Chapter 46: Eh?
Rex thought that spending 24 hours in the dungeon continuously hunting would be easy. After all, he could easily do a 12-hour shift, and he had once stayed up for two days in a row back on Earth. But it turned out to be more difficult than he expected.
First, the boredom. Continuously fighting for hours on end could become dull, especially when each kill barely increased your stats, making progress feel like a crawl. And the most important factor was fatigue. Even if all the monsters in the Cave Labyrinth had become child's play to him, time still drained his mental strength, even if his body wasn't tired.
So, 17 hours in, he had to go up to the 13th floor, where there weren't any flying monsters, find himself a very tall stalagmite, sit on top, and enter reverie. No one would be stupid enough to sleep in the dungeon like this, but with reverie semi conscious state he could keep himself from falling down and react if a monster somehow got to him.
In three hours, he was fully rested as if he slept for 5 hours. An overpowered ability that he didn't even remember how he got it. 'Wasn't it when I came back from fighting my first infant dragon?' He had used Indomitable Will's parallel mind back then, but now he could just enter it whenever he wanted.
'Should I share this with other adventures?' It was a simple 'meditative state,' so anyone should be able to learn it with enough time and practice, but Rex quickly pushed that thought back. He wasn't nice enough to do that.
He quickly finished his 24-hour dungeon shift, never once leaving even to eat since he could just go down to the 18th Floor, Rivira—though more expensive—to eat. And looking at his stats, he couldn't help but grin.
Two days' progress in one day. Since he had been traveling through floors in a continuous hunt and never really took time to play around with his skills or magic, today's progress was fruitful—almost like those days back when he was at Level 1 and could spam infant dragons for hundreds of stats.
"Ah, good old times," he said, as if it had been years. 'How long have I been in this world?' A quick use of Scavenger revealed the answer.
Today would officially mark the 26th day in this world.
"Damn, time flies," he mumbled. "It's been almost a month since I've been in this world." Looking back, it felt like just yesterday that he had almost died against the Goliath, but it had actually been over a week since then.
'And it's been twenty-three days since I became Level 2.' It took him about two days to get his stats to 999, and twenty-one days had passed since he'd been grinding SSS stats. "Holy fuck, this is a drag…"
He only now realized how much harder it was to get SSS stats. 'Well, it would have been quicker if I didn't waste my time preparing for the Goliath event.'
Deciding not to waste his time thinking about that, Rex took his bag filled with drops and decided to leave, sell the drops, get some rest, and then return to the dungeon. Like always, climbing up from the 17th floor to the ground floor took almost an hour, and after quickly showering on the first floor of Babel, he made his way to the Guild to sell his things.
It was early, so not many people were around, and most of them were talking about the upcoming War Game between the Hestia and Apollo Familias. Rose was chatting with a pink-haired receptionist named Misha when Rex entered. As soon as she spotted him, she wrapped up her conversation with a polite nod and gestured subtly with her head before stepping out of her booth and heading toward the back.
'Imagine if I just went to another receptionist, ugh.' The thought alone gave him secondhand embarrassment. 'The aura she'd lose.'
He was almost tempted to do it, just to mess with her, but he followed her to the back where the appraisal rooms were. "Good morning, Rosalina," he greeted as she opened the door for him. "How's life?"
"Good," she replied simply, stepping aside to let him in. She had to move back to avoid the bag which caused her to ask, "You know you can sell all your drops in Babel instead of hauling everything here."
Rex shrugged. "You know, I 'could' sell them in Babel, but—"
"Let me guess. You wanted to see me," Rose finished dryly.
"You got that right," he admitted as he placed his bag down to empty it. "Plus the lines at Babel were insane."
He had legitimately considered selling his drops there, since walking around with such a full bag made him look goofy. But the line was packed with adventurers returning from their night shifts, so he didn't waste his time.
"So I wasn't your first choice?" she asked, raising a brow.
"Nope," Rex shook his head. "But don't worry, I'll never cheat on you with another receptionist in this guild. You're my one and only~."
She let out a small, stifled laugh—a rare sound from her. "You'd better remember that. I have eyes everywhere."
'I like this girl,' Rex thought, nodding to himself. It was like talking to one of the guys back at McDonald's. Sure, he'd never invite her out or speak to her outside work, but at least they were good 'work buddies.'
"It seems you and your party hunted a lot this time," she said, walking forward to stand behind him and eyeing the bag that wasn't even half empty despite the table being nearly full. "Was this all in a single day?"
