"Hey, why aren't you wearing pants?" Tiona yelled out, spotting me as I stared at the passing expedition to the deep floors. I didn't keep up with Sword Orario, but I did read the early bits. I knew they were walking into a horde of new monsters that were made of a powerful acid. I don't remember anyone dying, though, so it should be fine.
"Long story," I summarized, not having to fake the exhaustion in my tone. I didn't feel tired at all, but I was already done with today. And it was only 8 o'clock. "If you want to hear it, then don't die." I offered with a wave, earning a giggle from the amazon.
"I won't!" Tiona said, waving back at me before she descended down to the second floor. I watched them go down, something settling on my shoulders like a heavy weight. I stood there, long after the final member of the Loki familia went down, just staring at the entrance to the second floor.
Pressing my lips together into a thin line, I muttered, "status."
Jericho
Level: 1
Progress to level 2: 123/1,000,000
Strength: 2
Endurance: 13 (+1)
Dexterity: 10 (+1)
Intelligence: 2
Sense: 6
Development Abilities:
Physical Resistance: The user receives 1% less damage. Effectiveness is determined by the Endurance stat.
Skills:
Gamer Body: The user's body is that of a video game.
Massage: Skilled hands make targets tension and exhaustion melt away. Effectiveness is determined by Dexterity and Strength stat.
My jaw clenched when I read my experience points. 123 exp. Out of 1,000,000. Two of my stats were in the double digits, barely. I had one decent Development Ability, but it was a long way from being useful even with the Durable trait I picked up at the character creator. Maybe it was good progress. I had only been in the Dungeon three times now, but that didn't matter.
I had two weeks until the start of canon. In a month after that, Bell would have maxed out stats and then some before reaching level 2. Two weeks after that, he would reach the eighteenth floor, deliver the final blow to an enhanced monster that was level 4 with nearly maxed out stats again.
At the rate I was going, it would be...about 27 years before I reached level 2.
That wasn't good enough. That wasn't anywhere near good enough. Hell, should I go find Bell, let the rails of canon continue as they were, and let him be the protagonist? He was apparently much better suited for it with his utterly broken growth. Before he got that stupid Skill, didn't he go down to the fifth floor in like a week?
I blew out a frustrated breath, the simmering anger starting to boil in my chest. If I was going to find Bell, then it had to be soon. He was probably out there, in the city, wandering about to find a familia that would take him in. If I was going to find him, then I had to start looking now. With the Skill Realis Phrase, he would turn the Hestia familia into a powerhouse. And…
My gaze shifted to the second floor. At the rate I was going, it was going to take way too long for me to level up, much less be useful when canon events started to tick by. I needed to set a goal. I needed…
I found myself walking towards the second floor even as any sense of rational thought railed against the idea. I didn't have my armor. I was mostly naked. I should spend this time looking for Bell. Instead, I walked down the steps down to the second floor with a sense of grim determination.
"One thousand exp," I decided, looking to my right and left for monsters. I wouldn't leave here until I had 1000 exp. At least. No matter how long it took. I didn't need to eat or drink, and I had a health potion for emergencies and bandages for breaks. I had no reason to go back up. Until I reached that goal, I wouldn't leave the Dungeon.
Nodding to myself, I started to stalk the halls, bringing up my map function to make sure I didn't get lost. It didn't take long for me to find a monster, they likely spawned in response to the Loki familia, but they were too afraid to challenge them. I knew that monsters could feel fear since that's why the minotaurs fled to the upper floors in the first place.
This one wasn't a goblin. It was nearly the same size, generally the same build, only that it had a dog-shaped head. Dog fur, dark brown eyes, with razor-sharp claws. A kobold. It barked at me, running on all fours, determined to take a bite out of me. Instead, I plunged my sword down into it before it could come close, making it vanish in a puff of black ash.
Just like killing goblins. I heard more barking up ahead, looking up I saw another three were running at me. Clenching my jaw, I strode forward to meet them halfway. My bloodied sword lashed out, slicing through one as it jumped at me, the cut continuing until it slammed into another kobold. The third went for my legs and reached them when I kicked it in the face hard enough that its snout crumpled. I stabbed it in the head, killing it.
