NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11: Exploring the Dungeon
ICDS World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
{[Mission]
Objective 1 – Complete.}
"That happened faster than I thought it would." Tatsuo muttered to himself while looking at the [notification from the Dimensional Chat. "But I'm sure as hell not complaining."
Seeing the notification of the successfully completed objective, Tatsuo could not help but smile happily. However, he quickly got over the feeling of elation. There was no time for that, after all. He would have all the time in the world to be happy once he had completed the entire mission.
"Alright, it's time to get started." Tatsuo muttered to himself as he equipped his defensive suit. Then, he replied to the text he received about becoming a Dungeon Explorer.
As soon as the reply, "Yes" was sent, Tatsuo found himself in what seemed to be an endless grey, stone hallway with torches hanging on the walls. Then, after looking around for a moment, he heard someone, a mature female voice, whispering into his ears.
{"Soramoto Tatsuo, Bronze-Rank 9 Explorer has entered the Dungeon."} The female voice said. {"As this is your first time in the Dungeon, Beginner Dungeon Explorer Support has sent you five Lowest-Grade Potions."}
'So, this is what Sherifina sounds like.' Tatsuo thought to himself while listening to the Dungeon notifications.
{"Analyzing your abilities… Analysis complete."} The female voice, continued. {"Beginner Dungeon Explorer Support has sent you a pair of Sharp Wooden Daggers]. They have been placed in your Inventory"}
'Yeah, I won't be using those.' Tatsuo thought to himself as his bladed knuckle dusters were equipped onto his hands.
{"Confirming Rank… complete."} The voice continued once again. {"You are ranked sixth of the six Dungeon Explorers on Earth. 147,354th of the 147,354 total Dungeon Explorers. Rankings will be renewed at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning."}
'That's pretty much what I expected.' Tatsuo thought to himself in response to the last notification. 'And it makes sense that there are more Explorers than mentioned in the novel. It's been more than three years since Kang Shin became an Explorer, after all.'
{"You have obtained a status, would you like to confirm? Yes/No"} Another notification rang out in Tatsuo's head.
"Yes, show me my status." Tatsuo replied.
{Dungeon Explorer Status
Name: Soramoto Tatsuo
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Class: None
Title: None
Rank: Bronze 9
Level: 1
HP: 230/230
MP: 0
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 20
Constitution: 17
Intelligence: 19
Magic: 0
Charm: 295
Luck: 150
Skills
Mid-Ranked Martial Arts Technique: Lv. 8
Mid-Ranked Dagger Technique: Mastered}
Mid-Ranked Marksman Technique: Lv. 7
Mid-Ranked Stealth: Mastered}
Looking at the status provided by the dungeon, Tatsuo could not help but compare it to the [Status] from his [System]. And he noticed that his [System's] [Status] seemed a lot more comprehensive.
'So, the Dungeon only shows me things related to combat.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'None of my other skills are listed. Well, I guess it doesn't matter. But I need to figure out How the numbers in my attributes correlate to the ranks in the [System] [Status].'
After thinking for a while, Tatsuo guessed that E+ the rank signifying the peak of humanity, went up to about 20 points by the Dungeon's standards. Unfortunately, he could only guess when it came to everything else. Since the only other attribute both status pages shared was charm. But there was no point of reference between E+ and B+ that he could use to make the comparison.
Before he could think about that for any longer, Tatsuo received a notification from his [System].
{Similar function to one of the [System's] functions detected. Integrate similar function into host's [Inventory]? Y/N}
'So, I can combine the two, huh?' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'That's good. I was almost out of space in mine. Yes, combine them.'
Giving the mental command, Tatsuo could feel something change. Then, when he checked his [System's] [Inventory], he noticed that it had expanded from ten slots to twenty slots. On top of that, the wooden daggers, which were unique in the way that they only took up one slot, despite being two weapons, had been transferred, as well.
'Nice.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'If I remember correctly, the number of the Dungeon's Inventory slots increase by ten every time you level up. And if you combine that with the [System's] [Inventory] that doubles every time my [Energy Stat] increases, I'll be able to store anything I want before long.'
{"To begin exploring the Dungeon, shout 'commence exploration'."} The female voice said, pulling Tatsuo out of his thoughts.
