The Labyrinth Part 2
Part 10
Okay, alright, time for some quick math to figure this bullshit out. I sold 21
Needlewood branches to this fine lady here, and got 273 Nar in return. That
would mean that a single branch went for as little as 13 Nar! And that's the
price after it was already boosted with the 30% price boost, so normally one
branch was only worth 10 Nar!
That price is so laughable that it makes me want to cry bloody tears!
I thought that I was in the Labyrinth for only an hour, but given how tilted the
sun's position in the sky was when I got out, it might have actually been two
hours. Now, for the sake of my big brain calculations let's assume that it
takes an hour to kill ten enemies, two hours to kill twenty enemies and so on,
all the way up to one hundred enemies in ten hours, and that a single enemy
defeated was worth 10 Nar. That would result in a profit of 1000 Nar in ten
hours.
With that, my initial goal of earning two gold coins per day would remain
nothing but a distant dream. And even if I somehow managed to double that
amount, it would still be a far cry from the 20 000 a day that would allow me
to get enough funds to buy Roxanne without any issues. With that said, the
obvious solutions would be to either spend more time in the Labyrinth's
upper floors each day, or to venture deeper inside in hopes of getting my
hands on something that would allow me to get more money. Yeah, those are
the only viable options I can think of at the current moment.
「By the way, can you tell me the exact requirements for joining the
Adventurer's Guild?」
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「Of course. Truth to be told, becoming an Adventurer is relatively simple.
All you have to do is to have an Explorer Job and have it at lv.50. If you are
interested in joining, then do you want me to show you to the person who's in
charge of the whole procedure?」
「Thank you, but that won't be necessary for now.」
After respectfully declining, I collected my backpack and headed out of the
Adventurer's Guild.
So basically what I learned from my short visit there is that Adventurer is an
Explorer's senior Job and in order to acquire it, you have to make so many
explorations to advance the Job to a ridiculous level, but the lady in the guild
failed to mention if actually joining the guild was one of the requirements as
well. Maybe it won't be necessary, or maybe it will. If at all possible, I would
like to not join it carelessly, seeing as joining a guild apparently forces you to
buy, sell and in general do business with that guild only, which can prove to
be bothersome in the long run.
The slave merchant told me that the Explorer's Guild and the Adventurer's
Guild do not like each other very much, and now I can say that I totally see
why it is like that. In order to become an Adventurer you had to be an
Explorer first, so it wouldn't be an understatement to say that joining the
Explorer's Guild was nothing more but a stepping stone on one's way to
become an Adventurer. Thinking about it, that is more than a little messed up
and unfair, but it looks like that is how things are rolling here, so unless
people won't change their way of viewing the Explorer's Guild, I guess
nothing will really change in the way they are treated.
For the time being, I decided to use the money I got from today's expedition
to buy myself some basic clothing, like socks, pants, an alternate set of shirts
and pants, and a cloak.
The pants that I bought are the so-called pumpkin pants, the kind where the
waist and both legs are tied together with a string. Along with the rest of the
clothes that I bought, they are all used instead of brand-new, because that was
a cheaper option. I'm glad that something as convenient as second-hand
shops is also present in this world. This is going to make my life that much
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easier, at least when it comes to buying clothes.
When it comes to the cloak, I settled for a dark one with a face-covering
hood. Edgy, I know, but what can you do? It looked really cool so I just
bought it without a second thought. Both mornings and evenings here tend to
be a little bit on a cold side, so wearing a coat to mitigate that wasn't
anything unusual. Quite a lot of people seem to be wearing them, in fact.
Also, with that cloak, I will be able to wear my Bandit Bandana without
anyone seeing it and raising suspicion as a result. In other words, a perfectly
legit camouflage.
With nothing else to do, I returned to the inn, and sure enough, the Innkeeper
was behind the counter, just like when I left the inn to go to the Labyrinth.
「Yo, welcome back, kid!」
Yup, the atmosphere of this place was totally off-putting, but I guess there
was no point in complaining if I wanted to keep my place to sleep for now.
