Tamer 24
===
Chapter 24: Grand Champion of the All-Japan Garbage Skill Awards
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
Part 1
19th Day
「Good morning, Kikyo.」
「Morning, Sana.」
「That package you were waiting for has arrived. Looks like the night shift signed for it.」
「Thank you.」
That was fast.
There was no doubt. Ueda Akitomu himself must have brought it here, cutting through distance with the same decisiveness one would expect from a man like him. Very well. I would overlook his eccentricities this once.
The moment I opened the reinforced case Sanā handed me, the air seemed to change. Resting within was a sword of such refinement that even a layman could feel its weight and dignity.
「This is a pretty nice sword.」
「Pretty nice? That thing’s probably worth over two million...」
「Wait, seriously?」
「Y-Yes.」
Judging by Sana’s painfully awkward expression, yeah. She wasn’t joking.
If word got out that I’d acquired a weapon worth millions for a mere thirty thousand yen, it wouldn’t be called luck. It would be called a crime. And crimes attract the police.
Once I could afford it, I’d pay the difference. That was the least I could do.
But first things first., I need to deal with Sana.
「That make us an accomplice, right?」
「Eh?」
「That makes us an accomplice, right?」
「Uh… Y yeah. Guess we are.」
「No matter what happens, this stays between us you know?」
「Y-Yes.」
From what I’d seen of Sana lately, I doubted she was working for the Dungeon Association.
Even if she were, making her my accomplice here worked in my favour. To keep herself out of police trouble, she would have to keep my name buried.
The Dungeon Association was not the police. And if things went wrong, Sana would be arrested just the same.
「It’s all right. Once I can earn properly, I’ll go and pay the difference.」
「R right. Then it’s all right, isn’t it?」
「Yes.」
But silence has a price. For Ueda Akitomu, it might cost me not just the difference, but twice over.
I already know his address, his name, and where he works. With that, and a thick wad of cash, there was no doubt he would stay silent.
Better yet, if I pay him twice the amount, even if the police become involved, suspicion would likely fall on him instead. It could easily look as though Ueda Akitomu had been the one doing the threatening.
Perfect. Let’s do that.
I’m nearly level 200 now. Even if the Dungeon Association noticed me, I’d survive it, but I’ll push my level as far as I could before resolving this with money.
「Ah, and that goes for this too. The tool bag.」
「Thank you.」
「This one’s probably worth about fifty thousand.」
「I see.」
At that level, there was no need to worry about a price difference.
I bought this tool bag yesterday from Satō Tarō for ten thousand yen. He loses forty thousand yen, but he could take it as a hard-earned lesson.
「Then, I'll be on my way.」
「Wait a second, Kikyo.」
「Pardon?」
Why stop me now?
「“If you put the sword into the tool bag, you won’t be able to use it.」
「Ah… You’re right.」
That was a close call.
The sword was meant to deceive prying eyes. Letting Sana realise I had no intention of using it would defeat the purpose.
「You can be surprisingly absent-minded. Do be more careful, won’t you?」
「Yes.」
Seeing Sana wave me off, I made my way towards the dungeon entrance.
I really had let my guard down.
◇◇◇
「Well then. Today’s plan is to camp on the 6th floor and run the re-summoning combo until I drop.」
I pulled out the Demon Boss’s magic stone and handed it to the pixies I had captured as backup, each waiting obediently behind a magic circle, then explained their roles.
Since the Morning Gob-Gob 35 pix required thirty-five pixies, I had expected to be short-handed and made sure to capture ten extra beforehand.
Checking the status screen, I discovered that the creature I’d been calling Demon Boss was officially just a Demon. Straightforward. Hard to argue with that.
The Demon’s starting level was 134. By the time I reached the 15th floor yesterday, I was level 152. That meant the gap between us was a mere eighteen levels.
Floors ten through fourteen had been effortless. Every monster had fallen in a single blow. And yet, from the 15th floor onward, the difficulty spiked sharply.
When I had the chance, I would need to capture a monster from 10th to 14th floor and confirm their initial levels.
