Chapter 15 – Capture: Backyard Dungeon (I)
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As soon as I took a step into the second floor, I felt like I might have somehow become a small ant, exploring the interior of an anthill. Currently I found myself in a cave wide enough to have ten people line up next to each other. Its ceiling was fairly low as it seemed like you’d be able to somehow reach it by putting a chair on a table and standing on it.
It was a burrow, so to speak. As such, my vision was filled with earthy colors. Light sources were buried all over the place, allowing dim glows to shine through the soil at various places.
Only when I unlocked my smartphone and looked through the information DS provided me about this dungeon could I confirm that I had entered the second floor. The combat strength of the individual ants on the first floor could be compared to that of goblins. But, in return for not being overly strong as individuals, they came in huge numbers. Even so, they were no more than trash in front of Dragon Eater and me.
As I thought, it hasn’t been wrong to have taken this katana from that treasure room. I smirked to myself. With this guy it shouldn’t just be a dream to clear all the dungeons in my neighborhood.
Having said that, I retrieved a bottle of water through my smartphone, trying to take a temporary break.
I fully understand that some of the things I say make no sense whatsoever. Yesterday during my conversation with Venom, she told me that guns couldn’t be used because of insufficient capacity, and this fact is related to the bottle in a way. Apparently us dungeon raiders cannot take whatever we want into the dungeon, except for the clothes we wear and our smartphone.
Accordingly, we must put stuff necessary for clearing dungeons such as water and food into our smartphone, just like I do it with Dragon Eater or the teacup I sold for 15,000 Yen. Basically, the smartphone that downloaded 『Dungeon Seekers』 has been upgraded with a function similar to what you’d call an item box in games.
However, unlike in games, the DS smartphone has a concept called 『Capacity』. That capacity seems to depend on the concept and structure of the objects stored away, and not so much on their number or size. I can take along stuff like food and water, but the capacity needed for modern things is too high, making it impossible to bring them along. Things with complicated mechanisms that combine various technologies like guns or cars cannot be stored away since they exceed the capacity.
But, when it comes to guns…they shouldn’t be all that complex, and yet they exceed the capacity level. I wonder why that is. It’s kind of weird. The criteria and system hasn’t been clearly divulged. I mean, even water and food are pretty complex, if you look at them in detail, and I wouldn’t be able to give a full explanation of every element and component surrounding them…
By the way, Dragon Eater is ridiculously low-capacity in relation to its strength. This is yet another mystery.
Even though I’ve basically given up on understanding DS as it’s an accumulation of cryptic, illogical technology, I’ll still use it to its full extent. I stuffed the item box full with stuff that might come in handy for this time’s dungeon run, like food, water, stones for throwing, a gas cylinder, kitchen knives, and so on. I guess I didn’t have anything ground-breaking back at home.
Because of this capacity system, the balance between items you loot in the dungeon and the amount of stuff you bring yourself seems to play a key role when trying to earn money by gathering items to be sold later on. I can go all-in as a solo player, but I think there will be cases where I’ll have to clear dungeons over several days. Probably.
Yet, I cannot imagine how other players are handling this. If possible, I’d like to get some information, but Venom’s account has been deleted just recently, so my friend list is back down to zero again. In short, I got no contacts to obtain that information.
I guess I should concentrate on clearing dungeons for a while, despite wanting some information. Closing the item list, I shifted to the status screen next.
Player: Kurase Hirotatsu
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 62.3 kg
Level: 35
Acquired Passive Skills: 『Understanding of Hand-to-Hand Combat』, 『Intuition』, 『Barrier Coating』
Acquired Active Skills: 『Hidden Style – Dragon Eater』
Titles: 『Daredevil』, 『Insurrector』, 『Natural Combat Genius』 『Hidden Style User』 『Magic Sword Wielder』
SP: 110 pt.
“Whoa…it rose by another nine levels, huh?”
Of course I had noticed how the smartphone had sent me notifications several times while I destroyed that swarm of ants, but I didn’t expect for my level to rise this much.
In addition, I appear to have gained a new title.
Title 『Magic Sword Wielder』
Granted to a wielder of magic swords. It becomes possible to acquire the skill 『Magic Swordsmanship: One』.
It looks like I got that title for having used Dragon Eater. Or rather, what’s with that One. Seriously. This game is Western-styled, so wouldn’t you usually go with a Roman number like 1?
“So it’s the type where the title affects the skill acquisition, huh…? Alright.”
I have accumulated a big amount of SP. Namely 110. Let’s grab all the skills I planned to get anyway.
The enemies on the first floor weren’t much of a challenge, but I don’t know how strong the mobs on the second floor will be, so it’s best to tread carefully.
I didn’t anticipate for the difference between E-Class and D-Class dungeons to be so striking. If I believe in what Venom told me, the players of Tokyo are already working on C-Class dungeons. Seeing how there’s such a discrepancy between E and D, a C-Class dungeon must be a lot tougher.
What about B, or even A then? Looks like it’s way too early for me to become satisfied and stop advancing. It’s necessary for me to update my own combat abilities.
No matter how strong Dragon Eater might be, it’ll be ridiculous if I, its wielder, neglect myself and stay weak.
While reconfirming my own determination, I got the next batch of skills.
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