「Can I get my key?」
「Sure you can. Here.」
And he handed me the key to my room.
I quickly got up to the third floor, left my baggage in the room and got back
down to the reception.
「You serving dinner yet?」
「Yes, you're right on time. Go grab yourself a menu at the entrance to the
dining area.」
「Also, when I'll finish eating, I'd like to ask you for some hot wa…」
「That will be 20 Nar, thank you very much.」
「............….」
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I swear to God, this guy… but wait a minute. 20 Nar? What about my 30%
discount?! Why does it not apply here?! Well, it's certainly a bummer that it
does not seem to be effective since I'd like to cut my spendings as much as
possible, but that much I can deal with. I took 20 Nar from my pocket and
left it on the counter.
When I entered the dining area, the first thing I saw was a table with four sets
of dishes on it and a nice, friendly looking young woman next to it.
「Welcome, please, feel free to choose you diner for today from the following
dishes.」
Is this lady in charge of the dining area (or maybe I should start calling it
cafeteria for short)? The aura around her was totally different than that of the
Innkeeper when she opened her arms and invited me further. Taking a quick
glance at her with Identify, she was a 28 years old Female Innworker.
Even though this was supposedly the menu, it was different from the ones
that I am used to. Looks like this one here is actually a system that allows you
to select a real deal right from the get-go instead of picking a dish from the
list and waiting for it to be prepared. If I were a betting man then I'd bet my
money on the fact that this was a countermeasure against those customers
who couldn't read at all. With such a system in place, even those who are
illiterate can pick a dish without any complications, allowing for a continuous
stream of customers. I have to admit, whoever thought about such a solution,
that was a really smart move. Then again, there was something written on a
piece of paper that was placed on the table I was guided towards. It must be a
reservation that was prepared for me before I arrived, because it was a
number, the same one that was engraved on the plaque that was attached to
the key to my room.
Now let's see here… hmm, out of all the dishes, the rightmost one struck me
as the most delicious-looking.
「I'll be taking this one.」
「Understood. And what would you like to drink?」
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「What choices do I have?」
「We serve beer, wine and herbal tea. You can also order Slime Liquor, but
you'll have to pay extra for that one.」
「Then I'll be having herbal tea.」
「As you wish. Now, please sit down and wait a minute while I go get your
order.」
I had a little taste of the alcohol some years back, but I don't know how much
of it I could tolerate without getting drunk off my ass, so it'd be better not to
touch any of it for now. I have too much money on me to lose it all carelessly
if I were to go on a drunken rampage.
When I took my seat at the table, my food was delivered to me literally
minutes after. It was a stew with boiled meat and vegetables. The amount
is… well shiver me timbers, but there is a crapload of it! Is it because they
only serve two meals a day here? Because if that is the case, then I have
absolutely nothing against such a policy. The more on my plate for me to eat,
the better!
Well, without further ado, time to dig in!
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Part 11
「.............!!!」
Oh… my… LORD ALMIGHTY!!!!!
The bread was soft and tender, and both the stew and the vegetables and meat
(probably beef) were equally taste buds-blowing, and seasoned just right with
spices, out of which pepper was the one with the strongest taste. It might be
just my personal opinion, but you could definitely make a fortune with this
dish if you started selling it in Japan. Sure, it is a bit pricey, but something
like that could definitely be sold as a high level gourmet dish back in my old
world!
I took my sweet time to enjoy this meal and then went back to my room. The
rays of the setting sun coming in through the wooden window painted it with
a slight shade of red. After literally a few minutes since I got here, I heard
someone knocking at the door.
「Please come in!」
「Excuse me. I brought the hot water you requested.」
A man whom I have never seen before came into my room, carrying a tub
filled with hot water with him. He placed it in the middle of the room and
then put a towel next to it, immediately leaving the moment he finished doing
his work. I thought about giving him a small tip for all the trouble he had to
go through to bring it all the way to the third floor, but it looks like there was
no need for me to do that.
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I took off my clothes and wiped my body with the towel dipped in hot water.
