(Rin POV)

「Welcome back, Drifter Rinne. I am glad you are safe」

What awaited beyond the warp gate, was the same Iris who sent us off.

「I’m back~」

Nana, who went through earlier, should have already given her greetings. She’s in the corner of the room juggling Stardust Fragments.

Stardust Fragments are items that look like big konpeitō candies, they’re around the size of a baseball.

They’re stored in the special category of our inventory, so no matter how many pieces we obtain, there will be no extra weight or agility penalties.

If you form a party, the total number obtained will be divided between the number of party members and distributed once the dungeon is cleared or party disbanded.

With this method, if two people form a party from the beginning and till the end, they will have the same amount of Stardust Fragments.

Even if we’ll have the same number of fragments totalized for the final ranking, just how are they going to decide the ranking order?

I tried asking Iris that question, she nodded at once and answered.

「It’s random」

「The ranking order of those with equal fragments will be decided randomly. Also, the fraction of the total item count indivisible between the members will be also be distributed randomly」 (9: uhg, basically if the number of stardust fragment is 13, then there are 3 members, each member will have 4 and the last one will be randomly given to one of the members)

「Ah, I see….well, I’m fine with that though. I can just regulate the number by going solo at the end」

Well, if they say that it would be decided with RNG then it can’t be helped.

In the first place, the reward for ranking in this event is quite sloppy.

For each server, the greatest rewards will be distributed from the 1st place to the 6th place.

Then the rewards for the top 100 rankers.

And after that, the top 1000.

Finally, the remaining players will all get the same reward.

The reward decreases by one following the ranks, the rarest available reward is the 「Revive Potion」.

If you really dislike the RNG factor, then you can just go solo.

When solo, all Stardust Fragments dropped will be counted as yours.

We received around 500 fragments this run. It seems that Mirage drops around 100. As I thought, this boss does have good efficiency.

Since we’re a duo, we can each freely use 250.

「It’s a bit sudden, but can we exchange fragments?」

「Stardust Fragments exchange is it? Here is the catalog 」

「Catalog….」

Looking through the magazine like object I received. It was pretty much a normal catalog.

This kinda feels like…yeah… It feels like I’m suddenly back to reality, I’d prefer them to have placed this list in a menu card.

Pulling my thoughts back together, I inspected the contents, 《Beginner Potion》, 《Medium Potion》, 《Candy Potion》, 《MP potion》…..potions filled up the first three pages.

It helps that MP potions are an option. They’re rather hard to make and quite expensive at NPC shops.

A medium one costs 100 fragments. If you consider this a boss drops then…..It might not be too bad.

「Nn~」

Did she get tired of juggling? Nana peeked at the catalog I was reading.

Since I’m taller, thinking about Nana who’s standing on her toes, I lowered the catalog a bit.

「Ehehe, thanks」

「You’re welcome……Is there anything you want?」

「Nn~ I thought about it, but I wonder if there’s some kind of mapping item or something similar」

I was taken aback by what Nana asked with a sloppily smile.

Our dungeon run took around two and a half hours.

Of course that’s including the fact that we properly explored, so it can’t be helped. However, if it takes us so much time, then we can’t efficiently gather fragments.

And furthermore, since we have a lot of time to play daily, it might be fine for us. But for the regular player this event would be unenjoyable.

The more you grind the stronger you get, and even if it’s not like that, the current mainstream policy for games is to allow casuals to enjoy gameplay to a certain degree.

Since this is a clearing type event, the more you run the more you’d get an「item that makes your run easier」a natural way to think about it.

「Iris, which item is related to the runs? 」

「If that’s your request, please take a look at the items below the return scrolls」

As I flipped through the pages, below the return scrolls, there’s certainly a bunch of helpful items for run clearing such as 《Map》 and 《Detection Kit》.

The fragment exchange rate for the Map is rather high, you need 200 Stardust Fragments. 《Detection Kit》 is used as a substitute detection skill, it has the demerit of a random chance of being destroyed.

