After taking a sip of coffee to settle my nerves, I posed a question to Saori-chan.
"I don't mind telling you, but it’s going to get pretty grim in a few ways... Are you sure you're ready for that?"
"? Grim, you say?"
"Yeah. Everything from gory details to things that might leave you feeling depressed."
I kept my tone as flat as possible while giving Saori-chan one final chance to back out. I hoped she would give up, but deep down, I knew she wouldn't. It was New Year’s Day; I really didn't want to recount stories that would shatter the peaceful atmosphere.
"It’s fine. I love horror and suspense movies, so I’m quite resilient to that sort of thing."
"Ah, I see."
"Yes. So, please, tell me about the dungeon."
With that, I had no excuse left to refuse.
I glanced over at Mika to see if she was okay with it. She nodded reluctantly. I usually filled Mika in on the nights I returned from a dive, but she had a weak stomach for these kinds of details.
"All right. Since you're so eager, Saori-chan, I’ll tell you a bit about the dungeon."
"Yay! Thank you, big brother!"
"But only after we finish our food."
"Yes!"
I couldn't avoid the conversation, but talking about it while eating was out of the question.
Once we finished our meal, we refilled our drinks at the drink bar and settled back in.
"Now then, where should I start? What do you want to know?"
"Let's see. What is the dungeon actually like? It’s been all over TV and magazines lately, but I can't tell if it’s the way they film it or if it's staged... It just feels so much like a theme park attraction, doesn't it? I’ve been wondering what it's like for real."
"I see."
She had a point. TV footage and magazine spreads often used background music, sound effects, and captions to alter the actual atmosphere. Even in scenes where monsters were defeated, the decisive moment was usually obscured by graphics and sound effects, showing only the monster as it vanished. To an outsider, it looked like a video game.
"Well, I’d say the biggest difference from TV and magazines is the silence."
"The silence?"
"Yeah. Unlike TV or games, there’s no background music playing inside the dungeon. I don't know if it’s the acoustics or the way the walls absorb sound, but the only things you hear are your own footsteps and breathing. Right now, there are plenty of other explorers in the neighboring sectors of the surface floors, so you can hear the occasional clash of combat or the sound of voices, but once you get a little distance from them, it truly becomes just footsteps and breathing."
People often say it’s scary walking through a forest at night because you only hear insects and birds, but this was on an entirely different level. Walking through a dim, stone-built passage where there isn't a single sound can make you feel like you're losing your mind.
Whenever I dived with Yuji or Hiiragi-san, we made a conscious effort to keep up some idle chatter while we walked. If the conversation suddenly died and we fell silent, all three of us would get restless and start acting on edge.
The "silent trap" was no joke...
"I could never imagine diving into a dungeon alone. Before even fighting a monster, I think the pressure of the silence would break my mental state."
Maybe it would be slightly better if I brought a music player and played environmental sounds, but I’d pass on that. On the surface floors where monsters only appear solo, it might be fine, but on deep floors, the sound could act as a lure that attracts a swarm.
That was one of the reasons I wasn't going on any solo dungeon expeditions during winter break.
"Is that how it is?"
"Yeah. People often say a quiet space is healing, but I’ve learned there’s a limit to that."
"..."
"As for other differences... the light is another big one. There are permanent lights installed in the dungeon from the start, but they’re quite dim. Think of it as being about as bright as a night light in a hallway. On TV, they use floodlights to ensure visibility, and the photos in magazines are taken under optimal conditions, so it doesn't seem that dark to the viewers."
It wasn't that you were blind under the permanent lights, but as a combat environment, the light was undeniably poor. During our first dungeon attack, we dived using ultra-high-brightness headlamps, but they were harder to use than we expected. Before our second dive, we overhauled our gear.
I swapped my helmet lamp for a model that lasted half a day, and I attached a lantern-style LED light to my backpack to secure multiple light sources. I also carried ultra-high-brightness LED flashlights and chemical lights for throwing. It made me feel like a walking lighthouse, but for safety, ensuring visibility was the top priority.
"For now, that’s about all I can say regarding the environment. Of course, this is only about the lower floors we’re currently diving in. Things might be different further down, but I wouldn't know the details."
"...There really are a lot of things you can't tell from photos or videos."
"Exactly. So, Saori-chan. Is there anything else?"
"Oh, yes! I want to know about the monsters and drop items, too!"
I figured she’d get to that. Now, how should I phrase this?
"Well then, let’s talk about the monsters first. Saori-chan, have you ever seen the bulletin published by the Dungeon Association? Or maybe the information on their website?"
"I've seen the stuff on the website."
"Then you have a general idea of the types of monsters that appear?"
"Yes. I was curious, so I’ve looked through them all."
"Then I’ll skip the basics. Essentially, monsters indiscriminately attack anything that enters the dungeon—whether it’s an explorer or a stray wild animal."
Saori-chan tilted her head, looking puzzled.
"Wild animals too?"
"Yeah. When dungeons first appeared, some people thought that stray animals might have mutated into monsters. But through experimental verification, it was concluded that monsters are pseudo-lifeforms born from the dungeon itself, not mutated animals."
"Experimental verification?"