My nostrils flared as I summoned my status again, this time the number had ticked up. They were still one exp each. I was going to be here all day.
And that was okay.
…
For hours, I stalked the halls of the second floor, killing any monster I came across. The second floor was bigger than the first by half, it took me nearly two hours to completely map it out. After that, I slaughtered my way through the halls with a single-minded focus. At some point, I stopped bothering to check my exp after every kill. I didn't need to.
233/1,000,000. I nearly doubled my previous exp but I wasn't even a third of the way to my goal. It just wasn't enough. It wasn't even close. I spent nearly five hours down here and I accomplished practically fuck all.
A growl escaped me as I slashed at a lizard monster. I had no idea what it was, and, frankly, I couldn't care less. If it took me five hours to gain 100 exp, then I was going to be down here for nearly two days. Hestia would be worried sick.
I stabbed a kobold, kicked another in the face before stomping on its head until it became ash. Blood coated my legs, splattering over my blanket. Sweat dripped from my forehead, my breathing deep and even. I felt the edge of being exhausted, but nothing that couldn't be solved with a quick break.
Leaning against the entrance, I took in deep breaths to regain my stamina. Stamina potions were a thing. I needed to look into those. Which would take more money than...well...I might have, but the fact remained that it was another expense. How much would they cost? A 100 valis? 200? More? Expense quickly racked up as an adventurer, it seemed.
Wiping the sweat from my face with a blood-spattered arm, I walked down the steps to the third floor.
…
I hadn't really noticed it on the second floor, but the number of monsters slowly ramped up with each floor. There seemed to only be a few types of monsters on the uppermost floors, goblins, kobolds, and those lizard things. It was an idle observation as a mob of ten of the monsters raced towards me, a mix mash of species to make things interesting.
Running forward, I threw myself at them, my sword slashing through two of them while I struck out with a foot. The rest circled me, attacking at my exposed legs, and at this point, I learned to expect it. As they jumped at me, I jumped into the air over them, tucking my legs up to ensure they went under me. I nearly bumped my head on the ceiling, but I cleared the distance. As I began to fall, I landed on two goblins, my weight killing them.
A kobold managed to land on all fours, lashing out at me, catching my thigh. I hissed in annoyance more than pain, grabbing the monster by the scruff of its neck before launching it at the remaining monsters all the while I struck out with my sword. The kobold slammed into two goblins, knocking them off their feet and giving me time to deal with the last remaining three.
With the backswing, I finished off the one I kicked in the face before I kicked a lizard thing in the throat hard enough that it was reduced to ash. The last upright goblin tried to lunge at me, plunging itself onto my blade. As it was reduced to ash, I raised my sword up high, gripping it with both hands, and swung down with all my strength. My blade caught the three remaining monsters, all of them neatly clumped together, slicing all the way through all of them with a single swing.
"Hah," I breathed, pushing my hair out of my face, sweat plastering it to it. My chest heaved, my blood thundering in my ears as my heart hammered away at my ribs like it was trying to escape. I looked down at my thigh, seeing three claw marks bleeding freely. I pulled a bloodied bandage from my inventory and placed it on there. Over the hours, I learned that bloodied bandages were worse than normal bandages, taking twice as long to restore a single point of health.
109/110. I was still good to go.
Taking in a long slow breath, regulating my breathing as I continued to walk down the halls. I noticed with each floor I descended, everything looked a little...rougher. The floors were tiled a little less completely, almost like someone gave up halfway through at some points. The walls were left bare, displaying rough rock. The lights were dimmer, the shadows darker, making the darkness feel suffocating.
Slowly, my stamina returned, my breathing grew more even as I walked. My feet were sore from so much walking, another three hours ticking by as I cleared the third floor. From the look of it on my map, I was only halfway done. By the time I was, Hestia would be off work and at home. She probably wouldn't be worried at first, but the longer I stayed the worse she would.