"Well, I guess there's no point in thinking about that for now." Tatsuo muttered to himself Then, he gripped his bladed knuckle dusters a little tighter as he shouted, "Commence Exploration."
With that, all the dungeon notifications disappeared. Then, an ominous atmosphere began to permeate the surroundings. And finally, most of the torches on the walls were extinguished, only the ones closest to Tatsuo remaining lit.
"I can feel it." Tatsuo whispered to himself. "There's something… not human approaching me… A monster…"
Instead of waiting for the enemy to approach him, Tatsuo activated [Stealth] and slipped into the shadow between two torches. Then, he slowly and cautiously started making his way towards the presence he could feel. Eventually, he reached the approaching threat, and it was exactly what he expected it to be.
"Yup, the first floor is inhabited by slimes." Tatsuo muttered to himself.
In the next instant, Tatsuo dashed from his hiding place, sweeping his dagger through the slime with little effort, killing it in the process.
{You obtained Slime Piece x 1}
{You obtained Gold x 1}
Two notifications popped up in quick succession after Tatsuo killed the slime. But since Tatsuo was expecting something like that, he quickly dismissed them, hurrying forward to complete his Dungeon Exploration.
After four hours, Tatsuo had killed hundreds of slimes. And with the slimes dropping one gold for every three he killed, he had over a hundred Gold in his [Inventory]. On top of that, he had quite a few Slime Pieces, too. Around that time, he had finally reached the end of the long hallway, as well. And when he did, he received a new notification from the Dungeon.
{You have become Level 2. You have the qualifications to challenge the Second Floor.
You have gained 5 Stat Points.}
Seeing that notification, Tatsuo smiled proudly. Then, he opened the door at the end of the hallway and stepped through it. When he did, he saw what appeared to be a small rest area with a shop counter and a pretty, young woman standing behind the counter.
'I wonder if that's Loretta.' Tatsuo thought to himself after seeing the young woman behind the counter. "There was never a description of her while she was controlling her puppets. Other than the fact that she seemed human in appearance.
"Congratulations, Customer-Sama, for clearing the first floor." The young woman behind the counter said with a professional smile. "Would you like to see our list of available products before you move onto the second floor?"
"Sure, just give me a minute, please." Tatsuo replied politely.
With that said, Tatsuo started distributing his Stat Points to test a theory he had about the two Status pages. So, he added one point to Dexterity, two to Intelligence, and two to Strength. He would have added a point to Magic, but he already knew that it was impossible to add points to a stat that read 0. So, now his Dungeon Status looked like this.
{Dungeon Status:
{Dungeon Explorer Status
Name: Soramoto Tatsuo
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Class: None
Title: None
Rank: Bronze 9
Level: 2
HP: 450/450
MP: 0
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 21
Constitution: 17
Intelligence: 21
Magic: 0
Charm: 295
Luck: 150
Skills
Mid-Ranked Martial Arts Technique: Lv. 8
Mid-Ranked Dagger Technique: Mastered}
Mid-Ranked Marksman Technique: Lv. 7
Mid-Ranked Stealth: Mastered}
And to check the correctness of his theory, Tatsuo went on to check his [System] Status], as well.
{[Status]
[Personal Information]
Name: Soramoto Tatsuo
Age: 15
Race: Human/???
Title: ???
Coins: 449,275
[Physical Attributes]
Comprehensive Physical Evaluation: E+
Strength: E+
Agility: E+
Dexterity: D-
Endurance: E+
Intelligence: D-
Perception: D
Energy: N/A
Charm: B+
[Skills]
Language: E+
Pianist: D-
Singing: E+
Vale Tudo: E
Weapon Mastery: E+
Dagger Master: D-
Firearms Mastery: E+
Cooking: F+
First Aid: E-
Hacking: D
Stealth: D-
Blacksmithing: E+
Leatherworking: E+
Tailoring: E+
Programming – E+
[Note: The average values of an average adult are F+. Trained Athletes have values of E-. Those at the peak of their field have values of E. Those at the peak of humanity have values of E+. Anything D- or higher is considered supernatural, usually requiring the infusion of mana or an equivalent energy to achieve.]}
And just as he expected, Tatsuo saw that his [Dexterity] and [Intelligence] had risen from E+ to D-. Meaning that any Stat he raised above 20 in the Dungeon Status would automatically rise to D- in his [System] [Status].
