Reborn as an Extra

Chapter 381: The Sentient One... Part-1.

Rio walked over to the floor tile towards which the vague calling was pointing.

ʼIs there a hidden staircase or something here? Thatʼs so cliché...ʼ

Rio turned his sword into a thin and long type of sword, then he thrust the sword in between the gap between the floor tiles and used it like a lever to move the floor tile upwards.

And as Rio had suspected it, the floor tile moved, and removing it revealed a hidden manhole- like structure.

ʼEr... this... Why does this look like a sewer entrance...ʼ

[Man, you canʼt be thinking of going inside that, right? If Lia saw you do that, she would be disappointed, tsk tsk...]

ʼHey, you have been asking me to switch with you for a while, didnʼt you? How about you come out now and help me out a bit... Surely you can do that much, right?ʼ

[No, no, your useless talk-no-jut*u wonʼt work on me! Donʼt even think about sending me down there!]

Hearing those words, Rio sighed and shook his head; he was just joking anyway.

He canʼt afford to let the other party out in this dangerous place. Shadow doesnʼt have combat experience like him, and he will definitely mess up and panic if something goes wrong.

ʼWho knows... Maybe thereʼs another golem guarding the path down there; this one will be yet another gamble...ʼ

Finding powerful cheats to become stronger is all about gambling with life to obtain those chances.

ʼIt better be worth it... If I ended up finding something useless after all these efforts, then it would be such a disappointment...ʼ

Rio sighed, donned his shadow robe again, and started to descend downwards using those staircases made up of some kind of metal.

ʼThere stairs seem so long... Could it be that this is a hidden path that can take you to Floor 1 without needing to use the main stairs?ʼ

From Floor 6 to Floor 2, Rio used those wide and big staircases to descend deeper; this is the only time heʼs using this kind of staircase to descend.

ʼMaybe these stairs lead to some hidden areas of floor 1 that you couldnʼt have accessed if you used the main staircases instead...ʼ

While on his way down, various thoughts came into Rioʼs mind; although most of them were just his guesses, he felt quite sure that his guesses were mostly correct.

The deeper Rio went, the darker everything became; at one point it was so dark that even night vision would have become useless.

The only reason why Rio could still see everything perfectly was because he could use miasma.

Miasma can bless you with the power to see through extreme darkness, and you wonʼt have to worry about losing your precision in even the darkest places of the world.

ʼThe more I use it, the more I feel that Miasma is kind of very useful... And this intensifies my doubts even more...ʼ

ʼWho in the hell created this ʼElemental Sword Artʼ!? How is this technique so powerful!?ʼ Originally, Fade would have discovered this technique and attempted to use it to impress Lia and woo her into his harem.

However, Lia completely rejected his advances, meaning she never learned this technique. Fade and Kira were both mages, so this sword art was completely useless for them. Hundreds of chapters will go by, and several volumes later, the sword art will finally find an owner. Fade will gift it to another of his harem members; one was a heroine from the beast folk race; she was a cat woman, and the sword art worked wonders for her.

Although she didnʼt have much talent and she never got much screen time, she certainly had this technique.

The other owner of this sword art was Fadeʼs younger sister, who, for some reason, later turned out to be an adopted child, so she also ended up in his harem.

But even she never mastered the sword art to full potential, as she was still much younger and had barely just become an awakener by the time Fade was fighting with SS-rankers.

The story was already in its late stages, so her character wasnʼt really developed much, and she was mostly only shown as the cute little sister and emotional support for Fade.

There are no solid explanations about where this sword art exactly came from and who exactly created it.

ʼIn the first place, there are no skills in the technique that could help control Miasma anyway...ʼ

In the original ʼElemental Sword Artʼ that Rio stole at the start, there were only techniques for a few types of elements.

At that time, Rio could only use thunder type, wind type, water type, etc.

But then Rio got his hand on ʼSword Intentʼ.

Thatʼs where everything changed; the existence of sword intent means that Rio can now convert mana into any type of form and use ʼSword Intentʼ to stabilize it.

