Dungeon Battle Royale ~ Since I became a Demon King, I will aim for World Domination-Novel

Chapter 199 – Sacred Treasures

『

Growth Sword – CP Cost: 100

Growth Large Sword – CP Cost: 100

Growth Lance – CP Cost: 100

Growth Katana – CP Cost: 100

Growth Ax – CP Cost: 100

Growth Large Ax – CP Cost: 100

Growth Knife – CP Cost: 100

Growth Whip – CP Cost: 100

Growth Club – CP Cost: 100

Growth Knuckle – CP Cost: 100

Growth Wand – CP Cost: 100

Growth Bow – CP Cost: 100

Growth War-Quoit – CP Cost: 100

Growth Burster – CP Cost: 100

』

Beneath are listed following armor pieces and accessories: Growth Shield, Growth Armor, Growth Light Armor, Growth Cloth Armor, Growth Helmet, Growth Hat, Growth Gauntlet, Growth Leg Protector, Growth Shoes, Growth Ring, Growth Necklace, Growth Earring, and Growth Bracelet.

Sacred Treasures = Growth Series? And all of them cost 100 CP…?

Unlike with 《Item Creation》, no ranks are displayed for the weapons. Only the CP costs are listed. The unique spears I’ve become able to create thanks to bringing 【Alchemy】 up to rank A are 『Brionac』, 『Amenonuhoko』, and 『Vel』. ¹

I’ve often seen this broken world referencing its terminology to myths and games. Be it monster names or item names…most of them are terms I’ve heard somewhere, despite not having seen them with my own eyes. Therefore I had expected for the sacred treasure of the spear to be 『Gungnir』, a mythological item anyone knows.

However, having my expectation betrayed, I end up dumbfounded. In this world rank plays a huge role, but…it’s rather sketchy. There exist a plethora of monsters and items that widely differ in strength despite being of the same rank. How is strength measured then? The only reliable method is to run tests. For monsters it means to make them fight each other, and for items it means to actually use them.

Everything other than running tests gives you very broad results, but…it’s not like no other method to measure strength exists. One way would be to judge strength by CP, or to put it very bluntly: The more you pay, the better the stuff you get.

Those are sacred treasures, okay? Items that can only be created by someone who has reached rank A in 【Alchemy】, right?

I can recover 100 CP in less than 3 minutes. In other words, it’s time to run some tests. I select 【Growth Lance】 under 《Sacred Treasures》.

『Please set the owner of Growth Lance』

――?

When I tap the tab shown on my display, I find my name listed at the very top, followed by rows filled with the names of my bloodkin. An exclusive item that can’t be used by more than one person…?

I tap on my own name.

『Ownership of Growth Lance will be set to 『Shion』. You can only create one Growth Lance. It’s impossible to change the owner until the previous owner dies. Do you wish to create Growth Lance? 【Yes】【No】』

All this, and yet the system hasn’t even checked back with me back when I’ve allotted my BP…do I need to be careful here?

I can create only one spear. The ones among my leaders capable of handling a spear are Izayoi and Setanta. The stronger one is Izayoi, the one with the higher rarity value is Setanta. Adding myself to the mix, there are three contenders for one spear, huh?

Both are important assets, but…the one with the highest priority should be me. If I spend 1000 of my maximum CP, I can create a replacement for Izayoi. It’s unrealistic, but I can also create another Setanta if I spend CP on 《Random Creation》 like a madman. However, a replacement for myself doesn’t exist anywhere in this world.

Several years down the line, a Demon King excelling at spearmanship or a human that could be described as a spear god might join my ranks. However, no matter how outstanding their spearmanship, they won’t be able to replace me.

Hence, it’s unnecessary for me to worry here. If I can only create one spear as sacred treasure, it’s only appropriate for me to be its owner.

I resolve myself, and tap 【Yes】. Once the dazzling light converges, a shabby wood stick appears in front of my eyes.

This is…the Growth Lance?

I gaze at the wooden stick in my hand. It’s not like I’m some great weapon appraiser, but…going by its appearance and touch, it’s very inferior to a Silver Spear which costs the same amount of CP.

Hmm? What’s this?

Once I check my smartphone, I see an entry called 【Sacred Treasure】 has been added to my stat list.

『

Name: Growth Lance

Owner: Shion

Rank: F

Special Abilities:

– Summon

– Store

A spear that grows together with its owner.

