The Villainous Me Turned the Losers into Blackened Bosses-Chapter 138 - The Source of the Enhancement Stone?

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To be honest…

Will had completely pushed this matter to the back of his mind.

The initial shock of discovering an item in this world that looked exactly like a material from his game had quickly faded after meeting S and realizing she was a beautiful girl.

The excitement of that revelation had overshadowed everything else.

What’s the big deal about a little game material sneaking into this world?

Surely it’s not as big as finding out your long-time pen pal is actually a stunning girl, right?

…

Wait!

This is a big deal!

How could something from the original world, adapted as an in-game material, appear in this world?

“Uh, Shuna, you said the dungeon is here? Then… then we need to investigate immediately! Which dungeon is it? Hmm… my level might not be high enough, but if Shuna already has S-rank—”

Before Will could finish his rushed words, Shuna stuffed a piece of grilled fish into his mouth, effectively silencing him.

To be fair, the grilled fish was delicious.

“Don’t rush. That dungeon does exist here, but it’s already… been cleared.”

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“What?”

“Think about it. A dungeon with such an absurdly overpowered and enhanced monster would naturally attract attention and accelerate its clearing process. Even your family probably got involved. Oh, and I was part of the clearing team too. That dungeon boss? Super lame.”

Shuna’s explanation made a lot of sense.

It aligned with the current system of the Hysterm family’s Adventurer’s Guild.

Instead of the old days of aimlessly clearing dungeons, with reckless sacrifices and weak teams taking on strong foes, while elite teams wasted time in low-level dungeons for safety, the system had been streamlined.

Now, adventurers and dungeons were rated with more granularity, from C to S, with several sub-levels in between.

Cross-tier challenges were no longer allowed. S-rank dungeons required strict approval and external rescue teams before entry. Similarly, high-level adventurers were prohibited from entering low-level dungeons.

Even the most critical floors had reporting requirements. After every ten floors cleared, adventurers were required to report and register their progress, as dungeons provided identification stones for these milestones. Failure to report would result in guild intervention.

This system allowed even the weakest adventurers to thrive in low-rated dungeons, leading to a surge in adventurer groups.

For example, beginner-level dungeons, rated around B5, were still accessible to new teams. Most rookie adventurers could enjoy themselves in C or even D-rated dungeons.

“So, that means the trail is cold…”

“Not necessarily. The dungeon near Novice Town—what’s it called, Green Wild Maze? I found that material there too. Honestly, it’s annoying not having a proper name for it. Since it’s a weird green stone, why not call it… Green Wraith Stone?”

…

Will’s brain buzzed with a flood of thoughts.

“Why didn’t you mention this earlier?!”

Will didn’t care much about the name.

In game development, naming materials was often left to the writing team after the visuals were created. The writers usually came up with better names than “Green Wraith Stone,” though.

“Little Will, don’t expect too much from someone who was drunk last night…”

Shuna said, reaching for a beer bottle on the table.

Why was there beer?

Because grilled fish without beer is a crime against nature!

“…You’re drinking this instead. Now explain everything.”

Will quickly swapped her beer for his orange juice.

It was strange—Shuna had seemed like a first-time drinker last night, but now she acted like a seasoned alcoholic!

“I had my reasons for not mentioning it. Unlike last time, when I found a complete Green Wraith Stone…” Shuna rummaged through her pocket, pulling out a tiny fragment the size of a fingernail. “After the dungeon was cleared, this was all that was left.”

Will took the fragment and examined it under the light.

Indeed…

The color was similar, but without its original shape and texture, even Will couldn’t confirm if it was the same material.

Moreover, the fragment’s edges showed signs of white calcification, making it even harder to identify.

“If it weren’t for the fact that the Green Mane Lion was clearly enhanced by it and harder to fight, I wouldn’t have noticed it at all.”

“Hmm…”

Will fell into deep thought.

Before seeing this fragment, he had come up with a plausible explanation.

If only one dungeon had this enhancement stone, it could be chalked up to the natural progression of this world’s dungeons, unearthing new materials.

The term “unearthing” was quite fitting. Dungeons, constantly expanding downward, were influenced by unseen forces. The monsters within them worked to construct deeper levels in ways humans couldn’t observe.

Dungeons contained endless possibilities. Finding a material resembling something from his game wasn’t entirely strange—it could be likened to pulling an SSR in a gacha game.

But…

“More than one dungeon has the same material? And it’s not part of the common dungeon loot pool? That’s…”

“Exactly. And here’s the weird part. Guess what kind of dungeon the one here was?”

“…A coastal town… stereotypically, something ocean-themed?”

“Correct. It was filled with leaping dolphins and drifting seaweed. You know what I’m getting at—”

“Green Wild Maze is a forest-themed dungeon.”

Will and Shuna exchanged a glance.

Although this was only their second day meeting in person, years of correspondence and their shared knowledge of dungeons allowed them to understand each other’s thoughts with just a look.

“Dungeons with vastly different themes shouldn’t produce the same unique material.”

“Exactly. That was my immediate conclusion too.”

Shuna placed the small stone fragment on the table. Despite her usual carefree demeanor, she set it down gently this time.

“What if… there’s some kind of… trade network within the dungeons? Something that allows materials to be exchanged between them?”

“That… that’s…”

Will hesitated to answer.

Not because he didn’t know—on the contrary, as someone who had read the “original story,” he knew all too well—

Dungeons not only had such a network but one far more vast and intricate than Shuna could imagine.

He hesitated because this was “forbidden knowledge” in the original story, something that wasn’t meant to be known by those outside the dungeons.

“Maybe.”

“Speaking of which, I’m really curious about the inner workings of dungeons. If we adventurers have the Adventurer’s Guild, could dungeons have something like an ‘Anti-Adventurer Guild’ to share intel on us? Maybe they even label particularly strong adventurers as ‘high-risk’ targets, just like we rate them?”

Wow. Shuna’s random speculation was eerily close to the truth.