Rio figured out the fundamental methods of how the technique was manipulating various elements, then he tried to do the same using ʼSword Intentʼ to stabilize them.

After achieving success, Rio added them to the already existing ʼElemental Sword Art.ʼ This way, the technique itself kept evolving as Rio kept adding more and more skills and elements

to it.

After Rio got ʼImperfect Sword Heartʼ, it boosted his elemental control and stabilizing

powers.

As a result, Rio became capable of literally copying elements that were completely unique and had many limitations.

This was the reason why Rio was able to copy ʼHealing Typeʼ despite not being a healer himself; similar is true for the ʼGolden Thunderʼ too.

Without ʼSword Intent and the ʼImperfect Sword Heartʼ, it would have been impossible to evolve the ʼElemental Sword Artʼ to the current levels.

In other words, Rio hasnʼt been reliant on the chances he stole; he has been actively working to upgrade those chances.

Stealing chances, talents, and skills can only get you so far; if you donʼt put in the hard work, then even ʼLimitlessʼ talent will end up being useless.

You need to move your hand and ʼworkʼ to even eat food; thereʼs nothing in the world that you can learn without putting in the effort for it.

Even if you have heaven-defying talents, you still have to work hard for your powers; thereʼs no shortcut to the path of becoming the strongest.

*Clank*

Rio finally reached the end and jumped on the floor, which caused a metallic sound to ring out. The floor was made up of metal, and the area that Rio finally arrived at looked like some kind of underground factory spread over dozens of miles.

ʼDonʼt tell me...ʼ

Rioʼs worries came true; he was worried that there would be a golem guarding the path, but he never expected that he would literally end up in the factory where those golems are made

in the first place.

Rio could see advanced and gigantic machines; there were hundreds of golems standing on a conveyor belt that was likely used to transport those heavy golems to their next assembly unit

of the factory.

The only relief was that all the machines in the factory werenʼt working.

ʼI guess thereʼs no one to operate them?... or maybe the factory ran out of power?... Either

way, thatʼs good news for me...ʼ

If the factory was still in work mode, then there would have been golem guards; that would have caused a lot of trouble for Rio.

Although there werenʼt any working golems in sight, Rio still remained vigilant; he used the previous method of donning a shadow robe and using miasma in sync with it.

This will at the least help him dodge fatal blows once or even twice and will give him time to

escape in dangerous situations.

[D*mn! This place is giving such an ominous vibe... I expected that manhole to bring us into a sewer,

but this was completely unexpected...]

[Is the previous offer still valid? I will take over the body if you want...]

ʼNo need, you just stay there and donʼt bother me for the time being...ʼ

Ignoring Shadowʼs yapping, Rio decided to keep following the vague calling and started

moving forward.

Although the environment was dark, Rio was able to swiftly make his way through it.

Along the way, he saw many different sections of the factory; most of the machines in this place seemed to have halted production due to an unexpected power outage. After all, if the production was halted properly, there wouldnʼt have been so many half- finished products left behind that are still on the various conveyor belts.

Most machines still had half-processed material under them; if you put the power in them

again, the whole factory will have no problem restarting its operation normally as thereʼs already a lot of materials stocked up to process.

ʼI wonder what caused the power outage... If it was due to depletion of fuels, then it would be less concerning... But if it was caused by someone willingly, then that would be more

concerning...ʼ

After all, if someone did it on purpose, then that means thereʼs definitely another hidden boss

monster in this place.

ʼUgh, just dealing with those mimics was such a pain in the A*s; I really donʼt want to

encounter another SS-rank enemy now of all times...ʼ

Rioʼs current situation is like that of a player who just beat up an extremely strong opponent

and found out that the boss monster he beat was just a mere Gatekeeper of a much stronger

boss monster.

That would mean that your efforts were all just too insignificant and the real challenge hadnʼt

even appeared yet.

Author Notes!

Yo! Itʼs your beloved author here!

Question of the day.

Have you ever been in a similar situation in a game as Rioʼs?

(Tell me your thoughts in the comments)

By the way, donʼt forget to use those power stones!!