Everyone was chatting, their voices excited and their spirits high, from the caretakers to the merchants and even the knights, they were all eager to leave this village and go back to the city with their haul- which was even bigger than before thanks to the Dungeon getting cracked, it was something that's worth celebrating for and that's exactly what the people around Jacob are doing: A simple, minor celebration that involved a little alcohol and no small amounts of food.

With the temporary servants that they hired (who make up for more than half of their current numbers,) unwilling to buy the food in favor of saving it for their families back in the city, most of those who bought the food were the merchants, whom, unlike their servants, didn't really shy away from spending all the money that they earned from the Dungeon- or the money that they're going to earn.

"That can also happen?" Jacob asked as he stared at the dozens of insect corpses getting hauled into wagons, he turned to Asya and the blonde responded to his question with an affirmative nod, "So what? Does the Dungeon just get harvested every time it gets cleared?"

"No, obviously not." The blonde refuted, "The Dungeon doesn't always get harvested, but it does, most of the time."

"When is the time that it doesn't?" Jacob asked again, curious as to why the people would suddenly stop tearing apart the insect and crab carcass that the Dungeon offers for harvest. They were quite useful because unsurprisingly, the tough carapace of the insects- or at least the intact ones, - get turned into cheap, strong armor that gets mass produced for the soldiers of the kingdom while the ones that can't be turned into armor get shipped out to any wizard/alchemist towers interested in them.

"During Bloodbaths, I guess," Asya answered with a shrug.

The casual way the girl answered didn't make Jacob any less suspicious of the name, "Bloodbaths?"

"Yep. Times when the Dungeon decides that it just wants to send out horde after horde of monsters, seemingly endless." She replied, "During these, there aren't any floors, just waves that'll come out of the ground, fall from the ceiling- you get the idea, right?"

Jacob nodded, so the Dungeons have an Endless mode, that's... concerning? He isn't really sure, but the questions that he's about to ask should give him the answers that he needs to come to a conclusion, "When- how does a Bloodbath happen? Does the Dungeon trap people when it does? What about the loot? How do people survive it?"

Asya smiled, "eh, who knows? Bloodbaths just occur randomly as far as I'm aware, there's no tell, no warning- they just-" She made an exploding gesture with her right hand, "Boom! One day the Dungeon just is,"

"So no one knows how a Bloodbath happens." Jacob concluded with a resigned voice.

"No one knows how a Bloodbath happens, no," Asya repeated, her tone much more carefree and casual. "And for your other questions, these are the answers by order- Sort of, A lot of good loot, mostly personal, and then finally, for the last question, the answer is simple, you don't enter a Dungeon that's currently under a Bloodbath and you're good."

"So you avoid it entirely?" Jacob questioned, not really believing that there aren't suicide squads of soldiers getting formed solely for the purpose of combating Dungeon Bloodbaths. That sounded way too impossible to be true, and just to be sure, Jacob asked another question quickly afterward, "What about slaves? Do they get forced to do things?"

He didn't really know if slaves were allowed in this world or not given how advanced it is but he's willing to bet that they're legal.

And sure enough, Asya confirmed their existence, "Well... that's- complicated?.." She said, sounding more confused than all the times Jacob had seen her like that combined. Asya started scratching her head, "Ah- it's complicated, ok? You shouldn't just toss that sort of question around without- without me studying about them first!"

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Jacob chuckled and raised his hand in surrender, "Ok, ok, I won't." He grinned, "are those words enough?"

Asya narrowed her eyes, "If I agree, you're just gonna continue doing it right?"

"I'm not making any promises."

She huffed, "Then no, I won't- no questions. Complicated ones, I mean." She said, "I'm only a [Scholar], it isn't such a big deal in the end."

Jacob shrugged, "Fair enough- so it's your turn to ask a question right?" Asya turned to him and Jacob's expression turned neutral, "ask ahead, anything you want." He paused, "with a few exceptions, of course."