It was understandable that the Village Chief's house did not have any bathing
facilities, but if an inn like that does not have them as well, then I guess
bathing might not be all that popular in this world? Maybe it's just a luxury
that only the filthy rich people can afford? This tub of water here cost me 20
Nar, so it was definitely not on the cheap side. But if I just neglected my
personal hygiene and just kept on getting all dirty and sweaty without a care
in the world then I'd be no different from an animal.
After getting myself clean, it was time to wash the clothes I was wearing as
well. Unfortunately I do not have any soap on me, so all I could really do was
to douse them in hot water and hang them out to dry. Besides, I don't even
know if one of the shops in town is even selling soap, or does it even exist in
this world in the first place. Before I always took things like soap or cleaning
detergent for granted, but now that I won't have access to them anymore, I
guess it will require some intense getting used to. The same goes for
toothbrush and toothpaste. I think this world is still not technologically
advanced enough to have those available. Also, when it comes to buying
food, I could really, and I mean really use some convenience store right now.
I'm afraid that if I want to continue eating quality meals like the one I've
eaten today then that's going to get pretty darn expensive in the long run.
Since it will take some time for my clothes to dry I put on the pumpkin pants
and one of the spare shirts I bought today. The pants didn't have any kind of
string or a rubber in them so I couldn't adjust them, but that was only a slight
inconvenience. Now that I finally had some time for myself I could feel the
fatigue of the entire day catching up to me, so I just laid down on the bed and
drifted off to sleep in a matter of minutes.
I must have gotten at least a few good hours of rest, but when I have woken
up, it was still dark outside, so I just laid still on the hard hay-mattress,
surrounded on all sides by pitch-black darkness. I think I was dreaming.
About Roxanne. I couldn't recall what I was dreaming about exactly, but
judging by the fact that my pants were still as clean as they were a few hours
ago, at the very least I could be sure that it wasn't "that" kinda dream. It's
funny though. It's been a few days since I arrived in this world, and I have
never once dreamt of Japan. Not even a single dream to remind me of my
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home world and the life I've led there (as shitty as it was). Maybe that's
because instead of longing for something that I will probably never see again,
my brain has already switched its gears into thinking about the things that are
within my reach, just waiting for me to grasp them firmly with my hands?
Heh, who would have guessed that there will come a time when someone like
me, who was considered to be a failure and a sore loser by anyone around
him will have a real chance at snagging a real 11/10 beauty for myself
(putting aside the fact that she is going to become my slave)? When
compared to the girls in my old world, she is a million times better, there's no
doubt in my mind about that! Not to mention that she is nothing like all those
cutting board-like bitches that would report you to the police for sexual
harassment the moment you'd dare to point that fact out to them! I can still
see it so clearly, that image that has burned itself in my mind. Oh how her
lovely melons jiggled up and down when she handed me that tea cup!!! Oh
man, and now my horny mind is going on a rampage again, even though I
have yet to obtain her as my own!
Initially I was afraid that I will always be alone in this new and strange world,
but if I get her to be my companion, I'm sure she'll be able to teach me
everything that I'll need to know not to stand out like a sore thumb. That is
my current objective, and I absolutely cannot allow myself to fail at it. If
there is anyone whom I could rely on, I'm sure it would be her.
After that I must have dozed off for some more, because when I opened my
eyes again, the room wasn't as dark as it was the last time. I exhaled heavily.
Even though I went to bed relatively early last night (maybe it was around
7:00 pm, I can't really tell because there are no watches or clocks here), my
limbs still felt kinda sore and I was still tired. That is probably because in
order to get to Veil I have woken up pretty dang early and left the Village
Chief's house and the village before sunrise, and then had a day full of
surprising and taxing activities, both mentally and physically.
This world has one major drawback: the lack of electricity and technology
makes it so that there is pretty much nothing to do after dark, aside form the
adult entertainment such as brothels, drinking and gambling. No gaming
console, no TV, no PC, no internet, no manga, no books, no nothing! If all I
can do is to just lay in here and bore myself to death, then maybe I should go
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out and collect more information from the bar or something like that? Yeah,
that would be a pretty swell idea, if not for the fact that it probably wouldn't
go very well for me. As a kid who was constantly bullied, my communication
skills were at the level where I normally wouldn't be able to hold a normal
conversation with others out of fear that they also might start picking on me.
