Leave a comment

The mission had begun.

I immediately activated a double [Secret Extreme Sword Technique – Fivefold Destuction], bringing down the deteriorated Forest Turtle specimen in front of me in a flash.

Another message could be heard.

A rather opulent treasure chest emerged. Mika rushed over to it. Incidentally, I had already dismantled the Forest Turtle and collected its materials. It dropped 7 A-Rank magic cores.

“Shall we open it together?” I asked, after arriving at Mika’s side.
“Yeah.”

We opened the treasure chest. There was a box inside, and in that box was another one. However, for some reason, there was a rose and a dragon drawn onto this box, which was as big as my palm.

I tried to appraise it.

True Lord… Is there such a thing? Also, it says the contents can only be obtained after leaving the dungeon… Based on that explanation, you can get it as often as you want, right…? That is to say, we can fight the Forest Turtle as often as we want? Its materials are certainly appealing.

Well, alright, let’s head outside for now.

I explained the box to Mika, and we left the dungeon.

“Then, how was it? Your first dungeon?”
“Hmm, it had a certain atmosphere to it, right?”
“Yeah, but we haven’t been in here for more than 20 minutes, you know?”
“Hurry! What should we do? Check our status once and then go in again?”
“What are you talking about, Mika?”

Mika was startled for a moment. My voice had been too loud.

“Oh, sorry. Since I turned back into Ayumu this morning, my voice is a bit more forceful.”
“Uh… yeah, it’s fine. What did you want to say?”
“Yep, about that. It’d be a waste of time because we’ll be going in there lots of times. So, I think it’d be better to check the status and items after diving in 10 times, right~?”
“I-I see. That might be a good idea.”
“Hey… sorry, did I scare you? Will you forgive me if I pat your head?”
“I-I wasn’t scared, but please give me head pats either way.

While repeatedly caressing Mika’s head, I made a suggestion.

“Say, Mika. Are you comfortable with doing lots of rounds?”
“Erm, to be honest, I think it’s a bit of a bother, isn’t it?”
“Then I’ll create an item, that extends the range for companions to gain experience points, so you’ll get them, even if you were to wait in the magic room outside, you see?”
“Can you do that for me? Would it be fine if we went in together every once in a while?”
“Alright.”

I shut myself in the magic room temporarily and spent 30 minutes to create two bracelets with the [wearers are bestowed the same amount of experience points (limited to companions who made a party contract)] effect.

I gave one of them to Mika.

“I’ll be waiting outside, then,” she told me. “I’m going to cook us a meal, so I’ll send you a message if that’s possible.”
“Sure. Then I’ll come running.”
“Take care.”

I was about to leave the magic room and go back into the dungeon, when I recalled that I wanted to tell her something in advance.

“Ah, right. Mika, there’re a few things I forgot to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“The magic room has the ability to become invisible, so you don’t have to worry about being attacked by magic beasts, you see. It also lets me know your whereabouts. I think it’d be best not to check the status screen until after I reach a stopping point for today.”
“…Understood, please be careful, alright?”
“Yep, see you.”

I dove into the dungeon. Incidentally, I was fully equipped with 20 stat-boosting accessories. According to the Tozumaho’s calculations, it looked like I could currently move close to 1000 times faster than a normal person.

In that case, I think I should be able to do 30 rounds of this dungeon before noon. Well, I guess I’ll do as many rounds as possible.

TL notes:
It’s funny, how Mika is super motivated at first, but it’s all gone the moment she realizes she needs to do this dozens or even hundreds of times. As someone, who tends to grind a lot in games, I’m somewhat on Alim’s side, but I get how absurd it must look to more “normal” people.

1. This is somewhat confusing, so that’s how I understand it:
   1. The box itself is the key.
   2. The box also contains something, but if you want to open it, you have to take it out of the dungeon.
   3. If you take the box outside, you can no longer use it as a key and need to reacquire it from the mission to fight the true boss.