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CHAPTER 272: TELEPATHIC CONFERENCE 2

Now then, let’s talk about the egg Kinu entrusted to Urs… Its hatching is something everyone’s been looking forward to.

When I summoned the egg, I set three conditions: ‘Summon at level 1,’ ‘Spend 1 billion DP,’ and ‘Summoner is me’. On top of that, it also included an unusual factor—infusing Kinu’s magic power into it during the summoning.

Then there was that mysterious incantation that echoed in my mind as the summoning completed: ‘Born from the stars, and to the stars it shall return—O colossal beast bound to the eternal cycle—now, be freed from thy twisted fate’. Not to mention the [Calamity] title it carries. I don’t know if it had a past life, but… if it did, what kind of hell did this thing unleash back then?

There are so many unknowns at play here, I can’t even begin to imagine what sort of creature will hatch.

That said, ‘1 billion DP’ is the bare minimum needed to summon an upper-tier SS-rank monster.

Looking at its stats even before hatching, its HP and MP at level 1 were already absurdly high… it’s hard not to get hyped.

「Urs, you’re up next! How’s the egg doing?」

「Based on the DP fluctuation patterns since the summoning, something weird’s going on! I think the egg’s absorbing highly condensed magic elements to grow! As for the egg itself, it’s almost three times its original size, but even we Cores can’t pin down exactly when it’ll hatch!」

「It feels like it’s almost ready though, doesn’t it?」

「Hmm, how much DP has it sucked up so far? If it’s not draining us dry, we can just let it keep feeding freely.」

「With the population in Plainevelt growing, more adventurers are exploring the dungeon too, so we’ve got enough coming in from expanded floors and such—we’re good for now.」

「The biggest question is still when it’ll hatch. If I knew that, I could plan a trip back to Plainevelt… but if even Ars and Urs don’t know, then I guess I’ll have to use my 【Appraisal】 to check myself. Which means I’m definitely heading back to Plainevelt soon… and after that, I’ll need to figure out how to get back to Wislo again.」

Using the airship is an option, but honestly, it’s not the most convenient. If I could just use a return transfer or teleport between dungeons, I could cut travel time drastically—but I’d have to jump through a few hoops first…

Given how much attention we’ve drawn in Wislo already, the main issues are: one, we have to use the airship when entering and leaving the city; and two, I’d need to bring a dungeon near Wislo under my control.

「Nelfie, did you gather info on nearby dungeons like I asked before?」

「Yeah. There’s at least one dungeon in Wislo’s outskirts. The adventurers’ guild there regularly puts out extermination quests for it… but from the intel I gathered, it’s a pretty unique dungeon.」

「Huh? Unique how?」

「Its name is ‘The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins’. Apparently, the higher your adventurer rank, the more deadly it becomes—so the guild only recommends it to low-to-mid-rank adventurers. Each party is teleported into a separate space depending on their level at the entrance. Because of that, the guild classifies it with a special ‘X-Rank,’ outside the normal difficulty system. It’s meant as a warning.」

「…That sounds nuts. I swear, dungeons come in all kinds of flavors.」

「Yup. Like that Naraka dungeon in Bukyo, which only allows solo entry.」

「Exactly! That’s what makes them so fascinating—but it definitely won’t be an easy clear!」

「Indeed! Since dungeon Cores have personalities of their own, it’s only natural that some dungeons end up with unique quirks!」

「…It’d be farther from Wislo, but should we look into other dungeon options too?」

「Nah, actually, this one caught my interest! Let’s keep collecting intel on other dungeons just in case, but for now, we’ll aim to conquer ‘The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins’! That just leaves figuring out how to travel between Wislo and Plainevelt without drawing attention…」

Airships are great for first-time visits or moving in large groups, but when you consider the crew needed to operate them, hangar storage, and the mana cost for propulsion… you lose the flexibility of being able to return quickly on short notice. That’s a major drawback.

On the flip side, using a return teleport creates a different problem. If I just vanish from Wislo all of a sudden, people will start nosing around about ‘where did Seiha go?’ And since we don’t have people like Barbaru or the elves doing cover work in Wislo like they are in Plainevelt, it’s really risky.

「Yeah, we’ve been super flashy up until now, so if we all disappear for a few days, people are definitely gonna get suspicious.」

「…Then maybe trying not to stand out is impossible. So how about we flip it—make a big show out of leaving Wislo instead?」

「Huh? Kinu, what are you thinking?」

「Just have Drake go dragon-mode and ride him out of Wislo. He already went full dragon during the Liberation Battle, so both Calvados and Tekirana know about it—no need to hide it.」

Ahh, now I get it! If we have Drake turn into a dragon and fly high enough that nobody can see us, then teleport from there, we accomplish two things: we stay hidden after the teleport, and the public in Wislo gets fed the story that ‘Seiha flew off on a dragon.’ A perfect misdirection!

This is brilliant—it lets us hide just the parts we want to hide!

「Alright, let’s go with Kinu’s plan! First things first, let’s clear that dungeon in the outskirts of Wislo—’The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins’!」