Acquiring Talent in a Dungeon

Chapter 10 - Day 3, 3rd Floor Surprise

I didn’t shout or ask what she was doing. I just measured the distance I would have to run to subdue Yoo Su-jeong.

"Don't worry. I have no intention of fighting with Hee-Chul ssi.” The dagger she stabbed into An Su-hyun’s neck disappeared from Yoo Su-jeong’s hand. Yoo Su-jeong held out her empty palms in the front of her like she wanted to show she meant no harm.

“I knew he wouldn’t win, but I didn’t think he would look so stupid.” She touched An Su-hyun’s head with her toes. Even though she cut his throat, the amount of blood that spurted from An Su-hyun’s neck was abnormal. An Su-hyun’s body rolled down the stairs. Once it stopped, the HP Bar above An Su-hyun was completely empty.

[Out]

Only his cold body was left behind. “Well, bye.”

Like it was a signal, she started running. She ran three or four steps towards the staircase in the narrow passage. I was lacking by a few steps. By the time I reached the staircase, Yoo Su-jeong had already stepped onto the safe stairs to the fourth floor and disappeared.

"..."

I turned around.

I approached An Su-hyun to confirm his condition but it was already too late. Even when it was touching the stairs, the body didn’t disappear.

"Dammit."

It was the first death I faced, and it was completely gruesome. The light had disappeared from his eyes. He didn’t deserve to die just for his sin of being human.

Anyway, I couldn’t think about the body any more. I couldn’t do anything. Instead, I needed to focus on the things I could do. I lay An Su-hyun back down and went back to the hallway. There was still nothing in the pouches of the goblins except for coins. Then I checked the first goblin warden.

[Crude Wind Gun. Equipment item. Rank F.]

[A primitive wind gun made by drying the hollow stem of a plant. There is no finesse or sincerity. If you don’t handle it carefully then it can’t be used for more than small shocks.]

[Warden’s Needle. Consumption item. Rank D.]

[A tool primarily carried by the wardens of the lime goblins. The strength of the needle itself isn’t much, but in the case of a poisoned needle, it has the ability to cause pure pain to the opponent.]

[Applies a pain score of 7 after being poisoned. If the poison overlaps, a pain score of 0.5~1 is added. This decreases by 0.2 per minute.]

There were a total of 10 needles. I headed to the second goblin warden.

[This wind gun can no longer be used.]

I scavenged another seven needles. It subtracted the three that were used on me.

As a result, I had a total of 17 poisoned needles that caused pain. Even if I didn’t use the wind gun, I could just prick the opponent with it. I felt a lot of pain, so anybody else without Pain Tolerance would be almost paralyzed.

Or… With this, I could raise the level of Pain Tolerance. This time, I moved towards the boxes.

Pak!

The first box contained a trap. The second box contained three coins.

[Tellan Empire Coin (Silver).]

[An imperial coin that still holds value. It is made of a silver material. It is commonly used among communities or species within the dungeon. It has the same value as 20 bronze coins.]

When would a store where I could use this appear? I smashed the next few boxes. From the fourth box, five porcelain bottles emerged. A foul smell came from the corks covering the opening of the bottles.

[Crude Porcelain Bottle]

[There is no way of knowing the contents. The efficacy won’t be known until after it had been drunk or applied.]

...I would drink it right before doing down the stairs. In the fifth box, there were four pieces of paper. When I saw what was on the paper, it reminded me of woohwangcheongsimwon.

[Greenish Brown Pills]

[There is no way of knowing the contents. The efficacy won’t be known until after it had been drunk or applied.]

Was I a guinea pig now? Either way… I would try it once. A ring emerged from the sixth box. It was a thin silver ring that females commonly wore. There seemed to be elaborate carvings on it, but there were so many scrapes that it was hard to check the patterns.

[Old-fashioned Ring. Equipment item. Rank D.]

[A tool that promotes sexual attractiveness and was popular among the nobles of the empire centuries ago. At the time, the Imperial Princess used it to gain a lot of money and the Emperor strictly prohibited its use. It is worth quite a bit among collectors. The effect of the artifact seems to have weakened due to the magic patterns being damaged.]

[Charm correction +1. The amount of pheromones emitted to the opposite sex have slightly increased.]

What? It was useless. ...Um. Still, maybe I should go somewhere tomorrow. No... But it couldn’t hurt. Um. Well.

The seventh box was a trap. And the long-awaited eighth box. A book came out. It was old but was made out of luxurious leather with designs on it. I opened it to see strange letters inside. At first glance, it was a narrow font similar to Arabic.

[Old Leather Hardcover Book]

[Information to decrypt language: Knowledge related to the language is required.]

Thus, I got everything I could from the boxes. I lifted one porcelain bottle.

Pong.