「Hey, Demon Boss. You and that pixie keep watch from here towards the stairs. If anyone shows up, report it immediately.」
The Demon Boss seemed to get it. He nodded and, together with the assigned pixie, stared intently at the stairs going down to the 5th floor.
At the very least, having them stand guard nearby meant they would earn EXP as sentries too.
「This will suffice.」
Yesterday, I had crossed paths with Haruno, a high-rank explorer.
If she was here to gauge my strength, then it stood to reason that she would make her way to this floor sooner or later.
Which meant there was a real possibility she could witness my methods. For someone with as much to hide as I did, posting a guard was the obvious choice.
I equipped Quintuple Gob-Leg and Morning Gob-Gob 35 Pix, then set the timer.
「Alright, les go.」
◇◇◇
After just over an hour of abusing the re-summon combo, the time hit 9:42 a.m. The moment I defeated my 386th demon boss of the day, my level finally reached 200.
Level 200 unlocked a skill called Monster Summoning, but if I had to be honest, it was an awful skill.
The skill description proudly stated, “Allows the summoning of tamed monsters.”
No kidding. I could tell that much just from the name. Rather, dungeons already summon tamed monsters automatically, so this skill felt utterly pointless.
For reference, it costs 100 MP.
The fact that it eats the same MP as Monster Reborn lowered my impression of this skill to negative. Honestly, it was a strong contender for the Worst Skill Ever award.
If I’m being generous, I could at least say this skill lets me instantly summon monsters I sent off to scout other floors. So yeah, not entirely useless.
「That said, it’s still an absolutely garbage skill.」
And as if to rub salt in the wound, the next level needs 5.1 million EXP.
「Okay, fair enough. It took about a million to go from level 198 to 199. Five million from 199 to 200. So 5.1 million for 200 to 201 isn’t completely insane…」
This must be that dreaded Level 200 wall everyone talks about. Still, come on.
I mean aach demon(Demon Boss) gave over 1,500 EXP. Without any multipliers, that means slaughtering around 3,400 demons just to gain one level.
No, yeah, it was not impossible.
I mean, even George Kennedy, the world’s number one explorer, said in his autobiography that it took him twenty years just to hit level 224.
So if you’ve got enough time to burn, you’ll get there eventually.
「Huff...」
Levelling up is fun, sure, but getting a total garbage skill as the big prize for reaching level 200 was really a kill joy.
At that point, I'd rather not getting any skill at all.
「Hey, Demon Boss. You were watching how I did it, right? Go on, do the same thing. I’ll lie down here and keep watch.」
I spread a slime on the ground and flopped down on it.
I always thought slimes were completely useless, but hey, turns out they make a decent emergency mattress.
the Demon Boss followed my order, copying me while wearing the sulkiest face imaginable.
C'mon mare, you’re a fricking demon. Don’t look so offended.
To make matters worse, he couldn’t properly handle the Morning Gobgob 35 Pix. He missed attack after attack, and every failure nearly earned him a counterblow from a freshly summoned demon.
Luckily, the three spare goblins nearby pulled off a heroic assist, grabbing the enemy demons before things went south. It wasn’t exactly peak efficiency, but the Demon Boss still managed to farm EXP without any major disasters.
These goblins were already level 200. Even against demons, the level difference was so extreme that losing simply wasn’t on the table.
「Oh? Yep, just like I thought. The EXP is coming in fine.」
I didn’t lift a finger, yet each demon still yielded 72,000 EXP.
Which meant that if Demon Boss handled my usual role, the 48 EXP efficiency remained perfectly intact.
「Healing monsters myself is a real pain. Don’t you have anything like healing magic?」
「GYAN!?」
「Not you.」
The moment I spoke to Demon Boss, one of the goblins restraining the enemy demon reacted for no good reason, and Demon Boss ended up taking the hit.
Hey. Focus, guys.
Alright, note to self: talking lowers efficiency. No more chatting. And yeah, obviously a demon wasn’t going to know healing magic. That one was on me.
Lying on a slime mattress while watching Demon Boss swing the Morning Gobgob 35 Pix was comfy and all, but wow, I ended up getting bored in no time
「It's a little chilly here.」
So I grabbed another slime and tossed it over myself like a blanket. Honestly, it was not that bad. Kinda cosy.