9. Heading Towards the Depths

After escorting Nanami's group to town, I was finally free. Time to quickly head into the labyrinth.

"Oh, before that, I need to educate Seki so he can stand on his own two feet."

"Did someone call my name?"

Finding me back in town, Kumiko came over. Following behind her were Ena Sashiki, a buxom girl with a gentle air and cracked glasses, and Mio Tachibana, whose defining feature was her blunt bangs.

They had probably decided to stick together since they were all in Class A. Impressively, they were properly wearing the full set of hard leather armor I had bought for them.

Right, ladies, come over here. I just got some gold coins as my share, so I'll give you some money to buy weapons.

Hey, Kumiko. I already bought you a long spear, so don't line up.

"Besides, I called for Seki, not Kumiko."

"Seki-kun is sleeping at the hotel."

What, did he get sick again? Seki had always been physically weak and often fell ill.

I was concerned, so I decided to go to the hotel. How much longer would we be able to use it? What time was checkout?

Entering the suite, I found Seki lying on the bed with a tired look on his face.

His complexion wasn't bad, and he had a peaceful sleeping face.

When Seki got sick, he usually had a fever, so I placed my hand on his white forehead, but he didn't seem to have one.

Upon closer inspection, scrolls with instructions on how to use magic and potions filled with yellow and blue liquids were scattered on the bed.

"I see, so that's it. Hey, wake up, Seki."

The mana recovery rate increased with sleep. Seki, having realized this, had probably been repeating the process of using up all his mana until he was depleted, then sleeping to recover it and making potions.

I was the one who told Seki to train his potion-making skills, but he seemed to be devising his own efficient methods without me even teaching him yet, which was impressive.

"Ah..., Shinjo-kun. You're safe."

"Yeah, well, get up. The method you're using is close to correct, but a little too extreme."

If we were aiming for the fastest clear by a coordinated party, balance wasn't necessary. The optimal solution was for each individual to aim for the master class in their area of expertise.

The logic was that Seki, being a priest, only needed to train his highly suitable priest rank.

However, what we were doing was a death game where we couldn't revive and continue.

To increase our survival rate, we needed to train our weak areas as well.

"I can now make basic potions without fail."

"Good job, but train your body too."

I put my hand on Seki's shoulder as he lay on the bed and then slipped my hand inside his shirt to touch his chest.

Seki let out a strange yelp and recoiled.

Seki's skin was pale and very soft. It was smooth and felt more girlish than a girl's.

That wasn't bad, but he couldn't fight like this.

"I can tell just by touching you that you have absolutely no muscle."

"S-sorry. But I thought making potions would be more useful to Shinjo-kun."

"You don't have to rush that. It's good to develop your strengths, but you won't survive if you don't train your warrior rank too. If you don't strengthen your body, you'll just be a burden."

"I'm sorry."

"No, I'm glad you thought about it in your own way, Seki. Right, if you intend to help me, I'd like you to make some agility-boosting potions."

I had only succeeded in the light torch magic a few times and hadn't been able to rank up my magic skills at all.

Even though they were basic, having many physical ability-enhancing potions that could stack their effects would be helpful.

"Agility potions, got it. I'll make them right away."

I had Seki pour agility-boosting purple potions into the empty flasks I had.

It seemed Seki hadn't been lying about training, as he made four without a single failure.

"From now on, I'll teach you how to train your body in town. It's best to train while you're waiting for your mana to recover after using it up."

Training your body until you reached your physical limit after using up all your mana, and then letting it recover naturally, was the most efficient way.

Considering efficiency, it was better not to sleep until your stamina reached its limit.

I took Seki and Kumiko and the others who had tagged along to the workshop behind the blacksmith's store.

It was a strange, deserted space with furnaces and anvils lined up, and even the sound of someone swinging a hammer could be heard from somewhere.

I didn't have any particular business with the blacksmith himself.

The important thing was that only here, a part of the building's wall was made of hard steel for some reason.

"The way to raise your warrior rank, which is experience points, is basically the number of times you swing your weapon. However, it also increases more easily the more damage you deal to strong enemies at the same time. And this is the strongest enemy in town."

I tapped the steel wall a few times.

Just as a test, I swung my practice scramasax and brought it down from above in a chop. Along with the sound of metal scraping against metal, my hand vibrated intensely. The heavy impact was taking a toll on my arm.

"So that's why Shinjo-kun bought that heavy sword you said was useless..."

"That's right. Warrior rank experience is categorized into four types: 'chop', 'thrust', 'slash', and 'evade/defend'. It's hidden data that even the 'Oracle' can't measure, but experience points accumulate according to the attack method. And among these, the act of 'chopping' with brute force using a heavy weapon raises your health the most. Since a priest's weapon is a mace, it also has good compatibility with 'chopping'."

"Okay, I'll try it."

Seki was handed the heavy scramasax by me and, with his slender arms, swung it up and slammed it against the steel wall, using his body weight.

His posture was terrible, but that was to be expected at first. All that mattered was training.

"As long as your stamina lasts. No, recover it with stamina potions and repeat. If you train until your warrior level becomes Apprentice at the 'Oracle', you'll have enough health not to die easily on the first floor."

To survive, you had to raise your health points above all else. In my current state, where I could be killed in one hit by a strong enemy, I couldn't let him go anywhere dangerous.

As I watched, Kumiko, next to Seki, started throwing knives she had taken out of her backpack at the steel wall.

"Hey, Wataru-kun. Is this the right way to raise my Acrobat rank?"

"That's correct. If you keep doing that, your throwing skill will increase."

As expected of an honor student, she probably understood Genoria's calculation formula from my conversation. The same principle applied to the Acrobat rank: dealing damage to strong enemies yielded experience points.

