ch181-ch200 · 187-ch187
Chapter 187: A First-Class Adventurer Can Use Weapon Enhancement Without Thinking
"Fwah... Mornin'... You're up earwyyy... ...Go wash yo fwace, 'kay?"
"Hey, hold on—you're going out dressed like that?"
Aikawa yawned and tried to step outside in her pajamas, so I stopped her.
Isn't that a bit too defenseless?
"Hmm. Living in a warehouse really is inconvenient."
She stretches, then starts rummaging through her things.
If she's changing, she'd better go downstairs...
I came a little early today, but Aikawa was still asleep.
Why did I come early? Because I wanted to clear Floor 25 early.
The adventurers who camped on Floor 14 yesterday—I want to be past Floor 25 before they arrive.
Hayashi-san will be delighted at the crowds, but for me, more eyes means moving around gets harder.
I can't exactly tell the Chiba Dungeon to stay deserted forever just for my sake, so I'll need countermeasures—waking early, moving in the middle of the night, that sort of thing.
As long as school's out, none of this matters, so summer break is fine.
"Maybe Soushi will show up while I'm pushing through one floor?"
Soushi isn't here yet.
There's nothing for him to do until we reach Floor 31, but I never decided what those two were doing today, so once he arrives it's break time.
"【Presence Concealment】【Gate】【Scouting】."
I'll practice fast skill-chaining as I go.
From Floor 25 on, monster density jumps.
Combat is unavoidable, and things are easier to spot than at night, so I want to advance carefully.
Sure enough, there's a Forest Ogre just ahead, so I close in from behind.
(【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】)
Today's first kill.
I take it down without trouble and move on.
Like with 【Charge・Spear・Aiming】, I tried calling the skills out by feel—and 【Charge・Spear】 could be skipped, or rather, it activated the moment I willed it.
The buffs, though, don't seem to be working out.
There are five of them, and if I don't think clearly about which ones I want, who knows which come out.
Trying to do it by feel would probably take LONGER.
(A first-class adventurer can use weapon enhancement without thinking, huh...)
First, let's practice until I can fire off 【Charge・Spear】 and 【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】 instantly.
At my current level, I shouldn't need the stat buffs through Floor 30 anyway...
I try to press on, but the direction I need is packed solid with Forest Ogres—kill one and the others might react—so I give up and take a wide detour.
Terrible map placement.
If this were a game RTA, this would be trash-map territory: throw the controller and reset.
I do plan to hide with 【Gate】 and wait things out if they get dangerous, but if there are people nearby, that inconveniences them.
Thanks to the otherworlder, the odds of people being around have shot up, so I'd rather not if I can help it.
That's why I came so early in the morning—but the odds aren't zero, so it stays a last resort.
There's also the option of killing everything in my path, but that means keeping super mode running, which burns a mountain of MP.
I want to test-run the power leveling once I reach Floor 31 today, so I want to keep every MP I can.
I'll be charging about 100 to kill the Ogre King on Floor 30 too—no wasting MP today.
(More haste, less speed, huh...)
Checking my bearings so I don't get lost, I take the wide detour.
One thing to watch: if I use 【Gate】 during this big detour, I lose my sense of direction when I come back.
Warped directional sense—the one real flaw of 【Gate】...
A single Forest Ogre stands alone in my path.
Its back is turned, so I'll take it down.
(...Enhance.)
One clean hit.
【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】 activated properly, but it fell short of "without thinking."
That cost 2 MP.
I confirmed the activation before committing to the attack, which is why I couldn't get it to 1.
If I can learn to do this DURING the attack motion, I'll be able to use it at 1 MP...
No, wait—this isn't something you practice in actual combat.
But it costs MP, so it feels wasteful to practice anywhere else.
That dilemma, huh.
I understand now why this takes a long time to master.
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(Soushi still isn't here... no, he might have come and gone somewhere. I'll check with Aikawa just in case.)
I reach Floor 26 and return to the warehouse via 【Gate】, but Soushi isn't there.
I go up to the second floor and check with Aikawa.
"Soushi still out?"
"Welcome back. Not yet. I'm getting hungry."
Aikawa has showered and has a towel around her neck.
Her hair's still damp, too.
"You didn't buy a hair dryer?"
"Forgot it. Just remembered myself. Ah."
For some reason, Aikawa holds both hands out toward me.
"What?"
"Magic stones? I'll cash them in for you."
And where exactly would that cashed-in money end up, I wonder?
No, a hair dryer is something I'd use too, so fine—but sadly...
"Didn't pick up any."
"Huh? Why not? You went to Floor 25, right? Stones out there go for 5,000 yen apiece at least, don't they? You didn't collect any?"
Floor 25 stones go for more than that.
When she puts it that way, it does feel wasteful.
"I was prioritizing how fast I could push forward."
"Ehhh? What about MY hair dryer?"
If I buy it with my money, it's MY hair dryer, isn't it?
Sighing, I rummage through my change of clothes and pull 10,000 yen out of my wallet.
I prepaid Soushi's wages, so my savings are already at zero.
This 10,000 yen is my last 10,000 yen.
I'll ask Kasumi-san for an allowance later, too.
"Here. Get the kind that dries with airflow, not heat. If it's not enough, make Soushi chip in."
"Eh? You'll really give it to me? I was joking..."
"I'll use it too. And paying Soushi wages while giving Aikawa nothing feels wrong... It'd be nice if there were something you could do for us, honestly."
"Hmm. I'm planning to help get Mia-san's shop ready, though."
"Mia-san's paying you for that, isn't she..."
"Should I get paid by you too, Haru-kun?"
How does it always end up there?
Should I have her dance to entertain Shiraishi-san?
Come to think of it, Blue Ocean's video said buffs can raise your sense of taste, making food taste better...
No, I have never watched a Blue Ocean video in my life.