"Fire Bullets!!!"
"Guooohhhhhh..."
"Water Ball!!!"
"Mbrrpp...mbrrpp...mbrruaahhh..."
"Earth Spikes!!! Wind Slash!!!"
Hello, it's Motegi Sekino here. I'm currently hunting down some monsters inside a labyrinth in Veldran, the capital of the Remantia Empire.
**********
After the sudden transport to Acrusse, Motegi decided to visit the walled city that he saw when he woke up. When he arrived, he was amazed by the sights and the surrounding atmosphere. There were so many impressive buildings and lots of people, making it a very lively place. He walked around the city, and he saw lots of stalls with plenty of products sold there.
When he walked through a market, his nose caught a delicious aroma. It came from a stall that sold some skewers. That smell made him gulp, and the growling sound of his stomach got stronger. Then he remembered that he was given some money when he came here, so he reached for something bulging inside his tracksuit pocket, and he found a small pouch with coins inside.
He saw many types of coins that looked unfamiliar to him, so he tried to ask people around him and looked at the ongoing transactions in the market to make sure. After that, he learned that the currency in this world is called gink, and he also knew how much each coin was worth.
Copper coin: 1 gink
Large copper coin: 10 ginks
Silver coin: 100 ginks
Large silver coin: 1,000 ginks
Gold coin: 10,000 ginks
Large gold coin: 100,000 ginks
Platinum coin: 1,000,000 ginks
Large platinum coin: 10,000,000 ginks
He had 1,840 ginks inside that pouch, which consisted of one large silver coin, eight silver coins, three large copper coins, and ten copper coins. Then he went to the food stall that had caught his nose before.
"Hello, brother. Do you want some skewers?"
"Yes, give me two, please."
"Okay, here you go. It's 10 ginks."
"Here's the money."
"Thank you very much, brother."
He gave him a large copper coin and finally, he got his first meal in this world.
"Hmm...it's delicious!!!"
When I took a bite of it, I could taste the bold seasoning and tenderness of the meat, it made me couldn't get enough of it. Even though those two skewers made my stomach full, I felt like I still wanted it more.
"Okay, I think it's time to make a move, right?"
**********
Since I was in a fantasy world, maybe I should try to become an adventurer. So that means, I had to look for the adventurer's guild. After a short walk from the market, I arrived at a Gothic-style building, and I saw many adventurers going in and out of that building.
When I went inside the guild, there were a lot of adventurers gathered on the tables, drinking beers and chatting with each other. Then, I saw a big, tall, bearded middle-aged man greet me. He had a sturdy body that almost scared me.
"Welcome to Veldran Adventurers Guild. I'm Freddy, what can I help you?"
"I--I want to become an adventurer."
"Alright. Please write your name here."
"Okay."
He opened a book that was on top of the table, and he pointed his finger at a certain page. I wrote my name on it while I saw him take a blue-colored card from the drawer. He pointed that card at me and at the page that had my name written on it. Suddenly the writing of my name on the sheet disappeared, and then I saw my name was written on the card alongside the picture of me and a red-colored adventurer guild's stamp with a bronze-colored letter 'G' on top of it.
"Here's your card, you are a G-rank adventurer. Adventurers ranks from lowest to highest are G, F, E, D, C, B, A, and S."
"Okay, thank you for the explanation."
"So, do you want to take a quest or enter the labyrinth?"
"I want to enter the labyrinth, but I'll do that after I buy an armor."
Since I became an adventurer, a labyrinth was a place that I couldn't miss. That was a perfect place for me to test my sword and my [Temporary Boost] skill, but I also couldn't ignore the safety aspect. I didn't want to get carried away and put myself in danger since this was my first day here. So, to prevent bad things happened, I should have prepared myself too.
"Well, that's good. What about I give you the labyrinth's map?"
"Yes, please."
Then, he took a piece of paper from the drawer and gave it to me.
"Here's the map. Well, since you are a beginner, you are only allowed to enter the first three floors. Those floors are intended for beginners to learn about combat, get used to fighting, and get stronger."
"Ah, I see."
"Slimes are monsters on the first floor, skeletons are on the second floor, goblins on the third floor, and there will be a boss waiting for you at the end of each floor. Monsters on the first to third floors appear alone, but when you reach the boss area, you might experience multiple battles. After you defeat those monsters, don't forget to collect their gels, bones, and swords. Those are the only valuable things from them because they are low-level monsters, but if you're lucky, you can get small magic stones."
"Hmm...do you know who are the bosses?"
"The first floor is a Mega Slime, it can split itself if you attack it carelessly. The second floor is a Skeleton Lord, like the Mega Slime, don't attack it carelessly if you don't want it to resurrect or even worse, it will bring some skeletons. The third floor is a Hobgoblin, normally this is the area where you will be experiencing multiple battles because Hobgoblin is always surrounded by goblins. Because they are level bosses, their gels, bones, and swords are more valuable."
"Okay, understood."
Well, if you became an adventurer just for money, you would have set your mind on how to kill those bosses immediately. Since I only wanted to strengthen myself, I have a little interest in that. I believed if I got stronger, I would get more quests that offered more payments.
"Is there anything you want to ask again?"
"Well, I guess that's it for now."
"Alright, I wish you the best of luck, Motegi."
"Thank you, Freddy. See you!"
