Episode 35: The Birth of the Dungeon Business
Yuma, having returned home, immediately lined up the books he had bought on his desk.
He tossed his backpack aside, hung his suit on a hanger to avoid wrinkles, and then sat down in his chair, opening one of the books.
It was a book about Dungeons and the establishment of newly formed companies.
“Opening a book really gives you the feeling that you’re studying,” he said.
Yuma scanned the table of contents, placing a bookmark in a page that looked interesting. It described how a large corporation had used the magic of Dungeons to develop a medical business.
There are five types of magic in Dungeons: Healing Magic and four offensive magics.
Naturally, corporations focused on ‘Healing Magic.’ Treating diseases and injuries that had been incurable until now was humanity’s dream and the goal of medicine.
That dream had been realized by the unknown labyrinths of the supernatural.
However, there was a problem. To use Healing Magic, one had to enter the ‘White Dungeon’ and obtain a Magic Gem.
But the ‘White Dungeon’ was the most difficult to conquer among the six colored Dungeons, and even with the deployment of military forces, they could not advance to the lower levels.
Therefore, the four offensive magics were considered important.
‘Fire,’ ‘Water,’ ‘Wind,’ and ‘Lightning’ are also known as the four elements of magic, and they were extremely effective in defeating the Monsters that infested the White Dungeon.
In particular, ‘Fire’ and ‘Lightning’ had high offensive power and were very useful in conquering the White Dungeon.
However, a problem arose here as well. To obtain ‘Fire’ and ‘Lightning’ magic, Seekers had to be sent to the Red and Yellow Dungeons.
But, of course, those Dungeons were full of ferocious Monsters. Magic that was powerful when used could also be dangerous when used against you.
This is why the research and conquest of Dungeons did not progress initially.
Many people were scratching their heads, but after a while, good news spread throughout the world.
An Australian scholar, Ethan Noble, had elucidated the correlation between the magics.
‘Fire’ is weak against ‘Water,’ ‘Water’ is weak against ‘Lightning,’ ‘Lightning’ is weak against ‘Wind,’ and ‘Wind’ is weak against ‘Fire.’
In other words, it was most efficient to defeat the Monsters in the Red Dungeon, which had Fire attributes, with ‘Water Magic,’ and to defeat the Monsters in the Yellow Dungeon, which had Lightning attributes, with ‘Wind Magic.’
Small and medium-sized companies took on this role, selling the ‘Magic Gems’ of ‘Fire’ and ‘Lightning’ that they obtained to large corporations.
The large corporations used these Magic Gems to train Seekers who could use Fire and Lightning, and then challenged the ‘White Dungeon.’ This is the business model that is currently established.
The division of roles among companies became clear, and the conquest of Dungeons began to progress, but the problems were not eliminated.
What troubled the companies was the characteristic of “Mana.”
Once a Magic Gem is absorbed into the body by consuming Mana, another Magic Gem cannot be used.
If your Mana Index is 100, you can absorb a ‘Fire’ Magic Gem with a Mana Index of 100 as well, but if you want to use a Wind Magic Gem as well, you need to divide it into 50 for ‘Fire’ and 50 for ‘Wind.’
However, this would make both of them half-baked, and you would not be able to use powerful magic.
Currently, specializing in one type of magic has become mainstream among Seekers.
The problem is training personnel who can use Healing Magic. Initially, they tried to have them learn offensive magic first, then defeat Monsters and raise their Mana.
However, in order to defeat more Monsters, it is necessary to learn powerful offensive magic.
On the other hand, once they learned offensive magic, they would not have enough “Mana” left to use Healing Magic, which created a contradiction.
In other words, training Seekers who use offensive magic is far easier and more efficient than training Seekers who use Healing Magic.
Now that weapons with magical effects have been developed, the environment for training Seekers has improved compared to the past.
However, it is still difficult to secure personnel who can use Healing Magic.
Only those with Healing Magic skills exceeding a Mana Index of 1000 can perform advanced treatments. They are not called Seekers, but Messiahs.
To create one Messiah, many Seekers must support them and raise their Mana Index in the Dungeon.
The cost for this is said to be hundreds of millions, or even billions.
“Hmm, so ‘Mana’ is the most important thing after all… I wish I had Mana…”
Yuma couldn’t help but complain, even though he knew it was no use.