Chapter 5
That night, back at the hotel, I opened the Dungeon Bank app and grinned at the number 8,806 yen.
It was the first money I'd ever earned in the dungeon.
What should I do? Maybe buy my little sister a present. No, that dumb sister of mine would definitely say, "Huh? A present? I'd honestly rather have cash," making me feel miserable.
Actually, before that, shouldn't I pay back the money I borrowed from my old man?
All told, I owe him about 200,000 yen.
So, what to do with the money I earned? Well, first, I'll make 200,000 yen, dump it all into my dad's account in one go, send him a smug message like "Money returned," and *then* think about it.
I fell asleep, woke up in the morning, and checked my Daily Mission.
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★Daily Mission★
Keep up the steady effort every day!
'The Promised Victory at Your Fingertips'
Snap your fingers while shouting "Excalibur."
0/1,000
Consecutive days: Day 3
Steady Rank: Bronze (1.0x multiplier)
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"Huh?"
No way, a duplicate?
Even if it's a duplicate, why this one? This is the worst. Punishment game time.
──4 hours later
"Calibur! Calibur! Calibur!"
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★Daily Mission★
Keep up the steady effort every day!
'The Promised Victory at Your Fingertips'
Snap your fingers while shouting "Excalibur."
1,000/1,000
★Today's Daily Mission Complete!★
Reward: Ancestral Wisdom C (10,000 EXP)
1,000 EXP
Consecutive days: Day 4
Steady Rank: Bronze (1.0x multiplier)
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Punishment game over.
I'll keep using Ancestral Wisdom C liberally too.
Pikon pikon!
The number of level-up sounds had decreased. Guess leveling up was getting harder.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like Calibur finished faster than yesterday. Getting used to it? Or just numb to the shame?
Today, too, I walked and took a bus to the Class 3 dungeon.
After being seen off by the ever-cheerful Shurado in the morning, I bought a cheap shoulder bag at the Dungeon Foundation's shop. Yesterday, I only collected four crystals, so I carried them in one hand, but if my haul got bigger, that wouldn't work anymore.
I entered the dungeon and took out monsters with two finger snaps. Since I was getting used to it, I decided to descend to the second floor. The first floor was inefficient for leveling and crystal gathering.
There seemed to be multiple staircases connecting the floors, but this time, I descended while checking the dungeon map shared by a predecessor on the app.
The stairs were incredibly long—so much so that I wondered if I'd descended over 100 meters. The layers seemed separated by thick bedrock.
I didn't know how tough the second-floor monsters would be.
Cautiously advancing, I spotted a Chihuahua. No, wait, a monster.
"Calibur."
With the now-habitual Calibur phrase, I snapped my fingers. The monster toppled over. It got up and charged. I snapped again. And again.
──In the end, it took eight snaps to take it down.
On the second floor, 'Finger Snap Lv2' (8 HP cost) seemed sufficient.
I wandered the dungeon, heading where fewer human footprints led, taking down monsters.
About two hours passed. I fought over ten times and collected six crystals. But my head was spinning.
I'd lost too much HP.
As expected, an HP-draining playstyle has sustainability issues.
Just then, another monster appeared.
I turned it to charcoal with an 8-HP-cost finger snap.
By the way, 'Finger Snap Lv2' (8 HP cost) wasn't just sparks anymore—it had enough firepower to set enemies ablaze properly.
Pikon!
My level had increased. But dungeons in reality aren't so forgiving—leveling up didn't fully restore my HP.
"Huh? What's this?"
I found an anomalous substance.
It was shaped like a syringe.
The item display read 'Blue Blood.'
Creepy. I checked the item details.
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'Blue Blood'
A medical tool used by ancient sorcerers.
Refills for 10 MP. Restores 100 HP upon use.
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It looked like an unsanitary syringe.
The glass container was moldy and cloudy, and the needle seemed rusted.
Clearly not something meant for human use, but...
"Not as painful as I thought."
Mustering courage, I jabbed it into my forearm.
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Akagi Hideo
Level 26
HP 60/218
MP 60/70
Skills
'Finger Snap Lv2'
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Stabbing with an empty syringe refilled MP.
Then, once the syringe was filled with blue liquid (probably MP?), stabbing again...
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Akagi Hideo
Level 26
HP 160/218
MP 60/70
Skills
'Finger Snap Lv2'
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Amazing.
This was a reusable recovery item.
I carefully stored 'Blue Blood' in my bag and kept fighting monsters.
Effectively, for 10 MP, my HP increased by 100.
My combat sustainability had improved several times over.
Pikon, pikon, pikon, pikon.
I checked the time. I'd been down here over ten hours.
But I wasn't tired at all. If anything, my body felt a bit warmer.
I found the stairs to the third floor.
Both HP and MP were still remaining. I could still go on. With that thought, I decided to descend to the third floor.