Do you wish to change the name of Growth Lance? 【Change Name】

』

Hah? Rank F? Grows with its owner? Name change?

This simple display has various descriptions I can’t let pass. In short, sacred treasures are equippable items which grow…? That means…a sacred treasure can eventually evolve to rank A?

The unique item Brionac is rank A. So is the strength of the Growth Lance going to surpass Brionac in performance at some point in time? Having said that, its initial rank is F, eh? Are there still any Domains around where you can earn experience while using F-Rank weapons?

――!?

Wait a sec…! I can still equip other weapons, right? It’ll be a really bad joke if I can only equip the Growth Lance now. In panic, I take out my beloved partner, Gáelbolg. The comfortable weight and a sense of security coming from it having accompanied me for a long time now give me a peace of mind as I hold Gáelbolg in my dominant hand.

As a test, I do some practise swings, and use its special abilities afterwards, but no issues crop up. It looks like Growth Lance isn’t the kind of cursed weapon that doesn’t allow you to unequip it anymore. I lean Gáelbolg against the wall.

――Summon Growth Lance!

As soon as I activate Growth Lance’s special ability ― 《Summon》, Growth Lance manifests in my empty, dominant hand.

――Store Growth Lance!

And once I use 《Store》, Growth Lance gets sucked into my body. Hmm, these are really handy special abilities. If I were to bestow a sacred treasure to Saburou, he’d likely spend all day repeatedly summoning and storing it full of happiness. Well, there’s no rapier as sacred treasure. A rapier is ultimately a sword. Therefore Saburou will never get hold of a sacred treasure…

Okay, I’ve now grasped the nature of sacred treasures. If I’m going to rear it, it might be smart to do so as fast as possible. Next I begin to rack my brain what to do about the 27 types of sacred treasures.

Chapter 200 – Item Distribution

I note down the weapon types in the memo app, and add the names of the leaders, who can use the respective weapon, behind each entry.

Sword: Rina, Cain, (Saburou)

Large Sword:

Spear: Shion ○, Izayoi ×, Setanta ×, Iron

Katana: Kotetsu

Ax: Blue

Two-handed Ax:

Dagger: Kaede

Whip: Layla

Club: Red, Noire, Rouge, Abel

Knuckle: Takaharu, Hibiki

Wand: Sarah, Flora, Yataro, Kanon

Bow: Chloe, Dakel, Kureha

Throwing Weapon:

Gun:

As for armor pierces, Hibiki is set for the gauntlets. As for the weapons, I can definitely set Rina, Kotetsu, Takaharu, and Sarah. Also, it might be okay to regard Kaede as set for dagger, too.

The problem will be the subordinates created through 《Subordinate Creation》. I do have an attachment to the leaders who’ve accompanied me for a long time now, but their rarity value is low. They’re precious to me because I’ve raised them laboriously, but…for example the ax: if I’m going to offer it to a Demon King or human who can use it more skillfully than Blue, I’ll probably find several possible candidates.

With sacred treasures, I can only create one weapon per type, and they can’t be transferred either. It’s necessary to choose carefully.

Humans and Demon Kings can initially choose what weapon they’re going to use to some degree. Hence there might only be a few who will willingly choose a whip. Thus it might be okay to bestow the whip to Layla. However, if I give one to Layla, Chloe will ask for one as well, but…there are many humans and Demon Kings who can use bows. It’s not unlikely that I’ll be able to turn an archery master into my subordinate in the future.

Hmm…is it possible that unnecessary discord will be generated among my leaders if I only give sacred treasures to the former Demon Kings and Layla? My created subordinates are loyal, but they do have feelings as well. According to Kanon, Chloe and Layla are jealous of the former Demon Kings. If I only grant Layla a sacred treasure, it might cause friction between my created subordinates. Rina’s team, the former Demon King group, and Chloe’s team, the created subordinate group, are only fighting together during large-scale battles.

In that case, I think it’d be smarter to award sacred treasures to only Rina, Kotetsu, Takaharu, and Sarah who all belong to the same team.

Assuming I’ll use the cloth armor, boots, and all accessories…the light armor will go to Rina, and the rest will be put on hold.

In that case, I think the large sword, ax, two-handed ax, whip, club, bow, throwing weapon, and gun will remain unassigned.

Hmm? Wait a sec.

I check the items of a certain category on my smartphone. Are there unique items for guns…?