What about the last two days you ask? Ah right, I guess I was able to
somehow get by just fine, but I think that is entirely because I'm still treating
most of the people here as nothing but game NPC's despite my best efforts to
convince myself to switch that mentality into treating them like the proper
human beings. You know how it is, right? In games, normal NPC's won't
ever attack or turn on you, the player, unless they are scripted to do so or you
provoke them yourself. As long as you don't do that, they will continue to
behave in a neutral manner and spew exposition and quest info your way all
day long without batting an eye. At least that's how I thought it would be
here, but if any of those people outside are just as unpredictable as real
people now, there's no telling when some of them might get offended or
triggered by something I say and pull a knife on me. And that brings me to
my second concern. The money I have on me right now. With the amount I
have on me right now, wandering around without any legitimate reason might
not be a good idea.
One gold coin will allow me to stay at an inn for around a month, so 33 of
them would allow me to have a place to stay for three years. Even back in
Japan, no one would be parading around with that much money on them,
much less go get themselves piss-drunk at a bar, so I'm not going to do that
either. I'm going to be a better man and rise above!
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Part 12
Thirdly, I have no clue as to how much alcohol I could drink without getting
shitfaced. I know that I am still technically a minor so I absolutely shouldn't
drink even a drop of it… but that was before I was transported here. As far as
I know, this world does not have any limits on how old you should be before
you're allowed to drink, so one of these days I might as well give it a go to
see why everybody is so gung-ho about it. Besides, getting information at the
bars is always much easier when the other party you want to extract
information from gets drunk sooner than you, so learning my limits will be to
my benefit. I just have to wait with it until I won't have so much money on
me. And there's no telling how much of a blabbermouth I might become
when the good stuff starts getting into my head. Just imagine, a young lad
screaming some drunken nonsense about Earth, Japan and all the things the
denizens of this world haven't even heard off while swinging his beer mug
around with a beet-red face. Yeah, I'm sure that a spectacle like that would
guarantee me a nice round of questioning at the guardhouse at the very least.
On the other hand, all those alcohol-related musings of mine are based on the
assumption that I am the same as I was back in Japan, while that might not be
the case at all! Who knows, maybe after I was brought here my physicality
and metabolism have been altered to adapt to my new reality, so maybe I
could actually drink a small waterfall without its side effects kicking in? Or
maybe the alcohol in here is pretty weak in comparison to the one served on
earth? Be that as it may, as long as I don't have any way to turn all those
question marks into solid evidence, the wisest course of action would be to
avoid any and all alcohol altogether.
Fourthly, all I need for now is the information on how I can make money
quickly and effortlessly. Every other information, such as what is considered
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common sense in this world and the general laws that govern it I can ask
Roxanne about once I will finally make her mine.
If I went to a random bar right now, I wonder if I'd have been able to hear
some nice, juicy stories? If not, I could just sit around and try listening to the
conversations of others. That way, maybe I could pick a thing or two in the
art of weaving ridiculous stories and honey traps meant to trick others? Then
again, that would probably require me to have one hell of a silver tongue and
a deep understanding of how this world works. Without those two, someone
like me, an outsider without an ounce of common sense on him would just
make a perfect sitting duck of myself.
Ehh, in the end, information gathering looks like it's going to be more
butthurting trouble than it's worth. Maybe I should just quietly go back to
sleep again?
It was just a precaution, but last night I slept with a Scimitar under my pillow
in case someone tried to break in and rob me of my belongings. Maybe it's
just me being overly paranoid again, but I also have to admit that doing so
made me feel like one of those samurais from old historical dramas who even
took their katanas to bed with them because they needed to be combat-ready
at all times.
Now that I was completely awake, there was no way I'd be able to fall asleep
again, so I might as well get up, even if the outside is still pitch black.
Unfortunately for me, the rooms in this inn didn't come equipped with their
own toilets, so in order to use one, I had no choice but to go out of my room.
