021-040 · 022-ch18

Chapter 18: About Weapons

I forgot to mention earlier, but I received gifts from three people.

I won't publish their names, but to those who gave them, really, thank you.

Anyway, it seems there's something called a "Limited Status Update Note."

Not right away, but as the story develops, I'm thinking I might try writing some interludes or so-called "Episode 0" stories from before the main work (honestly, rather than a proper story better than the main series, it'll probably be more like a diary or record centered on the protagonist, so I never really intended to put it in the main series).

In that case, I'll probably post it on Fanbox too.

I suppose it would be a kind of early release preview?

Well, I'll think about various things.

Anyway, here's the main story.

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　>>Seriously, you're answering questions?

　>>Anything's okay?

　>>I've got tons of things I want to ask

　>>Is it really okay to ask what we want to!!

　I decided to hold a Q&A session while letting the udon dough rest. The moment I said that, the comment section lit up. Or rather, the people watching my stream really take it seriously. I didn't expect the comments to keep coming like this with only around ten viewers.

"Oh... well, seriously, I don't know what to talk about from my side. Especially for casual chats. When I'm just streaming my daily life, I think, I don't even need to talk. And muttering to myself while working feels strangely empty... Wasn't there something like a read-aloud vocaloid-like thing?"

　>>Is there basically no demand for that?

　>>There's no vocaloid for dungeon streaming

　>>Like you don't have anything you want to talk about

　>>Well, even surface streamers and VTubers use things like Marshmallow to gather topics and expand from there

"Yeah! That Marshmallow thing. When I went to the surface, I looked it up and it came up. Can't that be used?"

　>>Can't use it

　>>Dungeon only connects for streaming

　>>That's separate from WeTube

　>>Impossible

　It's impossible. When you think about it, all of those are separate sites, and since communication doesn't work inside the dungeon, even if I had an account, it would be impossible for me to view that from inside the dungeon.

"Ah, right. So I guess I have to do it in the comment section. Yeah. So let's have someone give me a topic. I'll try to expand the conversation from there."

　Even while chatting, my hands are chopping through the logs with an axe. Though trees in this world are harder than surface trees, with my level and weapons, I can cut through them normally even with a sword. I'm deliberately using an axe because I have this image that 'splitting firewood uses an axe.' I mostly use an axe to fell trees too. It's basically just my personal preference without any deep meaning.

　>>How did you get so strong

　>>The weapons you always use. You're not carrying a sword, right?

　>>What skills do you have? Just the main ones

　>>I want to hear details about your serious combat style

　>>Like, where's the limit for what we can ask?

　>>Any monsters that gave you trouble?

　>>Were there places with good hunting efficiency?

　>>Memories from inside the dungeon

　I see. So there are a lot of people who want to hear about how I fight having advanced so far into the dungeon, or about unexplored areas of the dungeon. Well, that's where the demand would be.

"I see... Well then, for now, let's start with the weapons I usually use and then branch into dungeon-related topics."

　Any topic I choose to talk about, I hold a fair amount of secrets—or rather, information that the people on the surface don't know. After all, I've been exploring at much higher density and for far longer than they have. If I suddenly hit them with all of that, it would be too much of a shock. Let's start with some light jabs from easy places.

"First, my everyday sword—or rather weapons in general—is this."

　I plunge the axe into a wooden block and hold up the bracelet on my right arm in front of the drone. The material is probably metal, or perhaps the bone of some monster with that class of hardness. On a dark blue base, rounded patterns are exquisitely drawn in a dull, golden-glowing metal. I don't have the Appraisal Eye skill, so I don't know the details of the material.

　The size is about three centimeters wide from the wrist. The inside of the wrist is finely braided with cord, and in the center of that is a single green gemstone. On the outside, the hard part, there are stones larger than the one on the inside, arranged in order of red, yellow, and blue.

"This is a really convenient item. When I flow magic power into it like this—"

　I flow visibly colored magic power into the bracelet for them to see. Then, magic power that overflowed from the bracelet—different from my own—generated a single sword before my eyes. The material is metal, the blade is steel-colored. Decorations are minimal, yet the sharpness is excellent and it withstands continuous battles. Magic power conductivity is good too, and its wide performance range allows it to handle temporarily as a high-performance magic sword. Best of all, if you return it to magic power once, it naturally recovers, so effectively you can keep using it without maintenance.

