Chapter 22

Library, city adaptation, fighting training.

I skipped all the daily routines I’d been repeating for the past month.

Because they were not what the adventurers had to do on the day the labyrinth opened.

[08:10].

As soon as I woke up, I skipped breakfast and hurried to where I was supposed to meet Ainar.

Because I’d heard that you needed to wait at least a few hours to get your turn.

“Here! Bjorn son of Yandel!”

To my surprise, Ainar had arrived before me.

“… Since when have you been here?”

“Didn’t you say you would leave me behind if I were late? So I slept at the front overnight! Come on! We’re first in line!”

“…”

Even though it was 30 minutes before opening time, there was already a long queue in front of the entrance.

However, thanks to Ainar, we were able to enter the Adventurers’ Guild as soon as the doors opened.

“What are you here for?”

“We’ve come to receive binding magic.”

“Is it a two-person team?”

“Yes.”

“Put your hands here together.”

As we followed the instructions, a faint light leaked from the crystal ball.

The colour was greenish.

“Two level 9 adventurers. That comes to 15,000 stones.”

15,000 stones…

If I hadn’t scrimped on living costs, it would’ve been a little tight.

I meekly paid from my pocket.

It was indeed tragic, but it was an unavoidable expense.

When entering the labyrinth, the starting point is random, but if you receive this magic in advance, you can at least start from the same place.

“What is the adventurer rank based on?”

“It’s measured by the total amount of essence engraved on the soul.”

“Right. So, does the cost of forming a bond increase with rank?”

“Naturally.”

Haah, this didn’t match with the game.

“It’s done. Please note that this will only work for the next 24 hours.”

“Understood.”

It was a little past 9 o’clock when we finished our business and left the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Let’s go back to my inn for dinner. The food’s pretty good.”

“The inn? You mean your inn cooks meals for you?”

What kind of life had she been living?

When asked a question in return, Ainar replied with an easygoing tone that it wasn’t a big deal.

“I usually buy the bread I’d eaten in the labyrinth.”

Ah, the one that cost 20 stones.

I’d tried it once in an attempt to save money on food, but had to give up after a while.

I didn’t know the exact principle, but what’d been quite edible inside the labyrinth was hard as stone here outside.

‘That’s why they call it rock-bread…’

But did she keep eating that for a full month?

My heart was full of sadness for some reason, so I ordered meat and stew, leading to Ainar swearing an oath of allegiance on the spot.

“Bjorn! Even if you ask me to jump into a pit of fire, I won’t refuse! So don’t leave me!”

After a tearful meal, we went up to my room and organized our backpacks.

“Be careful. If you forget something necessary, it’ll be troubling.”

“Don’t worry! Because there’s nothing I need to bring!”

Time passed surprisingly quickly as I checked my equipment and shoved in exploring equipment and consumables into my backpack.

“Then let’s get some sleep now.”

“I’ve never seen such a soft bed. It looks like two people can lie down! It doesn’t even smell!”

After finishing the maintenance so that we were ready to enter the labyrinth at any moment, we lay down next to each other and slept.

It was pretty cramped with the two of us there, though.

With Erwen, there’d be space left for one more normal-sized person.

“Even if you can’t sleep, force yourself to close your eyes. You won’t be getting proper sleep for a while –”

Erm, what was I worrying about again?

Rrrrrrrumble–!

Before I could even finish speaking, came the snoring sound in the native style of the barbarians.

I just smiled and closed my eyes.

How long had it been since then?

[20:30].

We woke up a little early and had our last meal on the first floor.

A special, extravagant meal that cost 800 stones per head.

“Hey, what does this taste like?”

Ainar, who’d been fussing all through the meal, bit the baked cream pie that’d been served as dessert and froze.

“Oh, is it some kind of magic? M-, my eyes keep tearing up.”

“Ah, that’s called ‘sweet’.”

” I think I’ll have to work hard from now on…”

It wasn’t intentional on my part, but more motivation was always good.

“So many.”

As we packed our bags and headed out into the night streets, there was a crowd of people passing through instead of the usual quiet.

Most of them, like me, were armed and carried a large backpack.

