Chapter 22 - Level Up (2)

The library, getting accustomed to the city, combat training.

I skipped the entire daily routine I had followed for the past month. Those weren't the things an explorer needed to do on the day the Labyrinth opened.

[08 : 10]

As soon as I woke up, I skipped breakfast and ran to the place where I'd agreed to meet Aynar. I'd heard that arriving even a little late meant waiting several extra hours.

"Over here! Bjorn, son of Jandel!"

Surprisingly, Aynar had arrived before me.

"... How long have you been here?"

"Didn't you say you'd leave me behind if I was late? So I slept out front! Hurry over! We're first!"

"..."

There were still thirty minutes until opening, but a long line already stretched from the entrance. Thanks to Aynar, though, we were able to enter the Explorer Guild as soon as the doors opened.

"How may I help you?"

"We're here for Unity magic."

"Is your team just the two of you?"

"Yes."

"Please place your hands here together."

We followed the instructions, and the crystal ball emitted a faint green light.

"Two Grade 9 explorers, then. The fee is 15,000 Stone."

15,000 Stone...

If I hadn't cut back on living expenses, things might have been a little tight. I obediently opened my pouch and paid. It hurt, but the expense was unavoidable. Starting points were random when entering the Labyrinth, but getting this spell beforehand would at least let us start in the same place.

"How do you determine an explorer's grade?"

"We measure the total amount of Essence engraved upon the soul."

"I see. Then does the cost of Unity magic increase with each grade?"

"Of course."

Ha. Even this didn't have to be exactly like the game.

"All done. Please note that it will last for only twenty-four hours."

"Understood."

By the time we finished our business and left the Explorer Guild, it was a little past nine.

"Let's go back to my inn to eat. The food is quite good."

"An inn? You mean they cook for you at the inn?"

What sort of life had she been living?

When I tactfully asked, Aynar replied as though it were nothing.

"Usually, I bought the same bread we ate in the Labyrinth."

Ah, the stuff that cost twenty Stone apiece.

I'd tried it myself to save on food, but I'd given up pretty quickly. I didn't know how it worked, but what had been fairly edible in the Labyrinth was hard as a rock here.

'I guess that's why they called it stone bread...'

But she'd eaten nothing else for a month?

Feeling sorry for her, I ordered her meat and even some stew, prompting Aynar to swear her loyalty.

"Bjorn! I'll walk into a pit of fire if you tell me to! Just don't abandon me!"

After that tearful meal, we went upstairs to organize our backpacks.

"Be thorough. We could be in trouble if you need something and realize you forgot to bring it."

"Don't worry! I have nothing to bring in the first place!"

Time passed surprisingly quickly as I checked my equipment and neatly packed exploration supplies and consumables into my backpack.

"Then let's get some sleep."

"I've never seen such a soft bed in my life. It looks big enough for two! And it doesn't smell!"

With our preparations complete and everything ready for us to enter the Labyrinth at a moment's notice, we lay down side by side to sleep.

It was pretty cramped with her beside me, though. There had been room to spare with Erwin.

"Even if you aren't sleepy, force yourself to get some rest. We won't be sleeping properly for a while—"

Hmm. What was I worried about?

SNORRRRRRE!

Before I could even finish, I heard the authentic, native snoring of a born-and-bred barbarian. I chuckled and closed my eyes too.

How much time passed after that?

[20 : 30]

We woke up a little early and had one last meal downstairs. We splurged on the special, at eight hundred Stone per person.

"What in the world is this taste?"

Aynar, who had been making a fuss all through the meal, froze after biting into the cream pie served for dessert.

"I-is it magic? I-I can't stop crying."

"Ah, that is what we call 'sweetness.'"

"I feel... I ought to work hard in life from now on..."

It hadn't been my intention, but I seemed to have given her some serious motivation.

"Let's go."

We gathered our belongings and stepped out into the night. Unlike usual, people were walking the streets everywhere. Most were armed like me and carrying large backpacks.

