Chapter 9: Growth and New Skills

After carefully playing with the magic stone that dropped from the goblin, Kiyo placed it into the small pouch at his waist.

Magic stones are items that always drop after killing a monster.

In Orario, magic stones can be considered a universal trading item. 

They can be used to forge weapons and make potions, and merchants sell these unique products across the world.

Adventurers who collect these dropped items from the dungeon have one of the most profitable jobs in the world.

"Let's keep going."

Kiyo took a deep breath, his heart burning with excitement. After defeating the monsters, his fear of them had completely vanished. 

He continued exploring deeper into the first floor, encountering several Goblins and Kobolds along the way.

The adventurer's rule: never engage a monster head-on, and never take an attack that can be avoided.

Unlike fighting humans, monsters always attack with full force, straight and direct, without any tricks or plans.

Humans, on the other hand, rely on cunning, tricks, and techniques. 

As long as someone becomes familiar with a monster's attack patterns, they can evade its strikes and deliver a fatal blow during the brief opening before its next attack.

The first battle was messy because his body refused to obey, and he only managed to defeat the monster because of his passive skill.

By the second battle, he could already analyze and predict where the monster would attack, easily delivering a fatal strike.

With each swing of his sword, the stiffness in his body and the awkwardness of his movements slowly faded away.

After killing at least twenty goblins, Kiyo felt completely relax raising his sword and there was no longer any stiffness in his movements.

A few flashes of white light streaked past, and with a poof, the goblin disintegrated.

Then, a magic stone rolled to his feet.

He picked up the magic stone and placed it into the pouch at his waist. Lifting his sword, he noticed a small cut along the blade's edge and sighed slightly.

'The blade is getting dull. Even though its sharpness has been greatly enhanced, the material hasn't changed and will still wear down.'

'Oh right, my speed, strength, and reflexes have all improved quickly. I can literally see myself getting stronger—this is incredible!'

Everything felt effortlessly smooth, whether swinging his sword, running, or jumping. 

In fact, Kiyo's stats had increased so fast that his brain struggled to keep up with his body, causing slight coordination issues.

After receiving the blessing of the gods and unlocking his potential, Kiyo was getting stronger at an unbelievable speed—something a normal person couldn't even imagine.

It must be the effect of the "Valor," which doubles his basic stats when fighting alone. Otherwise, the difference wouldn't feel this extreme.

"My fighting spirit is no longer an issue. Now, I only need to work on my technique and experience!"

In the next battles, Kiyo could now kill goblins and Kobold with a single strike.

They weren't a challenge anymore.

"It's time to go to the second floor."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a sip from his water pouch, and looked toward the dark cave leading to the second floor.

Inside the cave, a spiral stone staircase descended downward. The glowing light on the stone walls had grown brighter, making it easy to see the bottom of the stairs.

A few goblins were wandering on the path.

After hearing movement, they began climbing up, but before they could take more than a few steps, a flash of white light slashed through their bodies, reducing them to ashes.

'According to the Adventurer's Handbook, from the 1st to the 3rd floor, the only monsters that appear are goblins, lizards, and kobolds. There are no other threats—just that the frequency of monsters respawn twice as often on the 2nd floor and three times as often on the 3rd floor.'

On the 2nd floor, monsters appeared twice as fast as on the 1st floor. 

However, based on his experience from the previous level, even with the increased spawn rate, Kiyo could still defeat them all in one hit.

After eight hours of continuous battle, Kiyo had become a good beginner adventurer. As he kept defeating goblins and lizards, Kiyo had unconsciously reached the third floor. 

However, the third floor wasn't hard at all, and he decided to go straight to the fourth.

New monsters would begin to respawn from the 4th to the 6th floor, including Frog Shooter, Werewolves, and even Almiraj.

Werewolves typically appear in packs of three to five, sometimes even in groups of over ten. Their speed was several times faster than that of an average adult human.

For an ordinary beginner adventurer, entering the 4th floor on their first dungeon expedition was basically asking to die.

However, with Kiyo's stats and skills, even monsters from the 7th floor and above were no match for him.

In open spaces, a pack of werewolves were terrifying predators, but they didn't have room to run inside the narrow dungeon cave. 

Their speed is completely slowed down. 

The fight would be over as long as Kiyo dodged their lunges at the right moment and slashed their neck with a sword.

"Slash~"

"Slash~"

"Slash~"

As the three Werewolves turned to ash with the resonating hum of his sword, Kiyo happily collected their magic stones.

While excited about making a lot of money today, Kiyo suddenly realized a big problem.

The small pouch was completely full, and there was no more room to store anything else.

After killing so many goblins and lizards on the first three floors, a small pouch big enough to hold a water bottle couldn't fit any more magic stones.

At that moment, Kiyo suddenly realized the importance of a supporter—someone who could carry loot and manage supplies for an adventurer.

The light armor that Eina had given him was now covered in multiple scratches, and the clothes he had brought from his original world had been torn in several places during battle.

He felt a bit regretful because those clothes were one of the few things connecting him to his past life.

"I really have to thank Eina for this equipment. If not for her gift, I would've been injured by now."

He decided to replenish his strength before leaving the dungeon. 

"I should try to get back before sunset at six. Otherwise, Goddess might think I left her because she's poor and secretly ran away." 

He muttered to himself.

After glancing at his watch, Kiyo saw the hour hand pointing to four. 

Then, he took out two crispy potato balls from his other pouch and prepared to eat them with the bit of water he had left to satisfy his growling stomach.

"Buzz—"

At that moment, a refreshing, cool sensation surged through his soul, sending a shiver through Kiyo's mind.

He quickly closed his eyes with satisfaction, and a tiny crystal tree, like a sapling from the World Tree, had one of its leaves glowing with dazzling light.