Level-up Maniac, Level up in Modern Dungeons - Episode 14

“Phew…”

　He picked up the thief and warrior’s magic stones, put them in his backpack, and took a deep breath.

　I defeated it.

　And all this without even receiving a single blow.

Although it wasn’t good in terms of efficiency in running the course, the HP consumed by “Fighting Spirit” recovered over time, so it was probably within the acceptable range.

　Once I’ve calmed down, I display my status and check my experience points.

　The experience points he gained from this battle were a whopping 200.

　The experience points gained from monsters can be calculated using the following formula:

　Race EXP x Level x Class Modifier = Experience Points Earned

　The race experience points for goblins are “10” and for slimes are “5”. For normal goblins, this is multiplied by the level. Monsters with specific classes, such as thieves and warriors, are further multiplied by a “class correction value”.

　Right now, the thief and warrior are probably both level 4. So the math goes like this:

　Thief: 10 x 4 x 2 = 80

　Warrior: 10 x 4 x 3 = 120

　Even if you fight three goblins on the second floor, you can only get 70 experience points at best. But on the third floor, you only get this much experience from fighting two goblins. The efficiency of leveling is way off.

　Well, that just means the goblins have gotten stronger… but more than that, it’s probably because I’ve gotten stronger.

　According to the Modern Dungeon Strategy Wiki, the appropriate level for the third floor is 7 to 8. However, this is only if you form a party with at least the same number of enemies.

　I don’t know what the appropriate level for solo play is, but it seems like it’s above the appropriate level for at least two opponents. Probably. I don’t know.

“I’m a bit worried about what will happen when I get hit by an attack… but oh well, I guess it’ll be alright.”

　Besides, I didn’t take any damage in the end, so it’s no problem, hahaha!

　I went forward in search of more experience.

　●◯●

“-That was close!! I seriously nearly died…!!”

　The staircase connects the second and third floors.

　After running into that place, which was a kind of safe area, I muttered, my shoulders rising and falling violently as I breathed irregularly.

　Huh? What?

　Goblins! A horde of goblins!

　After that, I encountered a group of three goblins. The group consisted of one thief, one warrior, and one swordsman.

　I somehow managed to defeat him. I used up 8 HP with 《Fighting Spirit》 and ended up getting hit by an attack from the Swordsman, but I still managed to win.

　When the sword slashed across his torso, I panicked for a moment, thinking “Is he dead?!”, but although his clothes and skin were cut, it seemed the blade did not reach any muscle.

　The strength of a level 4 Goblin Swordsman is, frankly speaking, on par with that of a top athlete. He also has the skill of a swordsman. Even if the sword he was using was crude, it would not be surprising if it had the power to scatter organs.

　But my stomach isn’t that bad.

　The reason for this can only be attributed to the effect of HP and Endurance. As long as you have HP, damage to your body is reduced by checking your Endurance and Spirit values.

　The problem with this is that HP isn’t taken over completely, but rather reduced.

　Just like when I killed a thief or a warrior, if you have excessive attack power, you can kill them in one hit, and even if they have HP remaining, if they get cut in a vital spot like the neck, they will normally die, depending on how much they bleed.

　So, this is my current homepage.

《HP》16/45

He had used up 12 HP with 《Fighting Spirit》. Subtracting that, he had 33 HP remaining. The only attack he had taken was from the Swordsman. In other words, the damage was 17.

　Since I couldn’t even defend properly, it might be considered a critical hit.

　In the first place, the Swordsman is likely the monster with the highest attack power on this floor.

　But even so, it’s still dangerous. My base endurance is low, but with 《Fighting Spirit》 it has risen to 21.

　One more level.

　It should become a lot easier if I can just level up one more time.

　At low levels or when one’s stats are low, damage-increasing skills are more beneficial, so I had prioritized allocating skill points to “Goblin Killer,” but now it would be better to raise the level of “Fighting Spirit.”

　It feels like if I increase my agility, I’ll be able to avoid attacks.

“Damn, was it too much of a stretch to go solo after all…?!”

