Dungeon [Part 2]

The first floor turned out to be a massive cave, with turns and junctions at the end of each path.

It had been only a few minutes since I entered the dungeon, but I had yet to encounter a single monster.

Perhaps they were hiding somewhere?

Unlike the cute slimes I remembered from my previous life's memories, the evil slimes on this first floor were enormous, bloodthirsty monsters. Using their jelly-like bodies to defend against normal spells, they would wait for the perfect moment to launch a sneak attack from behind.

Though that was the story from past times, now that mages had Search magic, no evil slime could escape from this spell's range, unless it was a special monster.

After navigating halfway through the first floor, I finally discovered my first prey. It was a normal Evil Slime, towering over two meters with its jelly-like body. It was completely red in color, a stark contrast to blood.

I was able to locate this monster because of the Search Magic I had been casting since I entered the Dungeon. This magic helps mages find anomalies or monsters within a certain range. The better one's understanding of this magic, the more benefits they can reap from this wonderful spell. It works by receiving magical signals from living creatures other than humans. Because of this spell, precise navigation and a significant drop in death rates have been achieved since its creation hundreds of years ago.

Once I located the monster, I immediately hid behind a huge boulder. The opportunity to sneak attack this monster was too good to pass up. I wasn't used to violence even in my past life, so how could I dare face a two-meter-tall monster head-on casually?

Fortunately, the Evil Slime hadn't sensed my presence at all, as it was busy consuming some magical herbs and crystals, oblivious to its surroundings.

Perfect!

Given the best chance to take it down, I grabbed my wand and quickly cast a simple low-tier Fireball spell. Once cast, the spell's owner can alter its speed and size by expending more magical power. However, doing so requires high talent, extreme concentration, and mastery over the chanted spell.

Despite that, I easily altered the speed and size without any issue. The size was small but dense and in the shape of a stretched arrow. The speed I gave it was not something normal mages of this world could pull off. In the end, even I didn't know what would happen, as I had chosen the speed by imagining a bullet fired from a sniper rifle.

Once done, I cut the magic supply to the spell, and as I did, the blazing fire arrow vanished from my vision.

Boom!

Looking ahead to where the Evil Slime should be, I was shocked to see that nothing, not even the huge boulders around the enemy, remained. The only thing left was a medium-sized crater, still glowing red at the center with a charred black surface around it.

"Damn!" I muttered under my breath.

"Just tweaking a low-tier spell a little caused so much damage!"

After waiting for some time to see if other monsters would take the bait, I finally made my way toward the damaged ground since none had appeared even after a few minutes.

Perhaps there weren't many monsters on this floor to begin with, or someone else had already cleared it before I arrived.

Hmm, it should be the latter...

Since the Dungeon itself continues to reproduce monsters on its own after a certain time, someone must have been here before me...

Channeling my magic power into the wand, the slain monster's miasma began to enter it gradually. This was one of the wand's features. After defeating a monster, you would absorb their miasma or residual magical aura to earn credits at the Academy. The more monsters you slayed, the more credits you would receive.

As I waited to observe the process, my eyes caught sight of a shining crystal a short distance away from the damaged ground.

Is that...

[Yup, dear Host! That's a monster core!!]

"Damn... I got lucky," I said, enjoying the squishy feel of the crystal in my hand. I decided to pick up the pace. Although monsters on the upper floors didn't have a higher drop rate, their monster cores were still valuable. Regardless of the rank of the monster core, since it's a unique material only found in the Dungeon, its price outside was indeed outrageous.

I wouldn't mind earning a few bucks while getting stronger. Although money wasn't an issue for me due to my identity as a noble, having liquid money could still come in handy in one way or another.

"Though students are only allowed to sell these cores in the Academy at a fixed rate... Tch, whatever. I didn't come here to collect monster cores anyway," I muttered while moving onward.

After encountering a few more evil slimes, which I easily dispatched, I eventually arrived at the entrance to the second floor. The first floor turned out to be rather easy, as I expected. The second and third floors should be manageable as long as I stay focused and advance with proper planning. The real challenge would be dealing with monsters attacking in groups.

Hmm, here's the plan: I'll advance through the second floor while running, preserving as much magic power as possible to deal with the Kobolds. Goblins and Giant Bats shouldn't be a big issue since they tend to be timid when faced with magic. So, I'll just rush straight to the third floor with a fire spell continuously ready to launch...

Kobolds will be a problem, though, since they act in groups and know how to build traps. Hmm, I guess I'll have no choice but to cast a mid-tier fire spell as quickly as possible. Wait, I'm a mage—why am I thinking like a frontliner? If I keep thinking this way, I'd likely die before I could finish casting any spell...

It would be better if I could bait them all together and finish them in one attack. And there's also a chance that someone else has already taken care of them, which would be convenient. My aim is the fourth floor, the frozen dungeon, so it's best to be as quick as possible.