"Yep," Rex replied, pulling out his halberd and other weapons to set them aside so he wouldn't accidentally cut himself. "We're gathering money to get ourselves new equipment before we head down to the Large Tree Labyrinth."
"Right, you're a Level 3," Rose mumbled as she put on gloves and began picking up the monster drops that had spilled onto the floor. "Though the questions you asked about Development Abilities and the Cave Labyrinth last time made me wonder if you were a rookie."
"Well, I got to Level 2 by slaughtering fellow adventurers, so I never went down there," he joked, laughing. Rose gave him a side-eye, which he didn't notice. "Good times."
"Right…" Rose nodded slowly. "Good times."
They continued their small talk as Rex emptied the bag, and when he was done, he clapped his hands. "And that's all," he said, gesturing to the table now overflowing with monster drops. "All yours."
The appraisal took almost thirty minutes, and Rex spent that time browsing the newsboard and mission board in the Guild. The total came out to 89,733 valis—almost 100k.
'I should try to hit one hundred thousand in my next full-day run,' he thought, tucking the pouch into his bag. 'But damn, ninety thousand in a day just from drops. Imagine how much I'd make if I didn't absorb the magic stones.'
He felt like he was missing out on a lot of money, since most adventurers' income came from magic stones, not drops. But this was the 'Scavenger Curse.' Less money for more power.
"Thanks for the help, Rose." He said as he wore his bag glancing around to see if anyone was nearby before leaning in to whisper. "Remember to lock your doors tonight."
"I will never forget that." She rolled her eyes, though there was a trace of amusement there. "And next time you come in with hundreds of drops, I might just send you to Misha."
"You'd betray me that easily?" He feigned a horrified gasp. "I thought I was your favorite."
"Don't push your luck." She deadpanned him.
"Alright," He smiled and turned, "Have a good day." She nodded as he left the guild.
Once he did, Misha sprinted out from behind her boot, rushing to Rose with a cheeky smile, "Have he caught your eyes?"
Rose glanced at her, "No."
"Don't lie to me~" Misha elbowed her slightly with a grin. "That's the best reply you've given to a guy that was obviously flirting."
"He wasn't flirting." Rose replied without a change in her stoic expression.
"Don't you see how close he leaned in to whisper?" Misha asked as she leaned in with Rose leaning back. "See? You didn't move away from him."
"You're imagining things." With that, she walked away. "Now get back to work, Misha."
"Hehe~" Misha laughed with a mischievous look.
After saying goodbye to Rose, Rex left the Guild and headed straight to a nearby inn to eat real food before renting a room to sleep, too lazy to go back home. Four hours later, he woke up, rinsed his mouth with water, ate, and then immediately returned to the dungeon.
Just like the day before, he went straight down to the 15th floor to start his hunt. He was 13 hours into his hunt when, while wandering through the 17th floor, he was stopped by a sight.
'Three wyverns'
There were three dead wyverns lying on the ground, not too far apart from each other—a very rare sight. Since their bodies hadn't turned to dust, the group that killed them hadn't taken their magic stones, and their aura remained, meaning it hadn't been long since they died.
'Well, more for me.' He placed his feet on them to absorb their stones.
[+0 Strength, +0 Endurance, +0.09 Dexterity, +0.01 Agility, +0 Magic]
[+0 Strength, +0 Endurance, +0.02 Dexterity, +0.03 Agility, +0 Magic]
[+0 Strength, +0 Endurance, +0.01 Dexterity, +0.04 Agility, +0 Magic]
A miserable fucking sight, but he couldn't be mad since there were people who would kill to get the kind of growth he was getting.
'I guess one of their team members was injured, so they hurried away without taking the magic stones.' However, upon closer inspection of the blood trail and footprints, he concluded that it was actually one person who had killed the three monsters. 'Interesting.'
Curious, he followed the trail, and it didn't take him long to find the one who had killed the three wyverns in the next room. But the large female Boaz was now dead. She was in the next room and hadn't made it far before it looked like she was attacked by a group of Ligerfangs, judging by the claw marks and bite marks on her body.
Scenes like this reminded him how unforgiving the dungeon was. Surviving against three fucking wyverns only to die to a bunch of Ligerfangs. He was even mad for her, but he pushed the thought away and squatted to place his gauntleted palm on her forehead to scavenge her body.
'Can't believe how long it's been since I scavenged a recently dead body.' Apart from the 18th-floor event, the last time he got a fresh body just lying around like this was during his first few days in this—
"Eh?" Rex froze as he stared at the sixth screen that appeared.
[Abnormal Resistance (I): Reduces the effect of abnormalities such as poison.]
