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Our courage infusion plan continued all day long.

“…I am a blood warrior who knows no fear!”

“Great job!”

After about a day, that Granite guy finally started to follow our orders.

“Perfect! He’s cooperating with us.”

“Phase one is complete!”

Of course, this alone wasn’t enough. Turning an average civilian into a combat expert would take a long time.

Even our Violet had to go through countless deaths in the dungeon before becoming a fighting expert.

Until just a few months before entering the academy, it would have been a tale from a novel for a guy who used to chop wood in a rural village to suddenly become a violence enthusiast.

When I was embodied, I trained at the training center for five weeks. It takes more than a month just to create a single rifleman, so it’s only natural that a warrior who fights against evil killing monsters would require even more time.

“Wait a second, now that I think of it, isn’t this something the academy should be doing?”

“Seems that way?”

If Polaris had been intact, they likely would have actively instilled a fighting spirit into the heads of the first-year students. Though they probably wouldn’t have set a strange military discipline.

“Just looking at the personalities of people like Professor Albert or Instructor Frederick…”

I’ve heard that the site where Polaris Comprehensive Academy is located used to be a military academy of some country. It was even used as the headquarters during the first and second dimensional invasions. So, the mindset of the first-generation seniors might be a bit authoritarian because of that.

“By the way, how’s the research obstruction going?”

Even while conducting the courage infusion plan, I didn’t forget what I had to do.

Violet 275 asked the Violets in the school’s underground research laboratory. While using the Violets sleeping within the walls as beacons for movement, occasionally sabotaging them was quite amusing in its own way.

“Yep! I broke the particle accelerator the other day!”

“Hehehe!”

The particle accelerator they were using for their suspicious experiments was messed up just recently due to a short circuit. One day I cut the wires, and the next day I poured saltwater, and it really went haywire.

The researchers conducting the experiment howled like beasts, which was quite impressive.

Seeing the researchers suffering because of my tricks and Dr. Sturgis, who was pulling his hair out while guiding others, made me quite sympathetic. It’s truly horrible to inflict suffering on people through labor.

“How pathetic to suffer because of work!”

“Then let’s make it so they don’t have to work.”

Labor that causes pain is unnecessary.

Those poor souls, I should lead the army and liberate them from labor when the time comes.

While I was lost in thought, someone called me. My reality shifted from the concrete underground passage to the second floor of the factory dormitory in an instant.

“Hey… Violet? I think this is a bit much…”

“Hmm?”

Granite, who was looking at a book, glanced my way with discomfort and slowly opened his mouth.

“Y’know, I have my own privacy, and it’s not cool to just barge in like this… Plus, you’re a girl. It’s a bit uncomfortable.”

“Oh! I see. Sorry! See you tomorrow!”

Seeing him look uncomfortable, the Violets standing against the wall smiled and stepped back. Forcing it further here would likely have the opposite effect.

Violet isn’t a psychologist. But she knows that rote education isn’t always effective.

The modern trend in education is customized learning that considers the psychology and characteristics of students!

We decided to use a variety of means to turn the boy Granite into the killing machine Granite.

The next day, we called him over.

“What’s this…?”

“Try using these weapons!”

Before him lay an array of numerous weapons. They were selected to fit his size. There were two-handed swords, great axes, glaives stolen from unnamed resolvers, and various other weapons displayed.

“Why is there a chainsaw?”

“Because it’s cool! You might be able to tear apart the enemy!”

Granite looked down at me with a blank expression. Unit 461 snickered.

While it lacked practicality, simply looking at it might ignite some inspiration. The chainsaw is an object of modern society that embodies destruction and violence.

After showing him various weapons, I arranged for him to meet with Levi. I asked her to give him some simple encouragement.

“You can do it! Just clear away all those trashy things. Hahaha!”

“…What did you say?”

While conducting such mental education, I prepared with other team members for the next dungeon.

“We made a short-term contract at Ramsera Mine; we just need to bring back some minerals.”

“How long is the period? Usually, it’s about three to four days; if it’s long, up to a week.”

“A day to two days should be enough! We have plenty of numbers.”

Having concluded the discussion and doing miscellaneous tasks, time had flown by.

**

As we passed through the gate in a truck, a massive cave confronted us. To exaggerate a bit, it was large enough to fit an entire city within.

All around, large and small orange crystals illuminated the surroundings. The smaller ones were the size of a person, while the larger ones could be the size of a building.

After confirming the contract with the clan staff in the designated safety zone around the gate, we entered the interior. Three trucks rolled along the unpaved road. In the distance, the ruins of unknown origins could be seen.

“Did people really live in a place like this?”

“It could be aliens!”

Most dungeons in the world are parts of this world that were swallowed during the first dimensional invasion war. If we liken the second dimension to a living organism, this greedy beast takes a bite out of a planet and swallows it whole.

However, these swallowed areas can occasionally emerge as dungeons and mix with elements from other worlds when they pop out.

