Loop Mob – A Mob’s Interdimensional Travel Caught in a Loop

Chapter 31: Unpopular Dungeon Again (2)

The next day, I visited the dungeon once more. Today’s me is different from yesterday’s me. The difference lies in what I brought—additional magical tools.

Magical Tool – Light: “Small,” “Light”
Magical Tool – Ignition: “Small,” “Fire”
Magical Tool – Flame Explosion Lv1 Fire Spread: “Small Multiple,” “Fire,” “Flight”
Magical Tool – Healing Heal Lv1 Healing Heal: “Small,” “Water,” “Light”

Using the magic stones from the slimes I hunted yesterday and the crushed magic stone powder, I crafted four additional magical tools. With my DEX agility rising from 3 to 23 in just one day, I keenly felt its benefits. The magical tool Shotgun, which I had painstakingly crafted over three days from the entrance ceremony on Tuesday, finally came to life. Thanks to getting used to it once, I effortlessly made four more in one night.

Can magical tools with different attributes be used? The answer is yes. Not only the everyday life magic tools like Light and Ignition, but also the Healing Heal, which should only work with water or light attributes, worked perfectly. After arriving at the dungeon, I immediately tested the Fire Spread, confirming its activation without any issues.

As per the inscription in the sacred text, Fire Spread has one less element compared to the Shotgun. It doesn’t require the element “Strike” to deal physical damage, and the damage dealt is “INT/2.” In terms of cost-effectiveness and attack power, it’s a complete upgrade. Indeed, in terms of attack capabilities, Earth attributes don’t even come close to Fire attributes.

Nevertheless, it was good that I memorized the sacred texts of magic skills from other attributes unnecessarily. I’ve been mocked as “weirdly studious” even in the royal capital. Well then, let’s go enthusiastically today too.

After test-firing the flames, I diligently collected slime cores. Today, I brought a ladle with me. Scooping up stones from puddles and placing them in the sieve, I took them outside the dungeon and crushed them with the pickaxe. It’s a tedious task, but with the magical tools, I’m still unable to deal with mice and bats. For now, one more level to go.

Even after being defeated by bats yesterday, it was good that I collected and crushed cores several times. Today, the fanfare played on the fifth round. Finally, I can raise my INT intelligence. With that, the Shotgun and Fire Spread should become somewhat useful.

Let’s change things up today. I’m targeting those hated mice. They are weak to fire. For that reason, I made a fire magical tool. The contents of the appraisal of the Explosion skill that I appraised in the previous loop are as follows:

Explosion Lv-
→ Skill that spews flames over a wide area in exchange for MP.
Acquisition Conditions: Fire attribute, Lv10, INT20
Lv1 Fire Spread
→ Spews weak flames over the area. Number of spews is INT/2, attack power is INT/2. MP15

My current INT is 13. Flames spew out seven times, with an attack power of seven. Although the mice have only 10 HP, they receive 200% damage due to the weakness to the fire attribute. In theory, it should be possible to spawn-kill them. What if I can’t defeat them? No, they are so weak to fire that they won’t even encounter me if I enter with the living fire magic. They’ll probably run away for sure. Just in case, I’ll also attach the pickaxe to my belt.

Well then, detestable mice, let’s do this.

The result was anticlimactic. While holding a light magical tool, I arrived at the familiar hole-in-the-wall spawning point. As soon as I arrived, I activated Fire Spread, and the mice turned into coins and tails in an instant. I still can’t believe it. Is it supposed to be this easy?

Feeling confident, I advanced deeper for a while and hunted mice with flames every time they appeared. Soon, the fanfare resounded, and I effortlessly reached level 5. The inventory was unlocked. Ah, now I can go back without carrying a heavy load. Well then, let’s keep hunting. After all, there are mountains of magic stones in the puddles at my feet. My wooden board is going to breathe fire.

I ran out of magic stones on hand, so I decided to head outside for a moment. If I don’t want to encounter mice, I can simply change the light source from light to fire. Incredibly easy. Bats won’t attack unless I provoke them.

I happily had lunch. It’s been a while since dungeon exploration tasted this good. Today, I’ll gather magic stones to my heart’s content after this.

After several rounds between the water source and the outside, casually hunting mice, I collected magic stones. Not as efficient as the dragonfly dungeon, but my level is increasing rapidly. The gathered magic stones were placed one by one into the inventory. I’ll return empty-handed. How wonderful. I’m in a good mood today.

Well, it’s a bit early, but let’s start heading back. School is again tomorrow. I don’t need to wait for the carriage; I can just walk. After all, today, I’m empty-handed.

While thinking about this, I was storing my belongings in the inventory.

Magic Stone Shards: 346 grams
Magic Stones: 895
Stones: 12

I realized that ordinary stones were mixed in with the magic stones. They look similar, and it seems I failed to sort them out.

Wait, was it sorting on its own? The inventory?

—Yeah. It was. I’ve been soloing dungeon exploration, collecting drops, coins, and everything, and it was automatically sorted later. That’s right.

I didn’t need that! If the inventory was released, I could have sorted and selected on my own!

I took out only the stones and discarded them on the riverside of the cave. By the way, the pile of stones I threw away yesterday is lying around there. Maybe there’s a magic stone mixed in there by mistake. But dealing with such a mountain of stones, taking them in hand and storing them?

Wait a minute. What’s the range of storage and disposal? I put my hand on the pile of small stones and tried to “store” them. Then, all the small stones in the pile disappeared at once. Can it hold that much at once?

Looking at the inventory again, the magic stones increased to 997. It means that among the stones I threw away, 102 magic stones were mixed. I expelled only the stones again. I was dumbfounded for a while at the anticlimactic result, but suddenly, I wondered. Can I do this not only with stones but also with water?

I returned to the dungeon and tried storing the water from the puddle. Then, the puddle with a diameter of 10 meters dried up in an instant.

Magic Stone Shards: 346 grams
Water: 1.3 tons
Magic Stones: 1,237
Stones: 274

…

I did it. I quietly expelled the water and stones on the spot and walked away.

Come to think of it, even in RPG games, it’s just “Obtained xx Gold! Found xx!” In the latter half, there’s a tremendous amount of money dropping, but I can’t imagine the hero party crawling around picking them up. Well, they might be picking them up, but I don’t want to think about it.

In the previous loop, at that dragonfly monster house, I diligently picked up scattered coins and feathers. No, even before that, in the dungeon of the aquatic monsters in the neighboring territory, it was even more challenging. I’ve shed tears countless times watching coins and materials sinking to the bottom of the water. Changing the hunting ground to the wind attribute dungeon was also for such reasons.

If only I had realized how to use this inventory back then.

Well, the past loops are gone. There’s no point in regretting now. Let’s call it a day with this. I’ll buy some materials in town on the way back and start crafting new magical tools from tomorrow. It looks like it’s going to be busy again.