Chapter-01 · EP-011

Episode 11: Party Formation

The day of the first dungeon exploration finally arrived.

I was so excited that I didn't remember a single thing from the morning classes.

But that was a minor issue. After all, I enrolled in this academy not to study, but to explore dungeons.

As usual, the teacher began his explanation at the dungeon entrance.

"Now, we will begin your first dungeon exploration. Before we start, form your parties."

At the teacher's instruction, the classmates began forming parties.

To form a party, you verbally request someone to join, and the person requested verbally accepts. Once accepted, you become party members.

Those who finished would check the Skill Board to confirm that their party was formed.

There were two ways to leave a party. You could declare verbally that you were leaving, similar to the formation process, or the party would automatically disband upon exiting the dungeon. It was a bit troublesome, but you had to form a party each time you entered the dungeon.

The advantage of forming a party was that experience points were distributed, allowing for more efficient leveling up.

Apparently, going from Level 1 to Level 2 alone required defeating around 100 slimes. For four people to each reach Level 2 separately, a simple calculation would require defeating 400 slimes. If those four formed a party, it could be done in as few as 200 slimes, about half.

However, it seemed the person who landed the finishing blow on a monster gained the most experience, and the experience wasn't perfectly evenly distributed, so even within the same party, some would level up faster than others. The leveling system was complex and not fully understood.

Watching my classmates form parties one after another, the teacher called out to me.

"Ichinose, don't you have any companions yet?"

"Ah, I'm going solo."

When I answered, the teacher suddenly got angry.

"That's not what I meant. I'm telling you to form a party as part of the class! Hey, Murasakimura, do you have any space in your party? Let Ichinose join!"

"Yes."

Of all people, he had to call on Murasakimura. I wanted to avoid getting involved with him. I decided to politely decline.

"No, I'm fine. Hey, Akaishi, let me join your party."

As the lowest scorer, I figured I'd try to join the party with Akaishi, the second-lowest. I'd barely spoken to Akaishi, but he'd definitely be a better fit than Murasakimura, the top scorer.

"Hmm? Sorry, our party is full."

Looking, Akaishi's party had the maximum of four members.

Oh no.

As I was reeling from the shock, Murasakimura spoke to me.

"Ichinose-kun, if you don't have any friends, I'll let you join our party."

"N-none of your business!"

I was flustered by his accurate observation that I had no friends. I just enrolled! It couldn't be helped! I'll make friends from now on... I hope.

When I refused Murasakimura's invitation, the teacher got angry.

"Hey, Ichinose! You're the only one left! We don't have time, so you're joining Murasakimura's party today."

"I request Ichinose-kun to join my party."

While I was thinking of a way to refuse, Murasakimura sent me a party invitation.

"Damn... I accept..."

"Alright, then let's confirm on the Skill Board."

Unable to think of a reason to refuse, I ended up joining Murasakimura's party.

Well, whatever. I'd just go with them for today, and later I'd look for other classmates who might let me join their party.

Murasakimura was confirming the party formation on the Skill Board.

Kyoya Murasakimura: LV1
Skill: Lightning Magic LV1
Party Members: Mamoru Sendo, Hijiki Enoshima, Shirou Ichinose

My name was displayed on Murasakimura's Skill Board.

It seemed I had successfully joined Murasakimura's party.

"That's good. Well then, nice to work with you, Ichinose-kun."

"Y-yeah..."

The other classmates seemed to have finished forming parties of three or four, like ours.

"Oh my, you'd better be careful not to get soaked again. Fufufufu..."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

I heard Hayasaka's angry voice and looked over.

It seemed Samejima had made a snide remark to Hayasaka, who was in a party with Momota. Momota, the target of the remark, looked down apologetically.

The teacher quickly stepped in to mediate.

"Hey, hey, stop fighting. Momota, you're prohibited from using your skill today. Practice separately, outside of class, and use it only after you've gotten used to it."

"...Yes."

"Oh, that's good for you, you won't have to get drenched."

"Stop talking like that!"

Samejima's irritating way of speaking kept provoking Hayasaka.

Momota herself couldn't retort and looked like she was about to cry.

After Samejima said what she wanted and left, Hayasaka comforted Momota.

"Well, has everyone formed their parties? I'll continue the explanation. First, check your equipment again. Is your helmet strap tightened? Make sure all your clothes are buttoned up. Double-check your backpack. Do you have your towel and water bottle filled? And most importantly, your weapon. Today, you all have wooden swords, but you can switch to other weapons in the future. However, be careful not to carry weapons that are too dangerous and accidentally injure another person."

Today, we were armed with wooden swords. They seemed to be made of a very hard wood; getting hit would probably hurt a lot. Apparently, many students continued exploring for three years using only this wooden sword.

The school store sold various weapons, like bows and arrows for long range, or spears for mid-range. When roles like vanguard and rearguard became more defined, it would be necessary to change weapons.

But for at least the first semester, this would suffice.

"Today, your goal is to defeat at least one slime per person. If someone who has already defeated a slime finds another, they should let a classmate who hasn't defeated one yet take it. Slimes are easy to defeat, but don't let your guard down. Touching a slime's body for an extended period will dissolve your skin and cause burns."

Our homeroom teacher Majima repeated the explanation from yesterday.

He probably repeated it because it was important.

It was likely these detailed safety reminders that kept injuries during academy exploration low.

Well, I didn't think anyone would get injured by something like a first-floor slime.

"Now, go to the first floor as soon as you're ready."

"Alright, let's go!"

And so, we descended the stairs leading to the first floor of the academy's dungeon.