「Nana, for now I’d like to have 2 maps but」

「It’s fine~」

「Iris, give both of us one map please」

「《Map》 it is. Then I will be receiving 200 Stardust Fragments from each person」

She collected the Stardust Fragments and redeemed a map for both of us.

When I retrieved it from my inventory, at the upper left portion of the map, displayed a 《Map No. 16》.

The one that Nana received is labeled《Map No. 11》. Since the contents are very different, it might be a good idea to view them as maps for different floors.

「Nana, let me borrow that for a bit」

「Can you memorize it?」

Nana, who was tilting her head asked me that. I replied it’s fine as I looked at her and received the map. Then I closed my eyes.

Constructing a mental map, I traced the route we took from our earlier run, then I compared it with the two maps in my hands.

After five minutes of careful thinking, I now have a few clues.

Of the two maps that we exchanged, only one matches the route of a floor we went through, the other didn’t.

The floor that matches the map is the floor with the jewelry box spawn.

It only resembles the route from my memory, but since they purposely provided this map as an exchange item and placed a mark on it, then it should be fine to assume this map is for that floor.

With the label No. 16, it means that there are at least sixteen varieties. The total number is unknown, but considering the scale of the dungeon and the event time period, then I assume that at most there will be around twenty.

Mixing them randomly into ten different floors, this dungeon is most likely constructed like that.

「……Yep, I’ve memorized these two. Since I don’t need this, Nana can have it」

「Thanks, as expected of your memory」

「That’s like my only redeeming feature. We need a lot more fragments to get more maps.」

「Should we go right now?」

「No, since we’re here, let’s properly look at this catalog. C’mon, there might even be event limited weapons 」

It looks like she’s itching to go on a rampage, I stopped Nana as her eyes sparkled looking at the dungeon entrance.

That’s right, the map is an easy to understand objective, but this event also has some limited items.

It should be fine to assume that the goal is for normal players to obtain and upgrade.

For example, the event limited weapon is the《Stardust》 series. The event limited armor is the《Hoshikuzu(stardust)》 series. The only difference being named in English or Japanese. To properly separate the equipment, it’s easy to understand this naming.

If you ask if it’s strong, then it’s not particularly strong. The equipment is for beginners to use up until Fias, the specs are equal to Tria’s NPC sold equipment.

As for weapon types, minor branches aren’t available. Only main skill + branching skills types, so depending on the person, their weapon might not be there.

Even so, as an event limited weapon it still has value, and to a beginner it certainly does have extraordinary specs.

「There are no metal clubs….」

Nana muttered those words as we both looked over the catalog.

It seems she’s seriously shocked. She’s looking down with a downhearted expression. Nana, just when did you get obsessed with metal clubs?

Considering the weapon type, including the metal club Kagenui, the category is of the one-handed mace. The name of the event limited weapon Nana should get is the 《Stardust Mace》.

In my case, it’s the staff weapon named《Stardust Staff》.

When you first redeem the weapon, the beginning specs are equal to the 《Beginner 》weapon series.

The base weapon costs 250 fragments, it has five possible upgrades with each upgrade requiring a material costing 100 fragments.

In short, if you gather 750 fragments for the weapon, the specs will reach the same as a Tria sold weapons.

The exchangeable upgrade material can also be found during normal play, so if you’re unable to finish upgrading it during the event, you can still work toward it after the event.

The completionists will probably aim for the 250 fragment weapon exchanges since you can upgrade regardless of the event.

By the way, the weapon might only have filler specs, but due to that there is a rather convenient way of using it.

Especially for a blunt weapon user like Nana, there’s a method to use it as a trump card.

Nana probably hasn’t not noticed it yet, but it looks like I don’t have time to explain.

Seeing Nana sway her body like that makes me think she can’t hold back the battle itch.

「Now then, let’s go for a second run. We’ll go at a faster pace, okay?」

「Fufu, make sure you can keep up okay?」

Nana recovered from the shock as we once again stepped through the dungeon entrance.

Iris silently bowed her head, calmly seeing us off.