Novel Full 019 – The Second Floor
The Second Floor
The neighboring room contained only a black wall/obstacle.
After entering that black barrier, after an instant of darkness, I came out into a small room much resembling the one on the entrance of the first floor.
It’s dimensions were about 4-5 meters in each direction. Similar to the first floor, there were two paths stretching in the right and left directions.
Behind me was the black barrier that I had entered from. This too, resembles the one on the first floor.
If I were blindfolded and brought to both places, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Dungeon Walk is probably usable here, so I can come and go as I please.
Shall I give it a try?
No. Even if I succeeded in my attempt, I don’t know whether I’ll be teleported to the second floor or some other place.
If I exit through the black barrier behind me, will I be returned to the same place from earlier?
Let’s try that out first.
I exited through the black barrier.
After passing through the pitch black space, I abruptly exited into a dazzling place.
It’s the labyrinth’s entrance.
The explorer was standing outside same as yesterday.
My eyes haven’t really adjusted, but from the looks of it, it’ll be nightfall in a few hours.
I’ve finally come out. I think this is enough action for today.
From the opposite side of the road, a party of six came along.
The explorer of the party started conversing with the explorer’s standing at the Labyrinth’s entrance.
“How far did you get”
“The fourth floor.”
I listened attentively to their conversation from the side while pretending to confirm the contents of my rucksack.
Information gathering is important.
The party’s explorer peeked at the Knight’s expression.
The knight seems to be especially significant within the party.
Probably something like that, anyways.
“Was there anything on the fourth floor?”
asked the knight, directly addressing the explorers standing at the entrance.
“Mino. From the first floor onwards, there were needle wood, green caterpillar and kobolds”
“We’ve dispatched the kobold’s of the third floor. Let’s begin from the fourth floor.”
Looks like the combination of this labyrinth’s monsters was a failure after all.
The knight nodded at the party’s explorer.
“We have 800-1000 items. Item box, open!” (Some chuuni chant.)
That is the incantation for summoning the item box.
The party’s explorer retrieves something from it.
A silver coin.
Though I didn’t get a good look at it, the retrieved thing is a silver coin.
Appraisal is useful after all.
The explorer at the entrance received it, it was a silver coin after all.
“Responding to the faith of companions, I have read the honesty of their hearts, Party Formation” (thanks for the TL thedefend)
The explorer at the entrance continues his chanting.
Is that the party formation spell?
As I was pondering the reason for the party formation, the party’s explorer, accompanied by two others, entered the dungeon.
And then swiftly returned.
An adventurer from the knight’s party repeated the party formation spell’s chant.
“Great. Let’s start from the fourth floor.”
On the knight’s declaration, six people entered the labyrinth.
After confirming their disappearance into the dungeon , I also set out towards town.
What did they go there for?
The two explorers have probably explored the labyrinth to the fourth floor.
The explorers can utilize dungeon walk to transfer to any previously visited location within the labyrinth.
I’ve seen the place the six transfer to a number of times. Not only the chanter, but also the party members with him are transferred.
The explorers standing at the labyrinth’s entrance are guides who guide parties till the fourth floor.
Explorers from a newly formed party have not entered the labyrinth before.
It seems that if they form a party, the guides can take along those explorers who haven’t previously visited the fourth floor.
After being taken along once, seems like those explorers also gain the ability to teleport their respective parties to the fourth floor.
Also, if the party members do not exceed five, the guide can take along the whole party with them.
It is a well thought out strategy.
I should also make use of this.
But if I go to the lower floors, the monsters are going to strengthen too.
Since I don’t have a grasp of my strength, It would be safest to sequentially go through the floors.
The two adventurers that came out of the Adventurer’s guild yesterday did the same thing.
There are two adventurers who can use field walk、if I’m teleported by either once to another town, I’ll also be able to travel between the towns.
In this world, the flow of people is unrestricted and frequent.
Putting a little distance between the labyrinth and myself, I erased Durandal through Character Reset.
My bonus points had increased by one. I seem to have leveled up without realizing it.
If I remove Boost critical rate and Boost MP regeneration rate which I don’t know how to use in addition to warp, I can acquire the Fourth job which costs 4 points.
I adjusted my jobs with the job settings panel.
