After I finished basking in the pleasure for a while, we decided to collect the drop items scattered across the room.
“Oh! Hinata-san, look at this! An Energy Bar dropped! An Energy Bar!!”
I’d spotted an interesting item among the Magic Stones, so I picked it up and showed it to Hinata-san.
“Wow, you’re right.”
What I was holding up was an item dropped by a Goblin Guarder known as an “Energy Bar.”
It was a rectangular block wrapped in silver foil—a nutritional food that looked like a relative of CalorieMate. Apparently, the flavor was slightly sweet and reasonably tasty.
A single bar provided 2,000 kcal and all the necessary nutrients for a day. Furthermore, as long as the packaging remained intact, it could be preserved semi-permanently. I’d heard that the Japanese government, along with various other nations, was actively purchasing and stockpiling them.
That said, the government couldn't exactly dump massive amounts of tax money into stockpiling for an emergency, so the purchase price at the Japan Explorer Association was only 1,000 yen per bar. It was a sum that didn't really match the difficulty of the Floor where it dropped.
Outside of a few eccentrics, no one bought Energy Bars, making it difficult to sell them anywhere except the Association. Consequently, for an explorer, it was a low-value drop. Since they were bulky to carry back in large quantities, most explorers didn’t even bother picking them up... yet, for some reason, quite a few people in Japan still collected them.
This was because the government and the Association “requested” explorers to recover as many Energy Bars as possible.
It was an “ask” with no real coercive force—a request, in other words—but following it diligently was just so quintessentially Japanese.
Before I had been lent an Expansion Bag, my only choice would have been to toss them, but now that I had some extra space, I decided to take them home.
Besides, since I became an explorer, my household’s Engel coefficient had been skyrocketing. It might be a good idea to keep them for myself instead of selling them, perhaps eating them for breakfast or lunch.
By the way, while one bar provided enough calories for an average person for a day, for an explorer of a certain Level, it barely counted as a single meal. Still, they dropped from Guarders at a rate of 1 in 15, so if I kept looping the Floor 8 Monster Room, I’d likely end up with a massive stockpile.
Incidentally, these Energy Bars were mysterious items that were guaranteed to drop from specific monsters in any Dungeon, provided you were below a certain Floor. Could it be that the Dungeon Master was a fan of Energy Bars...?
“Takeo-kun, something amazing dropped over here too.”
This time, Hinata-san picked something up and held it out to show me.
It was a small vial filled with a white liquid. It was a potion of a different color than a Beginner Heal Potion, a Cure Potion, or a Mana Potion.
Realizing its true identity, I let out a cheer.
“Oh! To think we’d get one on the very first run! We’re off to a great start!!”
It was a “Beginner Regenerate Potion.”
In the Shinjuku Floor 8 Monster Room, it was an item dropped only by the Knight Leader, with a drop rate of 1 in 20. However, since only one Knight Leader appeared per Monster Room, it was quite a rare item.
Its effect was: “Recover 5 HP every 10 seconds for 5 minutes after use.” Essentially, it was the potion version of “Regeneration,” with almost the same effect.
However, unlike Heal Potions or Cure Potions, there was almost no demand for them on the surface. Like Heal Potions, they could technically heal skin irritation if applied topically, but Heal Potions were sufficient for that and were cheaper to boot.
Inside the Dungeon, however, it was a different story. Although it took five minutes for maximum recovery, a Regenerate Potion that recovered up to 150 HP was a highly popular item among explorers. It could even heal physical injuries to some extent.
Because of that, the purchase price at the Association had skyrocketed to 300,000 yen per bottle. I wanted some for my solo runs, so I’d have to talk to Hinata-san later about whether I could buy it from her for half price.
『To be honest, I don’t care about the Energy Bars, but I’m jealous of that Regenerate Potion.』 『Why?! Energy Bars are tasty!』 『You’ll get fat if you eat Energy Bars.』 『One bar lasts a whole day, and considering it as a day’s worth of food expenses, the price isn't bad. I eat them occasionally.』 『I eat nothing but Energy Bars every day. It’s convenient because I don’t have to worry about what to eat.』 『Wha—!?』 『Lol, we found a monster right here.』 『No, seriously, go eat a normal meal.』
For some reason, a debate over whether or not to eat Energy Bars had broken out in the comment section.
Fundamentally, although only the government bought them, there was a small number of individuals who purchased Energy Bars for themselves. Since they didn't circulate on the open market, those people specifically requested the Association to buy them on their behalf.
Well, setting aside the viewers’ debate, once we had finished collecting all the drop items—
“Well then, Hinata-san, shall we head back in?”
“Yeah, let's do it.”
We officially began our Floor 8 Monster Room grinding!
●◯●
With this loop, Hinata-san’s burden had increased slightly.
On Floor 7, she had used “Heal,” “High Heal,” and “Bless” once per lap, resulting in an MP consumption of 12.5.
But on Floor 8, it became “High Heal,” “High Heal,” and “Bless” per lap, so the MP consumption was 15.
However, Hinata-san’s Level had actually risen to 33 as of the day before yesterday, which meant her Healer skill, which had been Level 4, was now at its maximum Level. Because of that, she now recovered 5 MP per lap, so the net MP consumption required for one lap was only 10.
Furthermore, her maximum MP had increased from 220 to 230, and her natural recovery per hour had risen to 115.