"And those exceptions are?" She leaned forward, pushing her body way above the wooden platform of the wagon. Following her gaze, Jacob realized that she was looking at the dead boss of the Dungeon, the armor of the giant crabbed was cracked in multiple places, exposing muscle caked in dried blood. Jacob hummed, he knew that him fighting the boss one on one was an open secret among everyone here- and he also knows that the only real reason why it isn't way worse than it is is because everyone was too busy fighting the summoned minions of the boss.

"Not what you think they are." Was Jacob's simple answer- because if he were to be honest, he wasn't worried about the knowhow of his system spreading out, if anything, he was more concerned about people figuring out what he knows- the knowledge of how to craft dynamite, for one, and another would be semi-automatic guns.

He'd heard of the primitive versions of the modern pistol existing in this world, but primitive is the keyword- the common flintlock in Fanna is still outshined by the crossbow because it's simply impractical: The bullets, a circular, little thing the size of a thumb couldn't follow trajectories for shit, the circular shape prevented that and more- and then there's the reload, slow, annoying, and takes more than ten seconds to do for someone who's been trained to use the weapons.

Magic? Fuck magic, the moment that the people of this world figure out that they can make dynamite, shit is gonna go downhill fast.

"Okay, enlighten me then," at Asya's question, Jacob held back a snort, "What knowledge do you hold that's so dangerous it dwarves your current abilities?" She asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion, "If you do, I'd gladly believe you're just a simple [Mage] instead of your actual class, [Great Mage], which, I might add, is simply impossible to get at your age."

The way she emphasized her doubts made Jacob confirm that yes, no one in this world is gonna believe him when he explains that he's just a simple mage. Not unless he tells them that he has a system and that's just another can of worms he's not willing to open. Yet. Information first, then when he's certain that no one's gonna string him on a cross or find enemies that'll want him dead, then he can start telling people he's got a cheat sheet for magic.

Jacob smiled, "Fair enough," he shrugged, "if I tell you that you can use copper and tin to make something called "Bronze", would you believe me?"

Asya's eyes narrowed, "tell me more."

And so he did, Jacob told Asya everything he knew about the process of creating bronze and why it's so useful, from simple things like it being hard to rust, to... honestly, other than its conductivity, Jacob didn't really know what kind of uses bronze had, sure, thanks to history class, he knows that the old travelers of his own earth used the metal for something but other than that? He's completely blind to the uses of bronze.

"So it's hard to rust?" Jacob nodded, "And what kind of uses does it have because of it? It's not stronger than any metal-"

"Longevity," She was cut off when some other voice suddenly spoke, they both turned to see a man with a scraggly beard and a body full of muscles that his vest failed to hide, "I... can see the practical uses for such a metal- it cannot rust, you say? What if I put it on a ship? What then?"

Jacob smiled, "will you believe me if that's one of bronze's main uses back in my old world?" Sure, that job had been taken over by stainless steel and laminated paint but Jacob didn't need to say that, not when he's not sure how steel is manufactured and how paint can be made that way, "That and furniture."

The man's eyes shone, "I'd like to talk to you about such a metal-" he said professionally, walking over to the wagon that Jacob and Asya are standing on, he placed himself on the seat right next to Jacob, "- see, I'm a blacksmith, a trusted one." Jacob nodded at the man's genuine smile, the blacksmith gestured at the gathered people, "That's why I'm here, to do upkeep for our armor and weapons,"

"I guess that's expected?" Jacob asked, not bothering to question why the man didn't just... wait until these people went back to the city so that he can fix their stuff in a workshop full of tools. That last part gave Jacob more questions, mainly about how the man managed to repair things if he didn't have an anvil or better, a forge but since Jacob himself can use magic... to each their own, he supposes.

"Yes, it is, but my job here isn't important, see, I just so happen to be in contact with the merchant's guild and they would love to get their hands on a new metal, so, what do you say? We can get cuts from them, some, if the item is useful enough, can last your entire lifetime."

Jacob hummed, then smiled, "Let's talk."