After finishing my business there, I decided to go down to the lobby. The
corridors and the stairs were all lit with candles placed at regular intervals,
making the inside of the inn lit just enough to avoid tripping over your own
feet.
「You headin' off to the Labyrinth?」
When I got down to the inn's ground floor, I heard a voice talking to me from
behind.
「Uwah!」
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That scared the living hell out of me! I legitimately thought I was going to
have a heart attack there for a second! Taking a look behind me, the one to
call out to me so suddenly was the Lv. 28 Innkeeper.
「If you do want to head out there now, just mark my words and be careful, ya
hear me?」
「So I'm not breaking any rules by going to the Labyrinth at night?」
「Of course not. Truth to be told, many Adventurers choose to go to the
Labyrinths during the night hours. That might not be the case here yet since
the Labyrinth has been discovered only recently, but normally that's what
you'd do if you want to avoid stumbling upon too much traffic during the
day.」
I see. That certainly makes a lot of sense. Inside the Labyrinth, the concept of
night and day does not apply. Many people were going into them at night,
taking advantage of the fact that the inns for Adventurers were open
practically 24/7.
「Isn't it hard on you? Having to be at the front counter here at all times I
mean?」
「Not really. You see, I am one of the Emaro. I guess you can say that we are
kinda special, because we don't require as much sleep as normal humans to
maintain the proper functioning of our bodies. Explaining it to everyone who
asks about that is kind of a pain in the ass, so let's just say that I require very
little sleep a day and just leave it at that, alright, kid?」
「Sure, but that sounds pretty rough.」
That has to have something to do with how the brains of those Emaro fellows
function. I remember that some animals on earth are like that too. Dolphins,
for example. It is said that the left and right halves of their brains take turns
sleeping, because if both of them fell asleep at the same time, they would
straight-up drown.
「That's why I said that it'd be best to just leave it as it is. You get it?」
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「I'm not that bright of a person so I might not be able to grasp the finer
details, but I think I understood the gist of what you wanted to say.」
「You don't say? That's gotta be the first time a human has dropped the
subject when I asked them to.」
The Innkeeper seemed to be happy with me not being too pushy regarding his
race. Can't say that I blame him for being fed up with questions, but I don't
think that many people in this world would know that a brain has left and
right halves and how each of them works, so that goof cannot be assigned to
them entirely, but still… if someone does not want to delve too deeply into
any given subject, you shouldn't grill them about it against their will. Only
total douchebags do that.
On a side note, following my dolphin digression, I wonder if Emaro have
something to do with the creatures of the ocean, like mermaids, or should I
say merfolk?
*Glance~~~~*
Nope, he has a pair of two perfectly normal-looking legs.
「I'm glad to hear that.」
「And that is why I'm going to do you a solid and willingly talk about some
things, so be sure to listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once.
Emaro people hate settling and being tied down in one place for too long, and
that's why most of us will choose to become Innkeepers and work in the
establishments run properly by the Guilds. I guess you can call it our racespecific Job. Since we can always be ordered to transfer to another place if
need be, this is a perfect Job for us.」
「It would really seem so.」
Maybe his race really did evolve from some seabound species if the very
concept of settlement appears unattractive to them. Anyways, I left the key to
my room at the reception desk after I briefly went back upstairs to get my
backpack and prepared myself for another round of money-hunting in the
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Labyrinth. If I am to just sit around doing nothing, then I might use that time
to do something productive.
「Hey kid, maybe you should consider taking a lantern with you, huh?!」
「It's okay, I think I'll manage without one just fine!」
I left the Inn, shouting that to the Innkeeper. I mean really, what's a little
darkness going to do? I'll be fine.
Except I wasn't.
It was so dark that to say that I wasn't able to see shit was an understatement
of the century!
「Oh fuck me!」
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Part 13
It's really, really dark outside, to the point where I can't even see one meter
ahead of me. Why is it so dark in here? Is there no moon in this world at all,
or is it that it is being covered by the clouds or something? When I looked
toward the night sky, I saw the sea of stars way above my head. It was
shining brightly, but their light was not enough to light up the path ahead of
me. For someone like me who grew up in Tokyo all his life, the darkness of
this night was a real shocker.