Although not all of them were, and there were also barbarians with just a weapon on them.

Looked like they’d just entered the city today after finishing the coming-of-age ceremony…

“Stop! I must have lost my way.”

“It can’t be! We must reach the labyrinth within the set time!”

“Parthun has no qualification to be the leader!”

So this happened every month, huh.

Just how did they actually reach the labyrinth every time?

While I was seriously pondering the issue –

“Follow them and you will reach the labyrinth.”

Ainar approached them with advice.

The young warriors looked at her like you would a successful senior, and gave profuse thanks.

“Thank you. I will definitely repay this favour one day!”

Watching the young barbarians moving away, Ainar wiped her nose.

“… Hooo, it reminds me of the past.”

Please don’t wave it off and pretend it’s a thing of the past.

I don’t think anything has actually changed between then and now.

“Everyone, back off!”

Thousands of people had already gathered in the Dimensional Plaza. As we found a place to sit and settled in to wait for midnight, a light began to shine from the centre.

Although it was small at first, the halo quickly grew in shape and finally coalesced into a sphere.

“Now you can enter!”

When the official shouted, the adventurers around us quickly throw themselves into the portal.

I led Ainar out to the fringes to avoid the press of the crowd.

“Bjorn, aren’t we going in?”

“Wait.”

The number of adventurers gathered in the plaza dropped by dozens every second, but the crowd was still as packed as ever.

Because other adventurers kept arriving.

About forty minutes after the portal opened, the once-crowded Dimensional Plaza had become pretty quiet, with a line of seven to eight hundred people.

“… Shouldn’t we go in now?”

The portal, which had already devoured tens of thousands of adventurers, was getting smaller in size.

But I kept waiting.

Ainar also raised her voice to check if I was paying attention.

“Bjorn, what are you waiting for?”

Well, it was too complex to explain…

I didn’t know if she’d understand or not.

Even so, I decided to give a brief explanation as there was quite a bit of time left.

“I plan to enter when the dimension is unstable. The book says it happens once in a hundred years, but if you use this phenomenon –”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but I’ll follow you.”

“…?”

“I feel like I won’t understand anyway!”

I did honestly think that would be the case.

It was annoying that she said that after being the one to ask in the first place, but…

To be fair, it might be quite convenient to be able to skip the explanation for each and every action.

“The gate will close soon! Back off!”

Eventually, the portal’s light began to fade.

There were no adventurers left at this point.

Then I slowly walked towards the labyrinth with Ainar.

Seeing us like that, the official exclaimed.

“It’s dangerous to enter now!”

I pretended not to hear.

I didn’t know what they meant by dangerous.

Considering that there were even books with statistics, they had to be aware of the phenomenon…

“B-, Bjorn! Those important-looking people are saying it’s dangerous! We have to get out of here!”

Then why did they never consider using this?

One second, two seconds, three…

Well, what’s the point in a countdown?

My gut tells me this is enough.

“It’s now. Let’s go.”

“Kuhk!”

I push Ainar from behind and jump into the labyrinth.

Flash–!

A flash of light obscures my vision, and when it disappears, a deep darkness is there to greet me.

It means that what I’d intended has worked.

“Ahead! I can’t see ahead! I should’ve listened to that important-looking fellow after all! Bjorn is an idiot!”

“Ainar, calm down.”

Ainar regains some of her composure as I take out a torch from my backpack in a hurry and light it up.

“Damn, how the hell did this happen?”

“Even if I tell you, you won’t understand.”

“That… That’s true!”

Having easily convinced Ainar, I slowly look around. And as I see the monument in front of the dead-end wall, a strange feeling wells up inside me.

Really, the dimensional instability phenomenon is closely related to the starting point of the portal.

The news is both happy, and sad.

This means that if I’d decided even a minute earlier the first time, I wouldn’t have had to crawl on three legs with one leg in tatters!

Whoooooosh–!

As soon as I place my hand on the monolith, a halo bursts out and coalesces into a sphere.

“What is this?”

“It’s a portal for going up to the second floor.”