"Ten o'clock," I decided, my brisk walk turning into a jog, slashing at a goblin that leaped at me. I had until 10 o'clock to earn 1000 exp. It was...flat out impossible. I counted my kills, I knew exactly how much exp I had gathered over the hours.
445/1,000,000. Still less than halfway. It was around 1 o'clock. If clearing this floor would take me another three hours...then I could always fully clear it later. I needed to go down deeper, where more monsters spawned to quickly farm the exp. Just one floor down, no more. I was doing really good so far. Great, really. I could handle one more floor. Easy.
With that thought in mind, I made my way to the fourth floor.
…
The fourth floor wasn't so bad, I realized. There were monsters, a sharp uptick in them, but they were manageable. Instead of groups of 3, I got groups of 5. Or groups of 10, when I found myself at a dead end, there were around 12 or 15. I knew their attack patterns at this point, more importantly, I knew not only how to dodge them but how to counter-attack as well.
The floor itself was rougher, almost completely bare of the manmade feel the first floor had. The only traces I found of it was sometimes the floor almost looked like it had a pattern to it. It was like I was walking through a cave now. A very large cave system because the fourth floor was twice the size of the third, it would take me hours to fully map it out. Instead, I just kept pressing forward, intent on gathering as much exp as I could to accomplish my goal of the day.
"But," I said, spotting the entrance to the fifth floor, "even if I do get a thousand exp a day...it would still be about three years before I level up." Worse, if my current time wasn't improved on, it would take nearly twenty hours to do it. Pretty much all day, spent down here, mindlessly fighting. To reach level 2 in years.
I looked at the edge of my sword, noticing the nicks and flattened edge in some places. It was in desperate need of sharpening. Another thing I needed to take care of.
A tired sigh escaped me as my feet carried me to the fifth floor. Above all else, I needed more exp. Or, rather, I needed monsters that gave me more than one exp a kill. Even two exp a kill would cut the time this took in half. More monster mobs were helping, but it wasn't enough. At the rate I'm going, I could live down here and I wouldn't make the gains that I needed. The gains that Bell made by wanting to fuck Ais.
And you know what? I'm not okay with that. You know what? Fuck Bell. How is it right that he gets a stupidly broken skill that lets him go from a no-name scrub to beyond fucking plus ultra max level stats in about two weeks? All because he fell in love with a girl that saved his dumbass.
Do you know who could have really used that Skill when she was being beaten and tormented by adventurers? Lili. Why couldn't her hate for adventurers, or desire for freedom trigger a skill equal or greater to Realis Phrase? Do you know who also could use that Skill? Ais. She spent the last decade of her life trying to grow strong enough to kill the big bad evil dragon and save her mom.
How was it right that Bell got this amazing Skill and no one else did? Was Bell really so goddamn thirsty for Ais that he apparently wanted her more than everyone else on the planet wanted anything? I knew the answer. It was because Bell was the protagonist, so of course, he gets the extra rare super-duper powerful Skill that completely breaks the setting because his dick is just that fucking big-
I shook my head, half to clear it of stray thoughts and half exasperation. "No point in thinking about it now," I muttered, descending to the fifth floor. Bell was probably still wandering around the city. Or he got picked up by another familia. Or, better yet, he flat out didn't exist. Of all the harem protagonists I've come across, he was one of my favorites but now that his bullshit was put in perspective? Fuck that guy.
…
I sped through the fifth floor in a little over an hour. Apparently, the secret was to make right turns until you reached the entrance to the sixth floor. Immediately I noticed that the sixth floor was different. Everything had a cold blue hue to it because of the lighting and any man-made trace was gone. The halls were more of tunnels, much larger and wider than what they were previously.
Stepping onto it, I gripped my sword a little tighter. If I remember correctly, this was the floor that new monsters start to spawn. War Shadows and...cyclops frogs, or something. Either way, it meant that I had to keep my guard up.
The first monster the sixth floor threw at me was a goblin, of all things. I dispatched it with ease, a single swipe of my sword as I began to map the floor. My blanket was growing heavy with blood, stiff on the upper parts where it began to dry. I was going to need a serious shower after this was done.
