March 19th.
Just like any other day, I headed to the Shinjuku Dungeon first thing in the morning.
"Hey, is that...?"
"Wait, isn't that him...?"
"Yeah... the crazy guy from yesterday..."
"Hmm? What is it...?"
As I walked through the Explorer Association branch inside Shinjuku Station, changed in the locker room, and headed toward the dungeon entrance, I couldn't help but feel that everyone was staring at me.
"............"
When I instinctively glanced around, everyone quickly averted their eyes.
I checked my clothes to see if something was wrong, but everything looked perfectly normal.
Was I just being oversensitive?
It felt a bit strange, but since no one was actually saying anything to my face, I decided not to worry about it and continued into the dungeon.
"Now then, time to get out there and start killing with a smile...!!"
Yesterday, I’d headed home at an awkward hour because of the exhaustion, but the monsters on the first floor didn't make me nervous anymore. If that was the case, I shouldn't reach my limit halfway through the day like I did yesterday. I’m pretty sure yesterday's fatigue was mostly mental anyway.
With that in mind, I set off into the depths of the dungeon with high spirits.
Along the way, I searched for Goblins—who provided more Experience Points—while casually slicing through the Slimes that had seemingly respawned in large numbers overnight.
Before long, I encountered my first Goblin of the day.
My face lit up, and I skipped toward it with a light step, as if I’d just spotted a dear friend.
"Goblin-sa~n!!"
"Gugya? Gugyaaaaaaaaah!!!"
"—Die!!"
I swung my sword down in a diagonal slash, cutting through the Goblin’s shoulder and deep into its chest.
I still couldn't quite cleave them in two with a single blow, but a Level 1 Goblin was now a one-hit kill.
I picked up the dropped Magic Stone and stuffed it into my backpack before wandering off in search of my next prey.
"Hmm... but if I can win this easily, would it be more efficient to head down to Floor 2...?"
The monsters that appeared on Floor 2 were Slimes and Goblins, just like on the first floor, but there were two main differences.
First, the monsters were higher level. According to the Modern Dungeon Strategy Wiki, Level 2 and 3 Slimes and Goblins appeared there. Given my current strength, I could probably handle them without much trouble.
However, there was a second difference—and a potential problem.
On the first floor, monsters almost always appeared alone because their spawn points were far apart.
On Floor 2, however, monsters of the same type could appear in groups of up to three. Because of this, it was generally recommended to form a "party" before exploring Floor 2 or deeper.
To be clear, a "party" didn't just mean a group of people hanging out together. It referred to a group of Explorers who had officially used the Party Formation function at the black obelisks found at the dungeon entrances.
The advantage of this was that all members received the same amount of Experience Points, regardless of their individual contribution to the battle.
If the experience varied based on contribution, the attackers would grow strong while the tanks and healers never leveled up. This function was highly valued by Explorers for that reason.
Furthermore, the barrier to forming a party was lower than one might expect.
The Explorer Association provided a matching app called Dungeon Pairs for people looking for group members. Even if an Explorer had no friends or acquaintances in the field, they could use the app to form a party with total strangers.
Though, that app was popular for a very different reason as well. Honestly, I think it’s wrong to seek encounters in a dungeon!
Anyway.
Returning to my own situation, I had absolutely no intention of ever joining a party.
The reason was simple: in a party, Experience Points were split equally among all members. A party could have up to five people, meaning the experience I earned could be cut down to a fifth of the total.
Since a Level 1 Slime gave 5 Experience Points, a five-person party would only get 1 point each.
Even a Level 1 Goblin, which gave 10 Experience Points, would only net 2 points per person.
Of course, hunting stronger monsters on lower floors would increase the total experience, and having more people meant you could kill those stronger monsters more easily.
Even so, from the perspective of pure level-grinding, being solo was overwhelmingly more efficient.
More than anything, if this were a game, I could enjoy the satisfaction of leveling up characters other than the protagonist. But in the reality of this dungeon, leveling up some stranger did absolutely nothing for me.
In that regard, joining a party was never going to be an option.
—Well, I got a bit sidetracked there...
"Maybe I really should move the schedule up and try Floor 2?"
If things got too dangerous, I could just retreat to the first floor.
With my current Status, I should at least be able to run away from the Goblins on the second floor. Thinking that, I decided to check my Status one more time.
―――――――――――――――― [Name] Takeo Samejima [Level] 3 (Experience to next level: 165) 《HP》 32/32 《MP》 18/18 《Strength》 20 《Constitution》 12 《Intelligence》 6 《Spirit》 12 《Agility》 17 《Dexterity》 12 [STP] 0 [SP] 0 [Skills] 《Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons Lv.3》 《Berserk Lv.1》 [Title] 《Madman》 ――――――――――――――――
"............Oh?"
Now, what on earth is this?
An unfamiliar skill and a Title I’ve never seen before have sprouted up when I wasn't looking.
I quickly checked the details for the skill and Title on the Status screen.
―――――――――――――――― [Title] 《Madman》 — Proof of one recognized as a madman by many. Grants the skill 《Berserk》.
[Skill] 《Berserk Lv.1》 — While active, 《Strength》 increases by 20%, 《Intelligence》 decreases by 20%, and damage taken is multiplied by 1.2. ――――――――――――――――
...What do you mean, "recognized as a madman by many"?!
How the hell did this happen?! I have absolutely no memory of doing anything that would warrant this!!
I was genuinely, deeply confused!!