Kaga Michio, Male, 17 Years Old
Explorer Lv.8, Hero Lv.6, Soldier Lv.5, Swordsman Lv.1
Equipment: Scimitar, Hide Armour, Sandal Boots
To call my growth astounding would be a bit of a boast.
My earnings from selling off herbal medicine I made upon returning to the inn amount to 1911 nars.
My earnings from today amount to 4276 nars.
There’s also the portion from the leaves I gathered yesterday, but since I didn’t sell my wand, the balance comes up to more or less the same amount.
Since the wand is classified as equipment and not an item, I doubt I can sell it, even to an arms merchant.
Though it doesn’t amount to one gold coin, I wonder if this is a fair amount of earning for one day.
I’d probably spend more money if I arranged my equipment, bought clothes and other daily necessities.
As of now, I have spent 224 nars on hotel expenses and 20 nars on hot water.
As to why my discount perks were ineffective when reserving hot water is a mystery.
After eating dinner,I’ll retire for the night.
I’ve become completely accustomed to an early to bed, early to rise lifestyle.
After the sun sets, there is really nothing to do around here.
There’s the option of exploring the labyrinth, but falling asleep midway would be lethal.
The sooner I go to sleep,the sooner morning will arrive.
Thus, I’ll be exploring the labyrinth’s dark interior tomorrow too.
After removing the Job setting and activating warp again, I came to the entrance of the second floor.
Appearance wise, it is impossible to tell apart from the small room on the first floor, but this is it,probably.
I wasn’t particularly affected by the warp this time around.
Is that thanks to my level up?
Having said that, I have no intentions of continuously using it. That was really tough on my body.
Since the entranceway to the second floor from the first was on the right side, let’s try the left path.
From the onset, I was confronted with a crossroad.
This is different from the first floor. Proves I’ve arrived at the second floor safely.
Needlewood Lv.2
The first monster I encountered was a Needlewood, same as the one’s on the first floor.
Aren’t the monsters on the 2nd floor supposed to be different? (Thanks thedefend)
It’s probably called Lv.2 since it’s on the second floor.
I slashed diagonally with Durandal and slew the monster with one blow.
The Needlewood may have been strengthened to Lv.2, but with Durandal one shot is all it takes after all.
My level up probably factors in a bit too.
It could possibly also be the effect of four simultaneous active jobs.
Is what I’d like to believe.
Green Caterpillar Lv.2
I encountered a Green Caterpillar next.
Oh right. The second floor had Green Caterpillars
Does the second floor contain only these two monsters?
A huge green hornworm.
Frankly, it’s quite disgusting.
It’s a soft and flabby larvae of about a medium sized dog’s size. Despite the appearance, it’s insides may be packed with muscles.
The hornworm quickly approached me //After observing it, I swiftly approached it. I swung Durandal down on it from above.
Thread.
A one-hit kill this time around too.
After the green smoke dissipated, a bundle of yarn was left over.
Even though I hunted quite a number after that but the only monsters that spawned were Green Caterpillar Lv.2 and Needle Grass Lv.2.
These two monsters seem to be the characteristic/typical of the second floor.
While pondering on that, I encountered both monsters at once next.
Needlewood Lv.2
Green Caterpillar Lv.2
Are they a group or did they just happen to be together?
Excluding the small room where a large amount of monsters were lurking, this is the first time I’ve met monsters in pairs.
First I drove Durandal into the approaching Needlewood.
When I shifted my attention to the green caterpillar,I saw an orange magic formation beneath it’s chest.
The magic formation swiftly disappeared, and the Green Caterpillar spat something out.
It’s thread.
The thread covered up my front.
It came flying while spreading in every direction. It was like I was watching the spider’s thread in a Kabuki Dance (Spider’s thread is probably a specific dance)
Wielding Durandal, I was able to fend off some of it but was unable to defend against all of it.
The thread I wasn’t able to defend against twined around my hands, feet and head.
Disgusting. Not only that, it also made movement very difficult.
It pretty much felt like being tied up with sticky tape.
While I was struggling to regain my arm’s mobility, I ended up taking a body blow from the caterpillar.
I was somehow able to bear it with my impaired legs. I swung Durandal downwards.
Due to either being unaffected by the thread’s restriction, or due to it’s crushing amount of offensive power, it still took only one strike from Durandal to down it.
