My First Lower-Tier Beginner Dungeon (Though I'm Steamrolling It)

“Hup!”

The sharp, snappy impact reverberated up my arm, and the anteater-like monster 〈Quill〉 I'd slashed vanished in a flash of effects.

I checked the drop it left behind and pumped my fist.

“Yes! The 〈Quill Fur〉 finally dropped. That wraps up this layer.”

“Good work, Zephyrus-kun. Want to take a little break? Should I get you something to drink?”

“Ah, that'd be great. I'll take you up on that...”

Now that the material I'd been after had finally dropped, fatigue suddenly washed over me, so I decided to take Hannah up on her offer.

On the afternoon of the day I accepted the quest at 〈Patch Seal Sticker〉, I brought Hannah to one of the lower-tier beginner dungeons, 〈Tropical Forest Dungeon〉.

Like the 〈Beginner Dungeon〉, it was a field-type dungeon, but the scenery here was more like a dense jungle. Its nickname was 〈Jungle Dungeon〉, after all.

Just a little way off the path, the undergrowth grew in thick clumps over three meters tall. If you accidentally stepped into it, it was anyone's guess whether you'd find your way back to the path. In the game, it was an inaccessible area, but in real life, you could just walk right in.

The paths themselves were maintained like freshly mowed grass, so they didn't hinder movement.

Every so often, 〈Quill〉 or the sloth-like monster 〈Namaru〉 would attack from the branches, but so far, my 〈Sky Sword〉's normal attacks had been enough to take them down in a single hit.

Besides dropping plenty of the materials from the quest I'd taken earlier, the monsters in 〈Tropical Forest Dungeon〉 all had low AGI, making it an easy dungeon for beginners to tackle.

Since this was Hannah's first time trying a lower-tier Shocker dungeon, I chose this one.

That said, Hannah was acting as our Porter this time.

Hannah had allocated her SUP (Status Up Points) to DEX, MP, and RES, so her attack power depended almost entirely on her two-handed mace.

Hannah's two-handed mace was called 〈Beginner's Two-Handed Mace: Attack Power 12, Magic Power 8〉. As the name suggested, it was the lowest-tier weapon around.

Honestly, even lower-tier Shocker monsters barely took any damage from Hannah's attacks, since she hadn't put a single point into STR.

So I had her play the role of Porter.

The plan was for me to defeat the monsters and Hannah to store the materials in her 〈Item Bag (Capacity: Large)〉.

Maybe she felt bad about doing nothing but carrying things, so she made a point of helping me out.

Apparently, she was really uncomfortable gaining EXP while relying on me.

Even so, it's already been decided that Hannah will be the first member of my guild, so this is an investment in the future. I'll probably ask her to do all sorts of things later, so I hope she won't worry about it too much.

Even if I plan to have her do that in the future, focusing on production early on, before she has a full set of Skills, isn't a good idea.

The right move is to level up in lower-tier Shocker dungeons until Job LV20, when the second tier of Skills unlocks.

The EXP you get from production is pretty pitiful at first. It's more efficient to get into it once you've got a decent set of Skills.

For reference, my weapon was 〈Sky Sword: Attack Power 85, Magic Power 51, Holy Attribute〉.

As you'd expect from a weapon fit for an upper-tier intermediate dungeon, the monsters in a lower-tier Shocker dungeon were no match for it.

Thanks to that, I'm having a blast steamrolling everything in real life.

“All right, our break's almost over. There weren't enough monsters on the first layer, so it took a while to gather the fur. But from the next layer on, they'll start appearing in groups of two or more, so we should be able to gather it faster.”

“Oh, really? Hey, Zephyrus-kun, how do you know that? We haven't had any classes yet, have we?”

After our break, I explained what we were going to do next, and Hannah tilted her head and asked me that.

“You can find out if you look it up. The 〈Academy Grand Library〉 has pretty much everything about dungeons, you know?”

That was true.

The 〈Academy Grand Library〉 stored such a vast collection of books that it was practically a mountain of reference material. It covered dungeons, all kinds of monster information, hints about Job acquisition conditions, and Job performance...

You could find a truly huge amount of information, right down to recipes for weapons, armor, and items. Of course, it only covered the basics.

When I first started playing the game 〈Dan-Katsu〉, I studied hard at the 〈Academy Grand Library〉, too.

How nostalgic. Maybe I'll take a look around the real Grand Library sometime. I'd covered everything in the game, but there might be reference materials I hadn't read in real life.

“Hmm? Zephyrus-kun, you couldn't go outside until yesterday because of the recruiting frenzy, right? How did you manage to go to the Grand Library?”

“Well, that's enough talk. I want to get back before nightfall. Let's keep hunting!”

“Ah, wait, Zephyrus-kun!”

Hannah, who was usually so oblivious, had unexpectedly picked up on something, so I cut the conversation short before I let anything slip and headed for the second layer.

For some reason, Hannah's always sharper and in better shape in dungeons.

Thwack! Slash! Shunk!

We made it to the fifth layer today, but not a single monster there could withstand one strike from the 〈Sky Sword〉.

My level rose steadily, and my Job reached LV11. I raised 'Appeal' to LV5.

Starting at Skill LV5, 'Appeal' covers a much wider area, so I can use it to draw monsters in, too.

I used 'Appeal LV5' to call monsters over and cut them down. Then I'd move on, use 'Appeal LV5' to draw in more, and cut them down. Repeating that loop let me gather materials much more efficiently.

We headed back before nightfall.

By then, I'd reached 【Hero LV12】, and Hannah had reached 【Alchemist LV14】.

Hannah's level was higher because of the difference in Job tiers. It's that rule where the stronger Job—in this case, 【Hero】—requires more EXP.