Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 619
Chapter 619: Glorious Return (2)
An offer to let me leave this place-for me, who had spent many months already stuck on Basement Floor One, the words were sweet music to my ears.
“(And what do I need to give in return?)”
However, nothing was free in this world. The sweeter the words, the more bitter the conditions that needed to be met.
The particular condition here, however, was a little odd.
[(To never return to this place ever again.)]
It was a request that I had a hard time deciphering, so I needed a bit more information. “(Not returning to this place, what do you mean by that exactly?)”
[(Do you perhaps not understand? I don’t believe that there is any room for misinterpretation.)]
Huh? Was this guy incapable of reading subtext? “(I’m asking why you’re asking that of me.)”
[(This deal will only prove beneficial to you. Is the reason important?)]
“(How are you so sure that it’s only beneficial for me?)”
As if he needed to load an answer to my question, Overseer paused before speaking again. [(I understand. You are worried how my condition may act against your interests in the future.)]
“(Because I know nothing about you.)”
[(Then if I tell you about myself, will you accept the deal?)]
“(That’ll depend on who you are as an individual.)”
As soon as I said that, Overseer began to speak.
[(Then I will tell you about myself, beginning now. In the past, I acted as the overseer of Panthelion Research Station, and I committed all sorts of atrocities. However, in the end, I repented and was forgiven by the Witch. Afterward, I became a completely different person. I was unable to deceive anyone and possessed a newfound disposition, always acting kindly to others and being considerate of them.)]
I waited as it seemed to buffer.
[(I cannot tell you the details currently, but it was for your sake that I requested that you never return here.)]
“(…Are you messing with me right now?)” I asked coldly, making my disdain obvious.
[(As you see. It didn’t matter even after I told you.)]
“(No, that’s only because you have no intentions of telling-)”
[(If I told you a story that seemed more plausible,)] Overseer began, interrupting me, [(then would you have trusted everything I told you?)]
I was left speechless because I was overwhelmed by his much-too-calm voice. And he was right as well.
[(Trust is the only method to ascertain the truth of another. As such, attempting to explain everything to you is merely a waste of time. That is why I asked for a deal. Is it important who I am? You need only make a decision based on whether you wish to accept my offer. That is much more effective.)]
I groaned. “(This is giving me a headache…)”
I had a lot I wanted to say, yet when I tried to get a word out, my mind blanked on how I should say it. Still, I gathered my wits as much as I could before saying, “(The reason I said I wanted to know more about you was to decide whether or not I can trust you.)”
[(That is odd as well. Did you not say before that you wouldn’t trust anything I said, no matter what?)]
“(No, so…nothing is guaranteed in the world, right? I think that it’s not too late to make my decision after hearing you out first—)”
[(Then you simply need to make a decision now. My story is complete with everything I told you just then. What will you do now?)]
Argh… And here I thought I could converse with this guy somewhat. It wasn’t as if I could smash his head through the screen either.
Why is he such a hardass?
No, maybe this wasn’t him being a hard*ss, but a smooth talker. He was putting on a weird personality so he could control the flow of conversation and redirect the attention elsewhere.
[(If you find it difficult to make a decision, I will give you one more piece of information. Of course, it will also be your own decision whether you choose to believe this or not. Do you wish to hear it?)]
I got the distinct feeling I was being lured into some trap, but due to my personality, it was difficult for me to back out here.
Because, I mean, I was curious, alright?
Plus, obtaining as much information as I could would be beneficial for me.
“(Go on,)” I sighed.
Overseer revealed the new information as if he had been waiting for it. [(You will suffer a great plight if you do not escape this place within half a year. Because he will appear then.)]
“(He?)”
[(He is someone you don’t need to know of should you leave before that time. And if you refuse to leave, that would mean you rejected my offer, so I would have no reason to tell you either.)]
Man, what was with this guy?
Honestly, not interacting with people like him was the best course of action, and even if you meet one, it was best to talk with them after smacking their heads over something. However, since that method was unavailable to me, I felt like I was going to lose it.
“(Then at least tell me this. You said I would suffer a great plight. How dangerous of a plight are we talking?)”
