Chapter 57
The Intermediate Beginner Dungeon, 〈Wild Herb Grassland Dungeon〉.
It’s a classic field-type dungeon: grassland as far as the eye can see.
One reason I chose it first was that monsters were unlikely to ambush us, there were almost no traps, and it was easy to clear.
But the biggest reason was that you could start gathering 〈Magic Grass〉 in Intermediate Beginner Dungeons, and this was the only one where you could find it.
〈Magic Grass〉 can be used with Skills like ‘Alchemy’ and ‘Medicine Making’ to make 〈MP Potions〉.
At last, I could get my hands on the MP Potions I’d been looking forward to. They were essential for making boss-fight grinding much easier.
Well, I could’ve bought them from a shop before now, but ordinary grinding only took me to the level cap for Lower Beginner, so I hadn’t needed them until now.
But Intermediate Beginner goes all the way up to LV35.
Once you get past LV20, leveling up suddenly gets much harder, so I’d need MP Potion boosts for grinding from here on.
Hanna would have to do her best.
“So this is an Intermediate Beginner Dungeon... It kind of looks like the Beginner Dungeon.”
Hanna blinked as she looked around at the scenery.
“Yeah. But the monsters are nastier, and traps start showing up too, even if there aren’t many. Don’t let your guard down—the difficulty is on a whole different level, even if the scenery looks similar. You’ve barely put any points into combat stats, Hanna.”
“Okay. I’ll be careful. But I have this very thing Zephyrus-kun bought me, so I can take a few hits and be okay, right?”
Hanna spun around, showing off her 〈Ari Queen Black〉.
Her long skirt swirled lightly, and my eyes were drawn to it despite myself.
The people from Marie-senpai’s guild, 〈Wappen Seal Sticker〉, had somehow put their all into making this wonderful outfit, balancing practical combat use with a coordinated look.
It suited Hanna really well. Especially around the chest.
“Ahem. Right, even if your VIT is low, armor can block some damage. How much Defense do you have in total right now?”
“Let’s see... 〈Ari Queen Black〉 gives me 20. And with my shoes, necklace, and bracelet... around 26, I think?”
“That’s loooow...”
“But equipment is so expensive.”
‘But it’s expensive’ isn’t going to cut it.
Hanna’s Defense was a problem, so she needed proper equipment. A stray hit could knock her out of the fight instantly. It’d be a waste for her other gear to be so weak when 〈Ari Queen Black〉 alone gave her 20 Defense.
“I’ve got Miel to spare, so I can cover some of it. Why don’t we go see Marie-senpai again?”
“Okay. Thanks, Zephyrus-kun. I’m counting on you.”
Well, I didn’t mind being relied on.
All right, time to start clearing the Intermediate Beginner Dungeon.
Shhk, shhk!
“Gobuu...”
The common Goblin I’d cut down turned into light and disappeared, dropping a 〈Goblin’s Small Horn〉.
Goblin monsters, a type of small demon, start appearing in Intermediate Beginner Dungeons.
They’re the same kind of monster as the ones in the boss room of the 〈Beginner Dungeon〉. I figured they’d been recruited from there.
Intermediate Beginner Dungeons go down to the 15th floor.
In the 〈Wild Herb Grassland Dungeon〉, common Goblins appear on the upper floors, while Goblins carrying weapons start appearing the farther down you go.
But the unarmed ones on the upper floors are weak.
They’re nimble, though, so they’re a little faster than you’d expect.
That makes them good targets for practicing magic and ranged attacks.
“Hanna. Attack that Goblin over there.”
“‘Fireball’!”
A fireball shot from the wand 〈Flame Rod〉 Hanna was holding and flew toward the Goblin, but her aim was off.
Hanna’s Fireball flew far off without even grazing the Goblin.
“Ah, I missed again.”
Hanna was well suited to dungeon combat, but she still lacked the experience to hit moving enemies.
Still, she’d only started yesterday, and she could already hit stationary targets. I thought Hanna had real talent.
“‘Appeal.’”
The Goblin that had been attacked turned toward Hanna, so I used ‘Appeal’ to draw its attention to me.
“You’re not going to start hitting them right away, so all you can do is practice steadily. Hanna, how’s your MP?”
“I still have tons left. ‘Fireball LV2’ only costs 3 MP.”
Since Hanna had prioritized MP and DEX when assigning her stats, her maximum MP was quite high. At least, it was higher than mine.
“Gobyu!?”
“Yay!”
Oh, she hit it that time.
She couldn’t take it down in one hit, but after the Goblin fell over, Hanna hit it with a follow-up ‘Fireball,’ and it vanished in a flash of light.
“Congratulations on your first kill with magic.”
“Thanks, Zephyrus-kun! But it still feels a little underwhelming...”
Hanna twirled her 〈Flame Rod〉 as she muttered.
Hmm? Did she mean it lacked impact? Like she wanted to hit something some more?
“If you get into close combat in an Intermediate Beginner Dungeon, you’ll be taken out in an instant, you know?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s okay, I’ll do some slime grinding as a palate cleanser later.”
Isn’t that not what ‘palate cleanser’ means?
I murmured, “Rest in peace, poor slime,” and went off to look for our next prey.