"This item itself is a kind of magic bag... There are expanded bags on the surface too, right?"

　>>Rare item from around the middle layer

　>>Pretty rare

　>>Expensive~

　>>I want one too

　"There are. Well, I think it functions similarly to that. Not just this one sword... like this"

　I thrust the one-handed sword into the ground, then arrange the bastard sword, rapier, claymore, and then a great sword with a blade too huge for a person to handle, down to a small knife and various swords lined up the same way. By the way, since this item seems to be Western-style, it doesn't contain katanas or shamshirs. All the swords are straight-bladed only.

　I also arrange a massive number of weapons on the ground: one-handed axes and two-handed axes, spears, halberds, longbows and arrows, quivers, bucklers, kite shields, tower shields, and more.

"I think that's all of them. The swords themselves have good performance, magic power conductivity and resistance are high, and I use them thinking that if I have this, I won't have any problems. Also, even if they get damaged, returning them to magic power and to the bracelet recovers them over time."

　>>It's so fantasy I laughed

　>>This is what I was looking for

　>>I want that too!!

　>>Simply cool

　>>It's so great that you can carry tons of weapons

　"Ah, I get it. Going down to the deep layer, the fantasy feeling gets a bit thin, doesn't it. You can use monster materials for weapons, but there aren't any magic swords."

　>>Magic swords!?

　>>Such things exist!?

　>>I want to see, I want to see!

　>>Magic swords, like those swords with magic on them?

　Oops, looks like I slipped up. Well, I was planning to explain that next anyway, so I'll explain it together.

"They exist. Around beyond the deep layer maybe. Occasionally, weapons with enchantment or bestowal magic come out of treasure chests. Well, since I don't have the Appraisal Eye, I can't see the details, but when using them, you get effects like the body feeling light or the sword's power increasing. Also, just holding one can give magic power regeneration, continuous recovery, and such. Anyway, the effects really vary. In the upper layers, they're mostly at the level of negligible differences—whether they have it or not, it's about the same level—but as you go down, ones with conspicuously high performance start appearing here and there. Wait a sec. Actually, drone, follow me."

　Once I return all the arranged weapons to the bracelet, I enter the weapon storage room next to the room where I usually spend my time. This is a room mainly created to arrange weapons and armor. Since it's an extension from the first building, it's a bit unsightly, and since I also dug a basement, building it was a struggle.

"For example... this one should have pretty extreme performance."

　Picking it up while telling the drone, it's a one-handed sword. The hilt has a feather emblem, and the ends of the guard are shaped like feathers. And the sword, light like a feather just like its decoration, fits well in the hand.

"The physical sensation when holding this is surprisingly light. Ah, as you go down to the lower layers of the dungeon, explorers' levels rise and their physical abilities increase, so even basic weapons tend to get heavier. But among those, this one stands out as being light—or rather, feeling light. It's completely lighter than a bamboo sword I held when I was on the surface and still at a low level."

　>>Is a light sword... useful?

　>>Doesn't seem powerful

　>>I've learned from experience that weight is important too

　>>Recently I've been swinging swords, so if there's no weight, it's not satisfying

　"Heh heh heh, you'd think that, right? But this sword feels light to the wielder, yet to the opponent, it feels more than ten times heavier than a normal sword of the same size. If you think about the laws of physics, your head might go crazy, but that's just how magic is."

　>>Huh?

　>>That's amazing performance, isn't it

　>>No, seriously, that's dangerous

　>>So if you swing something lighter than a bamboo sword and it hits the opponent, does it do damage like bringing down a great sword?

　I also think this sword is pretty amazing. Among my weapons, it's one of the high-performance ones, if not quite at the level of a trump card. However, sharpness and such is neither good nor bad, so the drawback is that it becomes like beating with a blunt weapon against hard opponents. Also, magic power conductivity isn't that high, and magic power enhancement is subtle, which is another minor difficulty. Overall, it's seriously designed for fighting humans.

　Sheathing that sword and returning it to the wooden sword rack. Now then, there are still other types of magic swords I want to introduce.

"There are various others... but in terms of looking like a magic sword, it's this one, and then this guy. Ah, and this one too. It's a bit dangerous so I'm going outside."