In other words, we’ve skipped all the intermediate processes of finding the route using the compass, fighting monsters as we meet them, and wandering in the dark.

At least a day or two has been saved.

“What?! The chieftain said it would take three days to find the portal! What kind of magic did you use?”

Even if I tell you, you won’t understand.

「First portal opened. EXP +2」

「The character’s level has risen.」

「Soul Power +10」

「Maximum absorbable essences rises by +1.」

To regain my original status as an old expert, I have to make good use of the bugs.

「Bjorn Yandel」

Level: 2 (New +1)

Body: 46 / Mind: 36 / Ability: 4 (New +3)

Item Level: 202

Combat Index: 136.5 (New +3)

「You have entered the Goblin Forest on the second floor. 」

Finding myself floating about 3m up in the air, I quickly regained my balance and landed on my two feet.

Step!

Yeah, I’d practiced this.

While wrestling with the barbarians.

“Ugh!”

Watching Ainar fall and pound the ground with her buttocks, I could feel my own growth anew.

I could now understand Erwen, who’d smirked at me, to some extent.

“Ugh, my ass is numb.”

It was pretty funny to watch.

Well, she was athletic, so she’d learn to land properly in no time.

“What is it? You look sad?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Leaning around, I took out my watch and set it to 0:05.

The plan had been to do it right away after opening my eyes, but I’d forgotten.

Still, I moved it forward by 5 minutes, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

“… Ainar, do you feel it too?”

“What do you mean?”

“It feels like my heart is pounding.”

Maybe I should describe it as a sensation of something denser than blood pouring into my veins and filling me up from the inside?

It was like that from the moment I crossed the portal, and now I could feel it clearly.

What was this?

After I explained the symptoms, Ainar quickly made a diagnosis.

“Looks like your soul level has risen! Congratulations!”

Ah, so I’d leveled up.

[Dungeon and Stone] also has levels.

Soul power is based on level. In other words, as you level up, MP, the resource required to use abilities, increases, and the total number of absorbable essences also increases.

For example, at level 1, I could only absorb one essence, but…

At level 2, up to two would be possible.

Well, you’d have to come across two essence drops for that to count.

“It’s amazing. You haven’t even caught any monsters yet, but your soul still rose in rank!”

“No wonder. Opening the portal for the first time must’ve been recognized as an achievement.”

Achievement is a term that means a feat that gives you experience points.

“Um, what does ‘recognized as an achievement’ mean?”

Ah.

Well, once you reach a certain level, ‘speedr​uns’ are the easiest way to increase your experience.

[Dungeon & Stone] is a game with a slightly unusual growth system.

You can only get experience points from the same monster once and only the first time. Therefore, just like filling out a book of pictures, you have to defeat various different monsters to get exp and level up.

Uh, wait, wasn’t this a bit dangerous?

“… Ainar, this is a secret between you and me. Do you understand?”

“Secret? What do you mean?”

“I was the first to open the portal. This has to be kept secret. If anyone asks, tell them that it took us two days to get to the second floor.”

Opening the portal only gave 2 exp. In other words, it was equivalent to about two level 9 monsters…

‘But unlike hunting monsters, achievements can be repeated to accumulate exp.’

Therefore, adventurers who’ve reached a certain level stake it all on speedruns.

Because whether you can hunt a monster or not is decided by various factors – if you’re a good match-up against it in combat, its zone of activity, if you have a wizard in your party or not, the nature of the god your cleric worships, etc.

If you reach some kind of limit, you can try using achievements to break through.

But to do that from the start?

Only I knew this trick, and it was my ticket to easy mode.

If this got spread around, it won’t end well for me.

“I swear on my honour as a warrior.”

Was my expression too serious?

The look in Ainar’s eyes changed, and she even made an oath although I hadn’t asked her to. It did make me feel pretty relieved, but we still needed to move quickly.

“We have to run.”

Adventurers would start pouring in here in a few hours. And if they saw the two of us here who looked like rookies, they’d start doubting.

How did two rookies manage to get here earlier than the veterans?

It was best to not be seen at all.

As always, I was more scared of adventurer bastards than the actual monsters.

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.