Level-up Maniac, Level up in Modern Dungeons - Episode 3

“Excuse me, do you have a moment?”

“Guuuh? Guuuuuuuuuuh!!”

“I apologize for being rude, but would it be alright if I took some of your experience points?”

“Gugyarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”

“–Shut up!! Hurry up and give me the experience points!! Oww! Oww Oww Oww!! Oww Oww Experience Points!!”

　An hour had passed since I arrived at the Shinjuku dungeon, and I was steadily progressing through my exploration and defeating monsters.

　In the past hour, I’ve defeated three goblins and two slimes. And now, I’ve succeeded in killing one more goblin.

　In other words, in one hour, I defeated a total of six monsters.

　If this were a game, it would be extremely inefficient. In an RPG, you should be able to easily defeat over 100 small enemies in the beginning in an hour.

　But this is reality. In reality, fighting consumes stamina, and even killing a single goblin takes a considerable amount of time if you’re at a very low level. And most of all, you can’t just run around the map and encounter monsters in a few seconds.

　Even though the Shinjuku dungeon is unpopular, you still have to walk around quite a bit to find monsters.

　It seems that in a dungeon filled with people, it’s common to walk around for over an hour without being able to defeat a single slime.

　Well, in any case, compared to the average pace of a novice explorer, it was a reasonably smooth start.

　And now, just as he had defeated the sixth monster of the day, a goblin, and was about to pick up the magic stone it had dropped, it happened.

“–Hmm? Oh? Ah!?”

　Suddenly, a power welled up from deep within my body. My body and mind, which had been consumed by fatigue, felt awakened. I felt energy welling up in my whole body.

　It’s here! It’s here!

　Immediately afterwards, as if to confirm my hunch, an impersonal female voice that echoed only in my head gave me some information.

　–Your level has increased.

　moment.

　It’s almost like a conditioned reflex.

　Compared to the usual “it,” I felt a far more intense pleasure surge through my brain.

“— Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!”

　It’s like my brain has exploded, and the brain juice is overflowing and won’t stop…!!

　I arched my back like a shrimp and convulsed violently.

　Her whole body was absorbing the pleasure felt from the overflowing pleasure substances.

　Is this… is this what leveling up means in real life?!

　Naturally, the feeling is incomparable to that of playing a game…!!

　This, this… It’s making me go crazy!!

“…! …!!”

　I was immersed in the afterglow of pleasure for a while, my eyes rolled back, drool dripping from the corners of my mouth, and I was trembling violently, but–

“-Hi.”

“…Huh?”

　I thought I heard someone’s voice nearby, and it brought me back to my senses.

　Looking around, I saw a stranger standing in the corner of a passageway a short distance away. A drone camera was floating silently nearby.

　It was a drone developed about a year ago by combining levitation technology used in magic items discovered in dungeons with existing scientific technology, and it is currently becoming increasingly popular.

　Since it allows you to see yourself and leaves your hands free, it is a popular item among dungeontubers who publicly broadcast their exploration activities.

　But unfortunately, it was so expensive that I couldn’t even buy it with the part-time job money I dedicated my youth to.

　My eyes met those of the bourgeois man who was accompanied by this high-end drone.

　moment,

“H, hiiiiiiiiii!!”

“…………”

　As soon as my brother met my eyes, he turned on his heels and ran off.

　…Could it be that he had been seen?

　I’m so embarrassed. I feel like I’ve been caught in a shameless situation.

　Next time, I’ll be more careful if there are people around — No, never mind. It would be a waste to hold back on the pleasure of leveling up!! From now on, I’m going to enjoy it with all my might!!

“Phew… Now then (wise man time).”

　The pleasure of leveling up was more intense than I had imagined. Once the afterglow had worn off, I put the goblin’s magic stone back into my backpack and moved on to more important work.

“status”

　As I muttered that, a floating holographic display appeared in my field of vision instantly.

　You all know it, the status screen.

　By the way, in this state, only I can see it. However, by saying “Status Open” or by thinking it in my mind, others can also see it.

　The version of the status that only I can see can be seen on the surface, but the “Status Open” version cannot be opened on the surface. It seems that the ability to show status to others is also limited to dungeons.

　Anyway, back to the main topic.

　Anyway, let me show you my status after I leveled up.

