"Patience is not just a virtue; it's a weapon. The more you wait, the stronger you become."
(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)
Here we can see Sukuna running around killing monsters with his deadly slicing attacks.
Sukuna, as a player of the game, knows the mechanics of dungeons, and hence has formulated a technique to gain Cursed Energy Proficiency in the most efficient way.
Monsters in dungeons increase in strength as one goes closer to the boss room, and these monsters give more EXP.
He has figured out that the EXP required to level up increases exponentially with each level, and each level up gives 1% Cursed Energy Proficiency.
Why am I talking in third-person? I don't know. Also, you finally see my POV, it's been a while.
Monsters use the mana from the dungeon core to be spawned, once a room is cleared out, the monsters start respawning.
The respawn mechanic only happens in certain rooms, though.
I've chosen two rooms, I kill all the monsters in one room, then move to the other, killing all the monsters there.
Sometimes in between, I try to practice Reverse Cursed Technique as well.
At the start of the dungeon run, I picked up a dog, an E-Rank monster. If I have to wait anywhere, I let this dog nibble on me, by nibble I mean eat my limbs off, then I heal myself, which improves the technique.
I named him Doggo, by the way.
I'm surprised myself that I did not give in to this extremely repetitive task of killing things and getting eaten.
I've been doing this for two hours, and the only thing that keeps me going is my chant.
'GIMME XP XP XP XP GOTTA GET THE DOMAIN'
'GOTTA GET THE DOMAIN'
'GOTTA GET THE-'
[Cursed Energy Proficiency has reached 60%]
[Unlocking Fire]
[Done, Chant 'Open' to unseal when needed]
I finally reached what I was aiming for, I'll take a rest before continuing.
What? Did you think I'd leave such a good XP farm without milking it down to the last drop?
I sat down in the corner of a third room, which was cleared already, in which monsters did not respawn.
I took out the coat hanged on my back, which I use as a bag.
Opening the coat, a dog came out.
Honestly, this dog was cute, he looked like a hot dog, a murderous hot dog with razor sharp teeth.
Anyhow, it started doing its thing while I sat in peace healing the wounds it made.
I sighed, looking at the ceiling.
Boredom taking over my mind, I looked at the dog chewing my hand, which he separated from my body by biting it, though another one had already regrown.
"You know, Doggo, there are two types of NTR in this world." I said, my voice become graver as I finished the sentence.
In response to this, Doggo glanced at me before continuing his meal.
Thinking that I had his attention, I continued.
"The first, bad NTR, involves an NTR man breaking relationships, typically with married women falling for him" I said in a voice filled with disgust.
Doggo, as if hating even the mention of the topic, left his meal and came and bit me in the leg, taking out a huge chunk of flesh, which was regenerated quickly.
"You hate it too? Nice dog." I said, petting the dog, in response to which it growled and started eating the piece of flesh he tore off me.
I closed my eyes, as is trying to remember something.
"The second one, good NTR. It follows the guy who has been NTR'd, where he goes on a journey of self improvement." I took a pause, opening my eyes and looking at Doggo.
He stopped eating for a second and made a low growl, as if he felt nice about my words.
"I like those ones, what about you?" I asked, my tone soft.
Doggo stopped eating the flesh and came to me, going towards my hand and rubbing his head on it.
Then he went back to his meal. We are so similar, right?
.
(A few minutes later)
As I continued my very interesting grind, Doggo was chilling in the third room, I like him a lot, so I decided to no longer confine him in the coat.
My rate of progress was improved because I started using the knife I got when I first entered the academy.
'Why didn't you use it till now then?' You ask?
Well it's because I didn't know how to.
Still confused? This flashback will explain everything.
Floshbock
I swiped my hand, the hand holding a slightly rusted knife, from left to right.
This simple movement added another huge slash mark on the wall, which was now completed bruised with slices.
The knife rusted due to the lack of Cursed Energy, and now, with me giving it a bunch of it, it is started to get back its luster.
"That should be enough for now," I muttered, satisfied with the training I got from this knife.
I went back to my dorm room, intending to take a bath before resting.
I put the knife on the table. But as soon as I did...
[Inventory spaces occupied 1/4]
Wut?
I have an inventory?
The knife disappeared from the table and went into my 'inventory'.
Ever since that day, I had tried many times to get it out...
'Inventory'
'Inventory Open'
'Storage'
'Item Storage'
'Infinite Backpack'
It didn't work.
Floshbock Ends
Suddenly, as I was grinding, the knife popped up in my hand.
I didn't know how I did it, or how to do it after this, but right now, this was very beneficial.
My efficiency increased by a huge margin.
I also noticed a while ago that proficiency becomes difficult to increase the closer you are to 100%.
Which is really annoying, like increasing EXP requirements for each level.
.
(About an Hour Later)
I sensed four extremely familiar presences coming towards me.
"Guess who finally decided to come," I said, my voice relieved that I finally get a rest from the grinding.
The four had uncertain expressions on their faces, looking at the bloodied clothes of mine, but as they walked further and looked around, those expressions turned into ones of shock.
"S-Sukuna, what were you doing here?", said Anny, her voice trembling, a nervous laughter escaping her lips.
She seemed the most shocked out of the four, as she probably understood the mechanics and power levels of the monsters best, and might have already figured out what I had been doing.
"Farming mobs of course, isn't that how people level up?", I said, nonchalantly walking to a resting spot.
"This is not a game damn it!" Anny burst out, not in anger though.
"Yeah it is." I answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
"What?"
"What?"
". . ."
The silence was loud.
Anny explained to the other three, which got varied reactions, no big deal.
Anyways, we talked for a few minutes, recounting our experiences.
I tried to sparkle some action in the mundane hours I spent in this dungeon.
I was surprised to figure out that Ryogaku had unlocked his fire sword thingy already.
I'm pretty sure it happened when he was against a demon, as much as I remember from the game.
The only reason I remember is because people memed the hell out of him, "Hinokami Kagura," they said. "Just wait till man becomes Yamamoto".
"It seems you all had plenty of rest before coming here, so get ready for the final battle, we'll be going right now, if there are any objections voice them now," I said, trying my best to ignore Doggo running around in the background.
No one said anything for a few seconds.
I walked through three rooms to reach the boss room, which was closed out by a huge gate.
The gate, made up of rusted iron, stood as the only protection against what lied behind it.
It had ornate carvings that seemed to glow a slight red as we walked in, radiating an oppressive aura.
Two colossal statues, depicting courageous and forgotten warriors, their expressions intimidating, flanked either side of the door.
As we stood in front of the gate, the air was thick with anticipation as the group readied their weapons, their breaths quickening.
My heart was pacing, each beat reminding me of what we were about to face. I took a deep breath, readying myself for what is to come.
"Alright then, we're going in," I said as I pushed the door with both hands.
The door opened slowly, with a high-pitched creaking sound, revealing...
===========================================
This chapter is late.
Why? I had projects to do.
Sorry :<
Differences:
1. Better Writing
That's it
I realized that dungeon arc needs no changes, so this part of the chapter is not needed.
Will I stop writing it? No.
Anyhow, GIMME POWER STONES