Thread.
The thread entangling my body disappeared along with the monster.
The loot was a common thread.
The attack from before seems to be a special attack to impair opponents.
Handling one or two wouldn’t probably be much of a problem. But what if they show up in a group?
Like in the small room on the first floor…….
This is unsettling.
I can think of nothing but unnerving outcomes
If several green caterpillars were to surround me, they’d immobilize me with thread from all directions,and when I’m immobile they’d shower me in blows.
If my movements were to slow down, not only would my extermination rate go down, Durandal’s HP regeneration rate would also be affected.
Will I be able to withstand attacks from monsters in that state?
Would it be better to think of countermeasures beforehand?
I could also choose to not adopt any measures.
I’ll deal with it after giving it some more thought.
I wonder if the small room which spawned a large no of monsters , is a considerably rare trap.
On the first floor was the knights six man party including apprentices. A low level party was also waiting outside the boss spawning room.
Can these people even handle the massive horde of monsters in the small room?
Though I was somehow able to hold my own due to Durandal, I believe this low leveled party will not stand a chance.
Yet their presence here despite that implies that the risk of encountering monsters in large groups is actually pretty low.
If the encounter rate was high, low leveled parties wouldn’t be hanging around the dungeon.
Since they are, it proves that the encounter rate is pretty low.
Though I personally feel that their being way too optimistic, it may as well be that way.
Such an under-leveled party is also exploring the second floor. If they can do it, then so can I.
However dropping my guard would be foolish.
Anyone who does that in a labyrinth is headed for certain death.
What happens once can happen again.
I should stay on my toes at all times.
Now then, what sort of counter measure should I adopt?
The first counter measure would be to continuously level up.
Not only will that increase my extermination rate, but it’ll also boost my HP and physical prowess.
If I level to the point where a green caterpillar’s attacks are as effective as a mosquito’s bite, it won’t be a problem even if I’m ganged up on.
However it is troubling to think of the amount of leveling needed to achieve this.
Also, I have no method of judging as to what level can safely take attacks from multiple opponents.
There’s a time limit on Roxanne’s purchase too. I can’t exactly be going around carefreely grinding. I have to quickly reach the bottom floors and raise that money.
Another counter measure would be to learn an attack that affects multiple opponents.
If group lynching is my concern, might as well collectively attack the whole group.
Neither Overwhelming nor Rush are AOE skills (TLN AOE=Area of Effect).
I also tried out the swordsman class’s slash skill but it was pretty much the same as the rush skill. More like, slash might just be the swordsman variant of rush.
The real issue is that attacking multiple opponents with a sword is incredibly difficult.
It’s pretty much impossible without a cloning skill.
If swords are no good, then there’s magic.
With magic, AOE attacks are possible.
I heard from the town’s merchants that to become a sorcerer, you have to drink a special potion before turning five.
Probably an item of some sort.
Meaning I, who have long since passed the age of 5, am unable to become a sorcerer?
So far as the possibility is concerned, I’ll just have to try using it.
When I stole, I got the thief job. When I worked the fields, I gained the farming job and upon entering the labyrinth, I gained the explorer job. I got the Herbalist job by picking herbs.
That being the case, if I cast magic even once, I should be able to get the sorcerer job.
Although, it seems it can’t be acquired through movement or space magic.
It’s quite obvious if you think about it. If you could become a sorcerer just by casting dungeon walk, then all the explorers would become sorcerers by default.
Rather than space or movement magic, the sorcerer job is only obtainable on casting offensive magic.
Since sorcerer’s are offensive mages.
I became a trader by selling, a soldier by fighting, a swordsman by wielding a blade.
Thus I only gained them after satisfying the conditions for them.
Going with that logic, I need to use offensive magic to become a sorcerer.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
If you’re a sorcerer you can use offensive magic but to become a sorcerer, you have to use offensive magic (TLN This guy’s retarded.)
I might need a special item to achieve this.
But I happen to have bonus spells.
They should be usable even if I can’t use typical magic.
As demonstrated by my use of warp magic.
If I use the offensive bonus skills, I should be able to acquire the sorcerer job.
Looks like it’s finally time to use the offensive spells which were unusable when I was a Lv.1 Hero.