Chapter 8

I didn't explain this well, so I'll say it here. First of all, the system works as a visual indicator of the MC's skills, arts, and magic. Secondly, it acts as an aid for using Arts and Magic that the MC has unlocked and that shows up in his status window. Instead of having to manually control the preparation and visualization of his Art and Magic, the system always casts the ability perfectly once it is unlocked and written down in his status window. He can still modify the Art or Magic to make it smaller, stronger, etc., but the perfect cast from the system will always be the base cast once it's unlocked.

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I looked around the hallways of the first floor, noticing how bright it seemed to my enhanced vision as even just a level one. It may as well have been noon in the dungeon, given how clearly I could see. The light blue light that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere all at once did a good job of keeping everything clearly visible. As I paused to take in the view for the first time, a party of adventurers passed me and made their way straight down the wide tunnel that lead straight from the bottom of the stairs. It was clear from the layout of the dungeon that this was the path new adventurers are supposed to take.

I decided to head off into one of the many tunnels that lead in a different direction that the main thoroughfare. I did this because it was painfully obvious that most of the people going into the dungeon would take that path, and I wanted a bit of privacy while exploring the dungeon. So, I walked down a side path and kept an eye out while waiting for my first encounter with monsters in the dungeon. I walked forward carefully, making sure that there weren't any ambushes waiting around a corner for me. However, It didn't take me too long to find my first group of victims, about three or four Goblins.

The Goblins weren't very impressive creatures. They had bulbous heads, wide eyes, and plump bodies. They carried no weapons and were just slowly meandering through one of the tunnel mouths in front of me. I quickly dashed forward before they noticed me, using Aura Slash to cut the closest one in two before they even noticed my presence. As the blood of their companion splashed on them, the others became enraged and turned toward me. It was then that I did confirm that there had been four in the group, but now there were three to deal with. Aura Sword cloaked my blade with a shimmering layer of energy as I finally reached the group of Goblins.

The first dove low at me while the second tried to claw at my stomach. The third leaped forward in a maneuver that seemed comical due to its plump body, but the claws quickly speeding toward my eyes weren't comical in the slightest. I used my boot to stomp the lowest Goblin into the stone floor while I ducked the jumping Goblin. Then I pulled back my arm and plunged my sword through the middle Goblin's head, sticking it hilt deep. My blade passed through muscle and bone like a hot knife through butter. As the jumping goblin tumbled past me, I placed more pressure on the monster under my boot and quickly caved its skull in.

That left only the last goblin remaining. It blindly charged at me, swinging its claws before diving at me with its mouth full of fangs open. With a flick of my wrist, I cut the goblin down the middle, watching its body turn to black mist as the magic stone clattered to the ground. Unfortunately, unlike in the anime, the bodies of the other monsters were still here, requiring me to pry their magic stones out of their corpses before their bodies turned to black mist and were reabsorbed by the dungeon. The only reason the last one became mist immediately is that my attack did enough damage for the body to bypass the corpse stage directly.

I didn't dwell on the details for too long, harvesting the stones and tossing them into my storage. I continued to walk on, now feeling a bit better about the start of my adventure. I wandered around for a few minutes before I encounter the other main monster that wander the first floor, a kobold. The monsters had the body of a human but had the head of a dog. Again, I encountered a small group of them, three in total. Before I could try to sneak a bit closer, one tossed its head back into the air and began to sniff widely before barking and turning to point at me. 'Well, that just happened,' I thought as the group of dog men raced toward me.

My aura flared and wreathed my blade as I raised my sword to face the oncoming monsters. I noticed that the Kobolds were certainly faster than the Goblins, but not incredibly so. I debated whether I should activate Thought Acceleration but decided against it. They growled and barked as they approached before leaping at me with their canine mouths open wide. Just before they reached me with their saliva and fanged-filled mouths, I activated Aura Wall. Immediately their grows, and barks turned to whimpers and shrieks of pain as a dense wall of aura slammed into them, pushing them back with an audible cracking of bones.

Only the last Kobold of the group remained relatively unharmed. It tried to tear and bite its way through the aura but to no effect. I knew it was a stupid idea, but in the name of science, I stripped off my shirt and dropped it in my storage before dropping my aura wall. With my barrier gone, the Kobold rushed forward and quickly sank its teeth deep into my shoulder. I was expecting excruciating pain, but it seemed like this body was accustomed to pain far greater than this. It was still painful but more of a dull throb than an overbearing agony. With my test complete, I plunged my sword through the creature's head and watched as it fell limply to the ground.

The purpose of my experiment had been twofold. First, I wanted to test my pain tolerance since I didn't want to figure out something like that the hard way on a deeper floor of the dungeon where my life could be in danger the moment I get incapacitated by pain. Second, I wanted to see the effects of healing on my body for a decently sized wound. The fact that I was also raising my endurance stat at the same time was also just a happy coincidence. I turned my attention back to my shoulder, where blood raced down my pale chest and fell to the floor in bright crimson droplets.

I placed my sword in my storage before holding my hand op to the wound. A golden magic circle flared to life in my hand as a golden glow began to shine in the places where the wound was the worst. After a few seconds, the circle disappeared, and I looked at the undamaged skin revealed after the golden light faded. After I quickly used Clean Wash to get rid of the blood, it was impossible to tell there had ever been a wound there. I had been the one to take the attack, and I couldn't even tell the healed skin from the surrounding skin. I whistled in appreciation as I put my shirt back on and resummoned my sword.

With my tests done, I turned back to the two Kobolds still whimpering on the ground. It seemed like I had paralyzed at least one while seriously messing up the other. I walked over and plunged my blade down into the hearts of both creatures in quick succession before harvesting the magic stones from all three bodies. After I felt like I had seen enough of the first floor, I backtracked to the stairs leading out of the dungeon and took the wide walkway down until I found the entrance to the second floor. I quickly made my way down the steps and found much of the same as the first floor, rocks, blue light, Kobolds, and Goblins. However, I did soon find a new monster.

As I was wandering down one of the many pathways of the second floor, I heard a soft sucking sound, like a slimy suction cup attaching to something. I looked up to find a brown lizard hanging on the ceiling above me right as it leaped at me. Thought Acceleration activated, giving me time to think. I quickly brought my blade up and performed two consecutive Aura Slashes, both landing on the neck of the lizard. Its severed head fell beside me and sprayed me with a full squit of blood. I used Clean Wash to clean me and my clothes before I kicked the dead blizzard and removed its stone.

Then, I continued to head deeper into the dungeon.