"Alright, now that I've confirmed that, let's keep moving." Tatsuo whispered to himself.
As he spoke, Tatsuo noticed the young woman behind the shop counter staring at him as if he were strange. Then again, watching someone talk to themselves can have that effect on people.
"Uh… So, can you show me the available items for purchase, now?" Tatsuo asked while pulling back his cowl and scratching the back of his head.
As soon as the young woman behind the counter saw Tatsuo's face, she could not help but open her eyes wide. She had been working in these Floor Shops for a long time. However, she had only seen a handful of customers as handsome as the young man in front of her.
Despite her shock, the young woman recovered quickly enough. Then, after putting her professional smile back on, she showed Tatsuo the list of available items.
Unfortunately for the young woman, after taking a few moments to read over the items listed, Tatsuo shook his head before handing it back to her. He was unable to find anything he was interested in. So, after bidding the young woman farewell and receiving a good luck in return, Tatsuo made his way through the doors leading to the Second Floor.
A moment later, after Tatsuo left the Floor Shop, the young woman's professional smile disappeared, replaced by an inquisitive expression.
"So, that's the Customer that oldie told me to take good care of." The young woman said in a thoughtful tone. "But I wonder why… She never gave me a reason, either. I wonder who he is…"
As Tatsuo surmised, this young woman was indeed the Loretta he mentioned. And just as he said, this young woman was only a puppet, one of the thousands, she controlled by splitting her consciousness. In reality, Loretta was a tall, black-haired, golden-eyed elf with otherworldly beauty and charm.
Despite her supposed looks, Tatsuo was not particularly interested in getting to know her. And there were two reasons for that. First, by this point in the timeline, she was more than likely already interested in this world's main character, Kang Shin. And second, he's still lacking in terms of emotions. Being trained to be nothing more than a weapon for eight years will do that, after all.
Not worrying about the store shop or its shopkeeper any more, Tatsuo stepped onto the Second Floor of the Dungeon. The second floor was similar to the first n appearance. Long stone corridors and torches lining the walls. Also, like the First Floor, Tatsuo shouted "Commence Exploration" when he was ready to begin.
However, once the torches began to be extinguished, The first difference between the First and Second Floors became apparent immediately. The sound of fast flapping wings could be heard from up ahead.
"*Sigh* I hate bees." Tatsuo muttered as he concealed himself in the shadows. "Ever since that time I got stung by one when I was five, I've hated them with a passion. And I bet these things are huge."
Unlike the first floor, Tatsuo only had an idea what to expect. In fact, both the hurdles Kang Shin faced on the Second and Fourth Floors of the Dungeon were not explained in detail, with the Fourth Floor not being mentioned at all. So, he would be going in almost blind to this Floor's difficulties.
Drawing nearer to the bees, Tatsuo was able to see that they were about as long as his forearm. On top of that, they traveled in groups of no less than five. Meaning, if he was not careful, he could easily end up getting overwhelmed. So, instead of fighting them, he thought to sneak past them.
Unfortunately, as soon as he reached a certain distance from the Bees, they all turned in his direction. On top of that, the buzzing from their wings grew in volume, as well.
"Well, I guess that's not gonna work, huh?" Tatsuo muttered as he prepared for battle. "it's not like the shadows covered the whole hallway, anyway. So, I was bound to get caught at some point. Still, getting stung by those things is really gonna hurt..."
Reaching that point, Tatsuo dashed towards the swarm of bees. Then, just as the closest one tried to sting him in the chest, he twisted his body, causing the bee to soar past him. And just as it did, Tatsuo raised his right arm, using the blade on his knuckle duster to cut off the wings on the right side of its back.
In the next instant, Tatsuo dropped straight down to the floor, avoiding two more stingers as he did so. Then, he flipped himself back onto his feet to avoid a fourth before spreading his arms and spinning once in place.
*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*
With that movement, Tatsuo's blades ripped through the abdomen of the three bees he just avoided. Then, before the bee in front of him could fall to the floor, Tatsuo leapt forward, used the bee as a spring board, performed a backflip, and jammed his blades into the fifth bee's head as he fell to the floor.