[(You would most probably make it out alive. However, such certainty is not guaranteed for the people around you. Only around a handful, perhaps.)]
“(So around five people.)”
[(That is my prediction, but there is always a small margin for error.)]
Considering that our group would be annihilated if we lost even 30 percent of our current fighting power, we could be facing an extremely deadly situation. Above all, I had changed. Unlike before, when I would be satisfied with protecting just a handful of people, five was far too low of a number for me now.
[(So do you trust what I told you?)]
“(I’m thinking about it.)”
[(I hope that it has had a positive effect on your decision-making process. If you still find it difficult to make a—)]
“(I’m thinking, so be quiet.)”
Hah, he finally shut up.
***
On the one hand, what Overseer said made sense. When making a deal with someone you met by chance in a new area, who they were as an individual wasn’t that important. What they could give me and what I could give them—if these two things aligned, a deal could be reached. Of course, if something could prove that I could trust the other person more, I could make said deal with a bit more ease of mind.
But from the way he’s talking, I don’t think he’ll ever properly tell me about himself.
Of course, another method I could use here was to reject his offer and check his reaction to that. I left it as a last resort for now, though.
After a long, hard think, I finally spoke.
“(The item. I don’t care about your situation anymore, so at least tell me about the item.)”
Overseer took a moment to respond. [(Item?)]
“(You said that you could help us leave this place. How will you do that?)”
[(Ah, the item of the deal.)]
“(You don’t have to tell me all the details, so just give me a general overview. That will let me make my decision.)”
[(It is a reasonable request.)]
Overseer then answered my question without hesitation.
[(You would have already found the door around this time, so I will not speak of it. If you accept my deal, I will then immediately grant you the qualification to open the door.)]
“(By qualification…are you saying there’s another method I could use to obtain it?)”
[(Your guess is not wrong. It is also my duty to grant the qualification to someone if they prove that they are worthy of that qualification.)]
“(Then aren’t you saying I could leave this place without having to make a deal with you?)”
[(Theoretically, yes. No, you will certainly be able to become qualified for it. However…you will require an incredibly long time to do so. And as I said before, time is not your ally.)]
Somehow, after talking in circles, we ended back at the threat that I still couldn’t tell was true or not.
Despite my frustration with the conversation, I continued it. “(Then are you allowed to just give me the qualification as you please? Didn’t you just say that they need to prove they are worthy of it?)”
[(It is my prerogative to grant that qualification. It is my duty to grant that authority when someone worthy of it appears. There is nothing contradictory here.)]
It felt like the logic was off somewhere, but since he was saying that, I had nothing to say in refutation.
[(Alright, then is that enough proof to make your decision?)]
“(One more thing.)”
[(Proceed.)]
“(Well…)” Even with his permission, I hesitated, deciding how to phrase my question. “(Aren’t you worried?)”
[(Your sentence is missing the object.)]
“(…I’m asking if you’re worried that I might go against my word later. Oh, not saying that I’d do that, of course. I am a barbarian who places great importance on keeping promises. Really, you can trust me.)”
I added that at the end just in case he misunderstood me, but as if to say I worried for nothing, Overseer didn’t rise to the bait.
[(Ah, I suppose I haven’t said this yet.)]
“(…This?)”
[(If you agree and receive the qualification, you will not be able to return to this place from that point onward. Not metaphorically, but physically. Of course, if you do not make that promise, I can never force you to take it.)]
The possibility of that had honestly escaped my mind.
Hah, I knew something was off…
I was wondering why he would trust a “promise” enough to make a deal with me, but maybe that was nothing more than pretense and all he wanted to do was grant me the qualification.
This is hurting my head even more.
To be honest, this was all too sudden for me. In the first place, I had come up here to stop the conveyor belts from moving, and yet this weird guy just appeared on the screen and started saying weird things and even offered me a deal.
I needed time to collect my thoughts. I still didn’t know what I should and shouldn’t believe the words he said to me.
“(I want to take a few days to mull this over and give you an answer afterward. Can I?)”