————————————————–

[Name] Takeo Samejima

[Level] 『1』 Experience points to next level 『95』

《HP》25/25

《MP》18/18

Strength: 13

Sturdy: 12

Intelligence: 6

《Mind》12

Agility: 11

Dexterity: 10

[STP] 『5』

[SP] 『1』

[Skills] None

[Title] None

————————————————–

　I’ll give a brief explanation of each status item here. Although if you’ve played a bit of games, I’m sure I don’t need to explain it.

　Although the current level is “1”, the level has increased. When you first acquire the status, your level is “0”.

《Strength》 is pretty much what it sounds like. 《Sturdiness》 refers to the sturdiness of the body. 《Intelligence》 is related to the speed of thought and the power of magic skills, and 《Spirit》 is resistance to magic skills. 《Agility》 affects the speed of movement and recognition speed, and 《Dexterity》 is an ability value related to precise manipulation of the body and magical power (MP).

There’s no need to explain MP. It can be called Magic Points or Mahou Points, whichever you prefer.

　However, HP is a bit special, and it is not the so-called physical strength. Like MP, it is a mysterious energy that sometimes acts as a shield – or so I should say.

　The sum of their “Strength” and “Toughness” becomes their “HP”, and the sum of their “Intelligence” and “Spirit” becomes their “MP”.

The average of each ability score, excluding HP and MP, at level 0 and adult age is said to be around 10. Since I trained quite a bit in high school to become an explorer, I’m a little higher than average.

　Huh? Intelligence? Huh???

　…That’s strange. Maybe there’s a bug in the status. I’ll have to contact the admins and get them to fix it.

　Anyway, getting back to the main topic… It seems that at the top end of humanity – that is, athletes, Olympic athletes, soldiers, and the like – some people have the highest ability score, reaching “20” at level 0.

　It is said that this number is probably the limit of basic human beings.

　Next up – [STP] stands for “Status Points.” Ability values ​​do not increase automatically when you level up. Instead, you can strengthen each ability value by allocating the status points you gain when you level up, except for HP and MP.

[SP] stands for “Skill Points.” Skills that can be acquired vary based on the individual’s qualities and the experience they have gained up to that point. Skills can be acquired using skill points, and by allocating points to acquired skills, it is possible to grow the “skill level” up to a maximum of 5 levels.

　However, unlike [STP], which increases the number of points you can earn every 10 levels, [SP] only gives you 1 point each time you level up, no matter what level you are. What’s more, there is only one exception to the way to level up a skill, other than by allocating skill points. You can only level up a skill by allocating points.

　It doesn’t seem to be the usual system of leveling up by using skills.

Therefore, since it is impossible to acquire all possible skills and raise them to the maximum level, you will need to think carefully about how to use your points.

　Finally, regarding 【Titles】, I can probably explain this later.

　Unlike the explorers who stream videos on sites like DungeonTube or Yo! Tube, I probably won’t get any kind of 【Title】.

　More importantlyーー,

“Let’s start by acquiring skills.”

　I tapped the [Skills] section on the status screen.

　A separate window will then appear with a list of available skills. You can activate a skill by selecting it from the list and allocating skill points to it.

　The following are the skills I can currently acquire.

————————————————–

[List of skills that can be acquired]

“Water Breathing”, “Increase/Decrease Water Resistance”, “Seeker”, “Herculean Strength”, “Swiftness”, “Endurance”, “Increase Damage When Equipped with Impact Weapons”, “Increase Damage When Equipped with Swords”, “Provoke”

————————————————–

　…Well, that’s how it is at the beginning. It seems that talented people can acquire magic-related skills at this point, but such people are a very small minority.

　On the other hand, not all of the skills I can acquire are uncommon. They feel just normal.

　–Well, even so, I do swim, swing a wooden sword, and seriously run and do strength training, so the number of skills I can acquire may be greater than average.

　By the way, speaking of skills, there are no technical skills like 《Swordsmanship》 or 《Spearmanship》 that are familiar in many works of fiction. According to the popular website “Modern Dungeon Strategy Wiki,” which explains things like dungeons, status, and skills, it seems that techniques that can be acquired through training do not manifest as skills.

　Skills seem to be limited to supernatural abilities (such as magical skills or 《Underwater Breathing》, abilities impossible for humans), auxiliary abilities, or abilities that increase stats or damage.

　It’s about learning the technique yourself.

“Hmm, which skill should I take… I’ve already decided.”

　I muttered as I looked at the 【List of Acquirable Skills】.