After a short walk from the guild, I stopped by an armor shop. When I arrived, a young man with blond hair who was sitting on a stool behind the counter, suddenly stood up and greeted me.
"Welcome to Paulsen armor shop. I have plenty of protective gears and tools here, so if you already find what you want, just please tell me."
Even though the store wasn't too big, you would still find many types of boots, armor, belts, gauntlets, shields, and other equipment. It made me confused, since there were so many of them.
"May I help you, sir?"
"Uh...yeah. Uh...I want light armor and light boots."
"Do you want the regular ones or the ones with elements?"
Well, regular armor and boots would be the cheapest option, but for safety purposes, the ones with elements would be the better choice.
"Can you show me the ones with elements?"
"Yes, maybe this one is good for you, sir. This armor is imbued with earth element, even though it is light, it has a strong defense. And for the boots, I will recommend this one. These boots are imbued with water element, so the strain on your feet will be reduced, and you won't feel tired when you wear them."
He showed me a vest-like leather armor, which I had always seen in RPGs, and a pair of black boots. And as I thought, this world also had a similar knowledge about elements as mine. They used earth element for defense and water element for recovery purpose.
"Hmm...that's good, but do you have a smaller size? It's too big."
"Don't worry, sir. All these goods here will customize themselves for the users when they wear them. Just try it, sir."
"Really? Okay, I'll try."
When I put the leather armor on my body, I was surprised when the armor shrank itself, adjusting the size of my body. Then, the same thing happened when I wore the boots. I thought how convenient it would be if this applied to my old world, I wouldn't have to find clothes that fit me anymore because they could adjust themselves.
"Wow...it's amazing!!!"
"Right?"
"Alright, I'll take them both."
"Understood. Is there anything else, sir?"
"Yeah, I'll take these too."
I took a pair of black leather gauntlets and showed them to him.
"Regular gauntlets, I got it. Is there anything else, sir?"
"No, that's enough."
"Okay. Please follow me to the counter, sir."
I brought the things that I bought to the counter. After he counted the price, I was surprised by what he said.
"So, the armor is worth 600 ginks, the boots are worth 250 ginks, and the gauntlets are worth 65 ginks. In total, it's 915 ginks, sir. Do you want to pay by cash or card, sir?"
"Eh, card?"
"Yes, you can pay them with your guild card, sir."
I was confused when I heard this, but then he explained to me that the guild card also has a function like an ATM card, so you can store your money inside it.
"Just click this if you want to put your money, sir. If you want to take out your money, click this one and say the desired amount. If you want to pay, click this, say the desired amount, and place it on top of this transactional tool."
The guild card in this world was made with a lot of features. Not only you can use it as an ATM card, but it also has a chat feature so you can send messages to other people and a news feature to let you know the current events. I was amazed when I learned that the technology in this world is well developed.
"Thank you for your help. So, it's 915 ginks, right?"
" Yes, sir."
After the shopkeeper helped me store my money inside the card, I decided to pay with it.
When you want to take out your money or pay something, you have to say the desired amount, and the money inside your card will decrease immediately.
"I already accepted the payment, sir. Thank you so much for visiting my store. Have a good day, sir."
"Yes, see you!!!"
After I bought armor and boots, I continued my journey to the labyrinth.
The labyrinth is located on the outskirts of the city, and I needed to walk for about 35 minutes to get there. Maybe because it was a labyrinth for beginners, I didn't see any adventurers when I arrived. The inside of the labyrinth is like a dimly lit cave.
After I walked for about 100 meters, a blue slime crawled into the ground in front of me.
"Okay, here we go."
Slime is a spherical, basketball-sized monster.
When the slime saw me, it started to jump. With my knowledge from the game, I knew that it was the signal when a slime was going to attack.
"Okay, let's try this now."
I prepared my Ladron sword and activated [Temporary Boost]. Since this skill boosted my physical and stats, I was curious how much my stats had improved, and I decided to check it.
"Status Open."
Motegi Sekino
Age: 24
Race: Human
Level 1
HP: MAX
MP: MAX
Strength: MAX
Durability: MAX
Agility: MAX
Intelligence: MAX
Willpower: MAX
Perception: MAX
Luck: MAX
Skills:
[Appraisal]
[Language Comprehension]
[Storage]
[Temporary Boost] Active
"Hmm...it only says MAX here."
Even though I didn't know how much my stats had improved, I could feel something powerful inside my body. Then, I saw that slime was coming to me in a slow movement.
"Okay, so...I have to aim for the core, right?"
Whooooosssshhhh!!!!!!
"Eek!!"
I rushed towards that slime and with a single slash, I could defeat it. However, at the same moment, the labyrinth wall in front of me was shaking heavily and I saw a lot of gravel fall into the ground. I was shocked by the power of my sword swing.
"This...can't be real, isn't it?"
When I was still stunned by my own boosted power, I didn't realize that the slime had just dropped something very similar to a macadamia. I looked at the slime, and I picked up the drop item. Because I didn't know what it was, I used [Appraisal] to check it.
[Fruit of Power] (Ultra-Rare Item)
Increases all physical stats when eaten.
"What???"
A low-level monster just dropped an ultra-rare item, which made me couldn't believe what I had seen. Then, I realized that my luck was also at its maximum because of [Temporary Boost].
"This skill is totally insane..."
This is my first work, so I hope you enjoy it.
If you like this story, add it to your library!