I aimlessly wandered the tunnels, taking right turns where I could. An old tactic born of over a decade of experience when dungeon diving in RPGs. Minutes passed in silence, only the sound of my feet on stone sounding impossibly loud before I picked up on the sound of croaking. I took in a steadying breath, trying to peer through the darkness ahead to see what it contained.
The croaking got louder, nearer as did the sound of thumping as the frog began hopping towards me. It landed underneath a cool blue light, revealing a deep green toad with a massive eye. It was bigger than the other monsters, though not by much. If the goblins were about two feet tall, then the toad was closer to three. Still, it made for an easier target.
Instead of rushing it, I settled into a mockery of a fighting stance, waiting for it to make the first move. The frog blinked its massive eye, croaking, the skin underneath its jaw ballooning out before it hopped forward once. Then again. And again. And another time. Every muscle was taut, ready to spring into action. When the monster's mouth cracked open, I was already moving.
Just like a normal frog, its tongue shot out of its mouth at speeds I could only follow because I knew it was coming. It raced through the spot I stood a mere moment ago. It was gone just as fast at it shot at me, forcing me to keep moving as it attacked again. It missed by inches, close enough that I would swear that I could feel some of my hair get blown out of place.
With one final massive step, I stabbed the frog in its massive eye, making it squeal for a quick second before being reduced to ash. No sooner than that it was dead, I summoned upon my status screen, hoping that it gave me more than one exp.
Jericho
Level: 1
Progress to level 2: 783/1,000,000
Strength: 2 (+2)
Endurance: 13 (+4)
Dexterity: 10 (+5)
Intelligence: 2
Sense: 6 (+4)
Development Abilities:
Physical Resistance: The user receives 1% less damage. Effectiveness is determined by the Endurance stat.
Skills:
Gamer Body: The user's body is that of a video game.
Massage: Skilled hands make targets tension and exhaustion melt away. Effectiveness is determined by Dexterity and Strength stat.
A wide smile split my face, reinvigorating me. All of a sudden, it was all worth it. "They're worth three exp," I said, feeling so relieved that it was hilarious in a really sad way. Three exp was absolutely nothing yet it was three times better than what I was getting before. I guess it's true what they say -- feed a dog four times a day and he will be angry if only fed three times. Feed a dog three times a day, he will always be thankful for a fourth.
My smile fell when I heard more croaking. Looking over, I saw another frog. And another one behind it. I dismissed the windows and started moving, sprinting towards the frogs as their mouths cracked open. Making myself a giant was proving to be a hindrance again, since I was such a large target, between the two of them, there was no way I wasn't going to get hit.
I made eye contact with the second toad, trying to gauge where it was going to try to hit me. I had no idea. At all. So simply held my sword in front of me, hoping that it-
My thoughts were thrown off track when something slammed into my chest hard enough that I was knocked off my feet. I gasped, hitting the ground hard, any breath in my lungs exploding out of me in a gasp. The two sides of my chest hurt, marked with blood. Through the sudden pain, I looked over at the frog and saw blood leaking from its lips as it mewled pathetically.
It went for my chest and got its tongue split by my sword. One thing they never mention in the movies -- a sword isn't wide enough to make something split apart far enough that they two halves would sail harmlessly by.
Ignoring the dull ache in my chest, feeling like I got kicked by a horse, I scrambled forward to put an end to them before they could do the same to me. I threw myself to the side, feeling the wind wash over me as the first frog narrowly missed. Rolling to my feet, I crossed the distance between us and plunged my sword into the monsters. They seemed to have no close rang defense, so it was a simple task to kill them.
"Ugh," I groaned, grasping at my chest. Looking down, I already saw a bruise forming. And that my blanket had gotten untied during the fight, so I stood nude in the Dungeon. Gods, I really was an idiot. No wonder my Intelligence stat was 2.
After tying my blanket back to my waist, I glanced back at the exit. No. Not yet. A thousand exp. At least. Plus, I still had a few hours before Hestia started to get worried.
I was almost there. Just over two hundred exp left until I reached my goal. I could do it. I had to.