In short, even if we did 12 laps in an hour, her MP would only decrease by a mere 5.
We’d have a lunch break in the middle, and besides, we still had plenty of Mana Potions. We’d gathered a ton of them in the Floor 7 Monster Room yesterday, and they dropped like crazy on Floor 8, too.
So, we could easily handle a pace of more than 12 laps per hour, but... in reality, it was difficult to go any faster than that.
The reason was that collecting the drop items for sixty-four monsters took time. At 12 laps an hour, we could only spend 5 minutes per lap. Although the battle itself was over in less than a minute, collecting drops took several minutes. They were scattered all over the place, after all.
Doing 15 laps like we did on Floor 7 was a bit of a tight squeeze.
Consequently, we reluctantly decided to grind at a pace of 12 laps per hour.
—Aaaaaaaaaaaaagghhhh!!!!
If I could seriously just throw away all the Magic Stones and stuff, I could do 20 or even 30 laps an hour!!!
Could you please add a function to collect drop items instantly, Dungeon Master!! Or maybe just a spell to collect items!!
Well, there’s no point in wanting what I don't have, and our current grinding efficiency isn't bad.
And so, we continued our loops, taking a lunch break in between, until around 5:20 PM.
It happened just as we finished our 78th lap of the day.
“—F-F-FEEEEEEEEEEEEELS GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!”
Inabauer!! Twitch, twitch!!!
『H-He’s here!!!』 『It’s the Inabauer!!!』 『He leveled up!!』 『Hey, didn't you just level up the day before yesterday?!』 『If I remember correctly, this makes him Level 41, right?!』 『Please don't go leveling up in basically two days when you need over 100 million experience points...!! (Trembling voice)』 『How long do you think it normally takes to earn 100 million XP on Floor 8...!!』 『No, normally it’s impossible. If you’re Level 40, it’s normal to be active on Floor 11 or deeper.』 『It’s a regular reminder that anyone who can reach Level 40 in the first place isn't normal.』 『This guy’s leveling pace is seriously too fast...!! He’s just way too abnormal...!!』
The long-awaited level-up. I basked in the pleasure with my entire body.
Before long, the sensation subsided, and after receiving a “Congratulations, Takeo-kun” from Hinata-san, I finally opened my Status.
『Oh, is he going to spend his points?』 『He has 25 Status Points, after all. At this stage, the increase in stats is insane.』 『What’s he going to put his Skill Points into?』 『Last time, he raised the level of Sword Aura, right?』 『As I thought, raising combat skills makes you way stronger all at once.』 『No, Leveling Junkie Bro is probably the only one who gets that much stronger from raising a skill by a single level.』 『Normally, things don't change that much just by raising a skill by one level, you know?』 『But it’s necessary to raise the skills you use for fighting.』 『True, Leveling Junkie Bro’s points are being eaten up by things like Seeker and Asceticism, so his combat skills shouldn't be that developed for his Level... though it doesn't look that way because he has too many Titles.』 『So, what skill is Junkie Bro going to put his points into in the end?』
I answered the viewers’ question immediately.
“Of course, I put them into Awakened One!!”
『Wait, you already spent them?!』 『You’re already done?!』 『I mean, I figured that’s what Junkie Bro would do, lol.』 『I knew you’d do that, but at least agonize over it a little! Lmao.』 『Standard Junkie Bro. Lol.』 『There’s no way an Experience Points Junkie could resist the temptation of Awakened One, right?!』 『If anything, the fact that he actually put points into Sword Aura last time was impressive. Lol.』 『You did a good job holding back last time. Lol. Well done.』
Hyaah!! I got praised!!
With this, Awakened One reached Level 2, and my experience multiplier has increased to a maximum of 17.6x!!!
And here is my Status!!
―――――――――――――――― 【Name】 Takeo Samejima 【Level】 41 Experience Points to next level: 104,440,670
HP: 123/260 (10 up!) MP: 36/87 (5 up!) Strength: 135 (5 up!) Constitution: 125 (5 up!) Intelligence: 6 Spirit: 81 (5 up!) Agility: 130 (5 up!) Dexterity: 135 (5 up!)
【STP】 0 【SP】 0
【Skills】 Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons Lv. Max, Berserk Lv. 1, Goblin Genocider Lv. Max, Fighting Spirit Lv. Max, Blood Vengeance Lv. 1, Sword Aura Lv. 2, Taunt Lv. 1, ■■■■■■■ Lv. 1, Life Magic Lv. Max, Magic Sword Lv. 1, Danger Sense Lv. 1, Mighty Blade Lv. 3, Seeker Lv. Max, Indomitable Spirit Lv. 1, Asceticism Lv. Max, Awakened One Lv. 2, Equanimity, Footing Creation Lv. 1
【Titles】 Battle Junkie, Goblin Genocider, ■■■■■, Swordmaster, Awakened One ――――――――――――――――
By the way, the reason my MP has decreased slightly is that I’ve been using Magic Sword when finishing off the remaining Guarders in close combat.
At any rate—with this, I can now earn 1,558,656 experience points per lap in the Floor 8 Monster Room.
It went up by about 420,000 all at once.
This is really going to accelerate my leveling...!!
And what’s more.
I still have three more opportunities to transform.
You understand what this means, right?
In other words, the more I level up, the easier it becomes to level up further!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhh!!!!!
After that, I ground, ground, and ground some more.