As soon as I opened it, a smell similar to rotten eggs stung my nose. I lay halfway on the edge of the stairs. If I became sick or there was something strange, I could just roll down. I closed my eyes and swallowed the contents of the bottle. It felt like drinking the snot from a runny nose.

[Current Balance: 28/129]

[Current Balance: 30/129]

Huh?

I felt good.

[The Lime Tribe’s Medicine. Consumption item. Rank E.]

[Drugs made by the lime goblins for first aid. Due to the poor supply and demand in the dungeon, the lime goblins’ drugs are one or two steps lower than generic goblin drugs.

[Once the medicine is taken, there is a slight homeostasis and stabilizing effect. 1~3 HP will be recovered every second for 1 minute.]

I was saved.

[Current Balance: 129/129]

Although I had low expectations, being able to fully recover my HP was a tremendous advantage. It could be thought of as having four more lives. If so, what about the pills? With higher expectations than before, I carefully unwrapped a pill and placed it in my mouth.

...This. Sweet? It felt like I was eating a sweet potato soup without the stickiness. The sweetness that spread to my head quickly made me feel disoriented.

[An unbearable sleepiness has come rushing in.]

Yes, sleepy. But I shouldn’t sleep… I closed my eyes.

◎

[Niks Candy. Consumption item. Rank D.]

[The specialty of the Mandel area alchemists. Once chewed, you will be overcome by a sleepiness that can’t be resisted. It is only 10 minutes of sleep but the efficiency is better than any sleep you would normally have.]

[There will be 10 minutes of forced sleep. Once you wake up, you can get the same effect as sleeping for 8 hours.]

It was better than I thought. When I read the description, it said that I only lost consciousness for 10 minutes but that wasn’t what my body was saying. It felt like I had been sleeping for 8~16 hours.

The areas where the needles hit me were now completely fine. If that was the case, could I use this in reality? It was practical. It was a miracle medicine that could almost double my day. ...How many more things could I get from the next floor?

Before I went down the stairs, I looked at the stairs in the narrow passage. Yoo Su-jeong had gone down these stairs. Then the stairs where An Su-hyun’s body was.

Yoo Su-jeong had run away from me. I couldn’t give up going down the other stairs just to chase her. Her judgement was right. I would go down the unique staircase. There were many more rewards waiting below.

One day we would meet again on the floors below. Could I kill a person? No, it might not be an important problem. I didn’t want to be like An Su-hyun. If I hesitated then I would die before achieving what I wanted. I needed to obtain everything I could get my hands on. Even though the goal was clear, the means was the problem.

I stepped on the stairs. I would clear the way with my own hands.

[3rd floor cleared.]

◎

I opened my eyes in my room… No, it wasn’t.

[4th floor. Arrived.]

[A penalty has been applied to the unique stairs. Returning from the dungeon has been put on hold. You skipped one day and will immediately start on the next floor.]

“What?”

"What the!?"

I wasn’t the only one who yelled out. I turned my head and locked gazes with another pair of eyes. The place where I was standing now was a room lit up with lights, just like the hallway.

There was a man was in front of a staircase, his body covered in scratches. His age and height seemed to be similar to mine, but his shoulders were wide and his arms were long. At first glance, I could see that he had a well-disciplined body.

There were thick gloves on both hands.

“...”

His eyes were examining me. At first glance, he gave off a strong impression. A so-called ‘gangster image.’ He looked like a person who was never far from violence.

"What are you looking at, you motherfucker.”

I looked weaker than him. He approached me while swearing. Activate. Limiter Release. I raised my gloved hands. Bring it on, I’ll smash you.

"What is this?”

As there was a third cry, both of our heads turned in surprise. There was another staircase.

The person was a middle-aged man that was at least 190 cm tall. Tattoos were exposed on his thick forearms. His meaty hands were holding a knife. He looked this way and frowned as he realized the atmosphere.

He looked a little nervous. Three beasts. Everyone was silent as we didn’t dare rush carelessly. A suffocating tension filled the room.

However, all three of us were looking at one point in the room. There was one last staircase remaining.

That’s right. The room was square. There was one staircase at each of the four corners. Soon, the fourth beast would be coming down the stairs. Like the other three, the person who came down from the third floor would be a beast.

It was the reason why everyone was vigilant. Seconds passed that felt like a long time. The shape of a person appeared on the stairs.

“Eh? This... Kyaaak?!”

As the fourth person made a surprised scream, the other two beasts’ eyes widened. A girl in her late teens had showed up. She was wearing the school uniform of a high school in my area.

“Ah, ah, ah... Hello...”

As the weakest creature spoke in a quivering voice, the other two somewhat relaxed. I didn’t do such a stupid thing. Although it was just a guess, I felt sure she was the most dangerous predator.