"EHHHHH???" He blinked as he looked at the screen.
"I can scavenge development abilities? Since when?!" Scavenger told him from the beginning. 'For real?'
He hadn't even considered the fact that he could absorb development abilities, but this changed a lot of things. A fuck ton. He quickly called up his status.
— — — — — — — — — —
Rex Magnus
Level 2 (Can Level Up)
[Strength] SSS1499 | [Endurance] SSS1499 | [Dexterity] SSS1488 | [Agility] SSS1492 | [Magic] SSS1499
[Predator] I
[Skill]
"Scavenger" — Harvest stats, skills, magic, properties, or treasure from corpses and evaluate quality.
(Skill: Silver Back's Roar, Powerful Body, Body Furnace, War Cry+, Tremor Sense, Heptathlos)
(Magic: Blue Papilio Powder, Fire Breath+, Berakh HaKele, Purple Moth Powder)
(Physical Property: Sharp Retractable Claw, Nictitating Membrane, Sharp Teeth)
(Development Ability: Abnormal Resistance (I))
"Indomitable Will"
— Grants immunity to mind-based attacks, enhances physical and magical growth through trials, enables multitasking and rapid skill mastery, and in dire moments, suppresses pain, boosts mental fortitude, and significantly increases all stats.
"Dragon's Bane"
— Massively increases all abilities when fighting any dragon-type monsters.
— — — — — — — — — —
"Fufuf~"
Now he didn't have to worry about missing out on development abilities like he was. He didn't have to debate which development abilities to pick when leveling up since he could just pick the rare ones and scavenge the common ones from the bodies of the dead. Who says you can only have six development abilities at Level 7?
I, Rex Magnus Lapis, have 69 development abilities at Level 7!
He just became a new level of overpowered. Infinite skills, magic, and now development abilities. "I guess my name should be Rex, the Dragon of Infinity or something."
Though the problem would be with 'chance.' It's not every day you see a fresh body begging to be scavenged. "I could…" He folded his arms, thinking.
'I could go into bounty hunting…'
Bounty hunting was another occupation an adventurer could pursue. You just had to go to the Guild's bounty board, hunt down the person, and either kill them or capture them alive based on the bounty's requirements, and you'd get your reward. There were no requirements except the Guild approving the 'hunt.'
'If I go into bounty hunting and just go for the ones that say 'dead,' then can't I…' But another problem arose.
His luck was shit.
He could count on one hand the times he didn't need pity to get an ability from scavenging, and he'd been doing it for about a month!
'Guess it's decided.' He nodded. "I'm picking Luck as my next development ability," he mumbled while focusing on the 'can level up' beside his level, which expanded to show all available development abilities to pick from when he became Level 3—something he just found out he could do.
— — — — — — — — — —
Mage (I): Grants the user a magic circle that improves magic power, widens magic effect range, and reduces mind usage.
Crush (I): Increases crushing power.
Swordsman (I): Increases damage with bladed-type weapons.
Luck (I): Improves luck.
Healing Power (I): Increases physical regeneration and healing effects on the user.
Healing (I): Increases effects of any healing.
Spirit Healing (I): Automatic mind regeneration.
Strong Body (I): Increases endurance and strength.
— — — — — — — — — —
There were some development abilities that had appeared when he was becoming Level 2, like the obvious one, Hunter, since that one only appears at Level 2. Another was Strong Defense. He guessed it was because he was more offensive this level, and the only real time he'd taken any fatal damage was against the Goliath, unlike Level 1 when he'd almost died multiple times against the infant dragon.
Abnormal Resistance (I) had been there before but wasn't anymore. I guess it's because I just got it, he thought as he ducked under a wide swipe from a minotaur, then performed an uppercut to its throat, crushing the bone and killing it almost instantly.
Then there was the development ability he was debating picking against Luck:
[Apex Hunter – Enhances abilities against monsters the user has previously fought and gained excelia from. Grants all members with the same Falna the Hunter Development Ability, scaling with Apex Hunter's rank, provided they are at least Level 2. Those who already possess Hunter receive a significant boost to all excelia gained. When fighting alongside other natural Hunters, it greatly enhances their Basic Abilities and excelia gains, with the boost scaling based on both Apex Hunter's and the natural Hunter's experience. The effect is stronger for those sharing the same Falna. Additionally, Apex Hunter allows the user to intuitively identify monster weaknesses based on their accumulated hunting knowledge and experience.]
An overpowered development ability. This explained why Maxim was called the 'strongest' and why the Zeus and Hera Familia had so many high-level adventurers. It also explained how they were able to take on two of the three 'Great Quests.'