　Frustrated, I removed the leather bib and took off the top half of my clothes. I disinfected the wound in my armpit with the disinfectant I had bought in case something like this happened, and stopped the bleeding with the gauze and bandages I had also bought.

　Then I put my clothes and bib back on, sit down on the stairs and have an early lunch.

　After resting for an hour and washing down six rice balls I bought at the convenience store with tea, my HP had recovered considerably.

《HP》39/45

“I’ll run away from those four. And…maybe the Madness effect is unnecessary.”

　I thought about it during my break and realized that if I hadn’t used Madness, the damage would have been a little less. Also, with just Fighting Spirit, Strength should have risen to 42.

　He has skills that increase damage, and his “Fighting Spirit” alone should be enough to take him down in one hit…

“Okay… let’s try again.”

　I pulled myself together and decided to fight on the third floor again.

　●◯●

　Carefully, I kept my breath low as I explored the third floor.

　If he encountered a group of four, he would run away without fighting. Even without using his 《Fighting Spirit》, their agility was already so high that even a thief couldn’t catch up with them, so it wasn’t difficult to escape.

　If there are two opponents, there’s no problem.

　As he had guessed, he had been able to defeat him without using Madness, and with just Fighting Spirit, without taking any damage.

　The problem is the group of three.

　The Swordsman has the highest attack power, but the Warrior is the most troublesome. It’s annoying that the attack can be blocked by a shield. Above all, if you have trouble with the Warrior, you will be surrounded by the remaining Goblins and will be at high risk of being attacked.

　In that case, as we did at the beginning, you will need to knock the warrior away with the first hit and use that time to kill the thief or swordsman.

　However, while defeating one, he is attacked by the other.

　There was no point in fighting while paying a little attention to positioning. The goblins on this floor seemed to know how to fight in groups, and they would always surround or try to get behind you. There was no way for one person to defend themselves from being attacked.

　So I decided to fight, prepared to take a hit.

　In fact, after being slashed by the Swordsman, I learned that if you have plenty of HP, unless you are slashed in a vital spot, the chances of receiving a fatal injury are low. You can withstand it with your HP barrier.

　However, the Swordsman’s attacks hurt a lot, so if you want to take damage, you should use a Thief or a Warrior.

　There will always be at least one warrior in a group of three, so knock the warrior away with your first attack, and if there is a swordsman, kill him quickly.

　Immediately afterwards, another monster will attack, but if a Thief successfully avoids the weak spot, the maximum damage will be “6”, and even if a Warrior, the maximum damage will be “10”.

　After being attacked, I knocked him away, knocked the approaching warrior away again, and killed the thief or warrior in the meantime. Then I killed the last remaining warrior.

　By the way, even if there were three in the group, I decided to run away if there were two swordsmen.

　With this, I’ll be fighting a pack of three, and I’ll only consume about 20 HP per battle.

　However, after each battle, you have to return to the stairs to receive treatment and recover HP.

　The number of battles has decreased significantly compared to yesterday. It’s fine if I can encounter two groups in a row, but if I encounter three groups I’ll be forced to take a break for an hour.

　I thought I might as well just deal with the two in the group and let the rest run away, but it didn’t work out that way.

　If you run away from a maze-like dungeon multiple times, the chances of getting lost increase. I found myself unable to stray far from the stairs.

　Yesterday, I encountered monsters about eight times per hour on average, but today, it’s only about one or two times per hour (not counting the ones that escaped).

　It’s far too time-inefficient compared to the amount of experience points you can gain.

　Still, I didn’t go back to the second floor. Even though it was less efficient, the experience points I could gain per hour on the third floor were slightly better.

　But that doesn’t mean the frustration goes away.

　The stress is so great that even a small amount of experience gained is not enough to make up for it.

　I used to love those goblins so much, but now I’m beginning to hate them.

　Perhaps because I had been injured many times, my stamina reached its limit by 4 pm that day as well, so I decided to recover my HP on the first floor before heading home.

　In the end, I couldn’t level up today.

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[Level] 『9』Experience points to next level 『7265』

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　This won’t make me feel good…