Like that, four of the five bees had been killed. Meanwhile, the fifth, which happened to be the first to attack Tatsuo, was flapping the wings on its left side with all its might in an attempt to fly again. Unfortunately, Tatsuo had no intension of letting it get airborne, let alone crawl towards him, to use its stinger again.
Slipping his middle, ring, and pinky fingers out of the knuckle duster on his left hand, Tatsuo spun it on his index finger. Then, he let it slip off the finger after a few rotations. As a result, the blade pierced the crawling bee's head, killing it instantly.
{You obtained Gold x 2}
{You obtained Bee Stinger x 1}
{You obtained Gold x 2}
{You obtained Bee Carapace x 1}
"*Sigh* This is going to take much longer than the last floor did." Tatsuo grumbled after checking the loot notifications. "Still, I should check the durability of those stingers. I might be able to make something better than my weapons with them. But I can think about that later. For now, I need to get moving."
{You have become Level 3. You have the qualifications to challenge the Third Floor.
You have gained 5 Stat Points to distribute.}
Three days later, Tatsuo reached the Second Floor Shop. And when he did, he was exhausted. Instead of taking breaks by leaving the Dungeon, he wanted to push himself by traveling non-stop. But after nearly three full days and thousands of bees slain, he was regretting that decision. On the bright side, he had almost 2,000 Gold. He also had quite a few Bee Stingers and Bee Carapaces to experiment with in item creation.
"In hindsight, that was a horrible idea." Tatsuo muttered to himself as he dragged himself into the Floor Shop. "I'm tired as a dog."
"Customer-Sama, are you alright?" The young woman at the Shop, Loretta asked in a concerned tone. A moment later, she put on her professional smile as she offered Tatsuo an item. "If you're so tired, might I interest you in a Stamina Recovery Fruit Juice? Only 100 Gold per bottle."
"You know what? Why the hell not?" Tatsuo muttered as he dragged himself over to the Shop Counter. "Maybe it will keep me awake long enough to get back to my bed."
"That will be 100 Gold, Dear Customer-Sama." Loretta said with a bright, friendly, professional smile.
Taking out the necessary amount of Gold from his [Inventory] Tatsuo handed it to Loretta, receiving the Recovery Juice in return. Then after opening it, he decided to check his status and distribute his Attribute Points while drinking the juice he just bought.
{Dungeon Explorer Status
Name: Soramoto Tatsuo
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Class: None
Title: None
Rank: Bronze 9
Level: 3
HP: 250/680
MP: 0
Strength: 21
Dexterity: 23
Constitution: 18
Intelligence: 22
Magic: 0
Charm: 295
Luck: 150
Skills
Mid-Ranked Martial Arts Technique: Lv. 8
Mid-Ranked Dagger Technique: Mastered}
Mid-Ranked Marksman Technique: Lv. 7
Mid-Ranked Stealth: Mastered}
Checking his Dungeon Status naturally led to him checking his [System] Status], as well.
{[Status]
[Personal Information]
Name: Soramoto Tatsuo
Age: 15
Race: Human/???
Title: ???
Coins: 449,275
[Physical Attributes]
Comprehensive Physical Evaluation: D-
Strength: D-
Agility: E+
Dexterity: D-
Endurance: E+
Intelligence: D-
Perception: D
Energy: N/A
Charm: B+
[Skills]
Language: E+
Pianist: D-
Singing: E+
Vale Tudo: E
Weapon Mastery: E+
Dagger Master: D-
Firearms Mastery: E+
Cooking: F+
First Aid: E-
Hacking: D
Stealth: D-
Blacksmithing: E+
Leatherworking: E+
Tailoring: E+
Programming – E+
[Note: The average values of an average adult are F+. Trained Athletes have values of E-. Those at the peak of their field have values of E. Those at the peak of humanity have values of E+. Anything D- or higher is considered supernatural, usually requiring the infusion of mana or an equivalent energy to achieve.]}
Satisfied with his growth after only three and a half days, Tatsuo finished his juice. Then, after waving goodbye to Loretta, he left the Dungeon before diving into his bed to sleep for a while.