According to scholars, these are remnants of other worlds or civilizations that were previously devoured by the second dimension.

The ether emitters we used last time and those suspicious buildings visible far away are examples of this.

When I focused my magical power on my eyes, I saw scholars with various measuring instruments rummaging through the ruins, investigating something.

“Will there be treasure?”

“Maybe it’s just pottery or bronze artifacts.”

Well, in any case, that’s far from our money-making ventures. That’s for archaeologists. The Violets have their own interests.

“Did everyone pack their pickaxes?”

“Of course! Check your inventory.”

The Ramsera Mine was originally an ordinary gemstone mine. When it was swallowed by the second dimension, the mine was grotesquely mutated due to the influence of ether. Its size expanded to a geologically impossible extent, and the minerals inside gained mysterious powers. Those crystals hanging all over the ceiling and floor are examples of that.

Most of those crystals are just shiny rocks, but some crystals are said to amplify magical power or possess remarkable chemical and electromagnetic properties. Thus, there’s no shortage of demand for them in various industries, including magical equipment.

The problem, however, is that these crystalline minerals cannot be utilized unless mined using magical power. They are incredibly hard, and if you forcibly break them using strong power, the physical properties of the crystals will dissipate. They’re not vegetables, after all.

There’s only one way to mine and process them intact. Using magical power.

In simpler terms, aside from chipping away using sword energy-wrapped tools, there’s no other solution. Magic? Sadly, the magicians in this world are also half white-collar workers. They dislike this kind of 3D labor.

“Everyone, disembark!”

As we entered the designated mining area, I stopped the truck. While my team members surveyed the surroundings with caution, the Violets in masks began to descend one by one, readying their tools.

“Keep a sharp lookout!”

This time, our team members’ job was watching out and engaging in combat. We decided not to fight.

After all, our Violets are better at group labor. We can’t entrust this task to guys who can only swing weapons.

The Violets wielding tools stepped in front of the massive crystal and began work.

One group sliced the crystal chunks, while another group chopped them smaller to load onto the truck.

“Lift! Lift!”

“This is all money. Let’s haul it!”

While the crystal mining operation was in full swing, the ground trembled.

“Monsters! Combat ready! Levi, aim over there! Lucian, prepare your magic!”

The Violets mining the crystals withdrew. The ground collapsed, revealing a mole-like monster resembling a solid mass of rocks.

The monster’s name was Sacrax, a harmful pest with no commercial value whatsoever.

Sacrax opened its five starfish-like mouths and screeched. Its mouths were packed with teeth.

“Now’s our chance! Attack!”

Magic and bolts flew and smashed into it. Its rocky armor shattered, and its limbs fell away, exposing the orange flesh inside.

To our surprise, the flesh drooped like jelly and split into several tentacles spreading outwards.

“It’s regenerating!”

The tentacles absorbed the surrounding rocks and crystals to reconstruct its armor and regenerate its limbs. That monster has high regenerative ability and physical defense.

Shooting it with guns would obviously be futile.

There are only two methods to take down regenerating monsters. Beat them down until they die, or remove the core.

Defeating Sacrax falls under the latter category.

“Come on, show me what you’ve learned so far! Go, Granite!”

“Ugh, I’m going! I am a warrior!”

Granite shouted and bravely charged in. His massive axe imbued with magical power repeatedly struck the regenerating Sacrax.

-Smash!

In just two blows, the monster was split in half and died.

“Hah… did I do it?”

“Well done!”

No sooner had I praised him than another Sacrax popped out from the ground.

As it opened its star-shaped mouth, our lumberjack boy flinched, perhaps in disgust.

“Ugh!”

The nearby Violets patted him on the back.

“You can do it!”

“Let’s protect the peace of the mine! Stand up!”

“R-right. I’ll go! I can do it! Wooooo!”

Boom! The monster received a fatal blow and was torn in half.

“I won’t forgive the monster that threatens my companions!”

The massive axe swirled and continued to smash the monsters apart. With such powerful destructive force, once the core was smashed, they could not regenerate and fell to the ground.

“G-Granite. You realized it too! That’s it!”

Levi, who was standing guard with a ballista from the truck, joyfully shouted.

“Did you see…? I took it down…”

“Yep! Good job.”

Even after that, a group of Sacraxes appeared every time we mined crystals, but Granite bravely severed them.

After a while, as the attacks subsided, a sweaty Granite sat back, looking relieved. The mining Violets ran over to him, praising him and lifting him up.

“Excellent!”

“A guardian of the mine has been born!”

I tossed him into the air with glee.

“Why are they doing that…?”

“Violet?”

It seemed like my team members were looking at us with peculiar eyes, but I didn’t care. Isn’t the growth of a team member something to be happy about?

Thus, we finished extracting the minerals and returned the next day. With a hefty contract fee to boot.

Now only one dungeon remains, the surreal city of department stores, Vittorio Arcade, awaits us.