CH 32

Chapter 32: The Floor with Magic Casting Monsters

Yuto returned to his room and began looking through his Skill Board.

<<<<>>>>

Level 21 → 22

Skill Point: 5 → 6

<<<<>>>>

He completed all the Slaying Quests for monsters that appear up to the 5th Floor.

As a result, he gained a Level and a Skill Point.

Yuto: “I guess it wouldn’t go up that much.”

He completed 5 total Quests, but these were E-Rank monsters and only 100 monsters each.

Compared to the Quests that gave him more experience and rewards in the past, the difficulty level was relatively low, and as a result, his Level and Points barely rose.

But as little as it was, it was still something.

Yuto balls up and tightens his fist.

Yuto: “From tomorrow, we’re going into the D-Rank Floor. I should probably distribute these points.”

Yuto thinks carefully as he looks at the Skill Board.

After a while, Yuto raises one of his Skills.

<<<<>>>>

>>Skill Point: 6 → 1

>>Swordsmanship Lv 4 → 5

<<<<>>>>

Yuto: “With the Swordsmanship level this high, we should be able to avoid accidents.”

Yuto returned from a C-Rank Instant Dungeon alive.

And on top of that, the Dungeon Boss was a B-Rank Mithril Golem.

Although his future looked grim, Yuto was able to clear the Dungeon, and he also gained confidence from the experience as well.

His current status would have been just fine in a D-Rank area, but accidents can happen at any time.

Just in case, Yuto raised his Swordsmanship Skill Level to that of a B-Rank Adventurer standard.

At that moment, Yuto noticed that a weird symbol appeared on his Skill Board.

Yuto: “WHOA?! What is this?!”

<<<<>>>>

Techniques

├Swordsmanship Lv 5┬

├Spellcasting Lv 2

└Presence Detection Lv 2

<<<<>>>>

Behind the [Swordsmanship Lv 5] Skill Tree, a strange line appeared behind is showing ┬???.

Nothing else beyond that changed.

Yuto: “Hmmmmm…...OH! Is this a Skill Awakening?!”

With his extensive knowledge and experience as an Adventurer, Yuto recalled something that might fit the changes that he saw on his Skill Board.

A Skill Awakening is a higher-tier Skill above the Fundamental or Basic Skills.

The easiest example would be Spellcasting.

For instance, Eliz’ [HEAL] can be upgraded to [HIGH HEAL] with sufficient Level Ups.

This phenomenon is generally known as Skill Awakening.

There are other types of Skill Awakenings, but Status information is rarely shared outside your party.

Because of that, Skill Awakening information has been very limited.

Yuto: “So this may be a Skill Awakening……?!”

Yuto trembles in excitement at the possibility of a huge, looming transformation to his Skill set. But he regains his composure, and tilts his head in wonder.

Yuto: “But what does this mean then? It doesn’t look like a regular Awakening. It still says [???] next to it, so it looks like it’s a step before Awakening….?”

He tries tapping the section, but nothing happens.

It looks like it hasn’t fully established itself as a complete Skill.

Yuto: “I guess once the [???] changes, then the Awakening is complete?”

Yuto speculates that there is some condition to make the [???] change into a proper Skill name.

But at this point, those conditions are unknown.

Yuto: “Hmmmm…. The biggest possibility is that this will appear after clearing a Quest, but I don’t know which Quest this is related to……”

Yuto thinks harder and tilts his head further. He stares intently at his Quest list, but none stand out to him.

Yuto: “I guess I’ll find out eventually as I keep Clearing Quests……”

Yuto decides to put this aside for now, and he looks forward to the day when the Skill Awakens.

Yuto continues looking through the progression of his existing Quests.

<<<<>>>>

[Use a Spell 100 Times] (56/100)

[Receive or Dodge an Attack 100 Times] (0/100)

<<<<>>>>

Yuto: “Yeah, I didn’t think I would be able to clear the Spellcasting Quest, but it looks like I’ll be able to clear it tomorrow. I haven’t progressed at all with the [Receive or Dodge Attacks Quest]....”

In order to lessen Eliz’ suspicion, Yuto decreased the frequency in which he used spells.

Because of that, he had 56 out of the 100 attempts completed, and at this current rate, he should be done by the end of the day tomorrow.

The problem was the [Receive or Dodge Attacks 100 Times].

Yuto was always conscious of making sure he dodges attacks when fighting with Monsters.

But Yuto is now able to defeat E-Rank monsters with 1 strike.

Just thinking about dodging in combat was not sufficient to fulfill this Quest requirement.

But to allow the opponent to attack first, dodge, and finish off the monster would look very unnatural from the perspective of an observer, and Yuto wanted to avoid such methods.

Dodging is still acceptable.

Purposely taking hits would be an automatic red flag.

Eliz would be more worried about his mental and emotional health for taking such suicidal tactics, and Yuto himself wanted to avoid doing anything that risky.

His opponents are monsters.

No matter what, you should never purposefully try to take damage during a battle.

Yuto: “This may be a lot harder to clear than I thought…..”

This Quest is difficult, but [Receive 100 Spells] is equally problematic for Yuto.

Although he has reservations for performing this Quest, he is equally curious about its reward.

Yuto: “Even if I wanted to Clear this, I need to get better armor first……”

Yuto decided to put aside this Quest for now.

The next day, he meets up with Eliz in the Temple Square, and they both return to the Dungeon.

Today, they will start from the 6th Floor.

They will officially start the Guild Request.

The 6th Floor begins with Dark Rabbits. They are the same height as Goblins, but their faces are much cuter.

But even so, you can’t underestimate them.

Dark Rabbits are D-Rank monsters, and depending on the role it plays, it can serve as the Soldier or Chief of a group.

Out of all the roles, the most troublesome monsters for Yuto are the Magicians.

From this floor on, the monsters will begin using spells.

These are the very first floors of the Base Dungeon so the spells will not be as powerful.

But Yuto is a close-combat specialist, while Magicians are long-range specialists.

Before he can reach the Magician, his opponent will be able to fire a spell.

If he meets a group with a Magician, he will have to prepare to take some damage.

Yuto: “...........it’s here.”

Yuto senses the monsters’ presence approaching.

He draws out his katana in a fluid motion and readies his stance.

From the farside of the hallway, two Dark Rabbits appear.

One carries a sword and is probably a soldier.

The other is―――

Yuto: “Ugh! It’s a Magician!”