Maybe I should go back and borrow the damn lantern after all? But
something tells me that even if I had a light with me, going to the Labyrinth
while being surrounded by all that darkness would still be scary. I mean…
what if a ghost shows up and suddenly jumps at me from behind? Normally I
don't believe in the existence of ghosts and other supernatural beings, but if
this is a world where magic exists, then it really wouldn't be strange for it to
also have ghosts.
Oh jeez, what should I do?
I cannot get to the Labyrinth's entrance straight away since that is a Skill of
an Adventurer, and I've yet to acquire that Job for myself (and I don't think
I'm going to get it anytime soon). However, I do remember that one of the
Bonus Skills available for me was the Warp spell. The specifics are not clear
to me, but just by the name itself I could tell that it was a spell belonging to
the Movement Magic category.
The real question here is: will I even be able to cast the damn thing? Because
I had my doubts, bearing in mind my experiences with how quickly
Overwhelm has sucked me dry of my MP. Then again, Warp was not an
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offensive type of magic, but Movement Magic just like Dungeon Walker, so
it shouldn't use as much MP as Overwhelm, or, let's say Meteor Crash (the
name sound cool as heck, but I'm not going to bother with picking it now,
since I probably would not be able to cast it even once with my current stats).
Plus, the levels of all my Jobs are higher now and I had a good long rest, so
maybe that will also be a factor in the successful usage of magic, just like in
Dungeons & Dragons?
Alright, you know the drill, Michio. Character Reset time!
Getting all of my Bonus Points back I used them to remove the shopping
discount and got Durandal back. Then I also removed any Skills that won't
be of any use to me during the Labyrinth exploration and used the Points that
I got from doing so on the Bonus Spell option until I got the Warp spell. I
turned towards the side of the inn and prepared myself to cast it, praying for
it to work in the corner of my mind. Next, I summoned an image of the
Labyrinth's entrance room. Then, with my eyes still closed, I reached out
with my hand, but instead of stopping where the wall should be, it went right
through it.
I did it! Holy cow, I did it! Success! I have succeeded!!!
Successfully casting that spell made me immensely happy, but at the same
time I could feel a slight prick of sadness in the depths of my heart. I wonder
why that is. Successes, no matter how small of insignificant, should always
be a reason to rejoice, not feel down in the dumps. Be that as it may, all I
could do now was to step forward, wondering if everything will be exactly
the same as during my maiden raid, or will some things will change and the
Labyrinth will try to throw a curveball at me?
Just like before, the chamber I have ended up in was the very first one with
three corridors stretching in different directions. Yup, that's the entrance
alright. Good thing that I managed to get here first try without any
unfortunate accidents happening.
Even in the middle of the night, the room was still sufficiently lit. If I ended
up in the middle of total darkness I think I'd cry then and there. Same if I was
sent anywhere else than my intended destination and was forced to use Warp
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again. And speaking of Warp, let's have a look-see at the amount of MP it
consumed…. *sigh* almost as much as Overwhelm. I guess I should have
expected an outcome like that. It's a Bonus Spell for a reason. So what I'm
getting from this is that the general principle with Bonus Spells is that they
consume a fuckton of MP, but their effects are that much more powerful in
return? Great, that's fucking awesome! This second visit to the Labyrinth is
going great so far! Not even two minutes in and I'm already down to ¼ of my
total MP! And if that wasn't clear by my current manner of goddamn speech,
the negative effects of MP consumption are already kicking the fuck in! I feel
depressed, dejected and overwhelmed (no pun intended) by an intense desire
to strangle everything in my immediate vicinity!
But ok, whatever, it's fine! No, I mean really, it's all good. So what if I made
an oopsie at the very beginning? It just means that I have to use Durandal's
MP Absorption effect to recover all of the MP lost for that Warp spell. See,
simple as that. Now I only have to thwart that crippling feeling of not
wanting to be here and the urge to go back to my room at the inn to sleep and
go forward to continue the process of money farming! Yay! Fun times ahead!
