ch201-ch220 · 216-ch216

Chapter 216: The Color of Presence

"It was Aikawa after all—light blue."

"You pervert!"

This morning, after entering the dungeon and leaving the Association facilities, I sensed a presence that felt like Aikawa.

So just now, when we met up around the corner, she hit me with a low kick out of nowhere.

"Why?"

"Obviously! How did you know it was me?"

Aikawa turns her back and starts checking around her backside.

There's no tail growing out of you, you know?

Or... has one started growing?

"Um, it's a skill?"

"You took a skill like THAT? Honestly, idiot! I'm telling Watanabe-san on you!"

"No, I've had it all along—and Kasumi-san knows about it."

I told her on the phone last night, after all...

"Knowing about it and picturing you using it THAT way are different things!? I hope you get scolded!"

"Ah, red. That's Hayashi-san. She's coming out."

I can see Hayashi-san pushing open the door of the Association facilities and stepping out.

It's rare for Hayashi-san to come toward the dungeon.

She went the opposite direction from us...

"Ehh? You can tell the color before someone even comes out? And who they are, too? Hayashi-san is always red or something?"

"Wouldn't it be? It's the color of her presence... Probably doesn't change overnight."

Apparently my 【Presence Detection】 proficiency has risen lately, and now I can sense colors in presences.

I looked it up online thinking, "does that even happen?"—apparently it does, in a small minority of cases.

Skills seem to grow differently from person to person; extending your range is the common pattern, apparently.

As for telling people apart, even experts can only manage party members—and some can't even distinguish humans from monsters, or so they say.

Well, ever since coming back down to Floor 1, I've been using it on people nonstop.

It grows fast, and I've simply gotten good at telling people apart.

"The color of presence? Huh? ...You should've said so sooner! Idiot!"

Another kick.

Stronger than the last one...

With Endurance at 160, this much doesn't bother me.

If anything, I'm worried about Aikawa's foot.

"What did you take it for? Ah—hey, where are you going?"

"Calling Soushi! Honestly!"

Aikawa, scarlet-faced, walks off toward the Association.

I don't really get it, but I got unreasonably chewed out...

Well, Soushi will probably be late again today anyway, so a phone call is a good thing.

Kasumi-san calls me every morning, so I get up early and wait for it.

If Soushi knew a call was coming from his girl, wouldn't he start getting up early too?

Still, hasn't Aikawa's mouth gotten foul lately?

I feel like Mia-san's bad influence is showing...

(It's bad for a child's education, so Mia-san really needs to quit calling people idiots.)

Speaking of presence colors—most people are light blue.

So once Aikawa mixes into a crowd, I lose track of her completely.

Next most common is probably purple?

Soushi is purple. More of a reddish purple, so I can mostly tell him apart.

Mia-san is deep green.

Green is rare.

Besides, Mia-san's presence itself is tiny, so that alone gives her away.

No mistaking her.

Shiraishi-san is white—and mysteriously glowing.

The instant she enters my skill's range, I know—ah, she's here.

Besides her, the only other white one is probably Hiramatsu-san.

His presence doesn't glow, though...

Sato-san is yellow.

But scout-type jobs' colors are hard to make out.

It's not quite faintness, either.

They're just difficult to sense.

And Kasumi-san is blue—blue people do show up now and then.

But Kasumi-san's blue is especially deep; navy, you'd call it.

So I told her on the phone last night, 'From now on, if you ask me my favorite color, I'll answer navy!'—and she asked, 'Wasn't it navy already?'

Then she kept going—'And what color did you like before that?'—and various other things.

She seems to be back to her usual self, which is what matters.

Come to think of it, about Hayashi-san being red—red is rare in humans.

By "in humans" I mean monsters are almost all red...

Ah, golems are green.

So there's the "Hayashi-san is a monster" theory and the "Mia-san is a golem" theory, and...

Well, I've only been able to see colors for the past few days, so maybe I just haven't looked at enough people.

"Yoohoo~ sorry for the wait~"

Soushi and Aikawa came to the warehouse.

Aikawa pointedly turns her face away.

"Yo. Let's get ready and head out."

Today the three of us aim from Floor 1 to Floor 20.

The 'Left Hand Gate' is parked on Floor 34, but last time we went to Floor 20, their Jobs had barely grown since Floor 10—so to fix that, we decided to grind them through a proper run of experience.

We also debated taking sub-jobs on Floor 20 after raising their levels, but that could shrink the high-rank job options that appear at Floor 30.

Jobs have something like appearance conditions, and for high-rank jobs, the skills you've used—and how often—seem to be the conditions for many of them.

So taking a sub-job early and using lots of skills widens your options when the high-rank jobs appear.

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"Augh, come ON! How many of them are there!? Guard me! 【Dance・Stage】!"

With a lunch break mixed in, we made it to Floor 18.

Why is Aikawa, all of Level 25, complaining? Because on a long haul, her buffs need refreshing over and over.

Dancing on a slope is its own kind of hard, you know.

When we fought the Orc General, we went straight into Floor 20 through my 【Gate】, so this is actually our first time dealing with Floor 18—well, with the watchman orcs.

Once a watchman orc blows its horn, the fighting doesn't end until every orc on that hill is down, so it takes quite a while.

We could take the detour route to avoid the fights, but experience matters, so we've been pushing straight through.

Soushi is guarding Aikawa, so I'll range out and take down the staff-wielding orcs.

For those two right now, the only real danger is these guys' magic, so I make sure to deal with the casters before they can cast.

Incidentally, my weapon today is the nagamaki.

Aikawa's dance weapon enhancement flies over to me, so it's comfortable even without spending MP.

Aikawa has a rental spear.

Aiming for 【Staff User】 or 【Knight】, I take it.

Her trouble dancing is probably partly because of that, too?

Soushi is dual-wielding kitchen knives.

【Staff User】 self-buffs work without holding a staff, so no particular problem there.

Apparently some jobs have enhancing two weapons at once as a condition, so he's aiming for that—but whether two kitchen knives unlock any job at all is questionable.

Oh, and every now and then he uses that piano wire.

He still hasn't given up on 【Thread User】, it seems...

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"Yeahhh! Beat it all by myself!"

Floor 20.

Fresh off winning his one-on-one with the Orc General, Soushi lets out a victory roar.

"Buffs from Aikawa included, though."

"And the only reason he could fight one-on-one is Haru-kun swept the others aside."

Even with all that deducted, it's still impressive.

Stat-wise it's not impossible, but he's only been an adventurer about two weeks, hasn't he?

Remarkable.

"You could praise me a little more, y'know? Ah—【Katana User】. And 【Wind Mage】, maybe? The new ones are..."

That makes a third magic job, after 【Water Mage】 and 【Fire Mage】.

The dungeon is straight-up telling him he's cut out to be a mage.

【Katana User】 appearing after all that knife work makes sense, but did 【Swordsman】 show up last time?

I think I heard 【Naginata User】 appeared before...

"So what's on there now? C'mon, write the whole list out for me."

I'm jealous of this after-everything's-dead results screen.

When I hit Floor 40, I'm looping it again and again just to enjoy the results screen...

"For me, 【Spear User】, and—ah..."

Mmm-mmm-mmm.

Aikawa too, huh. She looks happy.

"Oh? Aikawa got some good job too?"

"Why 【Monk】?"

Probably because you kicked me this morning?