Tamer 12
BGM: Wuthering Waves 2.8A MSQ Part 11[Please Help with subscribe]
Chapter 12: The 3rd Floor
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
Part 1
Next day.
「Oh, Kikyō. You're coming early again today, huh? I really think early risers are incredibly attractive. By the way… I’ve got an extra film ticket. If you’re free, would you come with me?」
「I’ve already seen that movie, so I’m good.」
「Ahh, true, watching the same thing twice is a waste of time. Sorry! Oh yeah, Kikyo-kun, you live in Aomori too, right? I just moved here, so tell me which supermarkets are good? I seriously know nothing about this area…」
Man, she’s coming on strong today.
Did she figure out how stupid-fast my level’s rising?
No way she’s just a receptionist. She’s totally some Dungeon Association agent. And she was wearing another super-revealing outfit to try and reel me in.
She’s definitely trying to dig for information using her charms. And if she ever tried to push things further and use her body to coax the truth out of me, I’d crumble instantly.
So I made up my mind from the start: I’m refusing all her invitations.
「I don’t really go shopping.」
「O-Oh… right…」
Damn. If she weren’t some undercover Dungeon Association operative, I’d be trailing after her like an obedient puppy…
God, I want a girlfriend.
「Well then, I’m off to do some exploring.」
「Take care out there, alright?」
「Yes.」
Wiping away the bitter regret of giving that seductive receptionist the cold shoulder, I stepped into the dungeon.
No sooner had I entered than the slimes and goblins I’d tamed popped into view. They always appear out of nowhere like some uncanny jump scare.
「Alright, today we’re hitting the 3rd floor. Everyone, get into position.」
After giving orders to my monster crew, I equipped the Quadra Gob-Sli club and the Quintuple Gob-Legs setup.
With that, eighteen monsters were treated as part of my gear—or even part of my body—giving me a ridiculous nineteen-times EXP boost when you include me. Pure cheat-tier equipment.
I even ran a few tests to see whether I could push the efficiency even further.
But if I want to boost efficiency any more, I’d have to add more monsters to either my weapon or my legs—and that’s where the problems start. If I add any more to the Quadra Gob-Sli club, it gets stupidly huge and impossible to use. And if I add more to the Quintuple Gob-Legs, I get so tall that I couldn’t keep my balance.
So yeah, the best balance between EXP efficiency and actual fighting was the setup I’ve got now.
「But man… this is convenient.」
All I had to do was order the 3rd-floor run, and the goblins wrapped around my legs immediately dashed off, already reaching the 2nd floor.
Being able to progress through floors automatically, even when I’m lost in thought, was a massive perk.
「Okay, 3rd floor means orcs. Everyone stay on your toes, yeah?」
Orcs are basically big pig monsters, pretty strong, super slow, and annoyingly tanky. If you’re a solo rear guard under level 25, they just shove you into a wall and that’s it. Dangerous stuff.
But I’m already level 43, so they were not a big deal.
Honestly, I could probably one-shot them at this point.
If I couldn’t, then all that goblin farming would’ve been a waste, since my efficiency wouldn’t improve at all.
If I couldn’t take an orc down in a single blow, then I’d just go back and grind on the 2nd floor a bit longer. Keeping things efficient was important, after all.
「Oh? Hey, look, an orc.」
「Pu-pugyaa!?」
Looks like we’d already made it to the 3rd floor without me realising, because there was this chubby little orc right in front of us.
The thing took one look at me, twisted its piggy face, and screamed. Fair enough—if I saw myself like this, I’d freak out too.
And the goblins stuck on my legs as the Quintuple Gob-Legs didn’t even bother to stop. They just dashed straight at the orc like it was nothing.
「ORAAAAA!」
「PUGYAAA!」
The orc let out a grotesque squeal as my Quadra Gob-Sli club smacked its head, and with a single blow, it crumpled to the ground before dissolving into smoke.
「Knew it. One hit was all it needed.」
And the EXP gained was 475. Divide that by 19, and you get 25. Which means—just like the internet said—one orc was worth about the same experience as four goblins.
I was going to try using Monster Taming on an orc at first, but the thing’s way too huge. No chance it’d work as a weapon or equipment.
If I want the best EXP efficiency, I need small monsters. Big ones are useless.
「Alright, keep running around the 3rd floor. From today, we’re farming those orcs.」
One orc gives 475 EXP. That was an insane amount of EXP. I could level up like crazy here.
So I’ll use this place as my main farming spot for a while, then head to the 4th floor once I’m past level 70, which was considered top-tier even for high-level explorers.
Normally, parties go to the 4th floor at around level 30.
But since no one really solos it—especially not rear guard types—the actual recommended level for solo runs was unknown.
All the more reason to grind myself up to a ridiculously safe level first.
◇◇◇
「Nice, racked up a good haul.」
The rhythm of battle hasn’t slowed at all compared to yesterday’s goblin hunt on the 2nd floor. Which means… the 3rd floor was the ideal place to farm levels.
「Status」
===
Status
Name： Sakura Kikyo
Occupation： Monster Tamer
Lv：50 ↑7
HP：174 ↑34
MP：276 ↑39
SP：19
Skill
Monster Taming19 Monster Recovery7 Monster Enhancement7 Monster Fusion Monster Reborn
Monster Evolution：NEW
Tamed Monster
GoblinLv50 SlimeLｖ50 GoblinLv50 SlimeLv50
GoblinLv50 GoblinLv50 GoblinLv50 GoblinLv50
GoblinLv50 GoblinLv49 GoblinLv49 GoblinLv49
GoblinLv49 GoblinLv49 GoblinLv49 GoblinLv49
GoblinLv49 SlimeLｖ49 SlimeLｖ49
EXP to next level: 22496
===
I’m basically a high-rank explorer now.
Just in the morning alone, I wiped out 220 orcs. In other words, my experience haul comes to 220 × 25 × 19 = a staggering 104,500 EXP.
Level 50 was supposed to be some giant wall or whatever.
Level 50 is meant to be the great wall separating the strong from the elite.
A sudden 50,000 EXP spike, followed by a steady climb of a thousand per level.
「At this point, I’m outright ignoring the level-50 wall.」
At this speed, level 70 is basically waving at me from down the road. I’ll be on the 4th floor in no time.
And that shiny new Monster Evolution skill? Yeah, not using it.
Normal tamers evolve their monsters to fight harder, but I use mine like weapons. If my goblin or slime suddenly bulks up like it’s hitting the gym, all I get is a heavier, harder-to-swing meat club.
As weapons, that’s nothing but a nuisance. Bigger means clunkier, and clunkier means worse.
If there were some creature that became smaller when it evolved, the skill would have potential… but I’ve never heard of anything like that.
「For the moment, the magic stone sales can come from the goblin stones I’ve saved up. As for this mountain of orc magic stones… I should probably hide them somewhere.」
Yeah, no way I’m getting comfy at this level. The Dungeon Association was my enemy. Total final-boss energy. I need to make sure they didn’t find anything out.
「Ah」
Even this deserted Aomori Dungeon still gets the occasional newbie wandering down to floor two.
With my luck, they’d trip over my secret stash, so I’d better haul all those goblin magic stones up to the 3rd floor.
If this were a novel, readers would probably roast me for grinding all day and shouting, "Where’s the damn plot!?"
But hey, real life doesn’t give you plot armour or lucky crits.
I’ll keep grinding, dodge every possible disaster, and only show up as a high-rank explorer once my level’s stupidly high.