I entered the Labyrinth's corridors once again with such a mindset.
Just like the last time, Needlewood was the first enemy to appear before me.
Pushing back any thoughts of running away I unsheathed Durandal and
assumed my combat stance.
「Well then, here goes nothing…LEROOOOOOOY!!!!!
JEEEEEEENKINS!!!!!!!!」
I was worried that the monsters roaming the Labyrinth's halls today might be
stronger than the ones I have encountered yesterday, but thankfully the
encounter was still decided with a single slash of my trusted Holy Sword.
Needlewood disappeared in a cloud of green smoke, leaving some of its
branches behind.
「Ahh, that hit the spot!」
Getting some of my MP back from the defeated Needlewood, I finally felt
better. I exhaled heavily in relief. That demerit of losing MP is really
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something else, man. A really nasty shit. And don't even get me started on
how slow the actual procedure of absorbing MP from defeated enemies is.
Even with something as OP as Durandal, I was only recovering a portion of it
at a time, so if I wanted to get it all back I'd have to fight more enemies,
which won't be hard, but extremely bothersome. If possible, I never want to
experience something like that again, but there's not much that I can actually
do about it except for holding back on using any Bonus Spells until I increase
my levels and get myself some more MP.
After regaining some of my composure, I resumed the hunt for the monsters.
In this Labyrinth, you had to walk around for a few minutes to encounter an
enemy. I don't know if it's a rule for all of them or maybe just this one in
particular, but what it means is that I won't be able to have as many
encounters as I originally wanted. Right now, if I'm able to battle 10 enemies
in an hour I'll call it being lucky. Assuming I've entered the Labyrinth
around 3:00 AM, I'd need at least 3 hours to get a decent amount of drops
from defeated enemies. Maybe I'll be able to hunt down 20, but there's
absolutely no way for me to get 30 of them.
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Part 14
So after hunting down twenty enemies and obtaining twenty Needlewood
Branches I decided to leave the Labyrinth. I was not in the mood nor
condition to use Warp again, so I just went back to the entrance room and
used Dungeon Walker. When I got outside, the sun was just about to rise, so I
daresay that my timing couldn't have been more perfect.
I got back to the inn just in time to eat breakfast. Today's menu consisted of
two items.
「Good morning sir. Shall I take you to your table? Have you already decided
what you are going to eat?」
「I haven't made the decision yet, but I'll probably settle for that one.」
I said pointing towards the plate that had more food on it than the other one.
「Understood. Your meal will be delivered to you shortly, so a moment of
your patience, please.」
I was then guided to the same table where I was eating dinner yesterday. It
would seem that every room has its assigned table, which was nice. At least
it's going to spare me the trouble of looking for it myself every day.
Even if it was called breakfast, I was astounded to see how much food it
actually included. I guess since this world has only two meals, breakfast in
the morning and dinner in the evening then both of them need to be filling so
that people wouldn't get hungry in the middle of the day after eating too
little. Or maybe that is only the case for meals served at the inns?
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After eating breakfast I went back to my room and laid down on the bed for a
bit. I guess now would be a good time to sort through my Jobs again. My
current lineup is as follows: Villager Lv.5, Hero Lv.2, Explorer Lv.3, Thief
Lv.3, Warrior Lv.1, Merchant Lv.1, Swordsman Lv.1.
The number of my Jobs is steadily increasing. I knew that some of the levels
have increased before, since the total amount of my Bonus Points was higher
than it was the last time I performed the Character Reset to get Durandal, but
I wasn't aware of the fact that I got myself some more actual Jobs. I guess
Warrior and Swordsman were obtained as a result of defeating monsters, and
I must have gotten Merchant due to all the items I sold. So going by that logic
as long as you continue to do things associated with a given Job, you should
obtain it sooner or later. Also, me getting Villager up to Lv.5 might have also
been a factor here. Right now I was considering setting Explorer as my first
Job, but I wonder if that will really be the smartest thing to do here? Even if I
set the third Job, keep the shortening of the Skills cast time and Character
Reset, I should still have around 100 Points to use. Things like warp and Job
Settings can be applied whenever that will be necessary. However! If there
are Jobs that can only be acquired by reaching Villager Lv.5, then there might
be Jobs that I will only be able to get when Villager will reach Lv.10, right?
