arc03 · 064-ep58
Episode 58: What Comes First
A possibility has come into view—creating a brand-new magic item with 【Status Appraisal】's effect—so let me mull it over a bit.
The 【Star Spirit Silver】 on hand is still just that one flask's worth.
Apparently the material is still beyond her to handle for now, but I've asked her to make me a 【magic bag】 eventually, all the same. Storage really would be nice to have. It's hardly a must just yet, though. And when it comes down to it, what I want more is 【Status Appraisal】.
Given how 【Plunder】 works, having it is a straight-up necessity.
Which means—yeah, better to have her switch over to 【Status Appraisal】.
"Aizawa—heeey. Back among the living."
"Huh? Ah—yes. What is it?"
"Can't say if it's doable, but forget the 【magic bag】—what I want more is 【Status Appraisal】. It's fine even if it fails, so could you give that a try instead?"
"Um…… understood. Honestly, my thinking isn't together yet, but there is a chance it can be done. The sticking point, as ever, is my mana shortage. ……I'm none too keen on it, but may I ask for your help with leveling?"
"Of course! First we get you to level 10, then land you some skill or other."
"Right…… Ideally I'd pick up a mana-related skill."
"Do enough mana-using stuff in the dungeon and it might just show up."
With her chewing over her own means of attack, too, the leveling trip got moved up—no waiting for summer break.
"Then it's the weekend right after midterms. Start first thing in the morning and I'd bet you gain five levels in two days."
"……You really are outrageous, you know that……"
"And here the senpai sweated bullets just to reach level 10……"
"I'll get a bit stronger myself before then and pad out the safety margin."
"Please do."
Man, my calendar's filling up something beautiful.
Is this life of mine maybe getting TOO fulfilling?
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Another three-day weekend, hot on the last one's heels.
With yesterday's after-school dive and this morning's session, Floor 11 is officially explored, top to bottom.
Man, what a poison-caked floor. Treasure chests coughed up 【Poison Resistance】 rings five—count 'em, five—times. Yeah, no. Don't need THAT many.
Miyashita-san handled reception yesterday, and his eyes went round as saucers at the volume of magic stones. That kind of reaction? Tastes pretty good, honestly. Full-on 'I'm so OP' energy.
And my level climbed by one—29 now. 30's within arm's reach.
Only, SP gains have thinned out somehow, and the stat growth was poor, too.
【Name】 Kobayakawa Takeru
【Level】 29
【Status】
・HP: 660 / 660
・MP: 76 / 76
・STR: 131
・VIT: 126
・AGI: 211
・DEX: 126
・INT: 120
・LUK: 4
【Held Skills】
・Plunder+
・Martial Arts (Lv. 3)
・Movement Arts (Lv. 4)
【SP】 16
AGI still shoots up like an idiot, but the rest barely crept.
So it really is hooked to the opponent's level and how the fights go, huh.
Things have been a touch too easy lately. The stat gap between me and the monsters may have blown wide open.
If so, then for me, growth dries up unless I'm fighting monsters above my level at all times. Except 【Plunder】 supposedly won't connect against targets too far above me. Wait, hold on, though? All I ever saw written was 'nearly 0% success rate at a level gap of three'—whether that's actually true is still untested. Blast through Floors 12–13 at top speed and give Floor 14 a look? That could work.
Map-filling and chest hunting are fun—fun-adjacent, anyway—but nobody made them priorities.
Right. That's the plan.
So starting tomorrow, it's back to sprinting through the dungeon~!
For today, let's cut it here and head on home.
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"I'm back."
"Welcome back, sir. I'm so glad you're unharmed. Will you be cashing anything in?"
"Yep—the usual, please."
"Of course. One moment, please."
Yesterday it was Miyashita-san; today, Sakurai-san. At this point the rotation doesn't even faze me.
"Thank you for waiting. Please confirm there are no errors."
"Will do~ ……All good. Oh, right—whatever happened with the plans for 『Braver』? The venue, the time, all that?"
"So that we can respond smoothly to anything that comes up, the venue is set for the private room in the second-floor café—the one you used the other day. The time is entirely up to you, Takeru-san: what hour would you prefer?"
"Hmm, let me think…… Would the morning work? Then I could still get a dungeon dive in after."
"Morning is no trouble at all—the café keeps round-the-clock hours, after all. How does around nine sound, then?"
"Yeah, nine's fine."
"Very well. I'll pass it along to 『Braver』 as well."
All it means is being at the guild before nine the morning after tomorrow—business as usual, really. And this way, even if I blanked on the plan, no harm done. Ideal setup, honestly.
Sure, I trawl the net plenty, but on the ground truth of party life—adventurers in general—I might as well know nothing. Time to pump them for everything.
『Braver』 itself is under what amounts to a suspension for the moment—can't set foot in the dungeon, from what I hear—but they did say they'd take their shot at the C-rank exam come summer, so I'll cheer them on a little. Hand over what I know about the first ten floors and I've banked a favor for myself—plus there'll be no reason for things to turn hostile later.
Turning all that over in my head, I got home a little early again today.
Now then—tomorrow, Floor 12 at breakneck speed.
The pleasures of exploring can wait—for now, it's time to strip-mine the net for every scrap of Floor 12 intel.
The guild likely keeps the detailed files under lock, so it might be worth asking Sakurai-san mid-dive, too. She's my dedicated contact—there's a chance she'd actually spill.
So after getting home, I spent the evening netsurfing deep into the night for the first time in ages.
And yeah—got sucked into articles that had nothing to do with anything.
◇
Aaaand—welcome to Floor 12.
After yesterday's deep intel dig, you could say this floor is as good as cleared already.
It's still plenty cave-like, this floor, but there's the faintest hint of the man-made mixed in.
Torch-like fixtures on the walls, doors fitted to the small rooms—a whole air of something clearly living here.
In practice, though, nothing seems to actually live here. What spawns is mostly beast- and bug-flavored monsters, plus one wandering humanoid weapon-carrier with strong-mob energy going by the name of Statue Knight. Him, and only him, I'll hunt on purpose.
My pack won't swell much anyway—today I'm going until the clock runs out! Let's gooo!