The First Floor of the Great Labyrinth of Merba

I stepped onto the First Floor.

A vast grassland stretched all around me.

Forests and rocky hills were visible in the distance.

And a straight road stretched ahead—the so-called Main Street.

It led to the Second Floor.

One reason the Great Labyrinth of Merba was so popular with adventurers was that each floor had a set roster of monsters.

Compared with the surface, where you never knew what monsters might appear, it was safer for hunting.

The First Floor was for F-rank adventurers just starting out.

The farther you got from Main Street, the stronger the monsters became, but as long as you didn’t venture too deep, it was generally safe.

Adventurers who set foot on the First Floor split into two groups.

One group was heading for the Second Floor.

They made their way quickly along Main Street.

Since monsters didn’t appear near Main Street, adventurers heading for the lower floors ignored the weak monsters on the First Floor and went straight for the Second Floor.

The other group hunted monsters on this floor.

They left Main Street and headed into the grassland, then into the forest beyond it.

Now that I’d grown stronger by purchasing Skills, I decided to start by testing my abilities here on the First Floor.

For reference, the Skills I bought were—

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【Purchased Skills】

〈Enhancement〉

【Physical Enhancement Lv. 1】 (NEW!)

〈Exploration〉

【Presence Detection Lv. 1】 (NEW!)

〈Stealth〉

【Presence Concealment Lv. 1】 (NEW!)

〈Magic Control〉

【Mana Control Lv. 1】 (NEW!)

〈Physical Combat〉

【Dagger Technique Lv. 1】 (NEW!)

〈Magic〉

【Fire Magic Lv. 1】 (NEW!), 【Healing Magic Lv. 1】 (NEW!)

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The first four were basic Skills.

MP told me they were highly versatile and absolutely essential, no matter what combat style I chose.

【Physical Enhancement】 is a Skill that boosts your overall physical abilities.

【Mana Control】 shortens the time it takes to cast spells and increases their power.

【Presence Detection】 and 【Presence Concealment】 are exactly what their names suggest.

Each of these cost 5,000 MP to purchase.

The remaining three—【Dagger Technique】, 【Fire Magic】, and 【Healing Magic】—were Skills I chose to suit my combat style.

Each cost 1,000 MP.

As you can tell from this Skill setup, my basic strategy was to attack with Fire Magic from a distance, then use a dagger if enemies got close.

I’d used daggers before, so I was reasonably accustomed to them.

And if I took damage, I could heal myself.

It was a well-balanced Skill setup for fighting solo.

Normally, this Skill combination would be impossible.

Physical combat classes didn’t learn magic, and magic classes didn’t learn weapon Skills.

Only with the Infinite Magic Repository could the impossible become possible.

With this Skill setup, I probably wouldn’t have any trouble against monsters on the First Floor.

I left Main Street at a convenient spot and stepped into the grassland.

The weakest monsters, slimes, appeared in the grassland along Main Street.

Slimes wouldn’t do anything unless I attacked them first, and their only means of attack was a body slam.

Slimes were the first opponents rookies faced.

Despite the early hour, young people who’d just become adventurers were fighting slimes in the grassland.

I passed through the grassland, glancing at them as I went.

Even without any combat Skills, I’d been an adventurer for five years.

Surely I didn’t need to fight a slime of all things now.

Looking for stronger monsters, I entered the forest beyond the grassland.

Calling it a forest was a bit of a stretch; the trees were sparsely spaced.

On top of that, there were clearings here and there, so if you chose the right spot, you could fight without the trees getting in your way.

It was ideal for practicing how to lure enemies in and fight them.

Beginners learned to work together in this forest.

I stepped into the forest...