[(As you wish. I will always be here.)]
Overseer unexpectedly didn’t mind my request, and I decided to put the deal on the backburner.
As I went to leave the control room, the lights on the screen rippled as if to curl into a beckoning smile.
[(One more thing. If you would allow me to tell you this one thing: Even if you accept my deal, I would advise you not immediately leave this place.)]
“(…Why are you saying this now after all that?)”
[(I am not trying to scheme anything. It is purely for your own good. Since you came all the way here, you should know what kind of place this is.)]
I got a vague sense of what he was trying to say.
[(You will be safe if you leave this place within half a year, so obtain as many things as possible before then. You will not be able to return here after that. I hope you think carefully about this decision.)]
Not being able to come back down to Basement Floor One was too much of a loss for me.
“(Oh, since it’s come to this, I’ll ask one last thing of you too,” I said. “(Where are my kidnapped allies being held?)”
[(That is something you must find yourself. It is the first step you must take if you wish to prove you are worthy of the qualification. Ah, but do not worry too much. From what I see of your current state, you will be able to find them soon enough.)]
It felt like I did a lot of things here, but for some reason, it also felt like I gained nothing.
***
After finishing my conversation with the Research Station Overseer, I returned to the underground factory. I then quietly pulled Amelia and Raven to the side and shared everything that happened. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Missha, Erwen, or Ainar, but to be honest, they weren’t really helpful with things like this.
And Versyl doesn’t even know that I’m a player.
In any case, their reactions were pretty much the same when I explained everything that happened in the control room, though their reasoning differed.
“Absolutely not. You can obviously tell that he’s scheming something. We don’t know what that Research Station Overseer might do while you are unaware.”
“I also think this is a bad idea. Even if he keeps the end of his deal, we still have a lot left to explore. But if you can’t come back in after leaving… After discovering so many amazing things here, it’s obvious that the other adventurers would be the ones to reap what we sowed!”
Honestly, both of those perspectives were ones I myself had considered. However, what the Research Station Overseer said to me continued to rattle in my head.
[(You would most probably make it out alive. However, such certainty is not guaranteed for the people around you.)]
There was no telling if that warning of his was genuine or not. For some reason, though, whenever I repeated those words in my mind, my chest grew tighter and tighter. It was as if an ominous premonition were welling up in my heart.
That was probably the reason.
I tried to explain despite both of them being reluctant to approve.
“Emily, if what he says is true, things might actually get pretty dangerous for us. And Raven, when we leave this place, it’ll be difficult for us to enter it again anyway. The palace is stopping adventurers from entering Basement Floor One as we speak.”
Raven immediately argued that it was just a temporary measure on their part, but that didn’t feel right. It was just a feeling I had, but the palace would never do that.
There was an even bigger secret hidden on Basement Floor One. That was why making this decision was so difficult.
“Thank you for discussing this with me. I’ll decide after thinking more about it.”
“Please call me whenever you need.”
“Same for me as well. You have a habit of always trying to do everything by yourself. Well…seeing how you acted today, I suppose you’ve improved.”
In any case, that was the end of our first meeting.
After that, I continued to work on the conveyor belts as before and tested a few different things with the remaining time I had. If I could just obtain the qualification by myself, that would be the best possible outcome. The Research Station Overseer had said so himself.
[(So obtain as many things as possible before then.)]
The Basement Floor One that I had seen and experienced was the land of opportunity. Library Island, Stone Door Island, and not just those, but even the islands covered with mana stones after the rainy season was like walking into a jackpot. This Research Station wasn’t any different. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say—
Flash!
The machine was at the center of the underground factory of this Research Station. The contraption could create a new monster that had the characteristics of three different monsters by combining their mana stones.
This machine is the jackpot.
The monsters created by this machine weren’t considered new monsters and didn’t give any experience, but that wasn’t its true worth.
“It’s an essence…!”
Although it occurred at a much lower probability than for an ordinary monster, when they were defeated, they dropped an essence.
“…Wait. Does this essence actually have the characteristics of all three monsters?”
In a nutshell, we could create custom-tailored essences.