroyed world is just bizarre.

"If Taira can delve deep into the dungeon, he might find the answer then."

"Is that true?"

Dampun nodded.

Dampul had also said that we should head deeper into the dungeon.

"Dampun, what should we do with this?"

"There's nothing you can do. I can keep it, or Taira can store it in his inventory... just don't break it or put it on display."

"...Then, please keep it for us."

Holding a world is too scary.

"And one more thing, can you answer this... will Earth end up like this too?"

"Don't worry, it won't happen."

"Okay."

With that, I returned to the task of databasing the D-can.

I don't unconditionally trust Dampun.

But we... we lack too much information.

How much does the top-ranked Gyuzou know? What about Minister Uematsu? Tanaka? King?

I suddenly feel exhausted.

Trying to change the subject, I remembered something I needed to ask.

"Ah, right. I forgot to ask Dampun, do you offer a service to keep monsters?"

"We do, but we don't keep Cro. She's already an independent existence from the dungeon."

"No, not Cro. They're starting to produce capture balls, which are items to tame monsters, so I just wanted to confirm."

"Someone can make capture balls!? This is going to get busy. I'll let my colleagues know."

Dampun said this, took out his computer, and started working.

We continued our tasks, avoiding talking about the wasteland as much as possible.

After spending a considerable amount of time, the databasing of the D-can was complete.

"What's still on my mind are the rare cans and super rare cans. There were 8 rare cans and 3 super rare cans."

Milk said.

I had been wondering about that too.

They're definitely guaranteed to be winners.

In a social game, they'd be like rainbow treasure chests or orbs.

"It seems you need a magic can opener to open them, but I haven't seen one on auction sites in years."

"They cost over 10 million yen each."

"Most of the contents of D-cans don't even cost 10 million yen..."

Why are they so rare?

"Of course. Magic can openers only come from deep-level treasure chests, but explorers who go to such levels usually live off D-coins and magic stones, so they don't often cash in magical items. Especially before EPO was incorporated, cashing in would result in heavy taxes."

They might sell them for big purchases, but that's about it.

"If they don't cash them in, do they use them themselves?"

"No, they trade. Remember the Metal Slime?"

"Yeah, that weak one."

"Actually, they're strong. To defeat them, you need a special tool that can melt metal. Similarly, for levels 20 and beyond, special tools are often required. Top-ranked explorers who challenge deep levels trade such items to gain advantages in battle."

Trading... I hadn't thought of that, but Gyuzou does have a lot of items stored in his warehouse.

We also keep most of our drop items in our inventories or leave them on this first level (Dampun is angry about that).

"Items that can be traded for a magic can opener... do we have anything that top-ranked explorers might want?"

They probably don't need items like the substitute bracelet or experience potions.

I learned from fighting the Tengu that the bracelet is only a temporary solution and creates a critical opening when re-equipping if the enemy is serious about killing you.

I want to keep the Hero's Spirit Potion.

"Oh, we do have something. Here."

"Where?"

When I asked, the princess took out a capture ball.

Ah, I see.

The next day, the Dungeon Bureau officially announced the release of capture balls, causing a big stir in Japan, and indeed, the world.

I lay on my bed, checking the bulletin board.

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【Dungeon General 892】

279: Anonymous Explorer

>>276

It's the flavor of Nata de Coco.

Fishing for Fish Slime is the flavor of Panna Cotta.

280: Anonymous Explorer

The Dungeon Bureau has released information about a new magical item.

Tamatama is being sold.

281: Anonymous Explorer

Lower joke

282: Anonymous Explorer

I confirmed it.

They're selling capture balls, which can tame monsters.

283: Anonymous Explorer

Did we end up in a world where we can battle monsters and take pocket money from bug-catching kids?

284: Anonymous Explorer

~Announcement from the Dungeon Bureau~

Domestic magical item engineers have successfully developed a new magical item called a capture ball.

By feeding this magical item to a monster, it becomes possible to tame monsters, which was previously impossible.

This item is scheduled to be released this year, but to collect data on its performance, a limited number of units will be sold as a monitor release.

For more details, please see here (※a new page will open).

285: Anonymous Explorer

>>284

Nice copy-paste.

286: Anonymous Explorer

What are the odds? Is it at the level of monster bait or super fluffy meat?

287: Anonymous Explorer

Since it's called a ball, it's probably a Kibi Dango with Momotaro's seal.

288: Anonymous Explorer

Even the monitor price is high.

10 million yen for two.

289: Anonymous Explorer

If you can get a magic can opener for free, that's better.

What's a magic can opener?

290: Anonymous Explorer

The monitor recruitment is over.

291: Anonymous Explorer

So fast!? It hasn't even been five minutes.

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What? It's already decided?

I became the number one in the Low Fan quarterly rankings!

This is all thanks to everyone.