"Apparently, they put various kinds of animals in cages and raised them inside the dungeon for long periods. They also tested whether animals that were killed by monsters would turn into monsters themselves."
Saori-chan's expression clouded slightly. It certainly wasn't a pleasant topic. But it was thanks to these experiments that we knew for sure that getting injured by a monster's attack wouldn't turn a person into one. I didn't want to deal with a dungeon crawling with zombies.
"Also, when a monster is killed, the corpse disappears after a short delay. However, the blood they splatter remains for a while, even after the body is gone."
"...There’s a time lag?"
"Yeah. But considering that the blood on walls and floors eventually vanishes while blood on weapons and armor doesn't, I think the dungeon is actually reclaiming the materials from the dead monsters. Likely to use them as raw materials to birth new ones..."
"Raw materials?"
I was describing something fairly macabre, but Saori-chan just tilted her head with curiosity. Mika, sitting next to her, was sipping her cocoa with a look of pure distaste. Saori-chan had said she liked horror, and it really showed; the difference between the two girls was stark.
"There’s a theory that monsters are pseudo-lifeforms created by the dungeon. If you look at it that way, a lot of things make sense."
"Like how monsters disappear along with their corpses, or how they leave behind drop items?"
"Exactly. With a normal living creature, a corpse should remain. In fact, the corpses of wild animals that wandered into the dungeon reportedly stayed behind. And yet, monsters..."
"They just vanish?"
"They turn into particles of light. Since the dungeon is recycling them, it’s probably breaking the monsters back down to their base components. It’s the fundamental principle of recycling, whether it’s iron or paper."
"In that case, the drop items that monsters leave behind are..."
"Maybe they’re reconstructing monster materials that aren't sent back for reuse into the form of a drop item? The chance of getting one is about fifty-fifty, after all."
"Are they being sorted?"
"Maybe. There’s also a tendency for monsters killed in a way that causes severe damage to not leave drop items."
I wondered... maybe a pulverized corpse was easier to break down into materials, costing the dungeon less to recycle than one that was still mostly intact? If it could skip the shredding process, the cost would be lower... but that felt a bit stingy. Are explorers just acting as mobile shredders?
That would mean that monsters killed with a single strike to a vital point would be more likely to drop items... wait. Thinking about it, my old method of killing slimes by sprinkling salt on them... was that actually an "overkill" assault? Was that why the drop rate was less than fifty percent? It seemed highly likely.
Conversely, it meant our current method—where the three of us pin the monster and finish it with a clean strike—was the optimal way to secure drop items. Come to think of it, except for the horn rabbit I had sliced clean in half, we had been getting drops quite consistently.
"Thinking about it that way, it makes sense why core crystals and ores drop so often. Core crystals are probably just the materials that make up the monster, condensed and reconstructed as they are."
"Then are the minerals just the result of a simpler reconstruction?"
"Probably. Since they’re low-cost to produce, the drop rate is high. In contrast, magic items that likely require complex reconstruction procedures have a high cost and a lower drop rate."
It was a very plausible theory.
So, the damage to the monster determines the drop rate, the quality of the monster determines the quality of the drop, and the type is randomized? If you want rare drop items, you have to kill high-rank monsters with minimal damage and then pray to the gods of luck.
I held my head in my hands. The difficulty level felt absurdly high.
I looked up and apologized to Saori-chan.
"...Sorry. We were supposed to be talking about monsters, but I got sidetracked and started lecturing about drop items."
"No, it was a very interesting story."
"Haha, well, I'm glad."
"By the way, big brother. What kind of drop items have you actually found?"
"Are you curious, Saori-chan?"
"Yes!"
"Well... to be honest, I've only dived into the public dungeons a few times, so I don't have anything too impressive."
"For now, it’s mostly core crystals and minerals. I’ve also recovered a few recovery potions."
I kept the skill scroll out of the conversation. I didn't want anyone in a public place like this to think I was sitting on a fortune. Core crystals and minerals had low resale value, and recovery potions were common enough that they weren't considered high-end loot.
Mika looked like she wanted to interject, but I caught her eye and gave her a silent command to stay quiet.
"Have you not found any magic items?"
"Unfortunately, I don't seem to have much luck."
"I see, that’s a shame. I was hoping that if you could use magic, you’d show it to me..."
"Haha, sorry. But even if I could, there’s a rule that magic can only be used inside the dungeon. Using it outside requires filing paperwork and going to a designated facility, otherwise the police will be all over you in an instant."
"Eh! Really!?"
I was surprised she didn't know; I thought it had been covered in news specials.
"Wait, you didn't know that, Saori-chan?"
"Ah, no. I’m sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. I only learned about it recently from the Association’s bulletin board myself. But that’s the reality—even if I could use magic, I wouldn't be able to show it to you right here."
Using a magic practice facility required a reservation. Right now, rookie mages who had learned spells from purchased skill scrolls were flooding the facilities, and there was currently a one-month waiting list. There was no way a commoner without connections could get in.
Apparently, some people were just trying out their magic for the first time inside the dungeon without any practice. Those people were "brave" in the worst possible way...
"I see... I understand."
She looked genuinely crestfallen, but she didn't press the matter.