arc1 · 009-ch9

Episode 9: Storage

　Wearing an expression of rage as if harboring thoughts of crushing to death, the Drunken Sheep locked onto Suzuka and charged.

　Observing its movement carefully, Suzuka lightly jumped sideways to dodge. The first time he had accidentally rolled, but by the seventh fight he had room to spare.

　But as if reading that he would jump sideways, another Drunken Sheep charged in. However, Suzuka didn't panic. Seeing that too, Suzuka swung back the bat as he jumped.

「ORAA!!」

　Matching the timing of the charge, he swung the bat sideways toward the Drunken Sheep's face.

　A high-pitched CLANG echoed. Suzuka's attack had been blocked by the horn protecting the Drunken Sheep's side face. However, just because it was blocked didn't mean the power was completely negated. The Drunken Sheep lost its balance from the sideways attack and rolled spectacularly past Suzuka.

　Suzuka wanted to finish off the fallen Drunken Sheep while he had the chance, but he saw the first Drunken Sheep turning around to attack. Though he wanted to finish it off, the second one couldn't recover immediately, so he decided to focus on defeating this one first. Suzuka dodged the charging attack with a backstep and delivered a full-power butt bat to the Drunken Sheep as it passed by.

　Perhaps because his Attack value had more than doubled from reaching level 2, the flesh where the bat struck was crushed and even the bone broke. The Drunken Sheep couldn't turn around properly and walked poorly, its hind legs trembling like a newborn fawn. Toward its back, Suzuka swung down the bat. This time he felt the sensation of shattering its spine, and immediately after, the Drunken Sheep turned into black smoke and was absorbed into Suzuka.

　However, this time Suzuka had exposed his defenseless back after unleashing a large attack. The second Drunken Sheep that had gotten up charged in furiously, as if avenging its comrade.

「Damn it!!」

　Judging he couldn't handle the attack from behind properly, Suzuka succeeded in somehow dodging by rolling sideways. However, the Drunken Sheep didn't miss that chance either. It launched another charge at Suzuka's face while he was still on the ground.

　Suzuka couldn't stand up, but he managed to raise his upper body into a kneeling position. Even while flustered, he held the bat sideways and received the Drunken Sheep's charge head-on.

「Ugh!」

　Since the Drunken Sheep's attack also lacked a proper running start, Suzuka was somehow able to suppress the impact of the collision. At extremely close range, he glared at the Drunken Sheep with its horizontally elongated pupils. The Drunken Sheep's stats as a monster, versus Suzuka who had benefited from stat increases due to leveling up. In terms of strength, Suzuka had the advantage.

「WOOOOOAAAHHH!!!」

　Mustering all his strength, he pinned the Drunken Sheep sideways and rolled it over. Suzuka stood up faster than the Drunken Sheep.

　He swung down the bat at its face as it was getting up. That attack which cracked its skull had enough power to blow away the Drunken Sheep's vitality, as its form turned into black smoke told him. As that smoke was absorbed into Suzuka's body, he felt the sensation of his status rising.

「Finally leveled up!」

　After reaching level 2, it seems he finally leveled up after defeating a total of seven Drunken Sheep. Between becoming level 2 and surviving his first battle, he could now fight 1-on-1 with considerable room to spare. At first he avoided Drunken Sheep when there were two or more, but this time he challenged the two that were grouped together and somehow managed to defeat them. There were many dangerous moments, so he'll need to repeatedly practice fighting two opponents.

「Right away, status open!」

　Saying this, a translucent window appeared.

　Name: Suzuka Jozenji

　Level: 3

　Vitality: 23

　Magic: 22

　Attack: 27

　Defense: 22

　Agility: 28

　Dexterity: 26

　Intelligence: 24

　Storage: 10

　Ability: -

　The status increase values were nearly at the theoretical maximum. Five categories other than Vitality and Intelligence increased by 10. Vitality and Intelligence also increased by 9, which is incredibly good.

「I'm pretty strong now, aren't I? They say training facility graduates have an average status of 23, so I guess I've at least reached the minimum line」

　Society says that level 10 - more precisely, the same level of status as training facility graduates - is essential. The minimum line is said to be essential in the sense of self-defense, not for health or beauty.

　When everyone around you is raising their level and you're the only one staying low, you won't be able to protect yourself if something happens. Japan may be safe, but there are crazy people too. You need the power to protect yourself to some extent.

「And having Storage at 10 for level 3 is a lot, isn't it」

　The standard measure for Storage count is said to be twice the level. In Suzuka's case, it's three times. As far as stat allocation goes, this is an excellent start. Of course, maintaining this is important and difficult.

　This Storage is, so to speak, an item box. However, it comes with the limitation that it's only for dungeon-produced items.

　Explorers can store as many dungeon-produced items as their Storage count. When monsters are defeated, they turn into black smoke and are absorbed by the explorer, and that smoke brings experience points and drop items to the explorer. That said, whether drop items appear when defeating monsters is up to luck.

　The Storage count is low at low levels, but even having just one slot reduces your load, which is helpful.

　As mentioned before, this Storage function is limited to items obtained from dungeons. Therefore, the backpack Suzuka leaves behind each time he fights can't be stored. There seem to be items that can store tools other than dungeon-produced items, but the price is far beyond what middle-schooler Suzuka can afford.

「Wonder if anything dropped~」

　When he focused on the contents of his Storage, the current Storage list was displayed.

　Storage (3/10)

　Drunken Sheep mutton, Drunken Sheep wool, Drunken Sheep mutton

「Oh, there's three. Isn't that pretty good luck?」

　Items obtainable from Drunken Sheep are Drunken Sheep mutton, wool, and micro magic stones. The expected value for obtaining meat and wool items is said to be 20%. Since he defeated 8 this time, getting 3 drops is statistically a good result.

　On the other hand, the drop rate for micro magic stones is extremely low at about 3% for Drunken Sheep. Magic stones are an essential energy source in modern Japan. The reason even such tiny magic stones only have a 3% drop rate is because the Drunken Sheep's level is low.

　Magic stones change size every 50 levels a monster rises, existing in 5 types: micro, small, medium, large, and mega. And the drop rate is the monster's level divided by 50. For example, a level 1 monster has a 2% drop rate, while a level 50 monster has a 100% drop rate. By the way, at level 51, there's a 2% probability of dropping a small magic stone. The system is designed so that if you fail the small magic stone lottery, a micro magic stone is guaranteed to drop.

　In other words, as the monster's level rises, magic stones become guaranteed drops, but at low levels they're tough drop items.

　The selling price of the items obtained this time is not bad for beginner monsters. Drunken Sheep wool sells for 2,000 yen. Mutton sells for 1,500 yen. Neither is expensive, but both have demand so they'll buy them. There are monsters that drop poor-quality weapons, and such items have low magic steel content so some fetch as little as a sparrow's tears.

「So this time's results come to 5,000 yen. Excluding lunch time, 5 hours have passed, so that's 1,000 yen per hour... pretty weak」

　A part-time job with risk to life paying 1,000 yen per hour isn't worth it. It's said explorers live part-time jobs until they can earn. To make it as an explorer, you can't comfortably defeat monsters, so you have to grow by fighting with all your might and getting beaten up like this time.

　Even so, if you can become a mid-tier explorer, an annual income of several tens of millions isn't just a dream. There's a dream, but many people quit early in this profession called explorer.

「It's about time, let's go back. Would be nice if I can fight two more at least once more before heading back」

　Saying that, Suzuka stood up gripping his metal bat, all battered and distorted.