As I said, not all of them were. There were also barbarians with nothing but a weapon on their otherwise bare bodies. They looked like they'd just finished their coming-of-age ceremony today and entered the city...

"Halt! I think we're lost."

"Impossible! We must reach the Labyrinth before the appointed time!"

"Parthun is unfit to lead!"

So this happened every month.

How did these guys ever make it to the Labyrinth?

Just as I was seriously pondering that question, Aynar approached them and offered some advice.

"Follow those people, and you'll reach the Labyrinth."

The young warriors looked at her with gratitude, their eyes full of respect for a successful senior.

"Thank you. We will repay this kindness!"

Watching the barbarians walk away, Aynar rubbed her nose.

"... Heh heh. Brings back memories."

I wished she wouldn't act like it was ancient history. From where I stood, she hadn't changed much at all.

"Everyone, stand back!"

Thousands of people had already gathered in the Dimensional Plaza. As we waited among them for midnight, light began bursting out from the center. Small at first, the mass of light grew in an instant, shimmering in the shape of a sphere.

"You may now enter!"

At the official's shout, the closest explorers swiftly threw themselves into the portal. I led Aynar out to the edge, away from the surging crowd.

"Bjorn, aren't we going in?"

"Wait."

Dozens of the explorers gathered in the plaza disappeared every second, yet the crowd remained. Others kept arriving just in time to enter.

Only about forty minutes after the portal opened did the bustling Dimensional Plaza become relatively quiet, with the crowd holding at seven or eight hundred.

"... Shouldn't we go in now?"

Having already swallowed tens of thousands of explorers, the portal had grown smaller. But I kept waiting.

Aynar wasn't entirely oblivious. Her tone changed.

"Bjorn, what are you waiting for?"

Well, that would take a while to explain... And I didn't even know if it would work.

Still, we had plenty of time left, so I decided to give her a brief explanation.

"I'm planning to enter when the dimension becomes unstable. The book said it happens once a century, but if we make use of this phenomenon—"

"I don't know what that means, but I'll do as you say."

"...?"

"I have a feeling I won't understand anyway!"

Honestly, I'd expected as much. It was annoying that she'd asked only to respond like that... But not having to explain every little thing I did might actually be convenient.

"The gate will close shortly! Please stand back!"

At last, the portal's light began to fade. Not a single explorer remained now. Only then did I slowly walk toward the Labyrinth with Aynar.

Seeing us, an official shouted.

"It's dangerous to enter now!"

I pretended not to hear. I didn't know why it was dangerous. I didn't understand why they thought so.

There was even a book with statistics about this phenomenon, so they clearly had to be aware of it...

"B-Bjorn! That important-looking person says it's dangerous! We must get back!"

Why didn't they think to take advantage of it?

* * *

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Hmm. Was there any point in counting?

The moment my instincts told me the time was right, I spoke.

"Now. Let's go."

"Gack!"

I shoved Aynar in the back and entered the Labyrinth along with her.

A flash!

Light blinded me, and when I opened my eyes again, deep darkness greeted me. That meant my plan had worked.

"I can't! I can't see! We should have listened to that important-looking person! Bjorn is an idiot!"

"Aynar, calm down."

I hurriedly took a torch out of my backpack and lit it, and Aynar regained some composure.

"W-what on earth happened?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"That... is true!"

Having easily satisfied Aynar, I calmly surveyed our surroundings. A strange feeling came over me when I spotted the stone monument in front of a dead end.

As I'd thought, dimensional instability was closely tied to the timing of entry into the portal. That made me happy, but also rather sad.

Didn't this mean that if I'd made up my mind just one minute sooner on my first entry, I wouldn't have had to crawl around on three limbs with one foot fucked to hell?

WHOOOOOSH!

When I placed my hand on the monument, a mass of light burst forth and formed a sphere.

"What is this?"