Magic GunMagic Burster for 5000 CP, Fire GunFire Burster for 7500 CP, and Lightning GunThunder Burster for 10,000 CP. I create the Magic Burster which costs the least CP. Once the dazzling light converges, a silver gun appears in front of me.

How unexpectedly small. I stare at the gun laying in my hand. I’ve seen no bullets or anything in the list of item creation, but…can I still use this?

I leave my room, and head to an empty sector to do some test shooting. Upon arrival, I point the muzzle at a bare wall, and pull the trigger. A bluish-white light bullet is shot out towards the wall.

It’s my first experience with a gun, but there’s no recoil in particular. I don’t need to reload? Is there a limit to the bullets…?

Turning the muzzle at the wall again, I keep pulling the trigger. After finishing my test shooting, I’ve discovered three facts:

I can’t barrage. It’s not like I need to reload, but I need to wait three seconds until I can shoot the next bullet. I’ve got an infinite amount of bullets. Or to be precise, I can keep shooting as long as my mana doesn’t run out. While firing several dozens of bullets in a row, I’ve noticed that I’ll be assailed by the same feeling of tiredness as the one I experience after chain-casting magic. Very likely this gun releases its bullets after converting my mana.

Moreover, it depends on the combat style, but I can use a gun while brandishing a spear. Something like equipment restriction doesn’t exist in this broken world. The only limitation is aptitude. If you stretch this argument, dual-wielding is possible as well. However, I know of no humans or Demon Kings famous for their dual-wielding. Why? Answer: It’s not feasible. Even if you can hold a weapon in both hands, it’s not said that you can brandish them. Above all, dual-wielding can’t handle many of the techniques, which can be unleashed through special abilities.

Saburou has tried it several times, but he soon fell back into the habit of only attacking with the weapon in his dominant hand, and the weapon in the other hand only served as a decoration, or to be more extreme, was a burden. Just that shows how difficult it is to use weapons with both hands, making the whole endeavor unrealistic.

However, what if it’s just pulling the trigger of a gun?

Even if the cool fighting style of firing your gun while brandishing your spear is unreasonable, it’s still possible to fire the gun from a distance and wield the spear in close combat. A gun of this size won’t be any hindrance since I can holster it at my waist. Therefore I’m going to set the ownership of Growth Burster to myself.

I’ve made my decision about the distribution of the sacred treasures. Next up, is actually testing it out. It’s indispensable to test just how weak an item that was lowered to F-Rank is. Having said that, a Domain where I can conveniently test F-Rank weapons…

――!

There’s one. Remembering a certain Domain, I call over my leaders to hand out the sacred treasures.

◆

“――With that said, I’m going to give you your sacred treasures next. But, do you have any questions?”

I’ve explained my rank up to Alchemy A and the circumstances of the sacred treasures to the leaders I’ve called over – Rina, Kotetsu, Takaharu, Sarah, Hibiki, and Kaede.

“Umm, it’s kinda like we’re hiding the sacred treasures from Chloe-cchi, Layla-cchi and so on?”

“That’s how it is. Sarah, you want to avoid getting into trouble because of envy as well, don’t you?”

“Well, I mean, I totally get the feeling of being jealous of my talent, but I’d like to be spared from having to deal with it, like for real.” Sarah answers with a bitter expression.

“Shion, can I ask you something as well?” Rina asks next.

“What is it?”

“You’re not going to give sacred treasures to Layla, Red, and the others?”

“I’ll give them unique items. Of course I plan to give you guys unique items as well, in addition to the sacred treasures.”

“The reason…I guess there’s no point in me asking.” Rina mutters quietly while casting her eyes down in sadness.

“Are there any other questions? Okay, time to give you your sacred treasures.” I proceed with the agenda in order to blow away the gloomy atmosphere, and begin to create the sacred treasures.

『Please set the owner of Growth Sword』

――I set Rina as the owner.

『Please set the owner of Growth Light Armor』

――I set Rina as the owner.

『Please set the owner of Growth Katana』

――I set Kotetsu as the owner.

『Please set the owner of Growth Knuckle』

――I set Takaharu as the owner.

『Please set the owner of Growth Wand』

――I set Sarah as the owner.

『Please set the owner of Growth Gauntlet』

――I set Hibiki as the owner.

『Please set the owner of Growth Knife』

――I set Kaede as the owner.

“Did everyone get one?”

I check the sacred treasures I’ve passed on to my subordinates.