Concrete_Jungle Dungeon Day 1

"There's a Mud_Golem 10 meters ahead of us. Stay quiet everyone."

"Mhm!..."

...CLICK!...SHUTTER!...CLICK!...SHUTTER!...

"Umm... What exactly are you doing, Mifumi-sama?"

"Shush... I'm taking a picture of the Mud_Golem for my collection, Vier-chan. I want one where it's not looking at us to make the picture more natural so don't let it notice us, okay."

"Vier, Mifumi-sama, the Golem is looking at us."

...BAMMM!...

"What was that?"

"The Golem throw something at us, Vier."

"Let's get out of here before the Mud_Golem's attack can reach us!"

"But I'm not done taking its picture yet! I want one when it's about to throw some soil at us!"

"Don't be crazy, Mifumi-sama! Felin, grab Mifumi-sama, and let's get out of this place!"

"Mhm!..."

"Wait, stop dragging me, Felin-chan!..."

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After the Vise Guild Master's instructions, the Guild's staff handed the specified map along with the provisions of food and drinks to every group of Adventurers' Party. They also take their time to appraise all of our Storage_Items to inspect if anyone is hiding any personal supplies of food and drinks.

Once the preliminary preparation and inspection were done, every Adventurers' Party moved on their own to find their starting location outside the Adventurers Outpost Town.

A few hours after entering the outermost layer which is the forest area, we're now back at the current situation where the three of us finally made our escape from a Rank_2 Mud_Golem monster.

"Why do you keep taking pictures of every monster we encounter, Mifumi-sama!"

I asked that question with a little bit of annoyance.

"I told you, Vier-chan. Those monsters' pictures are for my collection!"

Mifumi-sama answers casually as if taking pictures of monsters is the first thing to do once you encounter them.

"Why are you taking pictures of monsters, Mifumi-sama?"

"Well, some monsters are sometimes unusual compared to how normally they are. So I wanted to keep some information by taking their pictures and comparing them to each other."

Felin asked the same question that I asked earlier but how come Mifumi-sama has a different answer for Felin?

Anyway, on the matter of unusual monsters, all of the Mud_Golems we encountered so far have different looks. It's not their bulky 2-meter-tall humanoid body I'm talking about but the different kinds of flowers, grasses, and even some vegetables growing on the body of Mud_Golem.

Since Mud_Golem's body is mostly made of soil, plants will eventually grow on them.

Seeing those plants growing on Mud_Golem's body, makes me have second thoughts on slaying them. I guess I can't completely question Mifumi-sama for taking pictures of those Mud_Golems...

"Are you finally starting to understand what I'm doing, Vier-chan?"

Ugh!... My thoughts are being read again.

"Please stop doing that, Mifumi-sama. It's getting creepy as to how you can read my thoughts."

"Then let me continue taking pictures of Golems, Vier-chan."

"Definitely not! We'll be in danger soon if you keep doing that. Right, Felin?"

Mifumi-sama should listen if Felin also scolded her. However, Felin's mind is somehow on a different matter.

"I want those vegetables! Can we take them from those Golem, Vier, and Mifumi-sama?"

"Of course not, Felin..."

"Vier-chan is right. It will be called stealing if we do something like that, Felin-chan."

"I'm not saying we can't because it would be stealing. Besides, can you even consider looting the monsters after you defeated them as stealing? What I'm talking about is we don't have to unnecessarily fight those Mud_Golems."

Fighting monsters are not part of the exam unless they keep on chasing us. That's why everything our group has done so far is to run away from the Mud_Golems that we encountered.

We would rather spend our time and energy finding those Exam coins that are not marked on the map as to where they are.

"What the heck!... Do the Guild's staff want us to find a needle in a haystack?!"

I started throwing a tantrum as I slammed my feet on the ground.

"Don't act like that, Vier-chan. I'm sure some clues are lying in our route for finding those Exam coins."

"It's a good thing to be positive, Mifumi-sama. But it's not like we can easily find an Exam coin hanging on a branch of a tree along our route!"

"I guess you're right, Vier-chan. Let's just stay attentive to our surroundings for now."

"Well, we don't really have any choice, Mifumi-sama."

"Vier, Mifumi-sama, something is shining above that tree."

""What?!...""

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I'm not exactly complaining but the Guild's staff should have hidden those Exam coins with a little bit of effort. We're not just gonna find those other Exam coins lying on the ground or hanging from a tree branch, right?

Setting aside my unneeded complaints, Felin climbed that tree where she spotted the shiny object and found a coin the same as the one shown to us by the immature old man Vise Guild Master.

"""Yeah!... We finally got one!"""

That's one down, and two more to go.

If we keep looking, we'll definitely find those Exam coins.

I guess we just have to trust our instinct in spotting any shiny objects.

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I wonder if we have set what Onee-chan calls a flag? Or did we jinx ourselves perhaps?

Because until the end of our first day inside the Concrete_Jungle Dungeon, we were unable to find any other Exam coins.

"Do you think the Guild's staffs covered the other Exam coins with dirt to hide how shiny those coins are?... Wait!... What if the first coin is something like a trap?... They deceived us while manipulating our minds into thinking that the other coins are shiny as well... Arghhh!..."

"You're acting paranoid, Vier-chan. Maybe there's only one Exam coin in the forest area. We still have a long way to go before reaching the Dungeon_Core so stop thinking unnecessary things."

"Mhm!... Even if they're covered in dirt, I will find those coins, Vier!"

"Thanks, Mifumi-sama, Felin. I guess my anxiety is getting ahead of me."

Right now, our group is preparing to camp inside the forest area of the Dungeon. We spent the whole day walking through the route drawn on our map and running away from Mud_Golems and some occasional Wood_Golems.

And after the inside of the forest went dark as the sun started to set, we finally decided to stop and make camp above a tree.

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It's time for the Dwarf_Cat-Eared_Elf camping tips!... Yeah!!!

Our topic for tonight is how to make a camp within the forest inside of a Dungeon.

If you're thinking that you only need to make a campfire and take turns watching at night then you're definitely wrong! The light from the campfire will definitely attract the attention of monsters. Your group will have to constantly fight during the night.

The first thing you need to do is to make a platform using chopped tree branches combined with your ropes at the top of a tree.

The second is to make your campfire on the ground a little bit further from the tree where you set your platform.

With those two steps, your group can safely sleep at night even if the campfire attracts some monsters. Your watcher can easily observe those monsters while everyone in your group can stay safe at the cover of shadow from the top of a tree.

So you better start making that platform while there's still some sunlight inside the forest.

"Who are you talking to, Vier?"

"Ugh!..."

"Don't mind her, Felin-chan. Vier-chan is just doing her usual monologuing. Besides, we are not going to build a platform from the start since there's already an old one made by other adventurers."

"I know, Mifumi-sama, Felin. It is a good thing that they made those without disassembling them after. Thanks, unknown senpai adventurers."