Kumiko, who was originally physically weak, probably wanted to train her agility.

"If you have spare mana, you'll get stronger faster if you train while doping yourself with strength-boosting potions and dexterity potions."

"Doping has a somewhat negative connotation, doesn't it?"

Seki made a sour face.

Well, it wasn't a very good expression.

"It doesn't have any side effects. Also, since you get more experience for successfully casting higher-rank magic, it's good to periodically raise your wisdom with wisdom potions."

Priest-type magic mostly involved making potions anyway.

The interesting thing about Genoria was that the stronger you became, the more you relied on drugs.

"By the way, Kumiko. Did you also check your profession at the Oracle?"

Seeing her buying knives, I figured she had a profession related to that. Like a Thief, perhaps.

I wondered why Kumiko was making a disgusted face when she quietly told me.

"It seems... I'm a 'Genin' or something."

"You're a..."

She hurriedly stopped me with her hand before I could finish.

It seemed Kumiko was embarrassed.

"Ugh, don't tell anyone, okay? Everyone else was a Warrior or a Magician, so why is my profession so weird?"

"Kumiko, it's okay. If you gain experience and rank up at the 'Oracle', you can become a Chunin or a Jonin."

Kumiko pouted as if to say that was also微妙, but I was inwardly impressed.

Kumiko's profession, 'Genin', was a high-level job that you could only achieve by ranking up multiple times from the Thief class.

She was dexterous, had the Thief's lockpicking skill, was fast, and much stronger than a Warrior.

Oriental professions like Ninja and Samurai were somehow favored by the American creators, and there were even powerful specialized weapons for them.

Suddenly having a high-level job was a rare case that you would only see after repeating character creation a thousand times (it was a cheat, but there was a macro tool to continuously repeat character creation).

Thinking about how lucky Kumiko was made me feel a little scared. In any game, nothing was stronger than the player's real-life luck.

"Well then, train like that until you can fight safely. I'm going to go explore the labyrinth for a bit."

I had taught them everything I needed to teach. I had no regrets now. Leaving everyone training, I left town and headed towards the depths.

Even though I said "for a bit," I might not come back.

Before that, thinking I should fill my stomach, I stopped by a burger shop and ate my fill. It was my last junk food meal. I thought about buying some food supplies, but stopped because it would make my luggage heavy.

Since I was weak now, agility was my only weapon.

"Alright then, let's go quickly."

My magical power was still only enough to use the light torch. Even if my warrior rank had gone up in the fierce battle earlier, it would only be around Apprentice.

However, I was going straight to the boss battle.

Perhaps due to the aftermath of the Mustard Dragon's rampage, the number of Orcs and Goblins in the dungeon was small.

The enemies moved while avoiding the traps laid out on the first floor, so I used that to divide them and defeat them one by one. Occasionally, an Orc would fail to avoid a trap and fall into a hole, which made me laugh.

I opened the treasure chests that appeared, but I discarded the gold coins and only used the gems on the spot.

Diamonds, rubies, and sapphires could be used as mana potions, so I used them to practice magic while continuously making and drinking stamina potions.

I built up resistance to poison and staved off hunger and sleepiness with emeralds, peridots, and lapis lazuli.

While repeating this, I reached the boss's room.

"Alright, might as well use an agility potion since I'm here."

I thanked Seki for making them and drank them all down, then kicked down the crude wooden door and entered the small room where the Orc Lord resided.

Caught off guard, without even checking inside, I threw all the small stones I had picked up and immediately left the room.

"Gugoooooo!"

Letting out a terrifying beastly roar, the Orc Lord, a muscular giant as tall as a man, carrying a massive iron hammer, emerged. Unlike the other Orcs, he was even wearing crude lamellar armor.

As expected of a boss, he had a decent amount of presence and dignity.

I dashed away, luring the enemy into the large room in front.

"Gugaaaaaa!"

He was angry at being hit by the small stones, but he wasn't foolish enough to fall into the traps.

We began to chase each other in circles around the invisible traps while keeping each other in check.

"Come on, try to catch me faster."

"Gugoooooo!"

Thanks to the agility potion, I had plenty of余裕.

Just as my stamina decreased, the enemy also became exhausted and his stamina decreased. I could recover with potions, but he couldn't.

That small difference gradually widened, and the enemy's movements gradually became sluggish.

I finally circled around and slashed him from behind.

"Gyaaaaaaa!"

Despite his large size, getting his ankle slashed seemed to hurt. It was a part not protected by armor, and I had aimed for his leg to stop his movement, but I couldn't quite reach the bone.

Slashed from behind, the Orc Lord roared, trembling with pain and anger, and spun around to try to corner me. Now it was a chase in the opposite direction.

"Come on, what's wrong? You're slow."

"Gyaaaaaaa!"

I circled around again and slashed his thick thigh from behind once more.

All that was left was to keep doing this until his legs gave out.

"Haa, haa... hmph, you slowpoke."

"Gugyaa!"

It took about thirty minutes for the Orc Lord to fall on his back. All that was left was for the giant body to thrash around on the floor, and I chopped off its head with my samurai sword like splitting a watermelon.

With a death cry, the Orc Lord's head exploded with a loud *gusha* sound, scattering blood and gore.

Looting the treasure chest that appeared at the same time as the Orc Lord's death, as expected, there wasn't anything great inside.

I didn't need the gold coins since they were heavy, so I just took the gems.

"Ah, I should also take the 'Orc Lord's Fang'."

It was like proof of defeating the Orc Lord, the boss of the first floor.

Any Orc had fangs, but you didn't cut them off the corpse. Since it came out of the treasure chest, it was probably treated as a special item.

With this, the first floor was useless to me.

I headed down the stairs to the second floor at the back of the boss's room.