And what about Lv.20, 30, 40 and so on, all the way to Lv.99? If that would
be the case, then I still have a long way to go ahead of me, huh?
With all that being said, I decided to switch the first Job to Explorer after all.
Hero will remain a second Job. As for the Third Job… maybe I'll set Warrior
to it? But first, what are the specifics of that Job anyway?
Warrior Lv.1
Effect: Small increase in STR, Small increase of Skill damage
Skill: Rush
I can already tell that the effects of that Job are much better than that of
Villager or Thief. And it even comes with a Skill! Swordsmen and Merchant
were more or less the same, but if my memory serves me correctly th Slave
Merchant said that by increasing the level of the Swordsmen Job I could
eventually become a Bounty Hunter.
Skill-wise, Item Box and Dungeon Walker are essential to the maximum
251 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
effectiveness of my money farming. Hero Job only has Overwhelm as a Skill,
but it gives nice boosts to my stats so I would have to be a total idiot to
remove it of my own free will. Currently I can only have three Jobs equipped
at the same time, so ditching the Villager, a Job that has meh passive effects
and no Active skills to speak of as well, seems like the best course of action. I
finished adjusting my Jobs and took out the item Box. Since my Explorer Job
is now at Lv.3, then the number of available slots should have increased
accordingly. I tried jamming the backpack in there, but it didn't want to go in
no matter how hard I pressed down on it. I thought that maybe its size was
the problem here, so I tried putting the coin purse there instead, but it was
also to no avail. Maybe they cannot be placed inside because the system does
not recognize them as proper items? Next I tried with branches, and they
went in without a hitch, all nine of them. Then how about… coins?
I was able to store three gold coins inside of the Item Box. Just to be doubly
sure I used Identify on them and sure enough, it showed that the gold coins in
my possession were indeed the genuine gold coins. Great, so that does make
it clear that those coins are recognized as items and eliminates the possibility
of people trying to scam me with fake money. It was the same for the silver
coins as well. But there was one restriction, albeit a small one: gold coins
cannot be mixed with silver ones. One slot in the Item Box can hold either
three gold coins or three silver coins. With the Explorer set as the first Job, it
looks that the schematic is 3 items into one item slot. Oh, and the copper
coins were a no-go as well. I don't know why they are not treated as items
when silver and gold ones are.
Next came the inspection of skills. Judging by the names, the Skill of
Warrior's Job, Rush and the Skill of Swordsmen's Job, Slash are probably
Skills meant for attacking. I wanted to use Rush to test it out, but I wasn't
able to do that since it wanted me to specify a target to use it against. But if I
have Durandal which can pretty much one-shot every opponent so far, then
do I really need those Skills? What about Merchant? It had the Skill called
Calculation. I added the Merchant as a third Job and tried to use it by
thinking about it, but nothing happened. Like, at all, just like when I didn't
even know how to use Skills at all.
Maybe I should try to actually calculate something? Hmm. Let's see…
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maybe 224 x 365? When I thought about that equation, the number 81 760
immediately came into my mind. Is that the answer? So Calculation has to be
a passive Skill then. Okay, so how about something more complicated, just
for the hell of it? If I were to earn 224 Nar every day for an entire year (365
days, assuming that the year has the same length here as it did in my old
world) and kept it going for around 60 years that would give me… 4,905,600
gold coins total, so around 500 gold coins. With 500 gold coins, I could live
in this inn literally until the day I died. Is that really right? It has to be. If I
were to calculate this on my own I would surely make a mistake somewhere,
but I was doing it with the Skill's aid, so it has to be accurate. 100 x 100 = 1
000 000, and 1 000 000 x 1 000 000 = 1 000 000 000 000….
Okay, that's enough quick mathing for today. My poor brain can only take so
much until it will be fried from too much thinking.