Rex obviously needed this DA since it was a 'unique' ability. And since the last time it would appear was at Level 4, he'd need to pick it either when becoming level 3 or 4.
"Haah~" He thought he'd come to a decision in picking Luck after discovering he could scavenge DAs, but nope. 'I remember somewhere that the author said he wanted to end DanMachi in a year because he didn't want to age Bell up.' Rex thought as he used Fire Breath to burn the woman's body after taking all her valuables.
'So wouldn't it be best to get Apex Hunter as quickly as possible to give my Familia members more time to get their levels and stats up?' He reasoned as he went back to hunting. 'Besides, Luck can be obtained at higher levels, and at Level 4 or 5, it'll be so much easier for me to bounty hunt, so I'll be able to kill stronger adventurers for their DAs. Also, the Rakia invasion is coming, so wouldn't that be the perfect time for my people to gain…'
"Rakia invasion," he realized. "Won't that be a good time to gain the Crozzo Blood skill?"
He knew how overpowered that skill was paired with the Blacksmith DA. Just look at Welf. And he shouldn't get the fairy curse that causes their magic sword to break, since he isn't technically part of the Crozzo family.
'Right?' Scavenger confirmed his theory.
Though he knew nothing about smiting, Indomitable Will and Scavenger should allow him to quickly master it, as long as he took a week or so to learn it under a master. He could start forging his own weapons. It was a skill he couldn't miss out on, and without Luck, the chance of pulling that skill was low.
'Well, I can just get myself to pity and then find a Crozzo to scavenge,' he nodded as he decapitated a Minotaur. 'Wait. Did a Crozzo even die during the war?'
He didn't remember, but he knew one would definitely die due to his 'butterfly effect.'
But the decision still stood: Luck or Apex Hunter—
Hearing something, Rex looked to the side to see a group of three adventures running towards, and behind them was a monster party. 'A pass parade.' he thought as the group ran past him.
'Good for me~.' With that, he charged towards the monsters.
———
His second 24-hour run came to an end with all stats but Dexterity reaching SSS1499, while Dexterity sat at 1492. Seeing how close he was to maxing it out, he couldn't just leave like that, so he spent another six hours in the dungeon to grind out just seven more points.
And finally, Rex had maxed out all his stats.
"Fucking finally," Rex groaned as the body of the pink wyvern began to disintegrate into dust.
[Wyvern's Wing (Physical Property): Replace your arm with the wing of a wyvern. (Effective after a good night's sleep.)]
He declined the physical property as he took out his canteen of water and drank the whole thing. 'I hate the taste of Rivira water.' It tasted so much like iron that he'd almost thrown up the first time he tried it. He doubted he'd ever get used to it.
Finishing his water, he didn't waste any more time and immediately sprinted up the dungeon, not even bothering to kill the monsters that tried and failed to chase him. It was evening when he reached the first floor, the orange and blue sky bringing a single tear to his eyes.
After spending the past 30 or so hours surrounded by nothing but dungeon walls and the fake sky in Rivira when he went down for food or rest, the sight was almost overwhelming. It was hard to believe he'd soon be spending weeks on end in the dungeon.
Rex immediately went to the exchange center on the second floor of Babel, where the line wasn't long, to get his things appraised. While waiting for the appraisal, he decided to sit on a chair to relax.
Of course, being the person he was, he also eavesdropped on the conversations around him to ease his boredom. Naturally, most of them were talking about the upcoming war game between the Hestia and Apollo Familias.
But something else caught his attention. "What did you say?" Rex asked, turning toward the two dwarves talking beside him. "You said something about the Soma Familia?"
One of the dwarves nodded. "The Soma Familia declared a war game against the Apollo Familia."
"…" Rex stared at him, then his eyes widened. "Eh?"
[Author's Note: Rex has finally maxed out his stats after almost three days of continuous grind, so he will level up next chapter.
Like the dilemma in the chapter, what do you guys think? I am leaning towards Apex Hunter, and yeah personal strength is important, but the earlier he gets Apex Hunter the better it is. Especially since he will be getting new level 2s and Apex Hunter will let them become level 3 quicker, while Hyakinthos could become a level 4. Then again, Luck would make things much easier on him.
Also, I might be 'weakening' my protagonist because of my ignorance. Since he got SSS stats at level 1 and now level 2, when he just becomes a level 3 should he be as strong as a level 4 or peak level 3 without any buff. I think he should be as strong as a peak level 3, barely reaching level 4, but I need outside opinion.
Anyway, thanks for reading and have a wonderful day~.]