"A portal to the second floor."

In other words, we'd skipped the whole process of navigating by compass, fighting monsters as we encountered them, and wandering through the darkness. We'd saved at least a day or two.

"What?! The chieftain said it would take three days to find a portal! What sort of magic did you use?"

As if she'd understand even if I told her.

「You are the first to open the portal. EXP +2」

「Your character's Level has increased.」

「Magic Power increases by +10.」

「Maximum absorbable Essences increases by +1.」

You've got to know how to exploit bugs if you want to be a veteran player.

* * *

「Bjorn Jandel」

Level: 2 (New +1)

Physical: 66 / Mental: 37 / Ability: 11 (New +10)

Item Level: 218

Overall Combat Index: 168.5 (New +10)

* * *

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

Appearing about three meters above the ground, I quickly found my balance and landed on both feet.

TAP!

I'd practiced, after all. While wrestling with the barbarians.

"Aack!"

Watching Aynar fall flat on her butt really brought home how much I'd improved. I also felt I could understand a little of how Erwin had felt when she giggled at me.

"Ugh, my butt's numb."

It was pretty entertaining to watch. Though with her athletic ability, she'd soon learn to land properly.

"What is it? Why do you look disappointed?"

"It's nothing."

Brushing off the question, I took out my watch and set it to 12:05 a.m. I should have done that as soon as I opened my eyes, but I'd forgotten. Still, I'd set it five minutes fast, so it should be fine.

"... Aynar, do you feel it too?"

"Feel what?"

"It feels like my heart is vibrating."

How could I describe it? Something dense seemed to be flowing through my veins and filling my body. It had started the moment we came through the portal, and now I could feel it clearly.

What was it?

When I explained the symptoms, Aynar quickly diagnosed me.

"Your Spirit Status must have risen! Congratulations!"

Ah, so I'd leveled up.

[Dungeon and Stone] had levels too. As your Level increased, so did your Magic Power—in other words, MP, the resource needed to use abilities—and the total number of Essences you could absorb.

For example, at Level 1, I'd only been able to absorb a single Essence... but at Level 2, I could absorb up to two.

Well, neither slot would mean anything unless I actually found some Essences.

"How strange. Your Spirit Status rose even though we haven't killed a single monster yet!"

"There's nothing strange about it. Being the first to open the portal must have counted as an accomplishment."

Accomplishments were what they called EXP here.

"Hmm. Even that counts as an accomplishment?"

It did. In fact, once you reached a certain point, speedrunning was the easiest way to gain EXP.

[Dungeon and Stone] had a rather unusual progression system. You could only gain EXP from the same monster on the very first kill. To level up, you had to kill a variety of monsters, as though filling out a bestiary.

Uh, wait. Wasn't this a little dangerous?

"... Aynar, what happened here stays between us. Understood?"

"A secret? What do you mean?"

"Being the first to open the portal. Just that. If anyone asks, tell them it took us about two days to reach the second floor."

Opening a portal only gave two EXP, equivalent to about two Grade 9 monsters...

'But unlike monsters, you can earn it over and over.'

That was why adventurers who reached a certain point threw everything they had into speedrunning. The monsters they could hunt were inevitably limited by matchups, the districts they operated in, whether they had a mage, the characteristics of the god their priest served, and so on.

When they hit a wall, grinding accomplishments was the only way to break through.

But I could do this even at a low level?

I had to keep this exploit to myself and milk it for all it was worth. Nothing good would come of it getting out.

"I swear on my honor as a warrior."

Had my expression been that serious?

Aynar's gaze changed, and she even swore an oath without being asked. That reassured me considerably, but we still needed to move quickly.

"First, we need to leave this place."

In just a few hours, adventurers would start entering the second floor. They'd see us looking like beginners and start asking questions.

Who are you, and how did you get here before us?

Our best bet was not to be seen at all.

As always, those explorer bastards scared me more than the monsters.